Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Wayne Rainey (abo ve) won in Formula One. his first Camel Pro win ever. (Below) Rich Schlachter moved up to second when Renfrow crashed. AMA Grand National Championship! Came l Pro Series: Round 9 Ra iney wins when Renfrow crashes out By Paul Carruthers SOi'\O MA. CA , MAY 19 Wayne R ai n ey's patience proved to be a VIrtue In the Formula O n e race at Sears Point as her waited contently for leader Randy R en fro w to make a mistake. The mi scu e ca me o n th e 26th lap wh en Renfrow high-sided hi s H onda in turn four and th e red flag ended th e race prematurely. 10 th us hand in g Rainey hi s first -ever Nationa l wi n. 'The win ended a perfect week end for the Honda -mou nted ride r as he a lso took top hono rs in the Formula Two race. In a ll it was a good da y for MarLean Racing as Ra in ey's tea m mat e R ich a rd c hl ac hu-r fini she d M'COl IlJ in bo th th e Fo rmula ()n~ an d Two races. The newl y-r epav ed Sears Poi n t R a cew a y ga ve fans close ra cing th roughou t th e weeken d , bu t a lso d ish ed o u t its share o f traged y. Fo ur red flags were waved d urin g th e week end wi th th e mo st tragic moment co m ing in th e sidec ar race . Mi ch ael Pa rk in son o f C h ico, Ca lif o rnia was kill ed o n Su nday wh en h is sideca r fli pped in turn o ne . Parkinson 's pa sseng er, Francis Ma zur, wa s a lso in jured a nd was ad mi tted to So noma Vall ey H ospita l where h e was listed in stable condition at press time. Wes Coo lev was the other serious lvinjured rid e~ after crash ing whii e lead ing th e Superbi ke race o n ia tu r- dav . Cool cv lost the back en d of hi s H~nda in on e of the fastest sectio ns of the track and su ffered a brok en vert ebra in hi s neck , tw o bro ken femurs, a broken hip a nd a ruptu red sp leen. He is. h owever. expected to hav e a slo w, but fu ll recover y. The ea rl iest blow ca me o n Frida y as Super bike phenomenon Kevin Sch wa ru z cra shed a Baul e of th e Twins Ducati during practice, The crash resulted in a broken co lla rbo ne for th e 20-year-old winner o f th e Willow Sp rings round o f th e cha m p io n ship_ " I was riding Dal e Newton's Du cati and a fte r four laps I started gelling down and going fast, " Schwantz sa id . " G o ing into the carousel (t u rn six) I thought I hit a false neutral , bur the chain had come off and it went slap, sla p and threw me off." The various crashes th ro ug hou t the wee kend brought up th e subject of th e tra ck's surface. but the problem may just be that the new surface is too good. Do uble winner Ra in ey had his viewpoint o n the subject. " Befo re, th e bumps showed where the line was at ." Ra in ey said. "Before, th e bumps would pick the bike up and he lp in changing directions. Now you have 10 force it more 10 turn , The ra cing is so close now you've got three or four riders cra m me d into one line; [ don 't think th e sea ler is coming up. but th e track is faster and th ere' s no t en o ug h room to pass. It mak es it a ll turns and no stra ig h ts." All in a ll, it was a sad week end in ter m s of acci de nts a nd AMA referee R ick Hu tch in s sa id it wa s th e most pro blems he ha d seen in three yea rs, " We haven 't had a ny th ing worse th an th an broken ribs o r a broken leg ." Hu tch in s said. Ren fro w q ua lified h is Ren fro wBigon ey Racing H o nd a o n th e pole fo r the Form u la One race by turn in g a record -selling lap in I m inute, 43.6 seconds in Su nday morn ing's timed practice session wit h Rainey close behind in th e low I:+Is. Rain ey despit e hi s pre-race pl an o f sitting behin d Renfrow - led th e fir st lap a head o f Renfrow, Schla chter a nd din-tracker Doug Cha ndler, Ri cky Orl ando . J ohn Beuen rourt a nd Dan Chivington . "Ra inev, Ren fro w a nd Schl acht er wa sted no time in puuing di stan ce between themsel ves a nd the rest o f th e field a s th ey immediately pulled a way. Renfrow go t by Rain ey in turn seven o n th e second lap a n d th e two start ed to leav e Sc h lac h ter behind. Chandler. meanwh ile, began to sepa ra te himself from th e pack a nd sta rted io beco me a p roblem fo r Sc h lac h ter. T he dirt- tracker wa s on th e p row l for Camel P ro Ser ies points a nd was riding fas t a nd smooth. Renfrow a nd Ra in ey co n tin ued 10 leav e th e fie ld with Rainey, see m ingly, co ntent to si t back a nd wai t. On lap five. Ra iney pulled up next to Renfrow goi ng int o tu rn II a nd the ca t-a nd -mo use game began. Rai nev exi ted II in th e lead, but half-a la p lat er Renfrow took o ver aga in in turn seven . T he or der a t th e end o f six lap s was Renfrow. Rain ey, Schlachter, Cha nd ler. Ri cky Orlando, Rueben McMurter, Doug Brauueck , J ohn Bettenco urt , J eff H an ey and Ted Boody. T ha t ord er rema in ed th e sa me through th e n ext tw o lap s , but C ha nd ler wa s a lmost with in stri ki ng dist an ce of Schlachter at th e end of lap eig h t. Ren fro w a nd Rain ey sta rted 10 hit traffi c o n lap n in e a nd Cha nd ler co u ld n' t get a ny closer to Sch lac h ter as th e tw o a lso ca ug h tback marker s. On lap 12. Ra i ney showed he ma y hav e been h old in g back as he man aged 10 reel Ren frow hac k i n a fter losin g grou nd in traffic. In the fas t esses. Rain ey got th e door slam me d h ard in hi s face hy a back marker a nd Ren fro w broke free . If there was ever a lime for Renfrow to make a run, this was it. Rain ey, however, quick ly made up th e g round lo st aft er realizin g he co u ld do it. " I a lm ost pull ed in because I felt some th ing in th e front end loosening up," Rainey sa id after th e ra ce, " I looked down and it looked all right so I kept going. [ think th e oil in th e damper heated up. but after that I kn ew I could ca tch up." The rest of the race followed the sa me pattern. One lap Ra iney would fall behind a nd th e n ext he'd be right back on Ren fro w 's rear tire. The leading duo lapped up to ninth place Bettenco urt by lap 22 as they co n tinued to run in the high I:44s and low 1:45s . At the end of lap 25 Ren frow and Ra in ey had lapped u p to seventh place, but R en fro w got h is Honda sideways in turn four and crashed ha rd as Ra in ey ba rely snuck by the wreckage. " It was on the off-camber turn four. or five," Ra in ey sa id. " H e got sideways and the nex t thing I kn ew he was up a nd over hi s bike. No one li kes to win like th is, bur I've lost ra ces th e same way before. I'd j ust like 10 thank my Mom and Dad and myfamily for back in g meall th e way." Ren fro w was kn ocked unconscious, but was recovering without injuries, according to referee Hutchins. With th e a m bu la nce on th e track, th e red fla g ca me o u t and th e race was ca lle d. Schlachter was handed second pl ace with Chandl er holdin g o n to collect 13 va l ua ble po ints for third. It wa s Chandler's fir st ride o n th e exCooley th ree-cyl inder H onda . Fou rth pl ace went to Orlando and h is VF750F H onda S upe rbi ke with Bra un eck ta king fifth . Renfrow was a wa rded sixth pl ace with Walter Nitt a seven th on h is Cha m p io n Moriwaki Su per bike. Dirt -tracker T ed Boody pi ck ed up points o n G eorge Vin cenzi's TZ750 in eig h th , with Betten co u rt o n h is VF750F H onda ninth a nd H aney lOth. • Results FORMULA ONE : 1. W ayne Rainey (Han ); 2. Rich Sch lachter (Hon); 3 . Doug Cha ndler (Hon); 4 . Ricky Or la ndo (Honl; 5 . Do ug Brauneck (Yam); 6 . Ran dy Renfrow (Han ); 7. Walt Nino (Kaw); 8. Ted Bood y (Yam); 9 . John Bettencourt (Hon ); 10. Jeff Haney (Han); 11. Gl enn Barry (Han ); 12. Keith Day (Yam); 13 . Ric h Ol iver (Kaw); 14 . Jim Ad am o (Cag); 15. Carry An drew (Kawl; 16 . Kerry Brya nt (Kaw); 17 . Dave Harris (Yam); 18 . Jim Tribou (Yam); 19 . Keit h Pinksta ff (Suz) ; 20. Kurt Bickel. POINT STANDINGS CAMEL PRO SERIES : 1. Bu bba Shoben (821 2. : Daub Chandl er (74 t 3. Scott Parker (63 1 4 . Ted ; Boody (5 9); 5 . (TIE) Randy Goss/SCOlt Pearson (54 1 ; 7 . Alex Jorgensen (4 7); 8 . Ronnie Jones (431; 9. Pete Hames (39); 10 . (TIE) Chris Carr/Steve Eklund (37): 12. Jay Spr in g ste en (3 5): 13. Terry Poovey (33): 14 . Ric h Sch lac ht er (26): 15 . J immy Filice (26): 16 . (TIE) Randy RenfrowlWayne Rain ey / Freddie Spencer (20) :"19 . Keit h Day (191: 20 . Rodney Farris (17). FORMULA ONE : 1. Ric h Schla chter (26 ): 2. (TIE) Wayne Rain ey /Randy Ren frow /Fredd ie Spencer (20 ); 5 . (TIEl M ike B.ldwin /Doug Brauneck (16 ); 7. (TIE) Jeff Haney/Doug Chandler (13) : 9. Ricky Or lando ( II ); 10 . Ted Boody ( 10). Merkel bears down for Superbike win By Paul Carruthers SONOMA, CA, MAY 19 T eam Honda's Fred Merkel won a n accident-marred Superbike race at Sears Po int, taking over the cha m p io nsh ip poi n ts lead on hi s Mike Velasco and Merlvn P lumlee-tuned Honda VF750F Int ercep tor. T h e win added drive to Merkel 's hid to ret ain his Superbike C ha m p io ns h ip . Rook ie T odd Bru bak er o f Starfire Ra cing finish ed seco nd o n hi s H onda with Champ io n Mor i wak is Wal t Nitr o . th e reign ing AFl\1 C ha m p io n, fin ishing third a ll h is Kaw a saki . W ill ow S pr i ngs win ner Kevin

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