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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127134
A lan Carter (2), Rich Oliver (97), Jon Cornwell (49), John Kocinski (1) and crew during the f irst lap of the 250cc Grand Prix at Road Atlanta . Bo th Kocinski and Stephens were slowed by Rich ard Moore's cartwheeling Yamaha on the initial lap. At the end of the second la p Kocinski was up to third; on the fourth go -around, he was leading. Oliver held on to finish second wit h Ballington third and James Stephens fourth . Del Giudice ended up fifth . Ca lifornia's Andy Leisner crashed his Aprilia on the second lap when the radiator hose came off, drenching ' th e tires with water. His team, however, had apparently come to grips with the Aprilia, getting it to run correctly after teething problems , at Daytona. "I think it's about the fastest bike here. I've got the fifth fastest times, but now I'm on the back row for the final." Kocinski averaged 98.538 mph in his heat as he topped Oliver by 2.39 seconds. The second heat saw Cornwell with the initial advantage over Keith Kiyota and Fi lice . At the end of the first lap Filice led with Carter close behind. A lap later, it was Carter leading Filice with Cornwell , Donnie Greene and Garry Griffith following. Carter held on for the win, narrowly topping Fi lice by a bike leng th and averaging 98.290 mph. Carter's heat race win was 1.16 seconds slower than Kocinski's. Finishing sixth after loading up the Yamaha TZ250 on the line was Thomas Stevens. "I loaded it up big time," he said. "It's going a lright," Fi lice said. "It's a lot different than the GP bike (Fi lice rode a factory HRC NSR250 at Laguna Seca in the U.S. G P). You come out of the corners on this one and it just sort of goes, the other one would lift the front wheel. I t 's probably go t 20 horsepower less, but everyone here is real close." The Honda RS250 riders are definitely at a disadvantage at this . point in the season. Some are even starting to interpret the RS designation as meaning "Real Slow." . Following · the heat races, Moore was dejected because of his first heat crash, and was trying to fix his inj u red Yamaha TZ250. . "I just got on it too hard too early," he said. "I don't know if I can .Iix it. There's no welders here and 1 don't have mechanic. T he radiator has a hole in it ... " Oliver was p leased wi th his hea t race result. ''I' m go ing to go o u t there and give it a shot," he said. ''I'll see if we Can finish in the top three." Prior to the 250cc final, Kocinski was ta king it easy, staying coo l in ' the air-conditioned Camel box high above the start finish area. "I'm keeping my blood cold and my feet up just like Dea n (Mi ller, a noted . trainer) tells us to," he said. The youngster was also seen hoarding cigarettes for his tu ner Bud Aksland. . When the flag dropped on the final , it was Carter nailing down th e ho leshot, KoCinski was fifth u p the hill ou t of turn one. At the end of the firs t go -around it was Carter leading Cornwell, Ol iver, Kocinski, Filice and Ballington. Gary Griffith and Doug Brauneck were the first to suffer mecha nica l ill s, both pulling into the pits after one lap. With ,the race only two laps ol d, Kocinski took over the lead and never looked back. Meanwhile, h is teammate Stevens was up to seventh, riding the wheels off the littl e Nordica Yamaha. By lap four, Koci ns ki was 2.69 seconds ahead of O liver wit h Carter, Filice, Stevens; Cornwell and Ballingto n following. Lap four saw Leisner crashing J Defending National Champion John Kocinski won his ' second race in as many outings, topping his teammate Thomas Stevens by 10 seconds. AMAjCastrol 250cc Grand Prix Series: Round 2 . Kocinski. dominates at Road Atlanta a By Paul Carruthers Photos by Randy Marrs BRASELTON, GA, MAY 15 Team Nordica Roberts ' Yamaha TZ250mounted John Kocinski seems to have a goal of ruining the competitiveness of the 250cc Grand Prix class in 1988. For the second ti m e in ~s many races, h e , stormed to an .easy wi n . This time the venue was R o ad Atlanta, the only race track left 12 on the U .S. schedule on which Kocinski had not previously. tasted success. Second place, 10.22 seconds in arrears, was Koci ns ki's teammate Thomas Stevens in his best performance to date. Stevens sliced through the pack after a poor start from the third row, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process. ' . John Lassak Ra cing 's Ri ch Ol iver rode his Yamaha TZ250 to a third p lace finish, winning a race-long duel with teammate Alan Ca rter. Fifth place went to 250cc U.S. Grand P rix winner Jimmy Filice on the first H onda R S250 across the line. Fi lice, sponsored in part by Bel-Ray an d being helped mechanically by Gil Martin, was followed across the l ine by Honda R S250-m o u n ted Kork Ballington. Di r t tra c ker Jon Cornwell , Aprilia-moun ted James Stephens, . David Busby and Ri chard Moore rounded out the top 10. Kocinski took home $2680 from the $14,000 250cc purse with Stevens earning $1840 and Oliver claiming $1285. Defen d in g Nationa l champion Kocinski was the fastest 250cc pilot from the word go, dipping into the 1:29-range while most of the others stayed in the I:32s during practice. The Modesto, California, resident, however, was forced to start from the back row of heat race n u m ber one because he didn 't pre-en ter. When the flag drop ped it was Oliver leading Marcello Del Giudice and Kork Ba ll in g ton into turn one. Kocinski was way back and crossed the line a t the end of the first lap in sixth. < again in the same spot, tu rn seven. "This time it was my fault," he said later. . Former 250cc champ Greene was ' also o ut of the race , p ull ing in the pits on the fifth lap. By lap si x, Kocinski had a lmost six seconds to spare on ' the O liver/Carter battle ' with Stevens closing in fas t on the Lassa k duo. Filice, meanwhile, was losing touch, as was Ball ing ton, who had his hands full with dirt tracker turned ice -speed way- turned road racer Cornwell. At the halfway point in the 20-lap race, Kocinski led with hi s teamma te . second. Carter was ahead of Oliver, but the Californian would soon ca tch and pass the Brit. Filice was a lonely fifth with Ballington and Cornwell doing ba tt le for sixth. James Stephens was hold ing off Busby for seventh and Moore had ba ttled th ro ug h from his last row ~ starting slot. For the fina l 10 laps, Kocinski ra ttled off consistent lap times ~ 1:3 1.08, 1:30.33, 1:30.80, 1:3 1.2 1, 1:30.51 , 1:30.95, ' 1:30.98, .1:30.69, ' 1:30.61, 1:31.22, 1:31.62 - to take the win over Stevens. Stevens' fast lap came on his 16th lap. :a 1:30.30. . In the battle of the John Lassaktu ned Yarnahas, O liver got the better of Carter and Filice cruised in fifth. Ballington also ended up coming out on top with his tuss le.with Cornwel l. "Now' I've won on every track in the U .S. ," Kocinski said. "It's ia dream come true. I seemed to make it through okay. I took the traffic as it is. I was righ t where I wanted to be off the start and it took me a co uple of la ps to get going. I got Kor k at the top of the hill , the Ro tax guy (Cornwell) in the first turn an d I passed O liver and Caner on the backstraight. I knew it was my last shot to win he re (Kocinski plans to race the World Grand Prix circuit in 1989)." " It was just a simple ride," Oliver said. "Alan's riding really wel l. I just tried to keep the pressure on and 1 \ managed to break the draft and maintained a steady pace. It was fun ." Carter's bike overheated, reachin g 85 degr ees, bu t he added, " I rode like a woman. I just d idn ' t feel good out there today." "Not too ba d," Filice said of his performance. "We're d o w n o n power. . We made some j e tti n g changes, bu t it was worse than the heat race. I' m not too disappoi n ted. 1 got sideways o nce and they bro ke away; there was no stay ing with them afte r th a t." ' "I'm real hap p y," Stevens said. "Things went real wel l. I got a fair start and was eighth after the first lap. 1 just stayed relaxed and didn 't rush it. 1 told these guys (the Norida Robert s crew) I'd do 30s in the race an d they j ust kind of looked at me. 1 was a little rusty, because 1 hadn 't raced in a month . Working with Kenny (Roberts) at . Laguna really helped me. I co uldn' t apply it all the n, but I've had a lo t of time to think about it. T h is is my track, but the stuff I',~e lea rned can be appl ied anywhere. . . Kocinski's wi n gave h im a perfect 40 points in his q uest for a second 250cc National Champions hi p. . • Results 250cc: 1. John ' Koci nski (Yam ); 2. Thomas S,even s (yam); 3. Richard Oliver (Yam); 4. Alan _ Cart er (Yam); 5. J immy Filice (Han); 6. Kor k Ball ington (Han); 7. Jon Cornwell (Rot); B. James , Stephens (Apr); 9. David Busby (Yam); 10 . Richard Moo re (Yaml ; 11. Marcello Del Giud ice (Yam); 12 . Stephan Crevier (Yam); 13. Will iam Himmelsbach (Yam ~ 14. Chr is D'Aluisio (Han); 15. Keith Kiyots (Han). AMA/CASTROL 2500c GP POINT STANDINGS: 1. John Kocin ski (40); 2. Alan Carter (27); 3 . Thomas Steven s (25); 4 . Kork Ballington (20); 5. Richard Olive r (15); 6. (TIE) Daniel Cae/Richard Moore (13); 8. (TIE) Bubba Shobert /Jim FiJice 10. Jon Cornwell (B).