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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126951
Privateer Rich Oliver leads Nordica-backed John Kocinski through a tum during the 250 National. The order was reversed at the finish. Running alone in the lead during the final might have been Renfrow's downfall. While the Vance Sc"Hines rider was burning extra fuel by forcing his Honda to carve through the atmosphere out front, Ballington was sitting close on his tail, riding in Renfrow's draft, conserving gas. Ballington was content to sit back in second and let the race develop; he took advantage of his gas-saving strategy for most of the event. -The duel between the two riders began as a three-rider battle that included Lewis, who was riding a Dr. Ehrlich Rota~. Lewis, who had nOl raced a 250 in six years, said before the race that the tussle would be between himself and Ballington. But he forgot to tell Renfrow. Ballington led Renfrow, Lewis and California's Danny Coe through the infield on lap one. The top three· riders played cat and mouse for the first few laps, drafting and repassing each other all over the Daytona race course, while Coe watched from about a half-second behind aboard his Phil Schilling/Performance Research ROlaX. By lap three, a heated argument over fifth was taking place between Laycock, defending 250cc National Champion Don Greene, Kocinski and privateer Californian Rich Oliver. Green dropped off the pace. with a blown cylinder two laps later, but managed to stay in the race until the end. The sour motor eventually took Greene out of the running, relegating him to 40th place - and four laps down - at the final flag. The three-ma'n drafting show up front became a two-man battle on lap seven when the engine blew on Lewis' Rotax, forcing the Australian to drop out of the race. "The big end went:' Lewis said. "I rolled the throttle off to come into turn one and it locked up." By that time Cae had lost the leaders' draft and fallen back to fifth, behind Miller Racing's Laycock and Kocinski. Oliver's Honda sat on Coe's tail, while. Greene brought up the rear of the five-rider pack. By lap eight the two front TUnners were racing in lapped traffic and Ballington, sponsored by MacLean/ ]l4ichelin/Tsubaki/Shoei/Cam-2/ Castrol, had to slide through almost every turn to keep up with Renfrow as the pair snaked past the backmarkers. Ballington stayed glued to Renfrow's tail until lap I4 when the MacLean rider put his RS250 in front of Renfrow corning out of the infield and onto the ~anking. He led Renfrow in close racing on lap 15, but when the pair entered turn one on lap 16 Renfrow was back in front. Renfrow, who is backed by Vance Sc Hines/Shoei/Dunlop/Cam-2/ Tsubaki, used lapped riders to block Ballington and open up a twosecond lead on lap 18. By the 20th lap Renfrow had gained· a 4.9-second advantage over Ballington, but the MacLean pilot was back on his tail by lap 27. A short while later, Renfrow ran out .of gas, settling the dispute for good. Kocinski and Oliver broke away from. the rest of the field on lap 10 and held a 16-second lead on the Laycock/Cae argument by lap 13'Oliver took third away from. Kosinski on the 12th lap, but the youngster returned the favor in heavy traffic on lap 19, after following Oliver around the speedway for seven circuits. When Renfrow dropped out, both Kocinski and Oliver earned trips to the winner's circle. Laycock had to settle for fourth, Kocinski's Nordica teammate, Calvin Raybom III, riding in his firstever National level race, took fifth, Honda·mounted Franz Lederar of West Germany finished sixth and Luis Lavado of Venezuela took seventh on a Yamaha. Rounding out the top 10 were Renfrow, Coe (who also suffered last·lap difficulties), and Yamaha-mounted William Himmelsbach of Pennsylvania. "I was pretty lucky," said Kocinski, who is sponsored by Kenny Roberts/Nordica/P J I/Dunlopl Takai/Shoei.."1 got a fairly good start, third place, but on the banking the bike went on one cylinder and must have slowed down to 40 mph. When it did that, IO guys passed me. It was scary. "lowe a lot to Kenny (Roberts). He's been a big help to me. He put this effort together. And I want to thank my mechanics, Bud Aksland, Tim Norton and Merrill Cal Rayborn III. a member of Kenny Robarts' Nordica-backed Yamaha Team. finished fifth at Daytona. It was Rayborn's first National race. Vanderslice. " "I was just cruising:"Oliver said after the race. "It's neat to be in the winner's circle (after six trys at Daytona with six DNFs). It's hard to ride here. I didn't want to ride too hard and I didn:t want to fall. I blew my start and after the start I started picking guys off one at a time, then John (Kocinski) and I broke away." Oliver is sponsored by Shoei/ Redline/Dunlop/Fox/Tsubakil ERCINGK. • Results 250 GP: 1. Kork Ballington (Hon); 2. John Kocinski (Vam); 3. Richard Olivar (Hon); 4. Eddie Lavcock (EMC); 5. Calvin Rayborn III (Vam); 6. Franz lederar (Hon); 7. luis Lavado (vam); 8. Randy Renfrow (Hon); 9.• Daniel Coa (Rlx); 10. William Himmelsbach (Vam); 11. Mike Mc~yle (Hon); 12. Chris McNellis (Han); 13. Daniel little (YAM); 14. John France (Hon); 15. Andrew leisnar (Hon); 16. Daniel Guglielmo (Vam); 17. Doug Breuneck (Vam); 18. Eduardo Aleman (Vam); 19. James Bonner (Yam); 20. Lance Jones (Han); 21. James Stephens (Han); 22. Johnny Wickstrom (Han); 23. Keith Kiyota (Han); 24. Robert DeWitt (Vam); 25. David Busby (Han). TIME OF RACE; 58 minutes. 52.530 seconds. AVERAGE SPEED: 101.584 mph. MARGIN OF VICTORV: 8.343 seconds.