Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(A bove) Eddie Lawson leads the pack here. but in the end was sandwiched by Mike Baldwin (top right) and Steve Wise (middle right). AMA Superbike Round 10 Champi~nship Series: Baldwin over Lawson in Daytona duel By Gary Van Voorhis DAYTONA, BEACH, FL, OCT. 3 Honda's Mike Baldwin, needing to beat Kawasaki's Eddie Lawson to keep his Superbike championship hopes alive, didjust that at Daytona International Speedway.Baldwin led Lawson to the checkered flag by about 10 bikelengths vi f or t he victory. H owever , L awe son 's second place finish allows 12 P ietri close behind. Cooley's ride came to a q ui ck halt with a blown engine. " It was the thi rd eng ine I'd blo wn in two da ys," said Cooley aft erwards. ., " Yo u can 't win race s with blown h im the comfort of a 19 point cus hion en gines. " Pietr i would also p ar k his bike (14 1-122) going-into th e final round at West Palm Beach on Oct. 10. with a blown en gi ne. " My luckwas While the Baldwin /Lawson battle not good a t all this weeke n d, " said raged over th e entire 3.87 mil e course Pietri. The race quickly formed into two for th e 46.4 mile duration of th e Superbikef inal, Honda's Steve Wise distinct portions by la p five. Lawson and Kawasaki's Wayne Rainey had and Baldwin were riding nose-to- ta il relativel y lonely rides in th ird and over much of th e course with the four th place. Team Escargot Suzuki advantage to Lawson through the infield while Baldwin controlled the rider Thad Wolff rounded out the top high speed stretches ofthe course. On five with a strong ride from a midfield starting position. the 3,000 foot back and front straigh ts, "I knew I had to beat Eddie if I was Lawson would stick to Baldwin's going to keep him from clinching the rear tire like glue to take advantage of championship here," said Baldwin the draft and not allow Baldwin to after the race. "Eddie is a steady rider slip away. and we had a good race. Now it 's A distance back, Wise had tak en down to the final race. It's going to be over third from Rainey although h e very difficult to overcome.his 19 point was having some problems. " Ap parently, m y bike got banged around in advantage, but things do happen." " Mike had horsepower on me ," transporting i1 to Daytona and the said Lawson. " It was a bitfrustrating front brake ma ster cylinder got because Ifeell was fasterthrough the cracked," said Wise of his problem. infield, but once we hit the banking I " Master cylinders are very important had to ride the wheels off the bike to because once you get one working hang onto his draft. I'm satisfied, just right for your style of braking although I really would have liked to then you stick with it. I spent all week have won here and clinched the title." trying to dial the new one in and The power of the Hondas was evididn't get it right. I lost use of m y dent in the two qualifying heats as front brakes about halfway through Baldwin led Lawson home in their the final. " heat while Winston Pro Series Rookie " O nce Wise got past me I had a hard time sta ying with him ," said of the Year , Steve Wise . led Wayne Rainey in the other heat. Yoshimura Rainey. " Steve had some horsepower. Suzuki rider Wes Cooley was third in I kept closing ground in the infield. the Baldwin/Lawson heat-the fastbut once we got on the banking he was gone." · er.of the two-to garner a front row starting position for the final while Wolff was slicing his way through Baldwin netted the pole position. traffic and, with Pietri's blown engine Lawson was away first on the start, ~ sidelining the Team Honda rider, but Baldwin zipped past before the picked up fifth. "I was darn lucky to field left the infield. Rainey led Coolfinish," said Wolff afterwards. "The ·ey withHonda's 'Wise and Roberto.' ... engine felt like it -was going to let go . . a t an y time. I crossed m y fingers and kept going. " The Lawson/Baldwin or Baldwin/ Lawson duel continued unabated. On lap eight light rain began to fall on the eastern portion of th e track. " I saw the drops and figured I had better make my mov e now ,': said Lawson. " I got into the lead because I thought they might red flag the race." The rain stopped as quickly as it started and Baldwin quickly regained the lead. The final laps saw th e two seldom more than 10 bikelengths a p art with Baldwin in command. They finished in that order. Wise kept the leaders in sight to th e flag from thi rd as Rainey trailed him in fo urt h . Wolff was a ver y di stant fifth. Jeff Heino, on th e Freedom Bro th ers Suzuki, rode a stea dy race a n d broke out of a mi d-race battle for sixth to collect the position. Ernie Kicklighter, on the Merritt Construction Compan y sponsored Kawa sak i, ca me on strong in th e closing laps to move into seventh and drop Rueben McMurter, riding the Kawasaki Canada entry. to eighth. Results 1. Mike Baldwin (Hon); 2. Eddie Lawson (Kaw); 3. Steve W ise (Hon); 4. Wayne Rainey (Kaw ); 5. Thad ' Wolff (Suz); 6. Jeff Heino (Suz); 7. Ernie Kicklighter (Kaw); B. Rueben McMurter (Kaw); 9. Doug chancey (Kaw) ; 10 . Kurt Liebmann (Hon); 11 . Lynn Miller (Suz); 12. John As hmead (Kaw); 13 . Harry Vanderli nden (Suz); 14 . Art Kow itz (Kaw); 15 . Larry Shorts (Hon); 16 . Malcolme Tunstall (Due); 17 . Joey Osowski (Kaw); 18. Vince Hill (Kaw); 19 . Char les Tuck (Suz); 20. John Tesauro (M·G) . Time : 25 min .. 30.001 sees. Average speed: 109.271 mph . POINT STANDINGS : 1. Eddie Lawson (141); 2 . Mike Baldwin (122); 3. Wayne Rainey (114); 4 . Wes Cooley (96); 5. Steve Wise (881; 6. Roberto Pietri (85); 7. Thad Wolff (82); 8 . Harry Klinzmann (72); 9. Rich Chambers (38); 10 . Rusty Sharp (29). AMA Formula Two Road Racing Championship Series: Round 10 Filice wins, McDonald clinches title DAYTONA BEACH. FL, OCT. 3 j imrnyFiljce and Don Greene waged a battle in Formula Two that saw Filice, on his Team Yamaha entry, come out on top by' a scant three bikelengths after nearly 40 miles of racing. Greene, on the C.P . Enterprises sponsored Yamaha. did his best to upset Filice's day with a valiant last lap charge, but came up short. Another battle raged over third place. This time six riders were involved and the position swapping was constant. Randy Renfrow, aboard a Sure-Fire Distributing/Bi-Star Racing sponsored Yamaha led Sam McDonald and his K&N sponsored Yamaha by abou t a bikelength to the flag to take third. Canadian Alan Labrosse pushed his Rocket Ra cing Yamaha into fifth. McDonald, via h is fourth place finish locked up th e Formula T wo Championship with one round still to run. " It feels great," said a very .happy McDonald afterwards. " T h is is what I've been shootirig for all season. Formula Two champ; th a t sounds pretty neat." Filice was all smiles af ter his win. " T ha t was really a tough race, " said Filice. " G reene found some horsepower because he didn't seem that fast in practice or in his heat race . The wind shifted on the back straight and we were running into it so it affected our gearing. I'm glad Greene and I broke away from that battle for third. It sounded like quite a race ," said Filice. " T h is has to be one of my best races ever," said Greene afterwards. "I didn 't do anything trick to the bike. In fact I had to use some of myoid, worn-out parts to get it running and it ran super. I tried my hardest on the final lap to snatch the win away, but I came up just a bit short." Filice had the pole for the final by virtue of his heat race win in which he came from near the back of the pack to slice into the lead on the final lap. McDonald, first in the point standings going into the event, was saddled with a last row start position . in the final after his engine seized in his heat. Filice grabbed thelead immediately. but it was Greene who led at the end of the first lap. Labrosse. Russ Paulk. Fred Merkel. McDonald and Hugh H um blefo llowedinapaqk. . . .. . , .

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