Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

'88 Pasos All Colors ' 87 Ducati F-1 ALL IN '88 WMX 125 & 250 STOCK Part s Shipped UPS Daily 2400 N. Cobb Pkwy, Kennesaw, GA (404) 429-1800 (800) 727·1800 $ METRO 1<, I"""."""k, " ATLANTA . _ ~ ;.., ~ , • ' . UPS DAILY G ' ., [ 10 • GSXR 750 VERY Limited Supply Get Your SUZUKI Deposit In Now! Hwy U.S. 41. Kennesaw I • (404) 429·1800 Q BOXERS ( 'iI ~ II ARE BACK ' ~ ~ RS&RT "!l~ Now In Stock 2400 No Cobb Pkwy. Ke nnesaw. GA (404) 429·1800 (8001 727·1800 lead Cyde NeilS Want Ads! BEACH SPORTCYCLES ~ll W &1 (8) Husqvama "II POlO (rod) "87 WR 430 Huslrt l2.999.00 "II Fl-S 750 Ooa li "86430 AE _ l2.l99.00 "II WRl125 - , "8 500 XC l1.899.oo 5 Coeoa, Florida (305) 631-5571 BEACH SPORTCYCLES '8 8 YZ 125s YAMAHA '88 YZ80s '87 FZR 10 0 0 $5.099.00 '87 FJ 1200 $4,899 .00 ' Coeoa, Florida (305) 631-5571 Randy Renfrow had a good 1987 showing in the 250 GP class but was plagued with season-long bad luck in the Superbike division, Interview: Road racer Randy Renfrow Enjoying the fantastic feeling of racing By John J. Schiavone Photos by Henny Ray Abrams Before we began our interview with 31-yearold Randy Renfrow, he was reviewing his schedule for the upcoming AMA Castrol250 G P season. A telephone call during our interview session totally changed the Virginian's plans · f or 1988 . H a.n~lng . up t h e phone, the diminutive road ra cer said, "T ha t was T erry Van ce. The plans have changed a bit . I'll still be with Van ce & Hines, but in stead of racing 250s, we're go ing to race superbikes - and su perbikes o nly. I'll just hav e to find a wa y to ge ta 250 for Daytona a nd th e La guna Seca GP. The former Formula One (1986) and Formula Two (1983) cha mp co mpe ted in both th e Superbike a nd 250cc clas ses last year. He had mixed results. "It was hard to rid e two classes last year and it was especiall y diffi cu lt to ride a 250 for two or three races and then ju mp on a superbike co ld and go for it, " said Renfro w. "It created so me problems for me, I would hav e liked much bett er results (in th e Superbike races) but I fell off severa l times. At Daytona a minor problem kept us from fini shing. At Road Atlanta th e bike was working well but I fell off. As a matter of fact, th at was the hardest fall I ever had. A.t Laguna Seca I fell off again and dislocated ~y ~ho~lder. And at Se~rs Point I didn t nde the superbIke because I wanted to concentrate on the 250 class. " In co n tra st, Renfrow did well in th e Castrol 250 GP Series, finishing fourth in th e seaso n's point sta ndings and sco ri ng wins a t Road Atlanta and Memphis. He had the unique ability to turn adversi ty into victory-. " At Road Atlanta I had just fall en off the su perbike quite hard and when I was released from th e track hospi tal Ron (Barr ick) had the 250 read y and wailing for me. I did a warm-up lap which was more painfu l than I thought it would be...but I don 't believe it slowed me down. There was a little trepidation wh en I came to th e rea l fast sectio n where I had fallen, but .I act ua lly took the lead at that same spot to win the 250 race. Memphis was one of th e two times during th e season that I started on th e second row. It was al so a test o f o ne 's a b i li ty to co n ce ntr a te because it was very hot. I kept telling myself th at I co uld do it , that I could give one hundred percent." Devoting most if not all of his time thi s yea r to th e Superbike class, will Renfrow miss 250 raci ng? " I certai n ly love 250 rac ing a nd it was grea t. I'm sure it will conti n ue to be great a nd m y abse nce won 't mak e a big di fference in the (overall) qual ity of the racing," he a nswered modestl y. " Bu t I rea lly want to do superbikes. It's a wish co me tru e and I'm very p leased ab out it. " Co mpetitio n in the 250 ra n ks last year was fi erce whi ch resulted in close racing. Wha t did Ren fro w a ttr ibu te that to? "When yo u hav e good parity of eq u ipment, it's up to the ri der 's a bility. Wh en everybod y th in ks th ey ha ve a shot at it, they wor k to wa rds win ning races and nobody ge ts d iscou raged. Last year there were six to 10 riders with th e equ ip ment a nd a bility' that could po tentiall y mak e th em win ne rs. Thai created a level of com pe tit ion th at 's hard to crea te in o ther ways. We basi call y brok e th e lap record a t every track except for Daytona and at times it was by four or fiv e seconds," said Renfrow. " It was extremely intense and I attributed that to the constant pressure to go faster and faster. You would do some very hot laps in practi ce only to find that others went faster. So you 'd make some changes and try to go even faster. " . Does Renfro w beli eve th at the level of co m pe tition a nd parity of equipment that existed in th e 250cc class last year can become a reality for superbikes? " T he sam e thing could happen, but th e parity of eq uip men t is harder to ach ieve in su pe rbike racing. The longer th e rules remain s ta ble for su perbikes and th e more serio us aftermarket people we can bring into it, th e grea ter th e cha nce for parit y of eq uipme nt . Each year the rul es rema in stable gives th e privateer the o ppo rt un ity to inc h up o n factory development. I beli eve that Yoshimura, Van ce & Hines a nd se vera l o the rs a re abl e to build eq uip me nt th at. if you hav e the rig ht rule structure, ca n be eq ual to factory equipment. What are so me of th e rule cha nges that co uld be mad e th at in Renfrow's opinion wou ld mak e s u p erb i kc . equipment more equal? " A real car buretor ru le for one so tha t special carbs weren't availab le. A special for k ru le . . . and just realistic rules to control unavailable parts, or parts that are so expensive that (the price alone) makes them unavai lab le." R en fro w added, " T h ese ru les should be strictly enfo rced by the AMA. The (situation) now puts the burden on the rider to enforce the rules, in other words. to protest. Well, riders hav e a vested interest in not protesting. Of course. . . protesting .ca n (make them ) finish better. But th e vested interest in not protesting is that all the people you would protest are potential sponsors and the riders you are protesting are generally your friends. " -Some have sugges ted that boxstock rules would make su perbikes more competitive.. " I don't want to see us race box-stock eq uip men t a nd I don 't want to see us on D.O .T. tires. I believe that would be a regressive move, not a positive thing to have happen to th e (Su pe rbike) class ." Renfrow began hi s ra cing career at the age of 16. " When I was sixteen," he reca lled, "I basically wore o ut my body motocrossing a nd it go t difficult to do it physica lly. My friend Tom Manchester got me started road racing and I loved the feeling. I rea lized that falling off was just a part of it and I always treated it seriously. I always tried to figure out what went wrong and not to make the same mistake twice, but to learn something from each fall. I

• Cover