Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

American John Kocinski (4) leads New Zealand's Canadian transplant Gary Goodfellow in the Australian Castrol Six-Hour Endurance Race near Sydney, Australia. The Kocinski/Jimmy Filice team finished sixth. Australian Michael Dowson (3) laps Filice; Dowson and fellow Australian Superbike pilot Kevin Magee won the race on their Ya':"'8ha FZ750. Magee/Dowson take Australian Six-Hour; Kocinski/Filice sixth By Bruce Newton Photos By John Lapka SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, ocr. 12 Factory Yamaha Superbike racers John Kocinski and Jim Filice finished sixth in the Australian Castrol Six~Hour production motorcycle endurance race hc:;ld at Gran 16. Park today. The two Americans had a clean and consistent I run on the Marlboro Yamaha Dealer Team Yamaha FZ750. Australian team leaders Kevin Magee and Michael Dow on won the race by just five seconds from New Zealanders Robert Holden and Brent Jones on an Action Suzuki GSXR750. AMA Superbike/Formula One Suzuki campaigner Gary Goodfellow and Canadian Superbike Champion Michel Mercier, on another Suzuki, failed to finish after suffering three crashes between them during the race. Kocinski and Filice struggled to adapt to Box Stock racing, a form of motorcycle racing in which neither had any experience. For 23 year-old Filice it was also his first-ever endurance race while 18 year-old Kocinski had won the 1985 WERA Endurance title riding for Cycle Tech. Kocinski was consistently the quicker of the two, qualifying them lOth with a time of 1m 18.94s despite using the same tired Michelin HiSport on the rear which Filice had already used to set a 1m 19.60s time. Team Honda Australia's Mal Campbell grabbed pole position with a 1m 17.21 on theVFR750 he shared with lain Pero. Campbell collected $2500 for setting fast-time and then being the fastest rider in a postpractice run-off between the top six qualifiers. In the race, however, Campbell found he could not hang with the sheer pace of Holden's Suzuki, even claiming at one stage that the bike was too fast for a stocker. Campbell crashed the Honda in his second session while trying to stay with Holden and the bike was subsequently retired with a holed tank and smashed clutch. That left Holden/Jones and Suzuka Eight-Hour second-place getters Magee/Dowson to battle in Australia's most prestigous race. The Yamaha pairing had an advantage in that Jones was riding a Production bike for only the second time and had never seen the twisty Oran Park layout before, and was subsequently about a second off the pace. However, the Action Suzuki crew was putting in some absolutely brilliant pit-work, changing riders, refueling and getting a new rear Dunlop DOT tire on the bike at every stop in no more than 20 seconds. The Marlboro Yamaha team, using Bridgestones, was nearly as good, usually completing pit-stops in under 30 seconds. . As the race entered i IS final stages, the Action Suzuki team appeared to have the race until just after Holden had got on the bike for the final time when he got into a tank-slapper and buckled the £rOnt wheel. The crew completed the front wheel change in just over a minute, but that put the Yamaha team into a seemingly insurmountable lead with less than an hour to go. However, at its last stop, the Marlboro team was penalized a lap for not waiting the mandatory 30 seconds to push start the machine after it failed to electric start. That put Holden back into the lead. But it wasn't al(' over yet with Holden having to come in for a fuel top-up with 15 minutes to go, putting Magee back into a solid 15second lead, which Holden managed to pare down to five seconds at the flag. Magee/Dowson and Holden/Jones completed a record 270 laps in the hectic race, 10 better than the previous record set in 1984. Kocinski and Filice completed 266 lap for sixth. After the race Kocinski aid he had been troubled by the lack of clearance on the stock Fl, nearly crashing earl y in the race when the rear wheel was lifted off the track, when he dragged a pipe. Kocinski was extremely dissappointed to finish sixth. "Si..xth is bad," he said. "Top three would have been pretty good. Sixth is like 12th or 15th, people ask how you went and you say 15thandtheytllink 'that guy ain't wortll -...'." Filice was more philosophical about the finishing spot but also expressed disquiet about Box Stock racing: "Superbikes are a little more safe I feel. Box Stock is fine for Amateur raci ng bu.t for Professional level I don't think it' the way to go." Goodfellow/Mercier actually led the American duo for quite some time during the race, but when Goodfellow had a tank-slapper, and like Holden buckled the front wheel of the Suzuki, their race went quickly down hill. After the wheels were changed at both ends, 30 year-old Mercier went out and crashed on his first lap, then decked itagain 40 minutes later when he grounded the fairing and lifted the rear wheel. Unhurt but visibly upset, Mercier pulled into the pits and let Goodfellow take over. However, at the SLOp the fuel tank cap had been put on the wrong way round and fai led to seal. Petrol streamed into the Canada·based rider's eyes as he raced down the front straight: "I couldn't see, grabbed too much front brake and went down," explained Goodfellow later. The bike was put away after that. The other international in the race was Scotland's Niall Mackenzie, rid· ing a VFR750 for a team managed by Wayne Gardner, had litLle betler luck, as the bike was retired at halfway because of terminal engine problems. .ResuIts • FINAL: 1. Michael Dowson/Kevin Magee (Yam) 2701eps; 2. Robert Holden/Brent Jones (Suz)'270; 3. Rod Cox/Richard Scott (Yaml 269; 4. John Poce/Ben Middlemiss (Yem) 268; 5. Roger Hayes/ Tod Hamilton (Klw) 266; 6. John Kocinski/Jim Filice (Yam) 266; 7. Robert Oo

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