Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126951
Form~tr Australian Champion Paul Lewis (619) raced wheel to wheel with Renfrow (4) and Ballington (99) in the early going. Renfrow set a blistering pace to lead most of the lOO-mile Ireland's Eddie Leycock (633) finished fourth in the 250 GP race. Don Greene 111 had to settle for 40th when his bike went sour. AMA 250 Grand Prix Road Race Series: Round J. Ballington outlasts Renfrow to win L.ightweigh·t final By Farren Williams Photos by Henny Ray Abrams and Daytona International Speedway DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR 8 Team MacLean's Kork Ballington bounced back from a last-lap crash and a race-long duel with Vance & Hines rider Randy Frenfrow to win the 25th Annual 250 Grand Prix Road Race, held at Daytona I International Speedway. o o Lightweight final on the 3.58-miLe, tri-oval circuit, but it was Ballington who took the checkered flag on Lap 28, after Renfrow ran out of gas with less than one lap to go. Ballington, a two-time 250cc World Champion from South Africa, took the lead from Renfrow on lap 27 when Renfrow's RS750 Honda began to sputter from fuel starvation. With Renfrow out of contention, Ballington looked like a sure winner until he fell off his MacLean Racing Honda a few seconds later while trying to avoid a backmarker in the chicane. "I didn't know Randy had stopped, so I thought I was going to have to really go on the last lap to stay ahead," said Ballington. "I went into the chicane too quick to get around (a lapped rider), spun out and hit the deck. I couldn't believe it had happened after such a long, hard race. On the last lap it was a jungle out there." Ballington managed to remount and restart his stalled motorcycle before anyone in the field could catch him. Despite Losing time in the crash, the former world champ still managed to claim an 8.343-second margin of victory over John Kocinski, who finished second on a· Kenny Roberts Team Yamaha, backed by Nordica Renfrow ended up fifth, but it was a sour disappointment for the rider from Virginia because he had led most of the race, including nine of the final 10 laps. . "I ran out of gas," Renfrow said. "It started to run out on the secondto-last lap, then ran out for good on the last lap. We asked the AMA in the riders' meeting to shorten the race one lap and they wouldn't do it. They're going to have to do something. If you run by yourself it's real close. I was running by myself." At the riders' meeting, AMA officials told Lightweight competitors that the race couldn't be shortened because it had been advertised as a lOO-mile event. Ballington qualified fastest during timed practice Friday. His Bruce Maus-prepared Honda RS250, clad with Michelin radials, front and rear, turned in a fast time of 103.959 mph. Multi-time Australian champion Paul Lewis qualified second fastest with a top speed of 103.738 mph, and Kocinski was third fastest, topping out his 1987 Yamaha TZ250T at 102.946. Renfrow qualified fourth fastest with a top speed of 102.770, and Ireland's Eddie Laycock filled out the front row with a 102.749 mph run. 0