Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127182
John Kocinski (169) leads teammate Thomas Steven~ (55 ). Kocinski won. Ste vens crashed. Nick lenat sch (9 8) ran second for much of t he . race but had to settle for fifth place behind Jeff Farmer (just behind lenatsch) and Cal Rayborn. AMA Yokohama 600cc Supersport Series: Round 1 Kocinski dominates By Brian Catterson Photos by Bert Shepard DAYTONA BEACH, FL , MAR. 12 j oh n Kocinski proved that he hasn ' t forgotten hi s roots nor lost any of his production bike raci ng talen t by storming to a 20 co mpe tit ion- h u m i lia ti ng 600cc Su persport victor y at Daytona Internation al Speedway. T he " Kid" came from th e th ird row of the secon d wave to take th e lead on la p five of th e 10-la p sprint and win by a ma rgin of 13.60 seconds. Beh ind Kocinski came a four-way battle with a fini sh so close that the wrong third-pl ace rider was called to the win ner 's circle. Offi cial s rep ort- edly viewed a videotape taken at the sta rt/ fini sh lin e and the final resu lts showed J eff Farmer second followed by Cal vin Rayborn III , Cam Roos and Nick lenatsch. T he race also pro ved the compe- . titiveness of Yamaha's new m idd leweight sport bike as FZR600s too k nin e of the top 10 positions (the exception being nint h-p laced Jamie J am es o n a Yosh im ura -prep ared Suzuki Katana) and 16 of the top.20. Kocinski started from the II th row of th e gr id becau se he'd jumped th e start of h is heat race (wh ich he also started from the rear due to his post ent ry stat us). But accordi ng to the 20-year-o ld, sem i-Ca lifo rn ia n , it wasn 't ent irely his fa ul t: " T here were two emp ty spaces in fron t of me and I saw som e guy waving me to mov e up," he exp lai ned. " When I did, an AMA official tried to mak e me mov e back." The - reen £la g d ro p p ed a n d g Kocin ski smoked th e tire as he anxiously started to play catch- up . Teammate Thomas Stevens raced acceleration and crashed goi ng o nto with J eff Farmer, James and T odd th e banking. H oge for a few laps,b u t by lap three " I spun it ou t," Steven s said. "The it was Kocinski ou t fro nt. As he led tires were heati ng u p. I thought across the start/fini sh lin e for th e wh en J ohn pass ed me I'd try to keep first time he was shown the infamous up and draft him, but it didn 't "meatball" flag (signa lling a ma nwork." da to ry 10-second stop-a n d-go Kocinski set it o n a uto-p ilo t and penalty) but Kocinski ignored the cruised to the win, all the while warning, saying later that he didn 't turni ng 2:02s an d 2:03s on h is see it, and was docked a lap. Stevens - Yamaha Mot or Corp-backed, Rob took th e win followed by Farmer, Du n lop-sh od Muzzy-pre pared, mac hine. Kocinski earned $750 of the J ames and Tryg Westby. • $2500 purse for his efforts . . The previous heat race was won Mo torcycl ist m agazin e Feature by Rayborn , who mo un ted a charge Editor Nick Iena tsch ran secon d a t from the eig hth row cras hi ng on the th is point on his Steve Johnso nwa rm- up lapt to displace frontprepared Yamaha projec t bik e and run ners Roos, Canadia n Ru eben was b u sy ho ldin g off Farme r 's Mclv lurter and Gar y Griffit h. At the advances. Farmer did get by once; bu t end of five laps McMurter took lena tsch deftly regained th e posi tio n. second wi th Roos th ird. Bill Loomis Raybo rn ra n fi fth with Yam aha fourth and Floridi an Mark Ch in Motor Corp-backed Roos sixth . fifth . The four-rider freight train stayed O ne notable absentee was Yoshimpretty much in th e sam e pos itions ura Suzu ki teamster Scott Russell, unti l th e la st go -ro u n d when who though t he'd spa re h is still lenatsch go t into turn o ne a bit hot heal ing knee and concent rate o n th e and allo wed th e o thers to sneak past. 75Occ ·classes. But many pointed to " I gave away seco nd place in turn th e Katana's notable lack of horsep o ne ," said lena tsch , who 'd been ower in comparison to the Yarnahas, maki ng up a lot of tim e there u nder particularly at a fast trac k like braking before the miscue. Dayton a , as the persuadin g factor. Coming o ut of th e chicane for the To quot e for mer R ussell tu ner Vic last tim e, Farmer had a sma ll advanFasol a: " You can't ge t a Katana . tage as Rayborn , Roo s a nd Ien atsch ~oi ng fast eno ugh now if you drop pulled dead even. At th e stripe, it was tt off a building." Farmer seco nd wi th Rayborn , Roos Kocin ski wo uld need to make up and lenat sch stacked th ree high on some ground early in the fin a l if he . th e banking in a pho to finish that was going to win, and before the race sh owed the order as Rayborn/Roos/ he exp lai ned his stra tegy: ''I' ll ge t lena tsch . • the holeshot on the second wave and Results be o n th ose guys (the first wave) by 600 S/SPR T: 1. Jo hn Kocinski (Yam): 2. Jeff the horseshoe. I'll p ick off a few Farm er (Yam): 3. Calvin Rayborn III (Yam): 4 . Cam riders th ere and a few mo re o n the Roos (Yam); 5. Nick len etsc h (Yam); 6. J ohn Ashm ead (Yam): 7. John Eidenberger (Yam); 8. Bill strai gh t, and then I' ll ' ru n up the Loomis (Yam); 9. Jamie ' James (Suz); 10. Titian ins ide of a bunch of them in the other Bue (Yam); 11. Larry Schw arzbach (Han): 12. horseshoe. 'At tha t ra te, I should be M iguel DuHamel (Suz); 13 . David Deveau (Yam); 14 . Fabian Cortez (Yam); 15. M ike Barnes (Yam); out in front by the third lap." 16. Mi ke Scon (Yam); 17. Jim Dew in e (Han); 18. Kocins ki 's predi ctions did prove M ike Hart h (Yam); 19. Gene Burcham (Yam); 20. Peter Carro ll (Yam). slightly optimistic, bu t o n lap five 600 S/SPR T POINT STANDINGS: 1. Kocinsk i he passed his teammate on the in sid e (20; 2. Farmer(16; 3. Rayborn 111(13); 4. Roos (1 1); 5. lenatsc h (10); 6. Ash mead ( 9~ 7. Eidenberger of th e Intern ati onal -H orseshoe to (8); 8. Loomis (7); 9. James ( 6~ 1D. Bue (5); 11. ta ke th e lead. Three turns la ter, Schwarzbach (4): 12. DuHamel (3); 13 . Deveau (2); Stevens lost th e . rea r end u nder 14. Cortez (1).