Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

G(") 00 0') G(") Five weeks after a fall at Laguna Seca re-broke hi. elbow, KaWiluld'. W.. Cooley wa. back in action. Here he I..... Fred Merkel in Formula One action. AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: Round 26 Cooley breaks away at Sears Point By Devid Edwards Photos by E.W. Dominie end Edwerds SONOMA. CA, AUG. 21 Team Kawasaki's Wes Cooley, just five weeks after breaking his elbow at Laguna Seca, surprised himself and many of the 12,000 fans in attendance at the Honda Sonoma Classic Sears Point National Road Race as he manhandled his lOOOcc in-line four around the rough, slick 2.5-mile 8 circuit to take a popular win. Crossing the finish line in the second event was Team Honda's Mike Baldwin on the three-cylinder, twostroke RS500. Baldwin, the 1982 Formula One Champ, battled with Cooley for a good pan of the race and held the lead on several occasions, but was plagued by suspension problems late in the race and drifted back to a secure second. His second-place finish, wonh 16 series points, vaulted Baldwin into the Formula One point lead. with only the September 4, Minnesota round remaining. Miles Baldwin. who led Mike Baldwin by six points going into Sears Point, didn't have the best of weekends. In practice on Saturday he high-sided his TZ750 into a crash wall and suffered a broken hand and a bruised kidney. He gamely started his qualifying heat on Sunday, but pulled off after four laps, relegating himself to a back-row starting position for the final. However. when the riders were called to the grid for the final, Baldwin's number 22 machine stayed in the pits. With zero points on the weekend, privateer Baldwin now (inds himself in third place, 14 points behind Team Honda's Baldwin. Another privateer, Gregg Smn, who was tied in points with Baldwin before Sears Point, fared a little better. Consistent riding netted this year's Pocono winner an eighth-place fin. ) I ), I ~ J _ ~ I ~" " l ' ) t; ish, good for seven points and second in the point standings. Title chase aside, though, the real story of this race was Cooley. His accident in practice at Laguna Seca re-broke his right elbow, which had been originally injured in Loudon three weeks prior. Beset this season by injuries and mechanical problems, there was some speculation that the 26-year-old Cooley might hang up his leathers and go on to medical school. Instead. Cooley enlisted the aid of Dean Miller, a sports medicine expert who has worked with motocrosser Brad Lackey for several years. Twelve days after the Laguna Sea crash, Cooley's cast was taken off. With a pin holding the bones together. Cooley began a "range and motion" program that included weight lifting and electronic stimulation to help speed the healing process. X-rays showed that the bone was healing nicely, and last week Cooley got a medical release to race. "just don't falloff again," was his doctor's advice. "It hurts like hell now," Cooley said after the race, "but it (eels good to be in the winner's circle again. Realistically, I came up here just hoping to finish. I've had a bad year, and people at Kawasaki said to take it easy and not to push it. I had some doubts at first, but once I got out there and. the adrenal in started to flow, it was all right." Cooley's adrenalin started to flow in his heat race. where he pushed winner Mike Baldwin to the fast heat-race time, some five seconds fastJ II·, : j P., .. .r i. ,.t. :' J,'jI 2 q ~ . er than the other heat, won bv Honda Support rider Fred Merkel on his Superbike Interceptor. The start of the final saw 20-yearold Merkel with the quickest reflexes .at the drop of the green flag as his Interceptor jetted into the lead of the !II-rider field. Merkel had opted to leave his 500cc RS in the trailer 3Ild ride his Superbike in the F-I race, favoring the Interceptor's torque on the tight, bumpy Sears Point course. Cooley, on a revised edition of last year's title-winning Superbike, tucked in for second, and Mike Baldwin, riding the GP-style RS, was in third. Behind the leading trio, Harry Klinzmann. Roberto Pietri and john Bettencourt led an angry pack o( riders through the first few corners. The top three positions remained static for almost (our laps, then in turn seven, a tight 50-mph hairpin, Cooley put pressure on Merkel and forced his way past. Baldwin went by soon after. but Merkel stayed close to the other two, more experienced riders. By the fifth lap. they had a ninesecond lead over (ourth-place Nick Richichi, who had moved up from seventh at the start. With Baldwin and Merkel pressing, Cooley was running lap times in the low one minute. 47-second range. On lap 12, Baldwin closed on Cooley and tried to pass coming across the finish line, only to have the Kawasaki rider get a better line into turn one and stay in £ront. On that same lap, however, the race was red fla~ed. Nick Richichi and Doug Brauneck had crashed in separate incidents, and AMA officials were worried about oil and debris on the track. Although the ambulances were called out, both downed riders were able to make it back to the pits without medical assistance. The red flag and resulting !l0· minute delay gave riders a chance to rest and pits crews a chance to work on their rider's bikes. Both Cooley and Baldwin got (resh rear rubber. While Cooley stood on pit row with an ice pack on his elbow. Baldwin, who was also riding in some pain -JII ~I.c·.·~ri 1'1., (J·t)11.~ (rom his Pocono wrist injuries, back to the Honda pits to cool Merkel nursed a sore shoulder, .the result of being bombarded by a stooe., that was flung up (rom Baldwin's rear tire. Unlike din-track restarts, where the riders are flagged off single file, road racing restarts are similar to the beginning of the race in that the riders are gridded according to their position at the time of the red flag, and then waved off together. In effect it was a new race as Cooley's 10 bikelength lead only counted for poJe position on the restart. Four other riders beside him would have an equally good shot at getting to turn one in the lead. And so they did, as Merkel got another terrific holeshot and Cooley was left languishing in (ifth. ThiJlgs changed quickly, however. Baldwin scampered past Merkel, and was so.n followed by the ever-present C001ey Baldwin jumped to a small lead about two and a bali seconds - Yef Cooley, with Merkel hanging dogw ged1y onto the lead duo. For the next seven laps, ~Iey slowly but surely whittled down Bald-' win's lead. Then on lap 20 of die !lO-lap race, Cooley powered aroURa Baldwin as they came across the finish line. Adding insult to ia~ Cooley then turned one of his fasteV times ofthe day, a 1:45.9, and ptddildaway quickly, to the tune of a..txDIsecond lead by lap 2!1. As Cooleyco tinued to add to his lead, it bearrntt. apparent that Baldwin was sl~ dramatically. So much so that Ml:5~1 came very close to passing him in tjl ] closing laps. w~ As the checkered £lag waved. it w.as Cooley with an eight-second lejld. taking the win. Baldwin held on for second and the all-important SQ"ies points, and the youngster Merkel, nipping at Baldwin's heels, came home a very impressive third. Sam McDonald, on an RS Honda, and jimmy Filice, aboard a TZ500 Yamaha, took advantage of the massed restart to place fourth and fifth_ Both -)d ,~ I -II' l l l t ( 1l(1l1J~

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