Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 00 Ci) ........ John Kocinski (1) won his third .straight 250cc clash at Loudon; here he holds off Jimmy Filice (65) before Filice crashed in turn two. Donnie Greene (3) leads Thomas Stevens (2 3 1) in t hei r race for second during the 250cc class at Loudon. Greene ended up edg ing Stevens. AMAjCastrol 250cc Grand Prix Series: Round 3 Kocinski's season still perfect in Loudon By Pau l Carruthers Photos by Henny Ray Abrams LACONIA, NH , JUNE 19 T eam Nordica Roberts' John Kocinski kept his perfect 1988 250cc class record in tact wi th his third win of the season corning at the Bryar Mo torsp ort Park. T his one, h owever, was different. For the first time K . ki h a d hi th h IS dseason, ocms I . . IS f II f h f an s u or t e majority 0 th e 32-lap race. o 12 Second place, o n ly 2.44 secon ds behind, went to a rejuvenat ed Survi val Gam e- sponsored Donnie Green e, a former 250cc Natio na l Champion . Ko cin sk i' s No rdica teammate T hom as Steven s m ad e hi s seco nd ap peara nce of th e season in th e winner 's circle with a third place fini sh , m ovin g h im to seco n d in the cha m p io ns h ip standings with 38 points. Kocinski h as a co m mandi n g 22 p oint lead over his teammate. Fou rth place went to L a ssak Racing 's Ri ch Oliver with Andy Leisn er br eaking up the Yamaha TZ250 domination in fifth pl ace on hi s Apri lia. Kocinski was hounded for much o f th e race by Green e, an d was led at ti mes by Bel-Ray/HRC H ondam o unted J imm y Fi lice u n til the la tter crashe d o n th e 19th lap in turn two. Another pre-race favorite, Alan Ca rter, crashed o n th e in iti al lap , tossi ng h is Lassak Racing TZ250 in to th e pond on th e o uts ide o f turn three K ' . ki kh "4 790 f hi ocins 1 too o rne a or I S winning efforts wi th Green e a n d Stevens pocketing $3295 a nd $2295, respectively. The first h eat ra ce on Sa tu rday saw Kocinski tak e an immedi ate lead th at wo u ld hold to th e fi n ish , turning times in the mid 1:08 ra nge before slowing to low 1:09s. Seco n d pl ace we nt to Green e, w ho h ounded Kocinski for th e entire five laps before finall y su ccumbing by .83 o f a seco nd at th e finish . Stevens , aft er di sposing of Richard Moore, fin ished a com forta ble third. . " No o ne else ha s been th at close to th e gu y (Kocins ki) latel y, " a smi lin g Green e sa id after th e heat. Kocinski co m p leted th e five laps in five minutes, 48.99 seco nds for an average speed o f 82.735 mph. T he seco n d five-lap hea t race sa}" Ca rter leading Fil ice across the lin e a t the en d of th efirst lap. Carter, who ga ve Kocinski hi s closest ba ttle last year here until crash in g in tu rn eig h t, cla ims Loudon as h is favo ri te race trac k in the U.S. The Brit hel d off Filice to the finish, turning lap times in the low 1:09s. Third place went to Carter 's Lassak Racing teammate Oliver. Carter com p leted th e heat in five minutes, 5 1.449 seco n ds for a n average speed of 81.946 mph; 2.459 seco nds slower th an Kocinski. Kocinski wasn 't his normal, co n fident self o n Su nday morning. " I haven 't felt comfortable yet," he said. " It j ust does n ' t seem right. I g uess yo u h ave. da ys lik e these. It 'll be a lo ng , ho t ra ce, a nd I'll j us t have to do m y best." H is team ma te Ste vens, m eanwhi le, was given Loudon tips from local Dave Sadowski. Sadowski to ld S tevens, wh o was co m pe ti ng a t L oudon for th e fir st urne , that brakin g wa s th e key to ga inin g valuable tim e on th e tight, lO-turn course. On Su nday morning Stevens crashe d exiting turn six when h is TZ250 hi ghsid ed him. Stevens was o kay an d read y to go in th e fin al. When th e £lag dropped it was Kocinski /Filice leading th e wa y into turn o ne. Two turns later, Carter's race ended wh en his Yam aha TZ250 highsided him in a scary ge t-o ff. The TZ found its elf skip p ing a lo ng o n top of a Loudon pond before sin ki ng to th e bottom. " I kn ew wh at I had to do ," Carter sai d lat er. "I had to get past Jimmy (Filice) stra ig h t away so Kocinski wouldn't get away." His th eory regarding a Kocinski runaway wa s quickl y proven wrong ' as Filice drove aro u n d th e ou tside of th e Yamaha in turn four. Across the stri pe on lap one th e order read: Fil ice, Kocinski , Greene, Oliver, Steve ns, L ei sner and Kork Ballington. By th e third lap, th e leading trio · had pulled clea r from th e pack a s Stevens was try ing to pass Oliver. " I saw (Ala n ) Carter crash an d th ought there's seco nd in the points," Stevens sa id lat er. "So I sat back for a wh ile. J ohn (Kocins ki) told me to pace m yself , so th e tires wouldn 't wear o u t."' Leisner , meanwhile. had gotten past Ba llington, and on th e sixth lap, th e multi-time World Champion cras hed in turn two . It was also on lap six that Kocinski stu ffed h is wa y past Fil ice in turn eigh t. Turning time s in the I:09s with a n occasional I:10, th e top three remained tigh t. Lap eight saw Stevens tum it o n, p a ssin g Oliver a n d sta rt i ng a n d im me d ia te ch arge to wa rd th e leaders. Leisn er foll owed Oliver an d led a har d-ch arging group th a t included J ames Stephen s, Moore, J on Com- well, Stephan Crevier, Chris D'Aluisio, Doug Brauneck and Ro bbie Petersen. On th e ninth go around, Green e passed Filice and stuck to Kocinski 's rear wh eel. Steven s, meanwhile, was co n tin ui ng to m ak e up ground in a hurry. By the 12th lap , Kocinski was begin ni ng to show th at h e co u ld run th e quick tim es more co ns istently than th e o thers. H e put a ga p , albeit a sma ll o ne, between himself and the Green e, Fil ice, Ste vens battle. On th e 18th of 32 laps, Filice lost th e front end in turn two, sli di n g to a stop unhurt. The rest of th e race up front saw Kocinski slidi n g his wa y out of turn 10, an d keeping a sa fe margin o ver Greene, who in turn h ad h is hands full with Stevens . A slide in lO on th e seco nd to last lap cost Steven s a sho t a t challe ngin g Green e o n th e final go-aro u nd . Oliver wa s a sure fourth with Leisn er fifth . Brauneck a nd th e John Hasty TZ250 got th e best of th e rest to tak e sixth, followed by Crevier, Stephens, D'A luisio, and Moore. " Fro m lap 15 on, I p icked up the pace," Steven s said. "T he tir es were getting greasy, but I was going to try and pass him (G reene) in eight on th e last lap. But th e slide in 10 cost m e. I'm seco nd in points, so I . ca n' t complain." Stev ens publi cl y th anked his m echanic Merrill Vanderslice for putting th e TZ250 back together after his Sunday m orning crash. Green e wa s happy aft er finishing his first race o f the three-race old season . " It was a fun race. I think I had more lu ck h ere because there a ren't a ny straights here. It 's a rider's track and you don't have to depend o n th e horsepower ." "From lap 15 on everything was fading and wearing," Kocinski said. " It was rea l hot out th ere. Things didn 't go real well th is week ; the bike -wasn ' t set up like I wanted it to be. I wasn 't as co n fident go ing in because a lot o f guys were going good here. Once I go t past Jimmy (Filice) I just wanted to stay under co ntrol. I was rea l easy on th e throttle; I wanted to save th e tires in case I needed to go late in th e race." • Results 25Occ: 1. John Kocinski (Yam); 2. Don Greene (Yam); 3. Tho mas Stevens (Yam); 4. Richard Oli ver (Yam); 5. A ndy Leisner (Ap r); 6. Dou g Brau neck (Ya m) ; 7. Stephan Crevi er (Yam) ; 8. J ames Stephens (Apr); 9. Chr is D'Aluisio (Hon); 10 . Rich ard Moore (Yam). AMAICASTROL 250cc GP POINT STANDINGS: 1. John Kocinsk i (60); 2. Thomas Stevens (3B); 3. Alan Carter (27); 4 . Rich Oliver (26); 5. (TIE) Kork Ball ington/ Don Greene (20); 7. Richar d Moore (I B); B. (TIE) Doug BraunecklAndy Leisner (I S); 10. James Stephens (14).

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