Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Baldwin celebrates his first laguna win. David Harris crashed his GXSR750 Suzuki in turn nine on the first lap, and debris and grease-absorbant powder marked the crash site when the leaders - Baldwin, Mamola, Lawson making up a huge amount of ground to move into third, Rainey, Ballington - came through on the second lap. Baldwin wheelied through the middle of the mess, the others mostly trying to avoid it, Mamola running right over a piece of plastic sidecover, which shattered and flew into the air. Mamola wheelies from tum nine to the bridge over the start/finish line one lap, losing ground to Baldwin and Lawson. Rainey, Ballington a"nC! Renfrow are more tentative into that turn, seeming almost reluctant to pitch their bikes in compared to the way Baldwin, Lawson and Mamola dove into the corner; BalIington one lap came in with his bike swaying left-and-right, almost fishtailing, stuttering into the corner on the brakes. The Hondas of the frontrunning regular Camel Pro Series competitors were visibly not working as well as the Yamahas ridden by the Grand Prix men, whether for reasons of set-up or otherwise. Renfrow, for sure, knew his bike's set-up was less than it could be - he had used most of his practice time setting up the Yoshimura uzuki he rode in Saturday's Superbike event. Behind the leading Yamahas and the three Hondas came a clump consisting of Goodfellow, Miles Baldwin, Chandler, Dale Franklin on his TZ750 and PinkstaH; just behind were Doug Polen on his Suzuki GSXR750 superbike and Chivington, locked in slashing, stuHing combat for position, each sliding in, around, and out of corners, catching highsides before they happened, getting on and off the gas as the tire hooked up or slid, working each other hard. That battle, which normally would have been intense for a Camel Pro event, was nothing compared to what was happening at the front. For the first time in recent memory, it was' actually a race, notan exhibition ata reduced speed followed by Kenny Roberts motoring away into the distance. Lawson and Baldwin and Mamola all ran at below-record rimes, at a speed Mamola would later describe as being "a pretty hot pace for Grand Prix specs." Lawson did more one-minute, sixsecond laps in the first 12 laps than did Mamola and Baldwin. and led, Baldwin just behind, Mamola: seconds back, Rainey another 10 seconds behind and another three seconds ahead of Ballington. All three leaders did I:06 laps on the 13th time around, only to be greeted by a red flag caused by Miles Baldwin crashing his TZ in tum seven, with Milo himself coming to a halt in the middle of the track, according to track officials. By the time the flag is thrown, Milo is off the course, walking, bllt the race is already stopped. "Mike's pushing it," said Lawson of Baldwin during the red-flag delay. Asked why he doesn't just clear off from Baldwin like he usually does in a Grand Prix, Lawson replied, "Because then I'll have to push it." "It's fun sitting back and watching," said Mamola. "I want to see which one gets off." "Don't you sweat?" Mamola asked Lawson, whose face was dry, as he adjusted his sweatband before putting his helmet back on for the restart. "Not yet," said Lawson. There were no surprises in the restart, which Rainey led before Baldwin passed him on the first lap; Lawson passed Baldwin on the second lap. Baldwin and Rainey repassed Lawson, Mamola moved into fourth, all four frontrunners wheelyingdown the front straight, the pace starting at I:06s, slowing to I: lOs and I:09s for Lawson and Baldwin with Mamola catching up at I:08; it was 1:08s and I:07s for a few laps, until lap 23. Then it was 1:06s again for Lawson, Baldwin and Mamola, hooking up, clearing off and running, racing. "When Eddie went by me in a tuck, I knew it was rime to go," Baldwin said later. Lawson led with Mamola just behind on lap 28, Lawson turning a 1:06.11 to Baldwin's 6.06 and Mamola's 6.01, and the trio closed on the battle for seventh, a string of Polen, Goodfellow, Franklin, Chivington and Pinkstaff. As eyewitnesses Chivington and Pinkstaff later described it, Lawson pulled between Chivington and Franklin exiting the corkscrew on lap 29 and tried to get around Franklin on the outside; Franklin ran wide, not knowing Lawson was there; Lawson pulled it in and went for a pass around Frank!in in lefthand turn seven. Franklin's line through seven was very wide, and forced Lawson out onto the offcamber, debris-and-Ioose-gravel-andrubber-strewn edge of the track. Lawson ran off the track, got sideways, got the front wheel back on the pavement, then hit rough dirt next to the track, shooting off straight into a hay bale-protected armco barrier. Mamola won by an official margin of 1.180 seconds, with no time or average speed posted for the segment due to the flag. With Lawson out of the way, Mamola and Baldwin went at it for the second segment. Baldwin led early, Mamola seeming to hang back to ride with Rainey and Ballington. By the third lap, Baldwin had almost three seconds on Rainey, with Mamola in third and BaJIington a close fourth. Then Mamola moved into second and the difference in his drive off turn nine was visible and audible, Mamola lighting up his Yamaha's reartire and holding the bike roughly on course as it snapped upright, nearvertical off the apex and headed for the haybales and wall. Baldwin motored out of the turn, his bike's engine gaining rpm rapidly and the front wheel snapping up into the air as the power grew; Mamola spun off the corner at what sounded like instant peak revs, and slid and wheelied and brushed the bales, in pursuit. Rainey had already crashed out with a sus(Continued to page 15) Wayne Rainey won his fifth Superbike race in a row and took a one-point lead in the Superbike point standings; Bubba Shobert finished second. AMA Camel Pro Road Racing Series: Round 7 Rainey wins again in Laguna Superbike By Paul Carruthers MO TEREY, CA, JULY 12 With a little help from his friend Bubba Shobert, Wayne Rainey took the lead in Superbike Championship points with a dominating win at Laguna Seca Raceway. Rainey convincingly beat Shobert, who in turn beat reigning Superbike champ, (and point leader going into Laguna), Fred Merkel. That gave Rainey a onepoin t cushion in the race for the title. It was Rainey's fifth Superbike win In a row. After the race Rainey thanked Shobert, who responded with "Don't thank me, just pay me." Rainey didn't need any help in winning the race as he led all 32 laps on the Monterey track to beat Shobert by 20 seconds. Shobert started second, followed, watched and learned from Rainey to establish a lead over the constantly di puted third place spot. Thanks to a heat-race era h, Team Honda's Merkel was forced LO race in the Last Chance .Qualifier and thus started from the back of the grid in the final. Fourth and fifth place in the final went to Team Yamaha's jimmy Filice and john Kocinski. Filice held third for most of the race until Merkel caught and passed him; Filice later complained of a fading front ure. Sixth place wentLO Suzuki-mounted Gary Goodfellow after a near racelong ballie with Doug Polen, Yoshimura Suzuki-mounted Randy Renfrow and Keith Pinkstaff. Kevin Monahan rounded out the top 10. Former World Champion Marco Lucchinelli rode his Team Leoni Ducati to 11th place. Yoshimura Suzuki's Kevin Schwanu started next to Merkel on the back row of the final a·fter his Suzuki blew up in the heat race. Schwantz blazed through the field and held third place after only three laps, but his charge was wasted when the Suzuki blew its second engine of the weekend on lap 10. The first heat saw Goodfellow leading the pack into turn one with Kocinski and Merkel following. Schwantz, meanwhile, was coasting through turns two and three with a puked motor. Merkel led as the field came down from the hill and Kocin ki had passed Goodfellow for second place. Renfrow, who was riding in his first Superbike race of 1986, was holding- down fourth. Merkel crashed his Honda entering the infamou~ corkscrew on the third lap. "We adjusted the brake lever before the race and it came back LO the bar," Merkel said later. "I rode it into the dirt and jumped ofLIt was pleasanl." Merkel wa suffering from poison oak on his right arm and the incident LOok some skin off the rash and off his hands. Kocinski ended lap three with a two-second lead on Renfrow, who had disposed of Goodfellow. Pinkstaff was founh with Chuck Aksland on a Yamaha FZ750 in fifth. Monahan moved up on his Yamaha to challenge Aksland on the last lap and got by before the flag to take fifth. The second heat saw Rainey leading Shobert into turn one with Filice and Dan Chivington in tow. David Aldana was coasting his FZ750 through turns two and three. Lap one ended with Rainey leading Shobert, Filice, Chivington and Ollis Lance. On the next lap around Rainey turned a I:09.1 lap and started to put distance on Shoben, who in turn was safely ahead of Filice. On the fourth lap Rainey turned a 1:08.7 and cruised in for a seven-second win over Shobert, Filice, Chivington and Lance. Rainey's heat race win was a full IS seconds faster than Kocinski's. Merkel led Schwanu into turn one of the LCQ, but that didn't last long as the Texan powered past, turned a I:09.6 on lap two and cruised to a five-second win. Merkel finished second with Ricky Orlando third and II

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