Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

thanked sponsors Renton Yamaha, Marushin Helmets, Dunlop, Castrol and ND. Ballington turned his bike over to his brother (and mechanic) Dozy and thanked MacLean Racing, Dunlop, Shoei, ND, Tsubaki and Camel. "I waited two and a half years for this and I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen," said Renfrow. "I was sure something would happen. Either it would break or I'd grab too much front brake and fall down." Renfrow thanked Dunlop, Shoei, Cam 2, ND, mechanic Ron Barrick, tuner and sponsor Burt Bigoney, Starfire Racing, "Camel Pro and all the people who came out there today, the fans." • Results 1. Randy Ranfrow (Hon); 2. Korllllallinglon (Hon); 3. Dale Franklin (Vam); 4. Stave Trinder (Suz); 5. Gary Goodfellow (Suz); 6. Russell Paulk (Hon); 7. Martin Morrison (Suz); 8. Bob Woods (VarnI; 9. David Old (Hon); 10. Henry DeGouw (Vam); 11. Jim Tribou (Suz); 12. David Kieffer (Duel; 13. Kanneth Davis (Suzl; 14. Vincent Bigley (Yainl; 15. David Bearden (Yam); 18. Fred Giaimo (Suzl; 17. Wayne , Rainey (Hon); 18. Marco Greco (Honl; 19. Miles , Baldwin (VarnI; 20. Dan Chivinglon (Bue). RACE DISTANCE; 20 laps, 80 miles. RACE TIME; 34;48.806. AVERAGE SPEED; 103.507 mph. FORMULA ONE POINT STANDINGS; 1. (TIE) Kork Ballington/Randy Renfrow (36); 3. Stave Trinder (22); 4. Gary'Goodfeliow (18); 5. (TIE) Russ Paulk! Dale Franklin (18); 7. (TIE) David Old/Martin Morrison (8); 9. Bob Woods (7); 10. Keith Pinkstaff(61; 11. (TIE) Doug Chand'ier/Hanry DaGouw (5); 13. (TIE) Paul Van Zuyle/Jim Tribou (4); 15. David Kieffer (3); 18. Kenneth Davis(2); 17. (TIE) Carry Andraws/Vincent Bigley (I). AJIA Camel Pro Road RaeI,.. SerIes: Rou.... 3 Raine~goes all the wa~ BRAINERD, MN, JUNE I Wayne Rainey led every lap of the 20-lap, 60-mile Superbike race at Brainerd International Raceway on his Team Honda VFR750F, while reigning Superbike Champion Fred Merkel came from last on the grid to finish second on another VFR 750F. Privateer Gary Goodfellow, originally from New Zealand but now living in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, finished third on a virtually stock Suzuki GSXR750. Weather conditions were perfect for racing; sunny with partial clouds and temperatures in the 70s. The race was expected to be a battle between American Honda's Rainey and U.S. Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz. But Schwantz, riding a Yoshimura R&D of America Suzuki GSXR750, crashed in the last practice session on an overcast Sunday morning while scuffing in new tires; the hike slid, caught and tossed Schwantz off the high side, and he broke his left collarbone in the same place as he's broken it twice before in the last 12 months. Team Yamaha's Jimmy Filice and ohn Kocinski didn't travel to Brainerd; instead, the team stayed in California making sure they cured a problem with the latest batch of FZ750 race kit connecting rods. One of the rods, mis-machined during manufacturing, broke at Sears Poinlin a heat race, breaking the crankcases of Filie's bike; Filice crashed in the oil spilling from the engine. When investigation revealed the problem, Yamaha Racing Manager Ken Clark decided to skip Brainerd. He also contacted rivateers who purchased suspect rods nd strongly urged them not to race ith the rods. Clark promised relacement rods soon, but, in the eantime, many Yamaha riders howed up with near-stock engines eplacing their kitted racing engines. Rainey won the first heat race for grid position on Saturday, running a l7-inch Michelin 1627D on the front and an 18-inch Michelin 1145C on the rear for his Rob Muzzy and Sparky Edmonston-prepared Superbike. Schwantz finished second while trying out a low-profile, English-made Dunlop rear slick (Schwantz tried a Japanese-made 726 Dunlop rear lick in the Formula One heat, went faster and won, beating Rainey). Merkel didn't finish the heat, being sidelined when a one-way rachet system built into his bike's clutch hub (to theoretically control rear-wheel hop under decelleration) broke. The failure of the part wasn't entirely unexpected, which is why Rainey's bike ran with the part removed. But new Superbike engines sent to Team Honda from HRC in Japan always include the de-clutching devices, and the Japanese engineers believe in them. Merkel's mechanics, Mike Velasco and Merlyn Plumlee, didn't remove it from the engine Merkel ran in practice at Brainerd, and when it didn't break, decided to leave it in for the heat race. There would be no de-clutching device in Merkel's engine for the final, which he'd have to start on the back of the grid. (In an interesting bit of intra-team commercial rivalry, Rainey uses and endorses Michelin tires while Merkel uses and endorses Dunlops; Rainey uses a Ke.rker exhaust system and is sponsored by Kerker while Merkel has a similardeal with SuperTrapp.) Rainey won the five-lap heat race at an average speed of 103.50 mph. Schwantz was second, with Goodfellow third ahead of Dan Chivington. on his George Vincenzi-tuned Yamaha FZ750, Dale Quarterley on his Eagle Racing Yamaha FZ750 and Lance Jones on the Super Team FZ750. Kosar Racing's Ottis Lance took the lead of lhe second hea t race on the second lap and kept it to the end. Rueben McMurter finished second, ahead of Kosar Racing's Meril Moen, Jeff Farmer and Rich Arnaiz. Lance's winning average speed was 98.938 mph, much slower than Rainey's. McMurter was among the Yamaha pilots without lheir front-line engines. McMurter's engine was set up for shorter tracks requiring lots of torque, like Loudon, not especially suited for Brainerd's fast sections and long straight. McMuner had sold the engine to a local rider in his hometown, and hastily borrowed it back when Clark called to warn about the bad rods. It was no surprise when Rainey jumped out in front and led the first lap. The surprise was Goodfellow running second on a bike which, compared to the competition, shouldn't have been that far upfield. Goodfellow runs a racing Yoshimura exhaust system and a set of racing carbs on his GSXR750. The wheels are stock, the brakes are stock, the swingarm is stock_ No 13-inch discs, no wider wheels, no expensive frame modifications. And a determined, hard-charging rider who, along with partner Steve Trinder from Australia, depends on making money at each race they attend to make the next race or to return home to Vancouver. Chivington was third on the first lap, ahead of Jones. Merkel was already midpack. Before the second lap was over, Merkel was already fifth; he was fourth on the third lap and third on the fourth lap. By lap five, Merkel was in second place, 12 seconds behind Rainey. Goodfellow was locked into third, and the race for the first three places was over for the dUTation. Rainey grabbed a lot of those 12 seconds on the first few laps, turning a string of one minute, 43-second c..o 00 O'l - - Meril Moen leads Rueben McMurter through the course. just ahead of lapped riders Mark Thorso laps, while Merkel threaded through the pack, rapidly passing but avoiding dangerous situations. One such inciden-t that Merkel avoided on the first lap involved Lance, who collided with Todd Strang (whom Lance later said ran oU and cut back onto the track immediately in front of him); Lance then ran off the pavement in turn nine, the next-to-Iast turn, a fast right-hander just before an overpass carrying vehicles into the infield. Lance ran out of room (and wore out his right boot) trying to flattrack along and stay on the wheels, hit the haybales and spun around completely in a shower of gravel. His bike's right footpeg was broken off .and the brake lever bent, and he was foreed to pit after re-starting the bike. Rainey gained no ground on Merkel for the first several laps after Merkel broke through into second place; when Rainey turned a 1:44.50 on the sixth lap, Merkel turned a 1:45.80. When Rainey turned 1:45.42 on the seventh lap, Merkel turned a 1:45.20. But from that point, Rainey was usually just a tick of the stopwatch faster, sometimes a second faster depending upon lapped traffic. By the finish, the margin of victory would grow to 17.7 seconds. McMurter was on the move, too, charging up through the field, albeit without the kind of horsepower advantage Merkel enjoyed when slicing his way forward. In front of McMurter on lap six were Rainey, Merkel, Goodfellow, Chivington, Jones, a gaining Quarterley, Nigel Gale on a nearly stock-engined (cams/pipe/ carbs) FZ750 built by Curt Jorden and fitted with racing wheels and brakes, Arnaiz on his FZ750, local men Tom Mason and Strang on their Yamahas and Moen. That made McMurter 12th. Not for long. Chivington didn't finish the lap, with mechanical problems. Jones was fading from the front towards the back. Quarterley went out on the eighth lap, a hole in his Yamaha's crankcases, not from a broken connecting rod; the right hand crank flywheel broke off the end of the crankshaft. On one lap, McMurter went from II th to fourth, with Moen right there beside him, behind him or in front of him; to keep fourth, McMurter needed to hold off Moen. In the end, he couldn't. Mason finished sixth, best - local boy, with Gale splitting Mason -' : and rival Strang, who lives in Brainerd. Jim Tribou was ninth with Arnaiz 10th and Jones II th, the last man not lapped by Rainey. "I finally got one'" Rainey' said after taking off his helmet, "if nobody protests me for doing something." That was a comment on Rainey winning at Sears Point but being docked a lap for passing lapped riders under a waving yellow flag. "I figured if I could get a good couple of laps we could get away and that's how it worked out. Fred got hung up in traffic. "I didn't know what to think," Rainey continued. "You get a big lead like that and you start hearing things. I didn't know what to think." Rainey thanked his sponsors, including American Honda, Kerker, Bell, Dianese and Targa Accessories, whose owner, Dave Dewey, started Rainey on his road racing career about five yeais ago. Merkel thanked Honda, his mechanics, Arai, Fox Racing, SuperTrapp and others. Goodfellow's panner, Trinder, watched the proceedings in victory circle and said "We're in the places, Gary and I, we're paying our way. I just hope somebody notices us and picks us up. We can ride the buggers. We just need some good bikes under us." • Results 1. Wayne Rainey (Honl; 2. Fnad Merll.. (Hon); 3. Gary Goodfellow (Suzj; 4. Moril Moen (yam); 5. Rueban McMurter (Yam); e. Tom Maon (Yam); 7. Nigel Gale (Yam); 8. Todd Strang (Yam); 9. Jim Tribou

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