Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

...... ;... Q.) .0 6 Q.) ..... 0.. Q.) sr: Schwantz leads Merkel as the pair navigate the new chicane during the f irst Superbike heat; Schwantz won both the heat and the final . Merke l f inished second in his f irst race since brakin g his f oo t at Laguna Seca; t he second place solidified his hold on the point lead . 20 ter a nd now on ly trai ls the T eam Macl.ea n rid er by six points. Miles Ba ldw in - pu t his Brot hers HondaBMW/ Shoeil Fo x-sponsored Honda int o the win ner 's circle with a second pla ce finish. Baldwin asserted himself as th e man to beat by posting the fastest heat race time. Baldwin passed Dwa yne Chung on the backstraight on lap four and never loo ked back . Chung finished second ahead of an unusuall y-eonservative Schlachter. " I th in k I was a lillie too conserva tive in practice a nd in my hea t because o f the point lead," Schlachter said. Greene defi ni tely wasn't conservative as he im mediately jumped to th e fro m of th e pa ck in th e second heat. With Green e opening up a lead and cruis ing to th e win, Dave Sadowski was do in g th e sa me on h is RS250R in second pl ace. The heat race ended pr ematurely with one lap rem aining when Edwin Woo crashed on th e exit of tu m eig h t. Woo was transported to Sono ma Valley Hospi tal with poss ible hi p injur ies. The scene for th e final was set in wha t loo ked to be a Gr eene/Baldwin bailie, but Sch lach ter sho wed that hi s co nserva tism was go ne as he cha llen ged G reene in to tu rn one. T he actio n rea lly hea ted up at the start of the second lap when Gree ne took a detour through the di rt coming out of the new ch icane . Schl acht er jumped at th e opportu nit y and took the lead , but Greene was still right there. Baldwin was back in fifth behind Ch ung and Sadowski. but was beginning to assert himself. Lap three started with Gr eene and Sch lach ter side-byside going into turn two . Baldwin. mean wh ile, had moved hi s Honda u p to third. J am es Stephens started showin g hi s pre-Seattle-crash form with a move into six th , a nd o ffered th e Ch ung/Sadowski ba ttle a third party. Step hens moved by bo th Chung and Sadowski and started to p ull away. Green e go t th e brea k he was looking for on lap n ine when Sch lachter almost cras hed go ing into th e ch icane. The mi shap a llo wed Baldwin to snea k into second p lace a nd Gr eene to open up a big lead. Sch lach ter im media tely bega n to fad e in th ird while Green e put some distance between himself and Baldwin. G reene stre tched his lead to nin e seconds at the finish ahead of Baldwin and Sch lach ter, wh o had enco untered shifti ng problerns on his H on da. Fou rth pl ace went to a lon el y Stephe ns wi th Jeff Hein o movin g by Ch ung for fifth p lace. Sad owsk i go t off in tum eigh t on th e last lap, bu t got up uninjured. ..It's go ing to go do wn to th e end now ," Greene said of th e point-race battle. " I' ve been learn ing a little bit all year from Rich and Wayne (Ra iney wh o was a bsent , raci ng a Mert Lawwill-tuned Harley-Davidson in Indianapolis). It was really a smooth race for me excep t for the ch ica ne; the brak es • weren't up to temperature yet." Results F·2 : 1. Don Greene (Hon ); 2. M iles Baldwin (Honl; 3. Richard Schla chte r (Hon); 4 . James Stephe ns (Rot); 5. Jeff Hemo (Han); 6. Dwayne Chung (Yaml ; 7. Allan Scott(Yam);s..Brad Hollman(Hon);9 .R~rtLuglia,!i James Adamo led early, fe ll behind and charged back to the front in the Battle of The Twins race; Adamo beat rival Gene Chu rch . (Arm); 10 : M ar k Smi th (Yam); 11. David Sadowski (Hon); 12. Chris Sch ulze (Hon); 13. Dave Avery; 14. J oseph Conno n (Yaml; 15. Robert DeW itt (Vam). POINT STAN DINGS ; 1. Richard Sch lachter (137); 2. Don Green e (131 ); 3 . Wa yne Rain ey (100) ; 4. M iles Baldwin (77); 5. Jeff Heino (59); 6. J am es Steph ens (52); 7 . Dave Sadowsk i (47); B. Robert Lugliani (45); 9 . Ch uck Aksland (4 2); 10. tie. Brad Holl man /Dwayne Chung (37) . Adamo tops the SoTT By Paul Carruthers SONOMA. CA. AUG UST 25 J ames Adamo grabbed the earl y lead in G P di vision of th e Ba ttle of T he Twins at Sears Point o nly to lose it in the middle stages to rival Gen e Ch urch , but Church wore h im self thin in th e early going a nd Adamo was able to comeback and take the win . Ada mo immediately sh ot his T eam Leon i/Cagiva/Michelin / Arai -sponsored Cagi va into the lead at th e start of the fin al a nd it didn' t look like he co uld be caugh t. Meanwh ile, H arleymou nted Church go t off in third p lace but quickl y moved int o second ahead of Ma lcol m T unstall's Crane Electronics-sponsored Ducati and Jerry Altizer's Harl ey. Adamo had p u lled ou t a fou r-second lead by the fo urth la p while Dave McClure 's Harley It'd the H eavyweight Modified clas s and H ilt on Van Staden held th e top spo t in the Lightweight Modified divisi on Will Roeder's H ar• tey .~,!s.t!J ~ JQP. ~ t~t: _entry , _ Church began to reel in Adamo on lap five a nd sudden ly stole th e lead on th e seventh lap. 'The H arl ey O wners G roup/ H -D Motor Co.lDunlop-sponsored rider started to p ull clear of Adamo. H owever, as q uickly as Church pulled awa y, Adamo gai ned back the ground lost and on the 11th lap too k the lead again. Adamo wasn 't abou t to re-live his pas t experience and held on to take an easy win over a worn-out Church. Tunstall held on to the th ird spot wit h . Alti zer fin ishing fourth. McClure wo n th e H eavyweight Modified with Sherry Friduss getting her Mot a-Guzzi into the second spot. In th e Lightweigh t class , Stephen Wickla nd got by Van Staden to put his Honda in the top spo t and Roeder won the Stock class. " I wore myself out in th e ear ly laps catchi ng up," Church said. " I just couldn't hold it." " I started out hot and made some bad choices in traffi c and dropped a lo ng way back , but it worked out okay" said Adamo. • Results GP; 1.Jimmy Adamo (Cog); 2:Gen e Church (H· D); 3 . M alcolm Tu n stall /H·D) . HEAVYWE IGHT MOD; 1. Dav id McClure (H-D); 2. Sherry Friduss (M -G); 3. Paul Vog el (H-D); 4: Rick W eber (BMW); 5. Corhon W itt ington (Duel; 6 . Chuck Bull wink le (H-D); 7. Bud Riddle (Yaml . UG HTWE IGHT MO D: 1. Steph en Wi ckland C Hon); 2. Hilton Van Stade n (Due); 3. Eric Swortsfigu re (Hon ); 4 . Richard Winningstad (Cog); 5. M ark w esn dang er (Nor); 6. Stanford Crane (Duct ; 7. Kurt Krueger (Tri ~ B. Mi chael Moore (lavl; 9. Roger Sears (Duc); 10. David Neal (Nor). STK; 1. Will Roeder (H-D); 2. MI chael T. Joh nson (Yamt 3. M arit Yarrow (Yam); 4 . Richard C. Key _. (!l':1':"'!: • _ •

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