Championships To Baldwin And Uncini; 200 Mph For Vance; Winston Pro Series Gets Hotter.
Championships to Baldwin and Uncini; 200 MPH for Vance; Winston Pro Series Gets Hotter.
RACEWATCH
BALDWIN WINS TWICE AT
SEARS POINT
Team Honda’s Mike Baldwin won both the Formula One and Superbike races at Sears Point, taking the 1982 Formula One Championship in the process. The Superbike race was red flagged and restarted after an 11th-lap crash that left a rider and his bike partially blocking the racetrack. Both before the restart and after, Kawasaki’s Wayne Rainey led Baldwin convincingly. It was Rainey’s best ride to date, and he turned 1:46 lap times to take the lead from Baldwin and hold it. But on the last lap Rainey lost the front wheel in an off-camber turn and crashed, fracturing his collarbone. Baldwin won after fighting off a surprisingly strong challenge from privateer Harry Klinzmann and his
Racercrafters Kawasaki, who actually passed Baldwin a couple of times but settled for second place, he said later, instead of risking a crash in another pass attempt. Honda’s Steve Wise was third, privateer Jon Woo fourth, Mike Spencer and the Vance & Hines/Cycle Tune Suzuki fifth and Wes Cooley sixth on the Yoshimura Suzuki, followed by Thad Wolff, Roberto Pietri, and Rhys Howard. Jon Woo was later disqualified because his bike was 8 lb. under the minimum weight.
Baldwin jumped out in front of the Formula One race on his FWS Honda VFour but Cooley was right there with the Yoshimura Superbike, which Cooley elected to ride over the Formula One Suzuki, saying the Superbike handled better on the rough Sears Point track.
After getting sideways several times from dragging the engine cases, Cooley backed off to 1:47 lap times while Bald-
win ran 1:46 and 1:45 laps, slowing to 1:47 laps when he was about seven seconds ahead of Cooley. That margin held steady, with Klinzmann the same distance behind Cooley. Klinzmann ran a safe third until a needle in one of his bike’s carbs lost its clip and dropped into the main jet, causing his bike to run on three cylinders. Klinzmann faded to fifth, behind Steve Wise and Thad Wolff, all on superbikes. Jon Woo ran sixth until crashing his superbike, and Miles Baldwin brought in the first TZ750 in sixth place. Rhys Howard was seventh. Roberto Pietri crashed, Nick Richichi didn’t start due to handling problems and Mark Homchick didn’t start after breaking his bike’s transmission and cases in a heat race.
Wise finished second in season Formula One points, with Cooley third. Three rounds remain in the Superbike championship.
GRAHAM LEADS BUT WINSTON PRO RACE ISN’T OVER
( f \ÊkÊ e come to run as hard and as WW fast as we can,” said Ricky Graham’s tuner, Tex Peel, before the DuQuoin Mile. “We come to win. Second isn’t anything.” Peel had massaged two engines for DuQuoin and had head masseur Ronnie Alexander on hand to keep a watchful eye. The best engine promptly blew up in practice. Graham went to his back-up machine, but Peel feared it might not be strong enough. It was. Graham took the lead halfway through the 25 lap National and rolled to a comfortable margin of victory. Jay Springsteen, Graham’s chief rival, took second by inches over Ted Boody.
There was joy in the Peel/Graham camp for this was Graham’s third National win of the season, his eighth visit to winner’s circle and the end of the day saw him with a substantial 47-point lead over Springsteen in the chase for the Grand National Championship title.
The dirt track chargers regrouped at Chicago’s Santa Fe Speedway for the second short track on the National schedule before quickly heading to the Peoria TT.
If there is a weak link in the Peel/Graham camp it is short track. Peel, admitting not to be a two-stroke lover or tuner,
was using an engine obtained from the Harley-Davidson factory for Graham’s mount. Ten laps into Graham's evening—the end of his heat race—the night was over. He finished out of a transfer to the semi and packed it in for the night.
Alex Jorgensen dialed in the Santa Fe quarter mile on his Can-Am and led everyone on a merry 25-lap chase to the checkered flag. Springsteen, on what be-
gan life in 1978 as a 250cc H-D MXer, took second to close the gap on Graham by 16 points. Bubba Shobert finished third on a Kawasaki.
Lady Luck frowned even more on Graham at Peoria. He got out of shape coming over the Peoria jump in practice and crashed spectacularly. The result was a broken rib, a crushed vertebra and a trip to the hospital.
Harley’s Randy Goss dominated the> 25 laps on the demanding Peoria track to take his first win of the season followed by Scott Parker, another H-D team rider, and Alex Jorgensen on a Can-Am 500cc four-stroke Single.
Springsteen finished fifth, knocking another 10 points off Graham’s spread and leaving him with just a 21-point lead. Goss moved to within five points of Springsteen.
What had been viewed as a run-away by Graham a scant 48 hours prior had'* now become a full-scale battle to be played out in the final six Nationals three miles, two half miles and one TT. Graham, by virtue of his points lead, rates the advantage. However, it will be one helluva fight.
—Gary Van Voorhis/Cycle News East
VANCE AND HINES SET DRAG RECORDS
Terry Vance and Byron Hines continued to set records and lose races in NMRA drag events. At Orange County (California), Vance was fast qualifier in Pro Stock but was eliminated in the second round of qualifications when his bike's rear tire spun off the line. The final was won by Larry Cook and his KZ1000, defeating Dave Shultz’s threecylinder Kawasaki two-stroke.
In Top Fuel Vance set low E.T. and top speed of the meet, turning 7.31 sec. at 198.50. But Vance lost the final round to Elmer Trett and his Kawasaki when
the blower belt broke on Vance’s Suzuki.
At Fremont, California Vance won Top Fuel, defeating Trett. Because the Fremont track is so rough, Fuelers were run only '/s-mile and races were decided by observers stationed halfway down the* track.
Pro Stockers ran the full quarter mile at Fremont and Vance lowered the NMRA E.T. record to 8.55 sec. He was beaten in the final by Superbike Mike Keyte, who holeshot Vance to win with an E.T. of 8.63 vs. Vance’s 8.57 sec.
Back from the NMRA circuit, Vance became the first man on a wheel-driven motorcycle to break 200 mph and to make a six-second run when he turned 6.98 sec. at 203.61 mph during regular Wednesday drags at Orange County. Vance later predicted that his Fueler r would reach 210 mph at the Indianapolis Top Fuel finals.
UNCINI IS WORLD CHAMPION
I talian Franco Uncini tied up the 1982 I 500cc Road Racing World Championship with two races left in the series. Uncini rode his Gallina-sponsored works Suzuki RG500 to three wins and a third to take the points lead from three-time World Champion Kenny Roberts and to Tie up the title.
At Jarama, Spain, Uncini was third behind Roberts and Barry Sheene after early leader Freddie Spencer's bike broke. Graeme Crosby was fourth and reigning World Champion Marco Lucchinelli fifth. A week later, in Italy, Uncini beat Spencer and Crosby, with 'Roberts complaining of tire problems fourth. Lucchinelli was again fifth. And as in Spain, American Randy Mamola failed to finish with mechanical problems. Sheene also dropped out in Italy with engine trouble.
At Assen, Holland, a sudden rainstorm seven laps into the final event brought down leader Roberts, Spencer "and Crosby. Race officials stopped the race, scored the first six laps as one heat of a two-heat race, and restarted the event. The final overall finish gave Uncini the win with 2-1 finishes, followed by Roberts (1-3), Sheene (3-4), Crosby (6-2) and Mamola (7-6).
Sheene was eliminated from the British GP by a collision with a crashed 250 during open practice before the event. He broke both legs severely.
Roberts crashed on the first lap of that race, injuring two fingers on his right hand. Uncini won, with Spencer second rand Crosby third. Loris Reggiani was fourth on a works Suzuki, with Mamola fifth.
At Sweden, Mamola’s fortunes started to look up—he finished second, behind Honda’s Takazumi Katayama. Spencer DNF, and Crosby was third. Uncini also DNF, but because Roberts, still recovering from his injuries, didn’t enter, the championship already belonged to Uncini.
Marco Lucchinelli won the championship last year on Roberto Gallina’s works Suzuki, but left for a lucrative Honda works contract. Uncini took Lucchinelli’s place on the Gallina team.
Two races remained on the schedule after Sweden. B3
