Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Randy Renfrow (76) and Dale Quarterley (1) were thi~ close for the entire Pro Twins Grand Prix class. -- Chris Thomas won his first Pro Twins Modified class after ~~-trackwinner Kevin Erion was disqualified; Erion has appealed the declsien. AMAICirele Bell Pro TwillS Modified Production Series: ROll. 5 Thomas wins, Erion ' DQ'ed at Mid-Ohio By Paul Carruthers Photos by Bert Shepard LEXINGTON, OH,AUG 5 The Pro Twins Modified class results at Mid -Ohio will ultimately be decided by an AMA appeals board after on-track 10 WInner Kevin Erion was disqualified following a protest by championship rival Craig Shambaugh concerning Erion's H o nda Hawk's titanium engine components. Erion immediately retaliated by filing an appeal. Erion signed a statement saying that his Honda H awk was indeed fitte d with titanium va lves a n d connecting rods. He also said the Two Bro thers R aci ng crew have been using essentially the same setup since R o a d At lanta and feel there is nothing in the rule boo k to prohibit the use of those titanium engine components. The rule, Chapter XVIII, Paragraph F, 3.A., reads as follows: "The engine must be of the same baSIC design and materials as ,on ~h.e original model. The maker S ongtnal crankcase, cylinder(s) and heads(s) must be used." Erion, whose win would have put him back in the championship hunt, only nine points behind ?h.ambau~h with two rounds rernammg, said: " We've never claimed to have been using anything else than what we've had all year. This is the same stuff we've been using and we've sa id that all along. We'll just go out and beat them next week with the same stuff because that's all we've got. " If the appeal is disallowed, the win will go not to Shambaugh, but to Chris Thomas, who finished 5.17 seconds behind Erion on the race track. The Dirt y Harry's Bike Shopsponsored O h ioan r~e . a smooth and consistent race to finish second; it was Thomas' second finish of the season, 'after he posted a third at Road Atlanta. If the protest is u pheld , Shambaugh wo uld move to second - but this would virtually assure him of his first championship. Third place would go to Yamaha-mounted Alan Hippensteal followed by Fran k Shockley. The decision made by referee Darryl Dova l was taken by most of Erion 's competito~s as a victory, and one of the more outspoken was fifth place finisher Pablo Real. " T hey (T wo Brothers Racing) are riding a $30,000 motorcycle. They sh ould be (spending money) in the Superbike class. It's not fair if th e eq u ip ment isn't the same. The front of his motorcycle a lone has $7000 in it. This should be a class for everybody ; there should be another class for those who can spend a lot of money." Real also added that he's been using the same front tire for the past two seasons. Shambaugh explained why h e ' protested. " Ed Abdo's been playing by the rules and he can't keep his Honda together," he said. "He's (Erio n) admitted to using titanium. so I figured let's just get it (the protest ) over with. If it's (the Hawk ) legal we might as well throw the rule book away. Everyone knows that ' titan ium is illegal - they know these things. Kevin 's a great rider and they 've do ne a lot for our sport, bu t that's not the point. I've had mixed feelings about doing it (protesting). but that's part of racin~, too." As far as on-track racing, Erion led from start to finish , averaging 80. 153 mph over the 14 laps. Erion 's quickest laps were in the 1:44 range. Ducati-rnounted Thomas started second and stayed there, easily beating the similarily-mounted Shambaugh, who came from midpack to third place by the second lap. Hippensteal started third, faded to fifth and moved back up to fourth. Unofficial Results PRO TW M OD PROD: 1. Chris Thomas I Due~ 2. Craig Shambaugh (Due); 3. Alan Hippensteal IYam~ 4. Frank Shockley (Due): 5. Pablo ReaII Due); 6. Walter Sakows ki IDue): 7. Chris Hellend IDue); 8. Richard Paxson IDue); 9. Donald Unger (Cog); 1D. Robert Griff iths (M-G); 11. James Whitaker (Kaw); 12. M ike Tiberio (MG); 13. Rick Ranno (Duel; 14. Sheridan Dow ling IKawl. AlU/Cirele Bell Pro Twins Grallll Prix Series: Rouu. 5 It's Quarterley's turn at Mid-Ohio By Paul Carruthers ' Photos by Bert Shepard L EXIN GT O N , OH, AUG 6 Dale Quarterley and Randy Renfro w were at it again today at Mid-Ohio, battling hand leba r-t o-h an dl eb ar in the Pro-T wins Grand Prix class. This time, however , i t was Quarterl ey's tu rn to take the win as he bumped Ren fro w out of his way on the final go-around. _ As is becom ing the norm, Quarterley and his Alan Schuster-owned, Fast By Farraci-built Ducati and Renfrow and the Commonwealth Honda were the class of the field as they la p ped everybody including third place finisher Duane Summers. The decisive move which separated the two front-runners came on the final lap. Ren fro w led Quarterley by the slimmest of margins as the two went into the second-gear, righthand turn II. Renfro w ran slightly wide and Quarterley stuffed the Duca ti in a non-so-large hole; the two collided and a shocked Ren fro w backed 'o ff. The rest , as they say, is h istory. . Quart erley took the win by 1.37 seco nds, the biggest gap to separate these two all season. The Rock la nd , Massachusetts, rider averaged 87.114 m~h in ta king his third win of the senes. Su mmers rode to a lonel y th ird with Modified Productio n winner Chris T homas and Dr. Dave Kieffer rounding out the top five finishers. Renfro w was a bit upset about the incident, but wouldn't directly point his finger at Quarterley. " Let's just say I made a mistak e and he got u nder me," Ren fro w said. " I went a little wide and Dale got under. Da le took advantage, got under me and when I came back down we bumped." " Randy 's bike was a little quicker," Quanerley said. "I was lucky he made a co u p le of mistakes and I could take advantage of it." Ren frow 's Martin Adams-built Commonwealth Honda was a little quicker mainly because it was a full 20cc larger than it was at Road America, jumping from 857cc to 887cc. That combined with different cam timing made the bike put out more horsepower without sacrificing th e torque curve , according to Renfro w. Renfrow used his extra horsepower to jump to the lead at the start of the 17-lap final, leading a wheelieing Q uarterl ey. T hat didn' t last long, however, as the tall Ducati pi lo t pow ered past befor e the completion o f lap one. Summers, meanwhile, had already staked a permanent claim to third place in what would be a ra ther dull parade behind the leadi ng duo. T he only battle. that w~uld last wo u ld be the one between ninth and tenth-placed Ku rt Liebmann and his Ducati and the underpowered, yet well-handling Kawasaski EXSOO of Jimmy Adamo. Liebmann would gai n the advantage in the en~, though. On the II th lap, Quarterley pu lled clear from Renfro w as the Virginian erred. "I flicked it right in the esses . and then nicked it left a nd lost the from," he said later. "It went to the concrete and locked in between there and the road. I couldn't get it ba ck so I pushed th e bars and ran off the track." Renfro w didn't quit. Instead, he put his head down and mounted yet another charge, making up the two seconds he lost in a matter of only four lap s. On the 15th lap , Ren frow regained the lead - only to lose. it during the fin al lap come together.• Results PRO TW GP: 1. Dale Ouart erley IDuel; 2. Randy Renf row (Hon); 3. Duan e Summers (Due); 4. Chr is Thomas (Due); 5. David Kieffer (Due); 6. Frank Shockl ey (Duel; 7. Alan Hippenstea l (Yam); 8. Kevin St asny (Due); 9. J immy Adamo (Kaw); 10. Kurt Liebmann (Due); 11. Willi am Weidner IDue); 12. Pablo Raal (Duel; 13. Warr en Elli on (Due). POINT STANDINGS: 1. Dale Oua rt er ley (92); 2. Randy Renfr ow (72); 3. Duane Summ ers ( 48 ); 4 . Ji mmy Ada mo (37t 5. Frank Shockley (34); 6. Kurt Liebm ann (281 7. Randy Shemwell ( 26 ); 8. Kevin ; Erion (24); 9. Warren Elli on (21); 10. David Kieffe r (1 6). .

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