Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Renfrow and Kocinski cool off in the winner's circle. Winner Randy Renfrow (4 ) leads new Champion John Kocinski (801, A lan Carter (97) and Don Greene (1 ) during 250cc GP action in Memphis. Tea m MacLean 's A lan Carter (9 71 fi nished th ird, j ust in front of hi s MacLean teammate, multi-time World Champion Kork Ballington (9 9'). 'AMA/ Castr oI 250cc Grand Prix Series: Round 8 Kocinski clinches title, Renfrow wins in Memphis By Henny Ray Abrams MEMPHIS, TN, AUG. 9 T ea m Nordica Roberts ' John Kocinski cl inched the Cas trol 250cc G rand P rix Championship with a secon d place ride a t Memphis International Motorsport Park. 14 Kocinki took over second on the 25th of 29 laps, finishing I 3.6 15 seco n ds b eh ind race winner Randy Renfro w on the Vance & Hines' machine. T eam MacLean 's Alan Carter was th ird ah ead of teammate Kork Balling ton , th e on ly rider who entered the race with a mathematical ch a n ce to d ispla ce Kocinski. Fifth went to defending National Champion Donni e Green e. '''T he cha m p io ns h ip was more important" than the ra ce," Kocinski sai d . Alth ough he now lives in Mo d es to , Californ ia , Ko cinski 's roots are in Little Rock , Arka nsas , about a two-hour drive from here, and th e race was a tte nded by many of hi s fam ily and friends. Kochinski . fini sh ed th e day with 139 points to Ballington's 94. Green e is th ird with 89. " Renfro w d id a reall y good job. Anybo dy that fini sh ed toda y did a reall y good job ," he added. AlLhoug h he won th e 250cc titl e, . Kocinski will not collec t th e Castrol bonus beca use he uses PJ -I o il. The wee ke n d h a dn ' t gone sm oothly for Koci nski. H is Bu d Aksl and-prepared Yam ah a h a d seized a piston in th e heat and was n 't " ru n n ing good down the strai ght." H e sett led for seco nd, .206 seconds behind G reene. Renfro w was th ird a hea d o f Alan Inglis. " I don 't rea lly ca re for the tra ck," Ko cin ski sa i d . "It's roo m u ch s tra ig h ta way ; a o n e-li n e tra ck . T her e 's no p assing. G u ys hang behind yo u a nd draft by o n th e stra ig h t. I wo rk hard to make tim e o n th ese guys." MacLea n 's Ala n Ca rter led every lap of the seco nd hea t for a 5.111seco nd win over Rich Oliver wi th Kocinski's teammate Cal Rayborn fII fini shing th ird. Fou rt h went to MacLean 's Ball in g ton whose weeken d was q uick ly becom in g forgettable. In p ractice, th e World Champi on was t he victim of so me exuberant ridi ng by his tea m mate Carter, getting kn o cked off and bru isin g his hip. He sta lled h is Bru ce Ma us -prepped RS250 a t the start of th e hea t , getti n g awa y last a n d fighting to fini sh fourth. Carter's was the fast er of th e two heats b v ov er three and a half seco nds ;'he wou ld start fro m th e po le in the 4 1.3-mi le fina l. " When you ' re having fu n yo u don't no tice th e hea t," Carter said as he drilled venti la tio n hol es iI1 his leath ers. " It does n ' t feel as hot as last week." Renfrow started ou t in front of th e main event with Carter quickly by, foll owed by Renfro w, Rich Oliver, Kocinski , Ra ybo rn , Greene, and Ballington, Alan Ingl is was eigh th with Garry Griffith and Dav id Curtis rounding out the top 10. By the fourth la p a lead tr io of Carter, Renfro w and Koci nski had evo lved ahead of a similar q uartet of Greene, Ra yborn , O liver and Ballington. Inglis was leading the rest off the pace, Oliver dropped out on the eigh th lap wh en the ring locator pin came out o f hi s piston. AlLhough the bike sti ll ra n, he chose to co me in before it seized. . Kocinski led lap eig ht wi th Renfrow by on lap nine and a t th e o ne third mark it was Renfrow, Carter, a nd Kocinski about two seco nd s a hea d of th e Green e-Ra yb orn Balling ton trio. Inglis was a bo u t 14 seco nds back with Curtis eigh th and William Himmelsbach moving into ninth a head of James Stephen s. On th e 12th lap Greene a n d Ra yborn bumped going into turn one with Ra yborn ' going down. AlLhough he picked it up and tried to continue, his machine would soon . seize from sucking in dirt, " I just got pushed off my line a little bit and th e front end washed out," Rayborn said. "I tried to finish , but it seized. " At the halfway point Renfro w turned a 1:10.81 an d seemed to speed u p as the leaders began to move into traffic. Carter was second ahead of Kocinski with Greene and Balling-. ton battling for fourth. Ing lis had moved into sixth where he would finish ahead of Himmelsbach, Stephens, Curtis, and G riffith . "My lap tim es stayed the same in traffi c," Renfro w wou ld later say. "I was working at it real hard, alt hough it was a little hard to do at th e end." "T ha t's th e hottest weather I'v e raced in in a decade," Ballingto n sa id. ~ ' We used to race in weather li ke that back in South Africa a long time ago. I had to pace it. Every second lap down the stra ig h ta way I had to sit up a nd get so me fresh a ir. It 's wors e wh en you're in the draft." Ballington had moved past Greene wor ki ng traffi c m a st erfuIl y and sett ling into fourth on lap 20, still : a bo u t 50 yards beh in d Ca rte rl Kocinski, wh o , in turn, were losing gr ound to Renfro w. Wh en Kocinski passed Caner for seco nd four la ps' fro m the end, h is deficit was close to four seconds with Renfro w clock-s' ing an un offi cial I: 10.63. The gaps would change, bu t the order wo uldn ' t a nd after 34 minutes, 17./1 3 seco n ds and 56.33 mil es Renfrow ha d his second 250 win of the year. (H e'd previously won Road A rla n ta .) Kocinsk i wo u ld fin ish 3.615 seco nds back wi th Ca rter in his draf t a nd Ballingt on no t far behind. Green e was abo u t 14 seconds ba ck I a nd In glis crossed the finish line close to 37 seco nds lat er. " I reall y wanted to tak e the pressu re of not winn in g o ff," Ren fro w sai d , reco vering in th e shade Iro m r th e inten se heat and humidity. "T he longer I led, the mor e I thought I had a cha nce o f wi n ning. In th e last fou r or five sessio ns we either blew up or bro ke every tilpe so I was a little worri ed abo ut whethe r I co uld go fast enoug h. I was trying to rid fast th e last five or six laps to sea l it. Ron Barrick , m y mech anic, was giving me realgood pit sig nals." " I didn't get through th e backmarkers. Randy got past every o ne," Cart er sai d. " T he last seven laps it ' was hard to sta y on." " My last lap was my quickest ," Ballington said. " I was building up , m y con fidence at th e end." • Results . 250 GP: 1. Randy Renfrow (Han): 2. John Koci nski (Yam); 3. Alan Can er (Han); 4. Kork Ball ington (Han); 5 . Don Gr eene (Han); 6 . Al an Inglis (RlX); 7. W ill iam Himmelsbach (Yam); 8. James St ephens (Yam): 9. David Cunis (Han); 10, Gar ry Griffit h (yam); 11 . J ohn France (Han); 12 . Andrew Leisner (Han); 13. Doug Brauneck (Yam); 14. Keith Kiyota (Han). AMA 250cc GRAND PRIX POINT STANDINGS : 1. John Konci nski (139); 2. Kork Ballington (94 ); 3. Don Greene (89); 4 . Randy Renfrow (BO~ 5. Calv in Rayborn III (72); 6. James Stephens (63 ); 7. Rich Oliver (57); 8. Ala n caner (5 6~ 9. (TIE) Doug Brauneck/David Cunis (34 )

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