Throwback Thursday: A Pair of Ones
Larry Lawrence | July 26, 2018
Throwback Thursday: A Pair of Ones
In this week’s Throwback we go back 32 years to the 1986 Daytona 200. Battling in this shot are Yamaha-mounted Mike Baldwin (No. 1F), Honda’s Fred Merkel (No. 1) and Yoshimura Suzuki’s Satoshi, Tsujimoto. Both Baldwin and Merkel had earned the right to wear the No. 1 road racing plate in 1986. In 1985 Baldwin won the AMA Formula One Championship, while Merkel won the AMA Superbike Championship.
Throwback Thursday: A Pair of Ones
Baldwin was set to race in the 500cc Grand Prix Championship that year for Kool Yamaha, but before he left for overseas Yamaha wanted him to race in the Daytona 200. So, the AMA decided to have both Baldwin and Merkel wear the No. 1 in that’s year’s 200 – Baldwin Yamaha wearing the 1F for Formula One.
Baldwin ran near the front until his bike started having ignition problems forcing him out of the race with about 18 laps to go. Merkel finished on the podium, third to Eddie Lawson and Kevin Schwantz.
Merkel would go one to win his third-consecutive AMA Superbike Championship that year. Baldwin had his best-ever Grand Prix season, scoring a solid five podium finishes and ending the year ranked fourth in the 500cc Grand Prix Championship.
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