Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/142449
Mike Baldwin won three road race Nationals this season and the third, Sears Point, gave him the title . Baldwin had won it before in 1978. AMA Grand -National Championship/Winston Pro Series.Round 20 Baldwin charges at Sears Point, takes F-l title By Dale Brown SONOMA, CA, AVG. 22 T eam Honda 's Mike Baldwin turned in a flawless ride, leadin g all the way to win the Sonoma Clas sic at Sears Point on the Honda FWS V-4. With th e win Baldwin clinched the 1982 u.s. Road Racing Champion ship, .besting teammate Steve Wise (who finished th ird behind Yosh imura Suz- 8 uk i rider Wes Cooley) in th e fin al standings by three points, 72-69. The title marked the conclusion of a two -year comeback by the New England rider. Titleholder in 1978, a bad leg injury at Loudo n in 1979 kept him o ut of action until the midd le of the nex t year. Baldwin spent a year endurance racing in Europe before a spot opened on the V. S. Honda team , then won three races this year to earn the cro wn.With his Superbike win on Saturday, it was truly Baldwin's weekend. " T o win it the first full year back is great. I was really con centrating, although there were a few laps when I started thinking about wh at would happen-if I fell or if I won. That lasted about five seconds and then I went back to concentrating because you can't think about those things when you 're riding," smi led Baldwin after the race. Alt hough Wes Coo ley led off the start , Baldwin took control before the end of th e first lap and never relin- quished it. Cool ey could do little more than follow him around. Privateer H arry Klinzmann lost a sure ' third p lace when a car buretor needle clip broke and dropped the needle in one of . his for carbs, forcing the engine to run on three cylinders and dropping him . to fifth . Wise and T had Wolff, who was riding his Suzuki Superbike instead of his usual R G500, went by Klinzmann to claim third and fourth . After so many yea rs of domination of American road racing by the Yamaha TZ750, times havechanged and Miles Baldwin brought home the first such machine home in sixth. He was followed by Rhys Howard and Jeff Heino. Turning in an outstanding ride to finish ninth was top AFM club racer Frank Mazur, who battled with the big bikes on hi s Kawasaki G Pz550and beat ma ny of them. R ich ard Chambers rounded out the top 10. T h is was the first AMA road race National to run at the twisty, up and down Sears Point circuit since 1979. The track surface was very bumpy and many riders with both F- l and Superbike machinery elected to go with the Superbikes because of their h igh bars and better leverage. That group included Coo ley, Wise and Wolff. Two five-lap heats determined the