Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

riders were impressive; it was McDonald's first time racing the RS, and according to traeksidc commentators, Filicc's bike could be better described as a "Yamawobbler." After the race, Baldwin commemed on his problems in the latter stages. "The front suspension started to fade," he said, "and the front wheel would chatter badly in the hairpins. Then I got imo a couple of tankslappers. My wrists were really hurting from fighting the from end, so I rode pretty conservatively after that. I didn't want to take a chance of getting spit off and losing points." The obvious question for Merkel? Was he under team orders not to pass Baldwin when it looked like he might have been able to? "No," he said when asked in the winner's circle, "It was just out of respect for a fellow team member who needed. points." Pressed for a more direct answer in the pits, Merkel said, "No, if I could have passed Mike I would have." Cooley, whose win moved him from 22nd to seventh in the point standings, said he wasn't bothered by his aching elbow until the last few laps when he had time to think about i . "I-just tried to keep it out of my ~i!lP' Things like that take away from your concentration. Other than that, things wem great. I wem out there feeling good about what I was doing,anditended upwell. Itfeelsgreat" -!"Y (Above) Weyne Reiney (~O) end Mike Beldwin leed the peck in the mg.. of the Superbike flnel.(Below right) Once cleer of treffic. Re.ney pulled .w.y •••i1y. (Below left) Beldwin we. not heppy with hi••ixth in Superbike. Results FORMULA ONE: 1. W.. Cooley (Kaw); 2. Mike 811ldw1n (Hon); 3. Fred Mei1uoIlHont 4. Slm MeDonlid (Hon); 5. Jimmy Filice (Ylm); 5. Hlrry Klirmnenn (1(_1; 7. John _ncourt IHonl; 8. Gr_ Sinrz (ylm); 9. MlrkJon"(Ylml; 10. DeveEmde(Kewl; I 1. c.rry _IKewl; 12. John Willilrna lHonl; 13h 9.,1e Ouetlrty lKaw); 14. Jeff Hlino (Suz). fFORMULA ONE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES POIlU STANDINGS: I . Mike Ileldwin (72); 2. Gr_ . S.,!!!~(83); 3. Mill. Blldwin 182t 4. Ooug Breunec:k (42); 5. MlrkJones (38); 8. Nick Rlcllchl 1371: 7. WI' (31); 8. (TIE) Steve Wi../ Jeff Hllno/Fred Metktl(29). AltAA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPI CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Rlndy GOII j;231 I; 2. JlY Sprlng....n (I 941; 3. Ricky Gr.hlm·.Q'931; 4. Bubbll Shobert II 901; 5. Scott Plrker 11,47t 8. Alox Jorgln..n (1 291; 7. Ted Boody (98); 8. GI!}'~con(97); 9. Steve Eklund 181 I; 10. Hlnk Scott 17S); 11. Mikl 8IIldwin (721; 12. Stl.. Mor.h.od (87); '13'. Jim Fllic. (661; 14. Gr_ Smrz (63); 16. Miles 81ldwin 1821; 16. (TIE) Mickey Fly/Ooug Chl~"r (57); 17. Terry Poovey (55); 18. Tim MiiHiIrl. (51); 19.1TIE) GIrth Brow/Mikl Kidel (29). J:I~r ') -~J1id coa.v A~ Superbike Championship ~es: U) Round 10 • l\alney closes .Superbike OOlnt gap "llW" ... By,pavid Edwards S@N:OMA, CA, AUG.. 20 Wayne Rainey forgot to read t J ~souvenir program that the ~King attendants were handil.l§ out at Sears Point International Raceway. According to the pliOgtam the Superbike race was supposed to run for 20 laps - 50 miles. lbiDry took just over five miles to blast'his lime-green Kawasaki Superbike into the lead, and from that paim on, the race for the winner's ttOphy was over. [Not that the 22-year-old ex-dirt . racer hadn't served notice that he would be the one to beat. In practi~he had elicited a few whistles frofu>onlookers with his consistently fast times. And in his heat race, helped along by the pressure generated by Honda's Fred Merkel and teammate WcsCooley, Rainey scorched around the serpentine Sears Point asphalt with a five-lap speed that was eight seconds quicker than the other heat race. The winner of the other heat race, Supcrbike points leader Mike Bald- win, was perhaps more concerned than anyone about Rainey's newfound speed. At one time in possession of a sizeable point cushion, the Connecticut rider had seen it dwindle to 14 points by Sears Point. Hampered by wrists left weakened after his Pocono crash, Baldwin knew he would have his hanlis full on the rough track at Sonoma. Hoping to get the lead 'and hold the Kawasaki 'rider at bay, Baldwin flogged his blue and white Interceptor-based bike to the front as the Superbike final got underway. Baldwin's young stablemate, Merkel, showed his customary quickness off the line and fell in behind Baldwin. Rainey, who had wheelie trouble in his heat-race start, shuffled into third, and WesCooley, in his first race since re-breaking his elbow at Laguna Seca, made up the final link.in a Hondal Honda/KawasalU/Kawasaki chain. COmpleting lap one, Rainey had begun his march to the top and had easily dispatched Merkel to nail down second place. Probing for a place to pass on lap two, Rainey tried to power' past Baldwin in turn seven. The move didn't work, but Rainey knew he had found a chink in Ba[dwin's armor. On the very next lap, in tum seven again, Rainey shot to the 'supposedly slower line while Bald- win went in high and arched towards the apex for a quick exit. All well and good, except that Rainey's low line and Baldwin's high line intersected near the apex. Elbow to elbow and plastic to plastic, the two top Superbike contenders glanced off of each other at about 50 miles an hour, the ne,t result beillg that ~ainey was away into the lead, and a surprised Baldwin was left to look at the rapidly gathering distance between the two. "It wasn'tquitea dirt-track move," Rainey explained later, "but I'm sure my dirt-track experience helped." From that point on it was simply a "watch-Wayne-stretch·his-lead" show; at the end he had a 15-second lead and came across the finish line with a jubilant fist punching imaginary holes in the air. Which is not to say the race was without its drama. Baldwin and Merkel were putting on a pretty good show of their own, when the upstart Merkel decided he'd had enough of following Honda's number one stateside rider around, and promptly scooted around him to take over second place. Then, on lap [5, five laps from the conclusion, Baldwin's bike caused a few hearts to flutter in the Honda camp when it started to sound very sour and slowed down. Its ignition acting up, Baldwin's state-of-the-art, techno-750 V-four had turned into a pretty slow, sputtering in-line two. Conscious that he needed all the points he could muster, Baldwin stayed on the track and it's a credit to his riding skill that he only dropped back to sixth place at the finish. The finish gave Baldwin nine points and enabled him to keep his series lead, though it is now just three points with four races [eft on the calendar. Without Baldwin to worry about, Merkel was alone in second, but couldn't make up any ground on the speeding Rainey. Between the heat race and the final, Merkel's team had made a chassis adjustment and it turned out to be the wrong choice. "I had a hard time keeping the front end ahead of the back end," was how Merke[ described his handling problem. Cooley, meanwhile, was stretching the limits of a human's recuperative powers, and cruising around in a comfortable third, busted elbow and all. "Not bad for an old man, eh?" he would say after the race. The race's high drama, though, was being provided by two Honda Support riders, Roberto Pietri and John Bettencourt. It's good thing Pietri and BettencOUrt are friends because other riders'might have ridden back to the pits and duked it out after riding like these two did. 9

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