Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

'(C lockw ise from above) Baldwin shows his jubilation in winner's circle. Harry KUnzmann survived a fading tire to finish third . Pennsylvania 's Greg Smrz took fourth place. Jon Woo (14) and Baldwin accompanied each other through the pack to finish first and second. Nicky Richichi led most of the race, but crashed with two laps left . way through the second la p , leaving Wo lff to fend off Klinzman n, Aldana, Smrz and Do u g Bra u neck. Already J oh n Williams, Rick Mitchell and Jeff Heino were out after first lap acciden ts. By lap fou r Rich ich i was already p ulling away from a Wo lfflKlinzmann duel, which in turn, was tra iled by Aldana, Lrauneck, R usty Sh a rp, Woo, Baldwin and Mark Jones. Lap five saw Klinzman n get the upper hand in his battle with Wolff and take over second. Baldwin and Woo were up to fifth and sixth. By th e 10th lap Richichi had a 7.83-second lead on Klinzmann. Wolff was third wi th Baldwin an d Woo moving up behind him. Brauneck, Aldana, Smrz, Jones and Rich Ol iver (Ka w) rounded out the to p 10 at this juncture. Baldwin and Woo contin ued th eir upward march by overtakin g Wolff at the halfway point. By th e 15th lap Baldwin h ad passed Klinzrnan n , and along with Woo, the trio were having an intense scrap for second. In the process Ba ldwin had whittled down R ich ich i's lead fractio n all y. Aldana was out of the race after the exhaust system go t loose and the bi ke contin ued to lose power. Wi th five la ps to go , the order stood at Ri chichi, Baldwin , Klinzmann, Woo, Bra u neck , Sm rz, Wolff, Jones and O li ver. Baldwin had closed to within sigh t of R ich ich i, but on lap 22, h e had closed to wi thin sigh t of the win. Richichi crashe d in turn nine after reportedly hittin g oi l, and was out of the race, alt hough up and walking a bout. Ironically, on la p 21, R ich ich i set fas t time of the race at 1:46.454. Wi th two laps to go , Woo overtook Klinzmann a n d start ed to make a run on th e leader. That he di d, but the checkere d ca me out before Woo cou ld consu me a ny more deficit. After the race, Baldwin said, " I could see hi m (Rich ich i) slowing down. I kn ew it was his tir e. I said to m yself , 'Take it easy a nd yo u' ll catch him. ' Right then he fell down ." Baldwin th anked spo ns or Engineered Cycl e, and said tha t part of the purse money was already earma rked for " a new cylinder. " Woo, th e northern California privat eer wh o h as ha d several good showings la tely, sai d, " O n th e last lap Mil es had a p retty good lead, but I caught u p to h im q uite a bit. I'm riding a five-year-old machine a n d we 've been working really hard to mak e it go fast ." Woo does most of th e wor k himself, but gets some h elp from sp onsor s C iseck Welding, KalC ard , N D a nd Mor iwak i USA. " T he ti re we selected was a little softer than wh at Miles or Jon were running, and it wen t away a little bit after the halfway point," said Klinz- mann. "T h e engine on th e bike has eig h t race s on it , so I'm happy to finish ." Behind th e top three came Srnrz , Wolff and Jones, two TZ750s sandwiching a Suzuki Superbike. Oliver finished seventh o n a four-stroke , followed by Steve Baron a nd Canadian Superbike champion Steve Dick. Hap . Eaton .ro u nded ou t the top 10. The race played to a crowd of approximately 20,000 and seemed to . be well received. " O n the cool-off lap the crowd was goin g crazy, ,. reported Klinzmann, " So I was doing whee lies • to keep 'em goi n g." Results I 24 -LAP FINAL : 1. M iles Baldwin ; 2. Jon Woo ; 3. Harry Klinzmann; 4. Greg Smrz; 5. Thad Wolff; 6. Mark Jones; 7. Rich Ol iver; 8 . Steve Baron ; 9. Steven Dick; 10 . Hap Eaton; 11. Doug Brauneck; 12 . Rhys Howard; 13 . Richard Chambers; 14. Carry Andrew; 15 . Leland Hancock; 16. Jeff Hagen; 17. David Emde; 18. Bruce Lin d; 19. Alan Ward; 20. Jack Baker . TIME : 43 :19 .697. AVG . SPEED: 75:4 mph: 11

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