Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Fred Merkel's pinned wrist worked well enough to win the Superbike race. We. Cooley (34) led the Formula One race until crashing; Mike Baldwin (43) won with Richard Schlachter second. AltA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: R0UIIfI26 Cooley crashes, Baldwin wins race and title at Brainerd By Gary Van Voorhis BRAINERD, MN, SEPT. 2 Honda's Mike Baldwin, battling less than perfect track conditions caused by on and off rain which eventually halted the National after 18 of the 25 scheduled laps had been run-, grabbed his fifth Formu.!a One victory of the year and with it his third straight series crown. Rich Schlachter and 8 Randy Renfrow made up the celebration in the Pepsi/Honda Classic winner's circle for a Honda RS500 sweep of the top three spots. Jimmy Adamo, on a Cagiva 500 GP bike, placed fourth with Yamaha TZ750 rider Dan Chivington fifth. The checkered flag coming out at the end of lap 18 caught all riders by surprise. "Portions df the track were wet, especially turn two," said AMA's Bill Boyce, "and with everyone on slick tires we didn't want to risk the pos5ibility of accidents. We had reports the riders were sliding around, and with the race well over halfway finished, decided to drop the flag and call it final." Although Baldwin has clinched the title, there are still close point battles throughout the rest of the top 10. $25,000 in Camel Pro Series money is up for grabs to the top five in the standings at the end of the season. Schlachter leads Renfrow in the fight for second, 71 points to 67, while Wes Cooley, at58, holds a 12 point advantage over fifth place Doug Brauneck. Heavily overcast skies, a wind which was constantly changing direction and -it mid-50 degree temperature . ... . greeted the 28 riders gridding for the National. Although there was serious question as to whether the rain would hold off, all riders started on slicks on the dry track. The biggest worry was that rain would fall on only some parts of the track as had happened in earlier races. . Baldwin led the start down the mile long front straight, but it was Cooley, with a late braking maneuver in turn 10, who led at the end of the first three-mile lap. Mike Baldwin, Schlachter, Miles Baldwin, Renfrow and Adamo were in tow. Adamo had been a surprise in qualifying, taking the Team Leoni Cagiva 500cc square-four GP bike to fourth fastest behind the RS500 Hondas of Mike Baldwin, Cooley and 'Renfrow. Schlachter filled out the front row on another Honda while Miles Baldwin was the fastest of the TZ750 riders in sixth. Miles ended his day with a spectacular crash in the esses as his bike went end over end down the track while he tumbled alongside. He sustained a battered, but not broken, right ankle. By lap three, Mike Baldwin and Cooley had opened a 30 bikelength gap on Schlachter as Adamo and Renfrow began a duel which would last to the finish. Chivington was running sixth.ahead of Gregg Smrz and Brauneck while Steve Gervais held off Sam McDonald. Dirt trackers Doug Chandler and Bubba Shobert, on 850<:c versions of Team Honda's Interceptor Superbike, ran 10th and 11th. It began to mist and then rain lightly on the back half of the track by lap five as Cooley took the lead and began to inch away from Baldwin. Schlachter stayed close and the top three had a nearly 16 second gap on the battle for fourth between 'Adamo and Renfrow. Cooley held the lead through lap eight as the pace slowed slightly due to wet/slick areas on the track. On lap 10, Cooley's ride out front came to an end in a crash in turn six. "The track was wet, but it wasn't bothering me," said Cooley. "I came up on some slower riders just before the esses and figured 1 could gain some ground on Mike if 1 passed them before turn six since the track is pretty much one line for a distance after that. Everything felt fine as 1 got on the brakes for the turn, then the front end started to slide as 1 touched one of the white paint marks. 1 couldn't get my foot off the peg fast enough to try and keep it up. The only thing that really .got damaged was my pride and my ego." Cooley slowly rode his bike back to the pits one lap later and parked it. Meanwhile Baldwin picked up the pace and pulled out an II-second margin on Schlachter by lap 12. Renfrow held the edge on Adamo in their third place duel while Chivington cruised along, a distant fifth. The halfway flags on lap 13 saw a battle for sixth shap41g up with McMurter holding an edge over Brauneck, Russ Paulk, in his first-ever AMA Formula One National, and Smrz. Chandler held 10th while Boonie Knott was ahead of Shobert. At the finish, the top 12 would be nearly identical to their positions at halfway. The misting began again late in lap 15 while Baldwin held about 12 seconds over Schlachter. Then it began to rain in tums one through six and Baldwin slowed his pace rather than risk an accident. Schlachter kept the gas on and closed to within six seconds on lap 17. The checkered flag at the end of lap 18 caught Baldwin by surprise and he slowed as he took it. Schlachter, having gotten to within challenging distance, sprinted to the flag and closed Baldwin's margin to about 30 bikelengths a t the flag. Adamo, riding right on, Renfrow's rear tire, each time they came off tum 10 while plotting last lap strategy, saw his plans go away as both saw the flag and it was too late for Adamo to make his move for third. Chivington cruised home in fifth while McMurter chose the wrong time to stop to get his gear shift lever tightened. Brauneck led off turn 10 as McMurter slowed and pulled off the track while his crew frantically waved him back on the track. Paulk was already slowing down after getting the flag when McMurter roared past the starter, now in eighth. Smrz led Chandler home to round out the top 10. "I was surprised by the flag," said Baldwin. "The track was wet so 1 slowed down some, but it wasn't that bad for racing. It feels good to clinch the title before the final round. I hope Eddie Lawson can race at Mid-Ohio like he says he wants to. 1 don't have to worry about the title so it could be a very interesting race." "I don't think they should have stopped the race or if they were going to then they should have given us a white flag to tell us there was one lap to go," said Schlachter. "They could have red-flagged the race, checked the track conditions and restarted us." "I was surprised," said Renfrow. "We were sliding around a bit out there, but track conditions were a lot worse when it was raining in the early laps. Jimmy and 1 were having a good dice and it probably would have gone to the finish if the race went the full distance. Every time it rained, Jimmy would close it right up." . Adamo wasn't at all pleased with the shortened race. "I was waiting until the final lap to make my move on Randy," said Adamo. "I'm sure 1 could've nipped him for third if 1 had known the checkered flag was coming out. Randy's bike was definitely faster on the straightaway, but 1could , ,

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