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
(Clockwise from above left) Wes Cooley 'ran second all the way. Steve Wise (38) and Thad Wolff battled over third. Baldwin sprays his crew with champagne after clinching the title. Jon Woo ran a strong fifth until crashing with only three laps left. starting grid for the Nat ional. Cooley led the first hea t start to fin ish . Wise, T eam Escargot' s Wolff, Mark H omch ick (Yam ) and Pietri followed Cooley in that order for th e dura tion of th e race. Baldwin als o led start to fini sh in the second ""7'"" and faster - hea t. Klinzmann , still on the gas aft er his previous da y's second, stayed righ t with Baldwin on his Ra cecrafters Kaw asa ki. Ya ma ha -mo unted Nick Richi ch i ran a distant th ird with H onda rider Dan Chivington fourth . Cooley pulled the troops off the li ne and into the uphill first lefthander. By th e completion of a lap, however, Baldwin was firmly in th e lead. Cooley was second ahead of P ietri, Wise and the weekend's surprising privateer, Kawasaki-mounted Jon Woo . Cooley tried very hard to sta y with Baldwi n in the early going, but the n decided to ru n his own pace. " We were dragging the sidecases," expl ained Cooley, "and I got it really sideways a co up le of times. I thought to myself, 'I'm going to wind up o n the ground,' and tha t doesn't win anything, so I backed it off a bit." By lap five Klinz mann had made his way through the or der to run . th ird, ahead of Wise and Wolff, who were beginning a battle tha t would last much of the race. A lap later Woo passed P ietri to ru n six th . By lap 10, one-third of the way through the 75-mi le, 30-lap race , the top seven remained the same. In eighth, Miles Baldwin was trying to fend of the charge of fellow Canadian Rhys Howard. Crashes had already claimed Eric Pal oh eimo and Steven Dick, but both riders were said to be OK. On the 14th lap, Pietri crashed in turn two. He was taken off the track by ambulance, suffering abrasions on his back. Baldwin had a close call shortly thereafter: "I saw a rider down in turn two and I backed off. Then I almost lost the front end completely when I hit some spilled gasoline. If I hadn 't have backed off. .." At the halfway point Baldwin was running a steady 6-8 seconds ahead of Cooley, who had a similar margin on Klinzmann. Well behind the top three were Wise and Wolff. Woo, sponsored by Gesick Welding, Kal-Gard, ND and Moriwaki USA, was runni ng a solitary sixth. Pas t th e two thirds ma rker and the order remained the sam e, but Klinzmann's good fortune was about to expire. When the carb needle cli p broke and dro p ped the needle, his machi ne went on th ree cylinders an d he dropped to his "e ndurance race pace." Wise and Wolff too k the oppor- tunity to pass, but Klinzmann appeared to have put too m uch distance for Woo to make up. That became academ ic three laps from the finish when Woo crashed in turn two. " I just los t it ," said Woo. " I'm not quite sure what happened. Even though the weekend didn't turn out like I would ha ve liked it to, I still believe we showed a few people something." Baldwin too k th e ch eckered and waved his fist in th e air. Cooley was second, well ahead of Wise, who had finally put a litt le space on Wolff. Klinzmann soldiered on to finish fifth . The carbureti on troubles ma y have been a bless ing in disguise: Tire technicians had mounted his rear slick backwards on the rim and the tread was starting to separate away from the body of th e tire. If he had kept the pace he set early, he very well could ha ve destroyed th e tire. With Woo out, Miles Baldwin took sixth ahea d of Howard. Jeff Heino was eig hth o n an RG500 Suzuki, and Frank Mazur turned in a sterling ride to tak e ninth. He picked up the first Wi nston Pro Series points of hi s career on the Moriwaki -m odif'ied GPz550 , the wheels of which he'd ridden off. Richard Chambers was IOth on a private TZ . Wise, who had come into th is final Formula One event leading the points, was philosophical about second. "I knew I wasn't going to be able to go as fast as Mike because he 's got the experience and he's j ust riding better than I am. So I wanted to hang back in third or fourth and hope for a break. He rode a terrific race and won , I got second in the championship and we both ride for Team Honda." • Results 75-MILE NATIONAL : 1. M ike Baldwin (Han); 2. Wes Cooley (Suz); 3. Steve Wise (Han); 4. Thad Wolff (Suz); 5. Harry Klinzmann (Kaw ); 6. Miles Baldwin (Yam); 7. Rhys Howard (Kaw); B. Jeff Heino (Suz); 9. Frank Mazur (Kaw); 10 Richard Chambers (Yam); 11. Steve Epstein (Yam); 12. Richard Oliver (Kawl ; 13 . Dan Chivington (Han); 14. Ma rk Jones (Yaml. TIME: 54 :05 .B6 AMA GRAND NAT IONAL CHAMPIONSHIP/ W INSTON PRO SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Ricky Graham (162); 2. Jay Springsteen (141); 3. Randy Goss (135); 4. Scott Parker (127); 5. Terry Poovey (122); 6. Alex Jorgensen (10 6); 7. mE) Steve Wise/Gary Scott (B9); 9. Bubba Shobert (B1); 10. M ike Baldwin (72); 11. Steve Eklund (70); 12. Mike Kidd (66); 13. Steve Morehead (64); 14. Wes Cooley (62); 15. Ted Boody (60); 16. Tim Mertens (44 ); 17. Eddie Lawson (4 2); 1B.Thad Wolff (39); 19. Wayne Rainey (37); 20. Scott Pearson (31). AMA U.S . ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIP FORMULA ONEFINAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. M ike Baldwin (72 ); 2. Steve W ise (69); 3. Wes Cooley (62); 4 . Thad Wolff (39 ); 5. Eddie Lawson (32 ); 6. Nick Richich i (29); 7. Wayne Rainey (26); 8. Rich Chambers (25); 9. (TIE) M iles Baldwin/ Harry Klinz · mann /Mark Homch ick/Da le Singleton (23); 13. Kenny Roberts (20); 14. Freddie Spencer (19); 15. John Bettencourt (18); 16. Randy M amola (16); 17. Steve Gervais (14); 18. Roberto Pietri (13); 19. Rich Schlo sser (11);.20 . Steve Baron (10).