Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

AMA/Circle Bell Pro Twins GP Series: Final round Renfrow wins, takes title By Paul Carruthers TOPEKA, KS, SEPT. 3 ' Commonwealth Honda 's Randy Renfrow emerged from a titanic, nail-biting battle · with defending class champi on Dal e Quarterl ey with a win and a ch a mp io ns h i p toda y in what . amo unte d to a winner-take-all war for th e titl e, Renfrow and Fast By Ferracci's Quarterley h av e been lock ed in combat throughout 1989, and it all came down to th e fin al race of the season at H eartland Park Topeka to decide wh o would take the championship. After seven rounds only three points separated the two rivals. But at the end of the day seven points was the margin of victo ry for Renfrow as Quarterley crashed in dramatic fashion on the final lap. Second place in th e race was th us handed on a plate to Two Brothers . Raci ng 's Kevin Erion, who had wrapped up his second successive Pro Twins Modified class the day before. Erion rode his Honda Hawk to a lonely second p lace following Quarterley's last ' lap mishap. Third place was taken by the ' Fast .By Ferracci Ducari 851 of Duane Summers with the s i mi la r l y'mo un ted Randy Shemwell finishing fourth. Quarterl ey, despite crashing, earned fifth-place honors. Jimmy Adamo, David Kieffer, Pablo Real , Kevin Stasny and Frank Shockley rounded out the top-10 finishers. , The Pro Twins GP Championship is Renfrow 's third AMA title: the diminitive Virginian , won th e 250cc Nationa l Championship in 1983, th e F- I titl e in '86 and now the Pro Twins title in '89. Good things seem to come three years apart for the likeable Renfrow. . -t haven't ridden that well in a long tim e," Renfrow said after his heroic ride to th e championship. "Not in the last part of '87 or in '88." The 16-l ap battle began with Renfro w leading th e first lap, and he in fact wo uld lead every lap, as it appeared Quarterl ey was waiting for the final circuit to make his bid. The duo easi ly separated themselves from th e pack , turning lap times in the low 1:51s and high 50s and · eventually dipping into th e 49s for a single lap on lap II. The two were displaying their widely varied riding styles all the way around th e 2.5-mile course - Ren frow going into the corn ers slower, but gaining ground on the exit, leaving black marks ou t of th e corners; Quarterley gobbling up ground on en tra nce speed, diving hard into every turn. On the ninth lap, Renfrow made the save of the year , losing the front end of the Honda in turn 12, falling off the inside of th e motorcycle and pulling himself back on th e bike without allowin~ Quarterley to pass. "I didn 't thi nk I was fallin g down," Renfrow said later. " It took a big bounce and bounced me off. The bik e got out from under m y bod y and I couldn't get it to stop sliding. I pushed it up with the top of m y foot ." The rest of th e race was uneventful , excep t for the final lap when Quarterl ey threw away h is chances at a second consecu tive title going into the fast, left-ha nd turn 10. "I figu red I'd get hi m in the last sectio n, bu t he slowe d down more The Pro Twins Mod class had plenty of second-turn action w ith Ch ris Thomas (18 ) getting out of shape; Ed Abdo (2 5) and Kevin Erion (1) begin to take evasive action. Erion won. tak ing his second class championship. than he ever had;" Quarterley said. "I just came screaming up on him and I had a choice to either T-bone -, him or throw it on its side. Unfortunately, I made the wrong choice. I could have won the cham p io nsh ip if I'd T-boned him. But I would have hit him behind the foo tpeg and he would have died. " With his riva l gone, Renfrow negotiated th e final four corners alone, taking the checkered flag and the cham pionsh ip . Erion was a lonely second followed by Summers and Shemwell. Results 16-LAP CIACLE BELL PAO TWINS GP: 1, Aandy Renfrow (Hon); 2. Kevin Erion (Han); 3. Duane Sum mers (Due): 4. Aandy She mwell (Due): 5, Dale Quan erl ey (Due); 6, Jimm y Adamo (Due); 7. David Kieffe r (Due); 8, Pablo Aeal (Due); 9, Kevin Stasny (Due); 10. Frank Shockl ey (Due); 11 . Warr en Elliot . (Due); 12. Ken Greene (Hon), AACE TIME : 29 min .. 37.969 sees, AVEAAGE SPEED: BO.99 1 mph. FINAL CIACLE BELL PAO TWINS GP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Aandy Aenfr ow (112); 2, Dale Quan erl ey (105); 3. Jam es Ad amo 163) 4. Duan e ; Sum mers (61); 5, Kevin Erion (56): 6. Aandy Shemwe ll (4B); 7. Frank Shoc kley (39); 8. David Kieffer (34); 9. Warr en Elli ott (3 1); 10 . Kurt Liebmann (2B); 11. Pablo Aeal (20); 12. Kevin Stasny (17); 13, Ely Schi ess (IS): 14. Bill Weidner (1 2); 15 , Chris Thom as (11); 16, (TIE) Pet e JOhnsonl John Long (10 1 18 , (TIE) Chr is Hellundl ; Gordon Seim (9). AMA/.CirC#e Bell Pro Twins Modified Series: Final round Erion gets his second title By Paul Carruthers TOPEKA, KS, SEPT. 2 Two Brothers Racing's Kevin Erion earned h is second successive Pro ' Twins Modified Championship, winning today's race at H eartland Park Topeka while his championship rival Craig Shambaugh co uld o nly manage a fifth-place finish. . T he title, Erion 's seco nd in a ro w, ca me on the team's hi ghly-modified Honda Hawk after last year's title was won on a Du cati F-1. Erio n ended up top ping Shambaugh by 12 points after a di smal beginning to his title defense saw h im not score a point un til the third ro und at Loudon; Erion im pressively wo n the fi na l fiv e ro unds ' of th e championship. T he T wo Bro the rs Racing sq uad agai n impo rt ed Cali fornian road racer Ken ny Greene to he lp Erion win the title by ridi ng the team 's second Honda Hawk. Greene again put in an impressive effort, followIng Erion home for a second-place fini sh. Third place went to Team Leoni's Ducati-rnounted Pablo Real. Dirty Harry's Bike Shop-sponsored Chris Thomas and Fast By Ferracci 's Shambaugh rounded out the top-five . finishers. The 14-lap 'final started with a bang as Thomas barged his way into th e turns one/two chicane a li ttle hot, cutting through the dirt and wreaking havoc on the rest of the field as they patiently waited for him to emerge - still holding down th e lead. "You don't win the race in the first turn, especially in that first turn," Erion said later of the melee. " I knew . tha t was going to happen." Greene got the best of Thomas first and led the first lap over his cautious teammate. Thomas held down third over Ed Abdo, Robert Van Nessen, Sham baugh and Shockley. Rea l went straight in the first chicane and would have to work hard to gain back the pl aces lost. Gree ne and Erion q uickly outdistanced the res t of the pack as the y waged their intrateam battle for the remainder of the race. Erion, who was turning lap times some four . seconds slower than those he would turn on the same bike the following day in the Pro Twins GP class, was taking no chances and would follow Greene until late in the race. Erion would ni p Greene by .598 of a second on his Mike Velascotuned Honda, averaging 74.901 mp h in the 14-lap race. It was Velasco's sixth road race championship as a tuner, aft er having a role in five prev ious Superb ike Na tional Championships. .The hard-riding Rea l cam e back from his off-track excursion to tak e third place for good o n lap six ,' and Thomas would hold off Sha mba ugh for fourth p lace. Van Nessen ro de th e wh eels o ff his Bu ell Har leyDavidson to finish sixth after racing with T homas and Shambaugh earl y in the race. " Ken ny's (Greene) a great rid er, he kep t me hon est ," Eri on said. " He ma de it fun an d interestin g. We didn't get close to th e practice times out there. But tomorrow's another race (Pro Tw ins GP ) and we can go for it a little more." Randy Renfrow won the Pro Twins GP National Championship. Greene was pleased with his performance and is hoping to get more rides on the littl e Honda next season. "It's great," he said of th e Hawk. "It handles good and i t runs good. I'm getting used to it. Maybe I'll get to ride it a few times next year. " " It could have been better," Real said of his third-place fin ish. "A guy ran into me in th e first chicane. I was going half-a-second faster than them (the Two Bro thers Racing team of Erion and Greene), but there wasn 't enough time to catch them; I needed two seconds a lap. I thi n k I could stay with them, but I do n't know if I could have beaten them." Shamba ugh's ch a m p io n sh i p 'h opes were voided by a fifth -place finish , but he knew his chances were slim going into the Kansas ro und after crashing in the last round at Sears Point. " I kn ew I could n't fall down ," he said. "I was just hoping he would make a mistake. (Pablo) Real came up with his best race and go t third. I ma de a mistake two laps from the end and couldn't get (Chris) Thomas." Results 14· LAP CIACLE BELL PAO TWINS MODI FIED: 1. Kevin Erion (Hon); 2. Kenn y Greene (Hon); 3. Pablo Aeal IDuc); 4 . Chris Thomas (Due); 5. Craig Sham baugh (Due); 6. Aoben Van Nessen (H· D); 7. W alt er Sakowski (Due); 8. Frank Shockley (Due); 9, Kiyoshige Wata nabe (Hon); 10. Ed Abdo (Hon); 11. Michael Aeilly (Yam); 12, Chris Hellu nd (Due); 13. Matt hew Greene (Due). AACE TIM E: 28 min.. 0 2.22 1 sees. AVEAAGE SPEED: 74.90 1 mph . FINAL CIRCLE BELL PAO TWI NS MODIFIED POINT STANDINGS: 1, Kevin Erio n (1DO); 2. Craig Shambaugh (88); 3. Frank Shockley (65); 4, Chris Thomas (40); 5. Aoben Griffiths (39); 6. Pablo Aeal (33); 7. Kenn y Green e (32); 8, Pet e Johnson (27); 9, (TIE) Alan Hippensl eallWalte r Sakowsk i (25). 13

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