(Above) Kevin Schwantz (34) leads Wayne Rainey (6), John Kocinski (30), Fred Merkel (1 ) and John Ashmead (37) in first lap action at Road Atlanta.
(Below) Kocinski and Merkel battled' for 24 laps with Merkel taking second and the championship.
AMA Camel Pro Road Race Series: Round 9
Rainey wins but Merkel's
the champ
By Paul Carruthers
Photos by Paul Carruthers and Randy Marrs
BRASELTON, GA, AUG 10
Team Honda's Wayne Rainey won the ninth
and final round of the Superbike portion of
the AMA/Camel Pro Road Racing Series at
scenic Road Atlanta, but he didn't get the
help he needed to prevent teammate Fred Merkel from taking
.
the maugural Camel Pro Road
Racing Championship. The
race was run under hot and humid
conditions with a very light spectator
turnout.
Rainey went into the final round
oL the series needing to win with
Merkel finishing no better than third
if he was to take the title, determined
by a best-finish·of-the-weekend com·
bination of Formula One and Superbike points. What Rainey needed was
for someone to beat Merkel.
For most of the 24-lap final it
looked as though Rainey would get
what he needed, first from Suzuki's
Kevin Schwantz and then from Team·
Yamaha's John Kocinski.
Schwantz battled with and led
Rainey, but that went by the wayside
when his GSXR 750 jumped out of
gear entering turn four and tossed the
Texan on his head.
Rainey's hopefortheextra 30,000
now found itself firmly rested on the
young shoulders of Kocinski, who
was doing an admirable job of holdmg off Merkel. That also came to. an
end, however, as Merkel shot by gomg
into turn one on the second-to-Iast
lap to take second place and with it
the championship.
Kocinski held on for his best-ever
National finish in third while John
Ashmead rode to a lonely fourth on
his Peter Brady Racing Honda
VFR750. Dan Chivington bounced
back from a high-speed crash on Fri·
.day to round out the top five.
Tension in the Honda pi ts was at a
high on the days leading up to the
final race. Rainey felL he had been
dealt a bad hand of cards by the AMA
because of his one-lap penalty for
passing lapped riders under a yellow
flag at Sears Point in May. That·decision, combined with injuries, prevented Rainey from an easy championsbip - his win today was his
sixth in the nine-round series and
also brought him out of a third-place
tie with Freddie Spencer for number
of career Superbike wins at 12, and
into another tie for second with Eddie
Lawson at 13 wins; Merkel leads the
