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Things started falling apart for the Americans from the beginning. Baldwin crashed his factory Honda on the fastest corner in race one at Oulton Park and broke three toes on his left foot ending his ride and pretty much sealing the fate of the American team with no alternate to fill in for him. Baldwin later admitted to not thinking like a team player. "Ron [Haslam] and Randy [Mamola] slowed down more than I thought and I went wide and hit that bump," Baldwin said. "I may have wanted to be in first place on the first lap and win the whole race from the start. As soon as I fell I knew I was hurt." At the end of the first race at Oulton it was Ma- mola pulling clear on his factory Suzuki XR45 Mk III GP machine for a convincing victory. Haslam came home second over Roberts in third. The Brits stacked up midfield scoring with Marshall, Wood and Huewen finishing fourth through sixth. The next American was Cooley in seventh, just ahead of Sheene. Lawson had run off the track and wasn't a factor. Mamola came back and won the second Oul- ton race too, leading to some hope that he might be able to claim a special prize of 20,000 pounds in gold coins (approx. $31,000) for any rider who could win all six races. And again in Oulton race two Haslam and Roberts rounded out the top three. In spite of Mamola's standout performance, the Americans were down 79-69 after Oulton Park. Most of the American team took a four-hour bus ride to Norfolk for Snetterton, but even here Mamola got the jump. He made it to the team hotel an hour earlier than the rest by way of his rented Mercedes hitting speeds of 130 mph on the motorways, scaring Lawson to death. At Snetterton things went from bad to worse for the Americans. It dawned grey and rainy, not the most conducive conditions to learn a new track. Baldwin's foot ballooned up from his Oulton crash and he was only able to ride a single lap and cross the line just to get a few points. Cooley crashed the F-1 Kawasaki. Steve Johnson, Ken Funkhouser and Baldwin's mechanic worked hard to get the Kawasaki ready to race, but Cooley would have to go without a fairing. Haslam rode like a mad man in the rain, legs flailing off the bike at times when he would slip. Mamola was the only rider capable of staying with him, but the face shield on his AGV fogged up causing him to slow. In just 16 laps Haslam was 13-seconds ahead of the second-place battle be- tween Roberts and Marshall, which Roberts won. Sheene and Lawson rounded out the top five. Haslam proved his performance in race one was no fluke after doing the same in race two. After Snetterton, Great Britain was up on the U.S. by an almost insurmountable score of 161-133. Haslam continued to be in perfect form in the final two races at Brands Hatch. Roberts tried to implore the U.S. squad with a pep talk prior to the Brands races saying this was his last chance to win, but with Baldwin sitting out, and Cooley and Aldana riding cautiously, all the pressure was on the three American GP riders. Roberts and Lawson were handicapped trying to race the ultra- powerful 680s on a wet track at Brands. With all the slow corners, the two Yamaha aces spent more time trying to bring the front end down from wheelies than being able to focus on racing. The final score was Great Britain winning 245- 198. The American Dream Team was beaten and Haslam was the star of the show. The Americans vowed to return the following year with more than one of them saying, "We need Freddie." Freddie Spencer was the only missing piece of the '83 American squad, Honda refusing to release its young GP star for the Match Races. The stag- gering cost of bringing over the American team also prevented them from fielding an alternate. The '83 Transatlantic Match Races will go down in history as the time a scrappy group of British riders took down almost the very best road racing team America could assemble. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives VOL. 52 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 P135