Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126912
(Above) Rainey (6). Schwantz (34). Renfrow (96) and Ballington at the beginning of the race. (Below) Renfrow on his Ron Barrick-tuned Honda. (Below) Schwantz and his Yoshimura Suzuki cruised in Formula One. running a second a lap slower than in his Superbike heat. AMA Camel Pro Formula One Road Racing Series: Round 1 Ballington comes back in style By John Ulrich Photos by Farren Williams, Mike Pons and Ulrich SONOMA, CA, MAY 18 Four-time road racing World Champion Kork 'BaBington of South Africa won the Formula One race at Sears Point, marking his, first road racing victory since October of 1982. Ballington, 35, rode Mac. , . Lean Racmg s three-cyhnder Honda RS500 tuned by Stuart · . Toomey to bea tStar.f Ire Raang/ 6 Renfrow-Blgoney Raang-sponsored Randy Renfrow and Team Honda's Wayne Rainey, both -on Honda RS500s. Kevin Schwanu retired while leading when a fuel tank vent probLem made his Yoshimura GSXR750 Suzuk! Superbike quit running. Balhngton, who won both the 250cc and 350cc World Championships in 1978 and 1979 on works Kawasakis, last won a motorcycle race at Brands Hatch, England in October 1982, taking the Shell Sport 500 on a KR500 Kawasaki. BaJIington didn't race in 1983, rode two events in 1984, didn't race in 1985 and so far this year has ridden at Daytona (where he retired with met:hanical problems ....hile A.lri-' Portrait of a World Champion after work; Ballington in the pits. After winning. Ballington took a victory lap to greet the fans, ning seventh in the Daytona Superbike 200) and at Sears Point. He first saw the difficult, tight Sears Point circuit two days before the race, during Friday practice. Prior to the race, ,Ballington had tested MacLean's Hondas at Willow Springs International Raceway and at Laguna Seca . International Raceway. "\t's almost as good as winning a Grand Prix," said Ballington after his victory. "Especially coming back on a strange track on a machine I've never raced against riders I've never competed against. Especially getting on the (winner's) rostrum and giving my sponsors their first win of the season. I'm really happy. I would have been happy with a third or a second. But to win ... I'm over the moon." Ballington, who has signed with MacLean Racing to contest the entire Camel Pro Formula One Series, wasn't happy with the track before the race. "The toughest pan about it is that there are many places you must not crash. That's the toughest part. You just can't afford to crash," Ballington said, referring to the proximity of dirt embankments and steel barriers to the pavement in several corners. Ballington warmed up slowly to the course, riding conservatively in practice and in his heat race. Several riders counted Ballington out as a threat, but former racer Steve McLaughlin, who put together the deal that brought Ballington to Daytona in March, put it best when he said "You shouldn't underestimate BalLington. Nobody gets to be World Champion four times, including twice in the most competitive class, by mistake." Rainey won the first heat race on Saturday, the day before the final, jumping immediately to a 2.o-second lead over Renfrow; Renfrow closed up the gap with two successive laps faster than Rainey's, turning 1:51.93 and 1:51.74 to Rainey's 1:52.35 and I:52.12. On the fourth of five laps, Renfrow had a shot at taking the lead entering the chicane set up with cones at the entrance to turn one, but his bike took one extra jump as he went in hard on the braies, and Rainey got away. Brazilian Marco Greco was third at that point but apparently mistook the white flag for the checkered flag and cruised around; transplanted New Zealander Gary Goodfellow, now 'living in British Columbia, Canada, rode his nearstock (equipped with pipe and carbs) Suzuki GSXR750 Limited Edition into third place; Gre~o was credited with fourth in the heat, ahead of Canadian Miles Baldwin on an RS500 Honda and Oregon's Keith Pinkstaff on another Suzuki GSXR 750. Schwanu owned the second heat, riding his spare Yoshimura Suzuki Superblkeithe \:iisapJ1eated; buiolding to an eight-second, then 12-second lead, turning a fastest lap of 1:50.91 and then cruising around at 1:51.55 and then a couple of I :54s'. Australian Steve Trinder and his 1983 Suzuki RG500 Mark IX ran second with advertising copywriter and former journalist Paul Van luyle third on John Lassak's air-cooled Yamaha RD400 in a Tl250 frame. Ballington was fourth, starting out slowly with a I:55, then a I:54; he sped up to a 1:52 and passed Van luyle and Trinder to take second place. Trinder stayed at I :55 and I:56 for third in the heat and Russ Paulk of Nashville, Tennessee, who had never seen Sears Point and who had never ridden his 1985 RS500 (bought (rom Renfrow at Daytona) before Saturday practice, gradually picke4 up his pace, passing Doug Chandler and Van luyle and gaining on Trinder. Schwanu crossed the finish line first, followed by Ballington, Trinder, Paulk and Van luyle. But AMA officials declared' that Schwantz had jumped the start, and docked him a lap. That made Schwantl seventh in the heat race. Formula One entrants were sparse, which why Schwantz's lost lap only put him back to sevenlh. Just 10 riders started the £irst F-I heat, with eight starters in the second heat. The last-chance qualifiers for the class were cancelled, and 18 riders (all there were) made the main event. Following the Formula One heats, Schwanujumpedon his other Superbike and blasted to a Superbike heat race win, turning a I:48 and a low 1:49 on his way to defeating Rainey. That made Schwantz the fastest man in both classes. Which brought Schwanu to a couple of decisions. Yoshimura R&D of America's Suehiro "Nabe" Watanabe said "Only I care about Superbike. We are only testing in Formula One. I don't know if we will race yet. " Schwanu wamed to race. "I can run I:48s no problem," he said. "I think I can run the Formula One race, rest during the Formula Two race, run the Superbike race and get double the bucks. I think I can win both of 'em." Decision One made, Watanabe had his mechanics pull the weight 0[£ Schwanu's spare bike, lowe.ring its weight from the Superbike-required 400 pounds down to 365 pounds. Decision Two concerned tires. Schwanu ran his heat races on Dunlop 407s, medium compound biasbelted slicks, on 4.0-inch rear 'rims; Dunlop tire technician Jim Allen said the tire wouldn't do more than four or five laps at Schwanu's pace without overheating; Allen called Schwanu's.tire a qualifying tire. I JilL< ,,,,!(Cc:JntrnuMlM ~~, J