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Baldwin (43) leads one of three F-'1 starts, chased by McMurter (24)
Chandler (10), Cooley, Orlando, Schlachter and Shobert (771.
AMA Grand National Championship/
Camel Pro Series: Round 23
Baldwin leads V-3 sweep
at Sears Point
\
By John Ulrich
SONOMA, CA, AUG. 19
"Come on Cooley!" screamed Nancy Cooley
at her husband, Wes,"Just one more lap!"
she yelled as Cooley drove hard out of 1800
turn 11 at Sears Point Raceway, Randy Renfrow and Richard Schlachter
close behind.
All three were on Honda
RS500 V-3s; they had run two-
8
three-four in varying combinations
for mostof the Formula One laps run
that day. Mike Baldwin and his RS500
were already long gone; this single
remaining lap would determine who
finished second and who finished
fourth.
It had been a long race, on a long
day. Three starts it took: two redflags after crashes caused delays. That
was fortunate for Renfrow - his bike
blew a fork seal shortly after the first
start, and he couldn't have finished if
the race hadn't been stopped.
But it was stopped, and Renfrow
and his mechanic and sponsor Burt
Bigoney borrowed a fork leg assembly from Team Honda, bolting it in
place in time for the first restart.
It had looked like Formula One
would be a battle -between Baldwin,
who won his heat race turning I
minute, 47-second lap times, and
Cooley, (who turned 1:45.2 to break
Kenny Roberts' lap record last year,
using a lOOOcc Kawasaki Superbike
to beat Baldwin and win); Cooley also
turned I :47s in winning his heat race.
Three-time U.S. F-I Champion
Baldwin beat two-time U.S. F-I
Champion Rich Schlachter and dirttracker Doug Chandler in that first
heat race, Chandler riding a Honda
Superbike fitted with a works 850cc
V-4 endurance engine, looking for
Camel Pro Series points on pavement. Chandler, riding under the
guidance of Keith Code, was second
for the first few laps of the five-lap
heat.
Cooley won his heat race by beating Renfrow, Gregg Smrz on a TZ750,
Don Greene on Sandy Kosman's
Segale-framed KZIOOOJ, Rueben
McMurter 750cc VF750F Superbike,
dirt-tracker Bubba Shoqerf
