Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Randy Mamola, here leading Rich Chambers, finished second. (Below) Cooley, Roberts and Mamola enjoy the winner's circle. over, and at th e end of o n e they were pursued by Wi se, Mamola, Wes Co oley, Roberto P ietri and Rai ney. Spencer and Ro berts th en set up their own persona l duel for the lea d, an d Mamola took over thi rd a sh o rt. dista nc e back. Ba ld win , who had been advancing from a rear pack start, pulled into th e p its on th e third la p. Roberts ha d led fo r th ree lap s by the fifth lap, but Spencer took ove r for a circuit, and then Ro bert s passed hi m back. They were already lapping backmarkers. The top three had establish ed their lead on the pack by lap six. Wise, Cooley, Rainey and John Bettencourt (Yam) were run n ing in a group in fourth through seventh, a head of Richichi. By the 10th lap the brush fire o n a hill inside of turns 3-4 h ad grown considerably, and the wind was carry ing the smoke across the track in turn four, making visibility difficult . On lap 15 the dec isio n was ma de to bri n g out the red flag. During th e approxi m a tely 60minute break that en sued, several riders had their bikes checked, and Spencer and Cooley o p ted for fresh rubber. A grid was set on th e order at the end of 14 la ps, a nd the ri ders went at it again with Robert s o n th e po le. T he pole positio n did n' t seem to help Roberts. who fo und himself in third behind Spencer and Ma m ol a at the en d of lap 15. Fast Fre ddie had o pened a fas t lead, and wo u ld not be threa tened th e rest of the distance. Ro bert s moved into second on lap 18. Cooley was running fourth , just a head of Baldwin , wh o was down m a ny, man y laps. Also down severa l laps but rejoin in g the action was Lawson. By th e two-thirds point, the order was S p e n cer , R oberts , Mamo la, Cooley , Wise, . Betten co u rt , Da ve Alda na (rid ing th e Bo b Work/Don Vesco T Z750), Rainey, Rich ich i, Pie-: tri and Thad Wo lff (Suz), With the race winding down, there wa s a lot o f discussio n over fift h beh ind Bettencourt, involvi ng Cooley, Aldana , Rainey, R ich ich i and Wise. It wo ul d continue to the checkered flag. Completi ng the 33rd lap, Spencer too k the chec kered with a 13.09 second margin over Roberts. Mamola, bothered by fading brak es, fin ish ed a lo ne ly th ird. Bettencourt was fo u rth ahead o f Aldana, Coo ley, Ri ch ich i, Wise, Ra iney and Wo lff. Second segment The second start was gri dded exac tly as th e fir st was - ba sed o n hea t race resu lt s, since th e purse was p a id by segme nt. Agai n, Spencer led Mamola and Roberts into the first la p, this time trai led by La wson, Wise and P ietri. Spencer turned a pair of 1:07 laps whi le Ro bert s m oved into second. Bettencourt dro p ped out with me ch a n ica l troubles o n the first lap, while Mike Ba ld win advanced fro m the back to eig hth on lap two. By lap five th e order read: Spencer, Roberts, Mamola, L awso n , Ba ld win , (Above) Freddie Spe ncer coasts off th e track after breaking in the second heat. (Below) Mike Baldwin (4 3) and M am ola battled in the second leg. Wise, Cooley, Rain ey and Richichi. Again , the leaders were already lapping traffic. Ro bert s started closing on Spencer on laps seven , going past in turn six on the follow ing lap. One more lap and Spencer was in to the pits with a cracked cylinder head. About th e sa me time that Spencer left the track , Baldwin passed Mamola to run seco nd. Bu t once passed, Mamola hung tight. By the 15th lap both Cooley and Rich ich i had passed Wise a n d were occupying fifth a nd six th. Ro berts had worked up a lO-second lead on Baldwin and Mamola. He had lapped up to eighth place. Mamola made a m ove on lap 22 to successfully regain second place. Ob. servers noted that th e rear end of Baldwin's machine was hopping badly in rougher co rn ers. Positions remai ned constant until lap 27, when Lawson crash ed in turn two, a fast left h and sweep er. He was taken to the hospital for X-rays, but they turned up negative, although Eddie did suffer a badly bruised left shoulder. With one lap rem aining, Rainey and Aldana tangled en teri ng the corkscrew. Ald ana got up and continued on, but Ra in ey was left on the course, e ve n t u a lly ge tti ng a lift fr om Mamol a on th e cool-off lap. Roberts too k the che cker ed flag with an ave ra ge speed of 102.043. Ma rno la, Baldwin , Cooley, Richichi and Wise followed; the o n ly other riders to do 33 la ps. Thad Wolff, Dave Sch losser (Yam ), Aldana a nd Gregg Smrz (Ya m) rounded out the top 10. "I felt I rode well in.the first heat," said Robert s, " Bu t Feddie was really on and there wasn't any wa y to ca tch him, especially when I didn't get as good a start on th e restart. The track was a bit greasy, but tha t wa s due to the heat bringing up th e oil from the four-strokes." Mamola, whose Suzuki contract includes a clause that he be allowed to ride Lag u na Seca , was riding las t year's G P bike and he had a few problems. "T he brakes started fadi ng bo th time - we didn 't bring thick enough brak e p ad s, a nd I had to start p u mping the bra kes up as the race wo re o n ." " I feel happy with the results, " sai d Cooley. " I was luggi ng around a bout 70 more pounds than Kenny or Randy on their 500s. Some tracks have been good to me and Laguna is one of them. " • Result s OVERALL STAN DINGS : 1. Kenny Roberts (Yam) 2- 1; 2 . Rand y Mamola (S uz) 3 -2; 3 . Wes Coo ley (Suz) 6-4; 4 . Nicky Rich ich i (Yam) 7- 5; 5 . Steve W is e (Hon) 8 -6 ; 6 . Dave Aldana (Yam) 5-0; 7 . Th ad Wolff (Su z) 10-7 ; 8 . Dave Sch loss er (Yarn) 11-8 ; 9 . Richard Chambers (Yam ) 12 -11 ; 10 . Jon Woo (Kaw) 15-13; 1 1. Wa yne Raine y (Kaw) 9 -19; 1 2 . Fredd ie Spencer (Hon) 1-29; 13 . David Cheek (Yam ) 16 -15 ; 14 . Bruce Lin d (Yam ) 18-18. AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAM PIONSHI PIWIN · STON PRO SERIES POINT STA ND INGS : 1. Ricky Gra ham (142); 2 . Terry Poovey (1071; 3 . Scott Park er (103); 4 . Jay Spr ingsteen (9 9); 5. Randy Go ss (9 8 ); 6. Gary Scott (72); 7 . (TIE) St eve Mor ehead / Alex Jorgens en (64 ); 9 . M ike Kidd (60); 10. Bubba S ho bert (59); 11 . Steve Eklu nd (58 ); 12. St eve W ise (53); 13 . Ti m Mertens (44); 14. Ted Boody (4 3); 1 5. Eddie Lawson (4 2 ); 16 . Wayne Rainey (37) ; 17 . W es Cooley (33); 18. Mike Baldw in (3 2); 19. Ni ck Rich ic h i (29); 20. Dal e Singleton (2 3). 7

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