Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Commonwealth Honda's Randy Renfrow won his third Pro Twins Grand Prix when arch-rival Dale Quarterley's Ducati broke at Sears Point. AMA Circle Bell ProTwins Grand PrixSeries: Round 6 Renfrow wins, Quarterley breaks By Brian Catterson Photos by Nick Cedar SO NO MA, CA, AUG. 13 Commonwealth Honda 's Randy Renfrow overcame the odds to take the win in the Circle Bell Pro Twins Grand 12 Prix .a t Sears Point International Raceway. Ren fro w had been slower than Fast By Ferracci Du cati ride r Dale Quarterl ey a ll through practice, but Quart erl ey' s bike ex perie nced mech anical p roblem s durin g the race which a llowed Renfrow to cru ise unc ha llenged to th e win. Ren frow completed the l 6-la p , 40-niII le race di st an ce i n 29 m i n u tes, 27.389 seconds a t an average speed of 81.476 mph. Tw o ' Broth er s R acin g ' s Kevin Erion added a second-p lac e Grand Prix class finish to hi s Modified Producti on 'class win for a n exem plary weekend tally. with form er Ba ttl e o f th e Twins Champion J immy Adamo riding Bill Weidner 's Du cati F-I to third place. Du r in g pra ctice, R enfrow exp ressed conce rn that he might not be ab le to co me to te rms wi th Quarterley: " Q u a r ter ley's goi ng good; I'v e still got so me time to mak e up," he said . Erio n an d his Modi fi ed P rod uc tion -cl a ss H onda H a wk , mean while, were just a half-second sh y o f Renfro w's best lap ti mes in practice, a nd Eri on felt that he co uld be a threa t for th e first ti me th is year . in the GP class. Renfrow, however, was no t concerned. "Erion 's going good , but I'm more worried abo u t Dal e than Kevin. If th ey (T wo Brothers Racin g) think they're go ing to run with me, the y've got a no ther thing co ming, " Renfrow said. The Commonwealth Honda a nd Two Brothers Racing efforts were com pe ting in th e pitsas well as on the track, with both teams performing motor swaps o n Friday nigh t. Ex-factory H onda co-workers Mik e Velasco and Ray Plumb raced to see wh ose bike wou ld start first, with the honor s going to Velas co and the Erions. Eri on 's 800cc mo tor brok e in practi ce and he would resort to his sma ller 700cc motor for Sunday's races, while Renfrow's crew replaced a faulty transmission. On Saturday n ight; Plu mb a lso ch a n ged the cran ksha ft of the RS750-powered Commonwealth Honda after Renfrow reported th at th e bike was vibrating badly. Race da y found a slightly more optimistic Ren fro w. " I didn 't find a ny more tim e, but I'm getting down to that ba se time sooner. I j us t hope Erion doesn 't get a good start a nd get between Dal e (Q uarterley) and me," he said. Ren fro w's fear s came to ligh t, but it was Quarterley's teammate Duane Summers, not Erion, who got in the way. Quarterley led the 15-rider field at the start, and immediat ely opened a ga p which grew to two seco nds by lap tw o. At first, R enfro w wa s trapped behind Duane Summers, but the Fred ericksburg, Virginia, resident moved into second pl ace befor e th e co mp le tio n of lap one. Erion 's hopes went bell y-up with a poor start, but he quickl y be~an knifing through th e pack , passing Adamo and Summers to nail do wn th e third position by la p three. Summers ran fourth until being passed by Adamo on lap four, but th e next time around he crashed in tum three. Summers was unhurt in th e incident, but hi s e xpe n sive Du cati 851 caught fire a nd burned. Lap six saw Quarterley coast to th e pits, wh ere he'd sit for a lap before rej oinin~ the ra ce. The problem was . th e ignition pickup gap, which tuner Eraldo Ferracci sa id so met i mes cha nges wh en the engi ne cases get hot - a p roblem he sai d Du cati's World Superbike effort frequen tly expe rie nces. "T he bike's cherry when it (the ignition ) cools, " sa id Quarterl ey, " Bu t if you go fast it doesn 't wo rk." Quarteri ey motored slo wly to th e finish , a lmo st being lapped agai n by Renfrow, and taking a lo wly 12th pl ace a nd the three poi n ts tha t go with it. Renfrow, meanwhile, ci rcu la ted to a 20-second margin o f victory a t th e chec kers. Renfrow's win tightens th e point sta nd ings , with Quarterl ey now leading by just three po in ts, 95 to 92. " I was a litt le worried a t the star t when Summers got betw een us, but I just put my head down, " Ren fro w told th e fans from the winner's ci rcle. H e a lso th anked Ray Plumb and Brian Uchida of Amer ican H onda, a nd Commonwealth Honda Racing .owner Martin Adam s. Renfrow is spo nso red by Sh oei , Dunlop, BelRay a nd RK Chain. Erion took seco nd, far ah ead of Adamo. " I tried to stay with Kevin (Erio n) Kevin Erion (1) reclaimed the Pro Twins Modified Production points lead with his win ·at Sears Point. Points rival Craig Shambaugh (7) crashed. for aw hi le, b u t I decided to coo l it and finish third," said Adamo. T he New Yor ker explained tha t his us ual moun t, the Reno Leoni-prepared Du cat i 85 I, had problems, a nd Leoni was rel uctant to make the tri p. Duca ti 851 rider Randy Shemwell of Red m o nd , Washington, took fourth, foll o wed by Dr. Da vid Kieffer on the Ro ug h Stock Raci ng 851 in fifth. Gordon Seim and Ely Schiess o n Ducatis, Mark Yarrow. o n a Yam ah a , Warren Elliot on a Duca ti a nd renowned vintage racer Rob Tuluie on a Norton completed th e top 10. Results 16,LAP CIRCLE BELL PRO TW GP; 1. Randy Renfrow (Han); 2. Kevin Erion (Han); 3. James Adamo (Duc); 4. Randy Shemwe ll (Duct 5. David Kieffer (Ducl; 6. Gordon Seim (Duct 7. Ely Schiess (Duct : 8. Mark Yarrow (Yam); 9 . W arren Elliot (Due); 10 . Rob Tuluie (Nor); TIME: 29:27 .389 AVERAGE SPEED: 8 1.476 mph POINT STANDINGS; 1. Dale Quart er ley (95); 2. Randy Renfrow (92 t 3. James Adamo (54); 4. Dua ne Summer s (4 8); 5. Kevin Eri on (40); 6 . Randy Shemwell (37t 7. Frank Shockl ey (341 8. Kurt ; Liebman (281; 9. Warr en Elliot (27); 10 . David Kieffar (26). AMA Circle Bell Pro Twins Series: Round 6 Erion leads Honda steamroller By Brian Catterson Photos by Nick Cedar SONOMA, CA, AUG. 13 Two Bro thers Racing swept the top two positions in the Circle Bell Modified Production final at 'Sears Poin t International Raceway. Bu t it wasn 't th e two brothers the mselves, Kevin a nd Craig Eri on, who d id th e sweep ing today. In stead , it was their good friend, CLASS (Reg Pridm ore 's California Leadin g Advanced Safet y Sch ools) instructor Ken Greene , who rod e Craig 's H onda Hawk to a secon d -p lace finish behind Kevin, who tallied hi s fourth straigh t win in th e series. Points lead er Craig Shambaugh cras hed while racing with Greene on the final la p, a llowing Erion to take over the points lead for the first time thi s year. Eri on now leads Shambaugh by two points, 80 to 78, 'with only one ro und remaining. Before the race, Shambaugh filed his second protest in as many rac es against th e Erions, th is time over their use of non-stock su b-fra mes. However, AMA officials di sallowed hi s protest. (Last week at Mid-Ohio, Shambaugh protested Two Brother's use of titanium internal engine co m ponen ts. Erion was originally disqual ified , but won his a p pea l and ' had h is wi n reinstated. ) T he racing itself was rather dull , save the come-fro m- beh ind showing of G reene, who was competing in h is first AMA race this year , and had never ridden the Hawk before Saturday morning's practice. . T he year's slimmest entry saw just nine riders line up for th e start, and three of those, Shambaugh (crash) and loca ls Eri c Swortsfigure a nd Curt Kim ble (mec hanica l problems), didn't finish. Yamaha Virago . rider - Mark Yarrow led th e cha rge through turn one a nd up th e hill to turn two at the start, but Erion swa llowed h im up and immed iately be gan pulling away. Erion 's lead was four seco nds on lap two , six on lap three and nine by lap four. H e eventua lly wqn by 4.4 I seconds, co m p leting th e 12-lap, 30-m ile race in 22 minutes, 49.609 seco nds at 78.855 mph avera ge. "T he little H onda Hawk is a great motorcycle," sa id defending Champion Kevin Erion in th e winner 's circle, thanki ng H RC, his tuner Mike Velas co, brother Craig, and his sponsors: Mi ch elin , Del Amo Suzuki/ Kaw asaki , R K and Ka lGard. Shambaugh was soo n up into second place, as Yarrow fell ba ck to sixth. Kimb le ran third, with th e BMW of Ward Rodgers fourth and Greene fifth. On lap fou r , Greene p a ssed Rodgers, and th en moved into third wh en Kimble's Kaw asaki broke on ' lap eight. Green e set h is sig h ts o n . Shambaugh, got by him and crossed th e line to tak e the white flag wi th Shamba ugh hot o n his heels. Sha mbaugh followed Green e closely, bu t tried too hard to outbrake him in turn seven , losing the fro nt end a nd cras hi ng. " (G reene) did everything o kay . but he d idn 't brak e tha t wel l. I tried to ge t h im in turn seven," sa id Shambaugh, adding, " I got down to I:52s, th at 's all I could do. I think I proved m yself as a rider. I'll be in Kansas if I ca n mak e it th ere on $10." In th e end , Rodgers finished third, with Yarrow fourth and Kiyo Watanabe (H o nda) fifth. Shambaugh was credited with sixth, with the lap ped Chris Scott (Norton) seven th.e Results. 12-LAP CIRCLE BELL PRO TW MOD PROD: 1. Kevin Erion (Hanl; 2. Ken Greene (Hon); 3. Ward Rodgers (BMW); 4 . Mar k Varr ow (Vam); 5. Kiyo Wat anabe (Hon l; 6. Craig Shambaug h (Ducl; 7. Chris Scon (Nor); 8. Curt Kimbl e (Kawl; 9. Eric Swonsfigure (Nor). TIME: 22;49.609 AVERAGE SPEED; 78 .855 mph POINT STAN DINGS: 1. Kevin Erion (BOI 2. Craig ; Shambaugh (7B); 3. Frank Shockley (5B); 4 . Robert Gr iff ith s (39); 5. Chr is Thomas (29); 6. Pet e Johnson (27); 7. Al an Hippenst eal (25t 8. Ward Rogers (24); 9. Dennis U ebrech t (21 t 10 . (TIE)Chris Hella nd/ Pablo RealiJam es Emory (20).

• Cover