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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126918
Don G!.ft8ne leads Rich Oliver, Kevin Schwantz and James Stephens in the
Formtlra Two final; Greene won with Stephens second and Oliver third.
Greene (1) and Schwantz (76) battled for 17 laps before Schwantz
crashed in tum eight; Greene's win gave him the championship.
Superbike action with Gary Goodfellow (499) leading Randy Renfrow (96) Keith Pinkstaff and Doug Polen.
Lucchinelli fourth. Carry Andrew
rounded out the top five.
When the £lag dropped to start the
£inal, Rainey shot into the lead with
Shobert, Renfrow and Kocinski following down the hill and into turn
two. Schwantz had already begun his
assault on the field and was up to
ninth when the pack jammed into
turn three. Merkel, meanwhile, wasn't
as aggressive and was still back in the
pack. When the pack completed the
first lap the order read: Rainey, Shobert, Kocinski, Filice, Renfrow,
Goodfellow and Schwamz; Merkel
was 14th. Schwantz then dove under
Goodfellow in turn two to take sixth.
After two laps Rainey held a 6.5second cushion on a fast-moving
Schwantz, who was £i£th and closing
in on Filice and Kocinski. By the end
of lap three Schwantz was up to third,
but Rainey was in control and had
stretched the advantage to 7.3-seconds
on the Suzuki pilot.
By the end of lap four, Merkel was
up to eighth while Rainey continued
to pull away from the field. Shobert
still held third as hanging with Rainey on the opening laps had pulled
him clear. Filice by this time had gotten by teammate Kocinski and the
only real race was the one shaping up
between Goodfellow, Renfrow and
Polen.
By the end of seven, Rainey had six
seconds on Shobert, who in turn had
another three on Schwa.ntz. Merkel
was on the move and got by Kocinski
on the eighth lap. Schwantz wasn't
gaining much ground on Shobert
and on lap 10 the Yoshimura Suzuki
exploded its motor on the front
straight.
Merkel wasgainingon Filice while
Kocinski seemed to be getting caught
by the dueling group of Renfrow,
Polen, Goodfellow, Lance and•Pink- .
.....
._ ....
••••
a. • • _ . .
sta{[. Merkel was gaining ground on
Filice at almost a second a lap and on
20 he got by.
Rainey had a 12.2-second cushion
on Shobert with Merkel way back in
third. Kocinski had nearly five seconds
on the group waging battle for sixth,
but that gap was being cut drastically.
The 23rd lap saw Renfrow having
trouble with a lapper in the corkscrew and suddenly Goodfellow broke
free while Renfrow lost four places;
Renfrow was also having suspension
problems after the Yoshimura Suzuki's suspension was changed after the
heat race, and said later that he had
fried the clutch at the start, that it
wouldn't downshift during the race
and that he couldn't downshift
smoothly. Goodfellow trailed Kocinski by only 1.6 seconds and on lap 28
the Suzuki pilot passed the factory
Yamaha.
Rainey was cruising out front and
crossed the line 20 seconds ahead of
Shobert. Merkel was next, 5.5 seconds
ahead of Filice with Kocinski outdriving Goodfellow out of turn nine
to take fifth. Polen and Pinkstaff
both edged Renfrow.
Rainey, whose last win at Laguna
Seca was in the Formula Two class in
1984, said, "The wind was blowing
around a little bit out there and it was
moving us around on the brakes, but
other than that there were no problems."
Someone suggested that Rainey
should help Shobert out on the dirt
tracks to return the favor of holding
off Merkel. "See, I'm riding their old
bikes from last year, so I'll give him
one of myoid Harleys," Shobert
joked.
"That's got to be the farthest back
I've ever had to start," Merkel said.
"It was like a parking lot out there on
the first lap. It (the bike) was iJ;l. a ,
completely different chassis and we
had to tear it apart and put it together
10 front of an AMA referee. Everything worked great, but it wasn't as
fast as my frontrunner - but I pitched
it down the road and couldn't use
ilo"
•
Results
SUPERBIKE: 1. Wayne Rainey (Hon); 2. Bubba
Shobert (Hon); 3. Fred Merkel (Hon); 4. Jim Filica
(Yam); 5. John Kocinski (Yam); 6. Gary Goodfellow
(Suz); 7. Doug Polen (Suz); B. Keith Pinksleff(Suz); 9.
Randy Renfrow (Suz); 10. Kevin Monahan (Vam);
1 1. Marco Lucchinelli (Duct; 12. Dale Quarterley
(Yam); 13. Nigel Gale (Yam); 14. Carry Andrew
(Hon); 15. Ottis Lance (Yam); 16. Ricky Orlando
(Hon); 17. Jim Tribou (Yam); 18. Chuck Aksland
(Yam); 19. Malcolm Hill (Suz); 20. Walter Nino
(Yam); 21. Tom Walther (Suz); 22. Rick Shaw (Yam);
23. Jeff Stern (Suz); 24. Steve Trinder (Suz); 25.
Don Sieve (Yaml; 26. James Jepsen (Yam); 27.
Bruce Gibson (Suz); 28. Frank Mazur (Hon); 29.
Edger Hinton (Suz); 30. Kevin SChwantz (Suz); 31.
Don Greene (Suz); 32. Steve Linlejohn (Yam); 33.
Dan Chivington (Yam); 34. Mlrvin Brlun (Yam); 35.
Richard Arnaiz (Yam).
SUPERBIKE POINT STANDINGS: 1. Wayne Rainey (111); 2. Fred Merkel (110); 3. Bubbe Shobert
1561; 4. Gary Goodfellow (SO); 5. John Ashmeed
(35); 6. Reuben-McMurter (34); 7. (TIE) Dan Chivington/Kevin Schwen.. (29); 9. oni. Lance (2B); 10.
John Kocinski (25).
AMA Formula Two Road
Racing Series: Round 7
Greene's day,
Greene's year
By Paul Carruthers
MONTEREY, CA, JULY 13
Honda-mounted Don Greene
watched as leader Kevin
Schwantz ended his Formula
Two debut in a turn eight
O