Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Dan Chivington (53) raced Randy Renfrow (96) for fourth in t he first segment until his bike's powervalve linkage broke; Miles Baldwin (22) follows. (Below) John Ashmead leads Jimmy Filice on Superbikes. This w as Kevin Schwantz's Superbike lead after hal f a lap; the bike broke on t he second lap. Here he leads Fil ice. Toland. Ashmead and Bettencourt. 8 win third, a nd Mamola led momen tari ly on lap eight. After being passed going into turn four, Roberts used a n ins ide line in turn eigh t to div e under Mamol a under braking. Lap 10 saw Mamol a leading Ro bert s, Baldw in, Renfro w. Chi vington, Mil es Baldwin a nd Chandler. The leadin g three wer e turnin g I:09s a nd I: IO while wh eel iein g for s th e la rge crowd. The lead cont in ued 10 cha nge h ands repeat edl y, bu t o n lap 24 Roberts showed his edge in tr affi c a n d p u t so me di st an ce between h imself a nd Mamol a. Lap 25 h ad R oberts turn ing a I :07 wh il e gain ing th e biggest lead of th e day; Marn ol a got o n th e ga s 100 hard exitin g th e corkscrew a nd got com pletely sideways, th e bik e ca tch in g an d al most hi ghsiding and Mamula's feet flying off th e footpeg s. Mamola saved it and got right back on the ga s but lost a second or two 10 Roberts. On laps 28 through 30, Roberts got int o the I:06s to p ull away and win by five seconds. Ba ld w in, meanw h i le, co u ld n' t keep pa ce with the leading pair and cro ssed the lin e 25 seco nds beh ind Ro bert s. Ren fro w took fourth with Mi les Baldwin fifth a n d Chandler one lap down in sixth. T he R oberts cre w o n ly cha nged tir es (usi ng th e same compou nd as in the first seg me nt ) du rin g the intermis sion between segments. But Mamo la requested a new first gear in a n effort 10 improve his exit from turn nine. Renfro w's o n ly complaint was a fading rear tire a n d lack of horsepow er. but he was gen erall y happy with his lonel y fourth pl ace rid e. The h arde st -w orkin g cre w dur ing th e break was jimm y Ada mo 's ; th ey changed th e motor on hi s fo ur-cy lin der Cagiva becau se o f a n oi l leak; Ada mo fin ish ed tenth d espite th e leak. T he sta rt o f th e seco nd segment was a rep eat o f th e fir st with Baldwin getting a nothe r fl yer of a sta rt 10 lead Ch andler into turn o ne. Robert s a nd Marn ol a quickl y moved up a n d by the corkscrew at the en d of th e first lap were rig ht o n Bal dwin . T he order a t th e end of lap three was Baldwin, Ro bert s, Mamol a , Renfrow , Adamo , Chi vi ngto n , M il es Baldwin a n d Ch andler. Lap four saw Ad amo cra sh hard in th e fast left-h a nder turn three, but he escaped injury and wa lked a wa y from the cras h. The show continued up front with Mamola and Ro bert s taking turns leading after la p five. T he two factory stars were g iving the field a rid ing ex hibi rion . playfully li fting their front wheels at will. On lap II , Robert s, Mamola and Baldwin ca me out o f turn nine three a breas t and wh eelied the length of the stra ig hta way. Ren frow , meanwhil e, was aga in havin g a lonel y rid e in fourth wi th Mil es Baldwin a n d Ch iv in gr on in fifth and sixth, respectively. Chivin gt on bail ed in turn nine o n th e Iith lap a n d Mam ol a a n d Roberts enco u n tered th e oil spi ll. " We both went i nt o it slow ," Mam ol a sai d. " We co u ld see a co up le o f pi eces o f h is bubbl e o r fairin g , but yo u co u ld n' t ac tua lly see th e oi l. I wa s looking a t Kenn y's tire an d I sa w him sit up a n d go around it a n d he look ed a t me and I was going right through it. We were very lu cky. " Robert s ope ne d a slight lead o n lap 23 a fte r turning a I :07.58 and it looked as if pl ay time was over; but Roberts g la n ced down a t th e rea r end , the first indica tion of a mechanical problem on th e next la p . Marno la took advantage of the problem a nd qui ckly opened up a 2.34-second lead on lap 26. Roberts was ha ving problems sh iftin g a nd on lap 29 Mamola turned a 1:06.92 10 stre tc h his lead 10 11.30 seco nds a t th e fin ish . Ro bert s limped home seco n d with Baldwin taking t h ir d a n d R enfrow fourth . Fifth pl ace went 10 Miles Baldwin on hi s Ale x Ca m e ro n -pre pa re d RS 500; Cha nd ler wrapped up sixth o n j erry Griffith 's RS500 . Keith Day an d T ed Boody en ded a ra ce-long battle for l l th with Da y making a pass in turn n in e. Bood y fini shed 11th o vera ll to pick up four valua ble points a n d a m ore secure hold o n third in th e Camel Pro Seri es sta n din gs . On th e coo l-o ff lap Mamola wh eelied down th e corkscrew , set down th e front wheel 100 late, a nd cou ldn 't make the turn a t the bottom. He ran off the pavement into the dirt, locked up the rea r end and did a berm-shot off the haybal es, somehow not crashing. The cro wd loved it. In the wi nne r 's circle. Mamo la threw h is winner 's wreath to the cro wd. H e also threw his t-shirt, and th e cro wd lo ved it , but Mamola kept h is winner 's plaque. Roberts was su bd ued on th e podium while Mamola beamed. - Results FORMULA ONE RESULTS: 1. Randy Mamola (Han) 2-1; 2. Kanny Roberts (Yaml 1· 2; 3. Mike Baldw in (Hon)3 -3: 4. Randy Renfrow(Hon)4-4; 5. Mile s Baldw in (Han) 5 -5 ; 6. Doug Chandler (Han) 6·6 ; 7. Alan laBrosse (HonI 9- B; 8. Dale Frankl in (Vam) 12- 9; 9. Dan Chivington (Yaml; 10. Keith Day (Yam) 12-11 ; 11. Ted Boody (Han) 11·12; 12. Rich Oliver (Yaml 14-10; 13 . Doug 8rauneck (Yam) B-19; 14. Scon Gray (SUl ) 2 1-7; 15. Gary Goodfellow (SUl) 16·1 3; 16. Kevin Monahan (Yam) 17·14; 17 . John Ben encourt (Han) 15·16: 18. Ji m Adamo (Cog) 10-21; 19. Dave 8u sby(Hon) 19·1 7; 20 . Hap Eaton (Yam) 1B-19. CAMEL PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS : 1. Doug Ch and ler (141); 2. Bubba Shob ert (13 1); 3. Ted Bood y (113); 4 . Scott Pearso n (10 6); 5. Richard Sch lachte r (63); 6. (TIE) Ronn ie Jo nes (59)lTerry Poovey (59); 8. (TIE) Rand y Goss (58)/ Chris carr (58) / Alex Jorg ensen (5B) FORMULA ONE POINT STANDINGS : 1. Mike Bald· w in (6 9); 2 . Ric ha rd Schlachler (63 ); 3 . Rand y Renfrow (5 3); 4. (TIE)M ile s Baldwin (4 7)/ Doug Chandl er (47)/ Alan Labrosse (47); 7. Wayn e Rainey (40 ); B. (TIEl Doug 8ra uneck (371/Dan Chiving · Ion (37) 10. Freddie Spencer (20). AMA $uperbike Road Racing Cbam~ionsbi~: Round 6 Ashmeadwins as Merkel crashes, Schwantzbreaks By John Ulrich MONTEREY, CA, J ULY 13 . John Ashmead dominated the red -flag-short-ened Superbike race at Laguna Seca, leading a ll but one lap on his Honda a n d cross in g the fini sh line a head of Yamaha-mounted jimmy Filice and R ueben McMurter. It was the first National victory for Ashmead. who recently racked up two second-places and one-third place finish in the ser ies. Miss ing fro m the lis t of fin ishers were reign in g Su pe rbi ke Ch ampio n Fred Merkel, who crashe d h is Tea m Honda VF750F Interceptor in p ractice the day before the race, an d Kevin Schwantz, who qual ified fastest a nd led the first lap before his Yoshim ura Suzuki broke. Merkel's crash came on the first la p of a practice session on Friday, in th e first righ t-ha nder on the co urse, on a

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