Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

o ~ C\J >.;j ~ John Kocinski won his fourth race of the year at Laguna Seca . He now leads teammate Thomas Stevens in the point standings by 10 points. AMAjCastrol 250 GP Series: Round 5 Kocinski wins on-home turf at Laguna Seca' By Brian Catterson Photos by Mike and Dennis Scully MONTEREY, CA , J U L Y 10 Team Nordica Rober ts' John Koci n ski staked a claim to Laguna Seca R aceway by winning today's 250cc G rand Prix contest. The 20-year-old National Cham p ion rode a s m art race, riding hi s Yamaha TZ250 conse rvatively a nd letting the competition . If b f II ' sort Hse . out .e ore p~ l~g away to victory, hi s fou rth In five a ttempts. . Teammate ~homas. St~:-ens too k seco nd , ~olloWIng K<;>cInskt wh en he m ad e hi s br eak whil e p oug Brauneck .ro de th e H ast y Ra cing Yamah a t? t.hud pl ace; Steven s a nd Braunec k ft~l sh ed 2-3 ~or the seco nd ~o nse~ut!ve week: So u the rn Ca ll fo rn !a pnva!eerRlch ard Moore turned In a soh~ performance t~ ta ke fourt h on . h is ~a.m aha , h is best- ev er NatlOl~a.1 Fin ish . . . Attrition p layed a major ro le In the ou tco me ? f th e race , as cra~h es a n d mecha n ica l tro ubles sp~)lled many of t~e to p ~unn ers' ?utIngs. Lassak:Ra cing's RIChard O liver had a d isa p pointing weekend. Though h e . fo ~ g h t fo r th e lea d at .the beginning of the ~ce, a lapped nder ~rou ghtlllm a n d) lmm Y.Flh ced own 10 In turn 11. O.h yer , .m l racu lo ~s !y, rem ounted to finish fifth , but Fi fice was done for th e day. Oliver' s teammate Carter was ' a not her fall er, crashi ng in turn nine wh ile leadi ng th e early stages of th e ra ce. Andy Leisner also cra sh ed while racing for third with Bra un eck . Robbie P etersen, fourth at Road America, suffered a mechanical D NF in h is first a ppearance at Laguna Seca. It appea red for awhil e that Kocinski m igh t no t win th is one, bu t it became apparent that he was the o nly rider in th e lead pack riding well within h is limits. Wh il e the o th ers slid a nd crashed around h im, Kocinski soldi ered on, so meti mes firs t, someti mes 'fo urt h, bu t a lways in co n tro l. Turni ng lap tim es just . a half-second slower tha n those he turned in th e U SG P h er e on a Yamaha YZR250 factory bike, he would h ave been equally co m petitive in th e Superbike class. He took home $4600 from the $24,000 250cc purse for hi s efforts. Kocinski an d Stevens wer e give n some adv ice b y T eam Manager Ken n y Rob ert sbefore th e ra ce: Pass only on th e in side, Many of th e competitors in this class had p articip a ted in th e 250cc Grand Prix back in April, but most agreed tha t, a lthough it gave th em an ad vantage in initial setu p a nd through th e first few practi ce sessio ns , it would only be a m atter of time before the other riders ca u gh t up. Sti ll, many had prob lems setti ng up th e ligh tweigh t 250s to cope wit h th e sm oo th new section as well as th e rough o ld sectio n. Riders h ad different theories, bu t most agreed it wa s best to compromise. Bra u neck was a n oti ceable exception, setting it up to work in th e rough part and lettin g it run it s course in the smooth. He cr iticized SCRAMP for th eir ap parent disregard, sayi n g " I 'rn su re Lee Mosell e th inks he' s doing a grea t job for th e charities h e supports, but he o ugh t to do something about th e track ." . Moore a nd Leisner th ought th at th e track was slick er than during th e GP - Leis ner never got his Aprilia going as fast as he did back in April - while O liver and Carter agreed th at they liked the old 1.9-mile track better. Carter h ad a crankshaft beari ng fail in practice, but said he 'd be going better in h is h ea t ra ce. Li ke th e previo us round at Road America, 250cc U .S. G P wi nner Fil ice was stru ggling with fro nt end cha tterin g p roblems on his H onda R S250 ; h e crashe d in tu rn ' fou r during Sa turday morn in g pract ice when h e lost th e fron t end, an d was st ill two seco nds off th e pace going into th e heat races. Kork Ballin gt on again sat o u t th is roun d of th e series, hopin g his broken wrist would be hea led in time for th e Suz u ka Eigh t-H o u r (July 303 1) and th e Mid-Oh io Nation a l (Aug ust 7). The Sa turday afternoon heat ra ces started wi th Kocinski running away, Alan Carter (2) leads Stevens (231). Rich Oliver (97) and Kocinski at the start of the Final. Carter crashed out; Oliver crashed but finished fifth. winning th e first five-lap ra ce by 10 seco n ds. Kocinski gr abbed the holeshot, im med ia tel y moving over on Ca rt er to ta ke an ou tside line into th e tu rn two ha irp in. It was a move he' d repeat in th e final. Carter took second in the h ea t with Stevens working u p fro m a back row start in g positio n to take third, Moore fourth and Petersen fifth. Marcello Del Guidice crashed in tum six during th e first heat, a n d wo u ld have to sta rt o n th e last ro w of th e grid in th e fin al. The seco nd h eat saw O liver lead Leisner pole-to- pole, winning by a wide margin . Bra uneck finis hed a familiar th ird, with Stephan Cr evier fourth an d Da n iel Coe fifth. Coe h ad ignition problems with his Rot ax in p ra cti ce o n Friday an d again on Sa turday, but figured it o u t in time for his heat race. " I wis h I had a Yamaha," he said. His problems were more th an mec hanical, however. He'd also bro ken h is ankle five weeks before whe n a ca r made an ill ega l U- tu rn in front o f a street bike he was riding. Stevens sat ou t th e second Sunday morn ing practice session. " Yo u ca n o n ly get so much practice," he said. There was drama for Leisner in th e final practice session, as h e nearly high -sided in tu rn two, brea kin g the windscreen a nd bruisin g hi s th igh. T he 23-la p Su nday mornin g final saw Ca rter lead from the s ta rt, fo ll o wed b y Kocinski, Stev ens, Petersen a nd Oliver. Ol iver put th e m ove on Petersen in th e infield to tak e four th. Kazon obu Yone da of j apan d id n ' t co m p lete a lap , as he dropped h is Yamaha in tu rn four; he was unhurt . Coining around for th e first time , it wa s still Carter leading wi th Kocinski hol din g second, Stevens th ird, Peters en fourth , Filice fift h, Leisner sixth and Moore seventh . A lap later, Ol iver got by Stevens for third a nd Moore got arou nd Lei sner for sixth. Lap three saw the start of th e epic struggle, as first Ol iver, the n Stevens got by Kocinski . Back in the p ack, David Aldana was riding th e Wood-Ro tax 600, turning la p times in th e I:41'range. " I'm lookin g -for a top 10 fin ish ," he said. How did he lik e th e single? " If I was 20 an d lookin g for a ride, I'd say it's slow, but I' m 40, a nd I h ave to ad m it that it's faster th an 1 am." Ron Wood had alrea dy ad m itted th at he 'd be perfectly happ y in th e top 15. H e'd chose n veteran Ald ana because' "all th e good lightweigh t riders already had rides, an d Ald ana had m ore exp erience th an everyo ne . else." S tevens grabbed th e lea d fro m Ca rte r on lap five, the n dropped to fourth in an instant. Moments lat er, Carter cras he d h eadin g down h ill over th e ripp les of turn nine. Arnaz-, ingly, ' h e wa s unh u r t, not 'even rei njuring the leg he h urt at L oudon . The crash slow ed the lead grou p en ough to allow Fil ice to join in Stevens an d Koci nski swa pped th e lead back-and-forth, with Oliver an d Fi lice ap p lying pressure. Former F-2 Nat ional Ch a m p io n Don n ie Greene p ulled into the p its on lap six. " It 's not m y style to race for 10th ," h e said. ''I' m ' used to running o u t front. " . O n lap 10, th e leaders came upon a la pped rider approach ing tum 11. Kocinski went underneath , ' Stevens · went wide, an d, accordi ng to the riders in volved, th e lappee p anicked ' a n d slowed so dramatically tha t Ol iver rammed him from behind. Filice, with n owhere to go , T-boned Oliver , sending th e duo sprawlin g. Ol iver immediately remounted , rejoin ing th e ra ce in seventh pl ace, but Filice retired. The nex t few laps were h ell for Oliver, as he h ad to cope with a loose fue l vent, which sprayed premix all over h is windscreen , and a bent clip-on an d Iootpeg, On lap 12, Kocinski broke away from th e pack, taking Steven s with him. Petersen 's rac e en ded on lap 14. H e retired to th e pits wi th a suspected stu ck p ower valve. . Brauneck was working his way u p fro m a n attrocious start, a nd began p res suring L ei sner. L e isne r responded by br aking deep er into all th e corners, th en cra sh ing in turn two o n lap 18. Leisn er pi cked it up a nd got it restarted , bu t pu lled in to th e pi ts. With Leisn er and Petersen out, th e positions remained the same u ntil the finish. Koci nski took the win, followed by Stevens, Br a un ec k, Mo ore a nd Oliver. Crevier , Eric Kondo, j a mes Stephens, Co e and Chri s D'Al usio rounded o u t the top 10. " A couple of guys fell down," said Bra uneck in th e winner's circle, " O therwise 1 would n't be here." ~ The wi n was special for th e Arka n sas na tive-turned- Californian. Like his m entor, T eam Manager Kenny Roberts, Kocin ski calls Lagu na Seca h is " home track," and wan ted to win here m ore th an anywhere else. H e · felt cheated by h is pe rfo rmance at th e U.S. GP, an d for him , th is was vindication. " I enjoy this place m ore th an ~ any w here else," he said. The win gives Kocinski a 10-point lead over his team mate in h is bid to · repeat as 250cc Ch ampion. • Results 250 GP: 1. J ohn Koci nski (Yam): 2. Thomas St evens (Yam); 3 . Doug Breuneck (Yam); 4 . Richa rd Moore (Yam); 5 . Rich ard Oli ver (Yam); 6 . Stephan Crevier (Yam); 7. Er ic Kondo (Yam): 8. Jam es St ephens (Ap r); 9. Daniel Coe (Rtxl : 10 . Chr is D'A lusio (Hon). POINT STANDINGS 250 GP: 1. J ohn Kocin ski (80 ): 2. Tho mas Stavens (70): 3. Richa rd Oliver (56): 4 . Doug Brauneck (41); 5. (TIE) Al an Carte r/ Richa rd Moore (36); 7. Stephan Crevier (28); 8. (TIE) Don Greene/ Andrew Leisner (26): 10 . Jam es St ephans (2 11 .

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