Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

face contrasting with Mamola's nonchalance; while he cleaned his helmet shield prior to the start, Baldwin verbally allacked a reporter who asked him how his bike was working, delivering a bizarre lecture on "good journalism," which he seems to feel is the same as public relations. Mamola answered question, posed for photo and rode a few laps behind a camera-equipped bike (ridden by Mike Spencer) LO aid a camera crew filming the event. Robens seemed a lillie less relaxed than usual - after the race he'd admit that worrying about finishing first in his last race gave him a headache beforehand but still fielded questions pleasantly. Behind Robens, Baldwin, Mamola and the fleet of LOp-placed RS500s came the privateers who didn't have new Hondas, riding a mixture of lOOOcc Kawasakis, VF750F IntercepLOr Superbikes, an RG500, Ducatis, a Cagiva and three lone TZ750s. The guys who didn't qualify for the 25-rider final had LO sellle for a consolation race. When the flag dropped for the first leg, Mamola shot out in from, leading Roberts and Baldwin. Those three quickly pulled distance on Cooley and Schlachter, with Doug Brauneck and Renfrow behind them. That was the order for five laps; then Robens passed Mamola and (he two started trading the lead, Mamola takin'g it into turn nine one lap, Robens repassing at the finish line, Mamola passing in turn two, Robens taking it into turn eight. By the seventh lap Robens and Mamola were a little over a second ahead of Baldwin; Schlachter had pas ed Cooley and pulled out four seconds but was another 20 seconds behind Baldwin. Mamola and Robens worked their times down, from I :09s LO I:08s and into the 1:07s, now eight seconds ahead of Baldwin, who in tum was 30 seconds ahead of Schlach ter. Renfrow left Brauneck, whose hands had gone numb from vibration, and passed Cooley, who rode in pain from bursitis developed in his left elbow, injured and infected after a crash at the Match Races in England. With 10 laps LO go Robens suddenly was at low 1:07s - his fastest 1:07.17 - and pulled out three seconds on Mamola, making it look easy, the three seconds turning into foUT and into seven; Baldwin was 10 seconds behind Mamola, his fastest laps I :08s, mostly high I :08s; Schlachter was far behind Baldwin, Renfrow just behind him. Robens lapped Schlachter before the finish of the 32-lap segment; Roberts won. The only riders King Kenny didn't lap were Mamola and Baldwin. Behind Schlachter came Renfrow, Cooley and Haney, up from lOth in early laps, Steve Gervais on an RG5oo, David Emde on Sandy Kosman's ~1000 Superbike, and Miles Baldwm. Rueben McMurter should have been next - he had moved from 15th to II th despite his Kawa aki Superbike missing shifts and finally sticking in founh gear, but on the last lap, just before the last turn, his bike's shift shaft broke and the shift.lever swung scraight down. When McMuner pitched it into the left-hand turn -nine, the shut lever hit the ground and lifted the rear wheel, just like a deployed sidestand:, and McMuner crashed. Brauneck didn't finish either, the well-used chain on his Yamaha breaking at the masterlink - he u ed the same chain at Daytona and in every T"'lCe since, and was seventh when it broke on the 22nd lap. Also among the non-finishers was Dale Quanerley on a Segale-framed Formula One Kawasaki IOoocc filled with an ex-works engine; the bike ~wned by Sandy Kosman. Quanerley Jumped on the bike and qualified ninth; he'd never ridden anything with clip-on handlebars before. Between qualifying and the race, privateer Quanerley crashed his Kawasaki while doing the impossible - running with the works Hondas of Merkel and McDonald and the Yo himura uzuki of Cooley - and ground up the lillie finger on the left hand. Surgeons removed half of the damaged finger, and Quanerley showed up at the track with the finger taped to the adjacent finger, his hand wollen and huning. And then Quanerley went out to race the Kawasaki. Hecouldn't pull in the cI ULCh lever with his fingers, so he pulled it in with his wrist; still managed to stan the race well, and worked up LO 11th, relying on his right arm to steer as well as work the brake and throttle because his left hand couldn't grasp well. He pulled in after six laps, white and in pain, because he was having trouble turning the bike where he wanted it to go, and was afraid he'd hit omebodyelse. "I went out there because I didn't want anybody to think I wasn't a real racer and an enthusiast," said Quanerley, in the pits after the race. "I wamed LO show thatlo ing pan of my finger wouldn't keep me from racing. I'm a racer. " Quanerley didn't try LO stan the second leg and Baldwin shot off into the lead at the start, leading Robens, Mamola, Cooley and Haney. By the third lap Baldwin, Roberts and Mamola were seven seconds ahead of Cooley, who was fending off strong challenges from Schlachter; Brauneck was sixth, Haney back in seventh with Renfrow eighth. Robens passed Baldwin; exiting the downhill, left-right corkscrew Robens' line was different than Baldwin's, Roberts straightening up early and turning on the gas, Baldwin swooping around, and Baldwin ran into the left side of Robens' bike while trying to go around on the outside. The impact moved Robens over a foot, he'd guess later, punched a hole in Baldwin's fairing, and bent the lower left exhaust pipe on Robens' Yamaha straight out, at a 900 angle. When Robens reached left-hand corner seven and turned in, the pipe hit the ground - Robens later would say he thought the rear wheel was cocked because he had trouble getting the bike LO turn into and stay leaned over in left-hand turns. As Robens looked down at his bike, Baldwin and M4mola pulled away; Robens kicked at his bike's pipe on straight sections of the track, bending the pipe back in enough that it didn't interfere in left handers. Then he caught Baldwin and Mamola. Instantly. And pa ed. In tantly. And left them behind. In tantly. Watching King Kenny Robens on the gas was, despite the current overuse of the word, nothing shon of awesome. Mamola and Baldwin exited turn nine with the rear end sliding a lillIe, their bikes' exhaust notes warbling a bit. Robens tUTned on the gas and the rear wheel lit up, the exhaust pitch rising with the rpm as he held the bike on his line with the throllle pegged, the bike snaking slightly and accelerating hard from the apex rightLO the wall outside the turn, the churning tire kicking up dust and din and spilling pebbles and KR surely grazing the wall every lap but somehow not; King Kenny Roberts using every inch-and-fraction-of-an- RS500s in the second 1OO-kilometer leg: Cooley (34) and Schlachter (93) racing each other and passing fast-starter Haney (141), inch of the track, every slice of available pavement on the exit, coming off the corner harder than anybody and leaving the others behind. If anybody else had been coming that close LO the wall, they'd back off the throllle. Roberts did it every lap, and never varied [rom fulithrollle; no warble in the exhaust note, just a scream at peak rpm. Roberts on the gas! His lead grew; II seconds; 12 seconds; 13 econds. Behind, Mamola left Baldwin. It wasn't easy, Mamola'would tell reponers after the race, because he decided to change tire compounds between race segments and the choice didn't work. In the first segment his bike's front Michelin worked in fast corners but nOl slow corners, Mamola said, so he changed to another compound; that one worked nowhere. On top of that, his Honda's throllle started sticking wide open at times. "They have a tendency to kink the throule cable inside the housing if you snap the throllle closed real quick" Mamola would say. "All the sudden I was going into turn nine and when I shut off at my braking marker the engine was stuck at 11000 rpm. I almost had to use the escape road. Then another time it stuck going into turn two." Behind Mamola, Baldwin ran far ahead of Schlachter, Cooley and Renfrow. Brauneck crashed, unhurt. Renfrow passed Cooley and set out after Schlachter, passed him on the last lap of the segmem, just as Roberts lapped them both_ Schlachter tried to repass exiting the last turn of the race, but missed a shift. Cooley fini hed sixth, Haney seventh, Gervais eighth, Emde ninth, Miles Baldwin 10th. The crowd paid homage to King Kenny, cheering and screaming and yelling. Mamola paid homage, LOO, and so did Baldwin, his pre-race dourness lost in the winner's circle_ "We're over in Europe tcaring 'em up," Mamola told the crowd when he finally got the mike, talking about American domination of World Championship road racing and the American who first led the way from America LO Europe and stole the 500cc World Championship three times, King Kenny Roberts. "I'm sure the King would be proud o[ us," Mamola said. The crowd cheered. Results 1. Kenny Roberts (Vam) 1-1; 2. Randy Mamola (Hon) 2-2; 3. Mike Baldwin 3-3; 4. Randy Renfrow (Hon) 5-4; 5. Richard Schlachter (Hon) 4-5; 6. Wes Cooley (Hon) 6-6; 7. Jeff Haney (Hon) 7-7; 8. Steve Gervais (Su.) 8-8; 9. Dave Emde (Kawl 9-9; 10. Miles Baldwin (Hon) 10-1 0; 11. Mark She"on (Kaw) 11-14; 12. Dave Schlosser (Vam) 13-13; 13. Rich Oliver (Kawl 15-12; 14. Carry Andrew(Kaw) 20-11; 15. Harry Klinzmann (Kew) 17-15; 16. Steve Dick (Hon)14-19; 17. Dave Roper(Duc) 19-16; 18. Ricky Orlendo (Hon) 18-18; 39. Gregg Smrz (Hon) 12-27; 20. Hap Eaton (Yam) 16.24, QUAUFVING: 1. Kenny Roberts (Vam) 102.163 mph; 2. Mike 8aldwin (Hon) 100.926 mph; 3. Randy Mamola (Hon) 100.702 mph; 4. Freddie SoencertHonll 00.306 moh; 5. Richard Schlachter (Hon); 6. Wes Cooley (Hon); 7. Randy Renfrow (Han); 8. DOUR Brauneck (Yam I; 9. Dale Quarterley (Kaw); 10. Miles 8aldwin (Hon); 11. Steve Gervais (Suz) 12. Gregg Smrz (Hon); 13. Jeff Haney (Hon); 14. Rueben McMurter IKaw); 15. David Emde (Kaw). AMA FORMULA ONE CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Mike Baldwin (57); 2. Kenny Roberts (40); 3. Wes Cooley (36); 4. Rich Schlachter (32); 5. Ooug Brauneck (26); 6. (TIE) Randy Renfrow/Nick Richichi (22); 8. Art Robbins (18); 9. (TIE) Randy Mamole/Freddie Spencer (16). AMA SuperW•• Championship Series: Bou.... 6 Mer.el wins; Coole~ disqualified By John Ulrich MONTEREY, CA, JULY 21 Wes Cooley led Fred Merkel across the finish line on the last lap of the Laguna Seca Superbike race. But when unofficial results were released, Cooley was second, and by the time official results were posted, Cooley had been disqualified_ Cooley's troubles with AMA officials started when the race was red flagged after 22 of 30 scheduled laps. Cooley had taken the lead from Merkel just before the finish line, and led across the line to complete lap 22. But when the red flag fell, SLOpping the race LO give an ambulance access to an injured rider, the scoring was backed up to the previous lap, which Merkel led. That was just the beginning. When officials weighed the top five bikes, Cooley's Yoshimura Suzu.ki was under the rules-specified minimum weight of 390 pounds - it weighed 386 pounds according LO the AMA's scales. To make sure, the officials weighed Cooley's bike again, and came up with 387 pounds. They tried again, and got 385.5 pounds. And again, for another 385.5-pound reading. Then officials allowed Yoshimura mechanics to add two quarts of oil, weighed the bike a fifth time, and again read 387 pounds. (Merkel's Honda weighed in at399 pounds, third-place fini her Sam McDonald's Honda 103.5 pounds, fourth-place Roberto Pietri's Honda 115 pounds and fifth-place Rueben McMuner's Honda 129.5 pound .) Cooley could handle the red-flag decision. "The important thing is that we know who won," Cooley said 9

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