Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ROADRACE e AMA Circle Bell Pro Twins GPI Series: Round 1 ~~ . Jamie James (73) p assed fourth-place finisher Dale Quart erle y (32) and runnerup Ra ndy Renfro w (I) to win his first-ever Pro Twins GP I race. Jamie James takes Daytona in Pro Twins debut By Bria nCau erso n Photo by Henny R a y Abrams DAYTONAB EACH. n, M 9 AR. w i n -cyl i n de r roa d r acin g in America has had almost as many titles as it's had winner s, but ra rely has there been a race as stra nge as the inaugural round of th e newlynam ed AMA Circle Bell Pro Twins GPI Ser ies at Daytona International Speedw a y. In th e end it was anoth er win for the Fast By Ferracci Ducati, but this ' tim e it was Ferracci's new recrui t. defendin g AMA Su perbike Champion J amie J am es who brought the bri ght red ' mach in e to the wi n ner's circle in his Ducati-rid ing debut. J a mes cam e o ut o n top of a three-wa y battle with defending Cha m pio n Randy Renf ro w a nd ex- Ferracci pi lot Dale Q ua rterley, taki ng the lead on the seventh lap of the 15-la p event and a veragi ng 109.332 mph en route to a 24.62-second margin o f victory. For hi s effo rts, J am es pocketed $3185 of the $11,375 GPI purse. The race was reall y much clo ser tha n th e margin would have one beli eve, how ever , as both Renfrow a nd Quar terley were slo wed by mechanical probl em s a fter ta ki n g their t urns leading. J am es also had difficulties, hi s Michelin-shod works Du cati br eaking a radi ator hose and beginning to o verhea t lat e in the race. It quit on the coo l-off lap. a nd J ames ended up being tow ed to the pi ts by l lth-place fini sh er Robbie Petersen alt er the fin ish . " I do n 't know wh at wo uld have happened if the race was one lap lo nger: ' said J ames la ter. " I saw th e temperature ga uge going u p a bo ut two laps from the fini sh . I rea lly co uld n 't worry abou t it that la te in the race. Fortuna tely, thi ngs tu rned out o ka y." T 2 Renfrow ga ve the Dun lop-shod, Comm onwealth R S750-powered H onda a fine send-off in its fin al race by finishing second after being slo wed by tr ansm ission p roblems. Fr en ch Ducati ride r Thierry Cu pillard inherited third when Quarterl ey was tem p oraril y side l i ne d wi th e lectrica l problem s. Quarterl ey reco ver ed to finish fourth o n his Mich elin-shod Boll enbach Ducati 851, o ne of the pair o f bi kes he'd ridden last yea r fcir Ferracci. T he torr id pace set by the lead ers was suc h tha t they la pped up to fift h place, occu pied by En g lishma n Robert H o lden o n the first o f two New Zealand-built Brittens in the race, both of which finished in th e top 10. Wednesda y's timed qual ifyin g saw J am es earn the pol e for Frida y's final with a blistering I:56.07 lap, foll owed by Quarterl ey with a 1:56.798 and Renf row with a 1:57.179. Bett er than five seconds separated Ren frow from the fourth-place, qualifier , Cuppilard, wh o cloc ked a 2:02.785. Ital ian G ior gi o Ca ntalupo rounded o ut the front row of the gri d wi th a 2:03.353. The second ro w was mad e up of defendin g Pro T wi ns Modi fied Produ ction class cha m p Kevin Erion o n h is Two Brothers Racing H ond a H awk (2:03.375); 1988 Pro Twins GP cham p Dou g Brauneck in the retu rn of Dr. J ohn Wittner's Mo to Guzzi (2:04.307); Dr. David Kieffer on hi s Rough Stock Racin g Ducati (2:04.732); Pab lo Real on a Team Leon i Ducati (2:06.037); a nd Italian Ferdi na ndo Di Cecco on yet anot her Ducati (2:06. l5 7). At the d r o p of th e g reen flag , Ren fro w led fro m his front- ro w-center sta rti ng position , with Quarterl ey pas sing the Honda rider to take the lead a t the International Horseshoe. James followed Cantalupo in fourth , but wasted no time in passing the Italian, doing so as the lead pack exited the infield onto the west banking. Once past, James closed on the lead pair until by the time they'd reached turn one the. trio were running nos eto-tail. , . Renfrow re too k th e lead on lap three, holding it for a lap before Q uarterley again moved past. Lap five saw Renfrow and James both get by Quarterl ey, an order they would hold until lap' n in e, when Quarterley once again passed Renfrow. By th is time, James had pulled out a slight ad van tage, enough that the others found it · difficult to sta y in his 175 mph draft. Renfrow once again led Q uarterley as the race reached lap ,10, and he co nt in ued to do so until lap 13, at which point his bike unexplicably jumped out of gear. " I was running wide open on the banking in ' fourth gear a nd it just popped out of gear," Renfrow explained after the race. "It wouldn 't go back into gear. It 's happened before, but never this bad. " " I thought it grenaded, " said Quarterl ey, wh o was right behind Renfrow at the time. "I almost hit the wall, I • swerved so hard to avoid him." It was some 20 seconds before Renfrow could get the transmission to reengage, and by that time the lead Ducati duo were seemingly out of reach. The stage was set for a dramatic lastlap James/Quarterley confrontation, but instead Quarterley's machine sudden ly quit running. Quarterley pulled it down onto the apron where he did some roadside troubleshooting, discovering that th e kill switch had shorted o ut. H e th en ya nked the wires off the swit ch and twisted the bare ends together after stri p ping them with hi s teeth! Renfrow and Cupillard both passed Quarterley as he restarted the sto pped machine, and to his credit he soldiered hom e for a well -earned fourth pl ace finish. " J a mie really had us on the straighta ways," said Quarterley. " You cou ld see it o n our lap times. Randy and I were doing 1:57s, and when Jamie came by us on the banking that lap we did a I:56. Then , the three of us did a full lap together and it was a 1:55. When J amie got o u t ahead, Randy a nd I did I:56s and 57s aga in. " James' lap times averaged 1:57.221, wh ile Ren frow a vera ged 1:58.862; both turning times faster than they'd gone in the precedi ng Superbike heat race. Befor e the Ren frow a nd Quarterl ey 'inciden ts, the lead trio had stretched o ut o ver a min ute's lead o n fourth place, which was comfortably held by Cantalupo until he crashed on lap 12. Holden was riding injured after a Superbike practice crash, and worked hi s way up from a midpack sta rt to finish fifth. His Britten was running good o n the banking, but the V-rwin's elec tro nic fuel injection system was off in th e infield. The Brittens were als o sufferi ng from a weight disadvantage; th e crew had mistakenly weighted the bikes to bring them up to what they believed was a 350-pound minimum, but that limit exists only in the GP2 cla ss. Behind Holden came British journalist a nd frequent Cycle News contrib utor Alan Cathcart, wh o put his Spondon-Irarn ed 888cc Du cati past Erion o n the final lap to claim sixth. Ca t hca rt had su ffere d su spension teething problems with the new bike all week, an d though he'd gotten tha t right on race da y the EFI still wasn' t . wo rk ing q uite right. Erion, whose Honda was running out of gas near the end, finished a disappointing seventh, a fu ll lap behind the 'riders he hoped to be challenging in this year's GPI title chase. . New Zealander-turned-Canadian Gary Goodfellow brought the second Britten home in eight place, his runn ing far worse than teammate Holden's. DiCecco and Real rounded out the top 10. As usual for Twins racing, there wer e a number of notable nonfinishers. These incl uded Brauneck, who retired his MOIO Guui Daytona 1000 to the pits with a flat tire caused by a leak y valve stem on lap three. Former Battle of the Twins champ Jimmy Adamo's new Ducati 888 su ffered bent valves during practice when a sto ne got between a timing belt and its pulley, so he entered the race On a Spondon-framed Sports Motorcycles Ducati, not unlike Cathcart's. Australian Pa ul Lewis had been sla ted to ride the machine, bu t he suffered inj uries in a Superbike qualifying sessio n. Though Adamo said the bike handled well, he retired it on lap five with ignition pickup problems after nearly,being rear-ended in the infield. La p five also saw J o h n Long retire his Du ca ti to the pits, whi le Dr. Kieffer 's Ducati went a lap further before suffering a blown water seal while he was running in eighth place. elf Results PRO TW GPI fiNAL: J. Jamie Jam es (Due); 2. Rand y Renlrow (Hon); 3. Thimy Cupillard (Due); 4. Dale Quanerley (Due); 5. Robert Holden (Bri); 6. Alan Catbcan (Due); 7. Kevin Erion (Hon ); 8. Gary Goodfellow (Bri); 9. Ferdinanda Di Cecco (Due); 10. Pablo Real (Due); II . Robbi e P = ·(Due); 12. Kurt Liebmann (Due); 13. Roger Reiman (H· D); 14. J uui Hau tan iemi (Due); 15. Warren Elliott (Due); 16. David Lowri e (Due): 17. R.alt Waldmann (BMW); 18. Robert Grilliths (MG); 19. Owen Coles (MG); 20. Frank Shockley (Due); 21. William Davi' (H ·D ); 22. Volker Klett (Due); 23. Giorgio Cantal upo (Due); 24. Gary Stas (Kaw); 25. ·Douglas Groos (Due); 26. David Kieffer (Due); 27. Ja mes Adanio (Due); 28. John Long (Due); 29. Andre Bernard (Due);30. Doug Braun eck (MG); 3I. Michael Hose (RGB); 32. Qui, Jensen (Due); 33. Malcolm c T unSlaIl (Due); 34. Barnhard Bludau (Due). Time: 29 rmn ., 18.:51 sec. Margin of victory: 24.620 sec. . Average Speed: 109.332 mph . PRO TW GPI POINT STANDINGS: I. Jami e Jam es (20); 2. Rand y Renfrow (16); 3. Thimy Cu pilla rd (13); 4. Dale Qu arterl ey (11); 5. Robert Hold en (10); 6. Alan Calh an (9); 7. Kevin Erion (8); 8. Gary Goodlellow (7); 9. Ferdin and o Di Cecco (6); 10. Pablo Real (5); I I. Robbie Petersen (4); 12. Kurt Liebmann (3); 13. Roger Reiman (2): 14. Ju ssi Hau tani em i (I). AMA Circle Bell Pro Twins GP2 series: Round I Cortez conquers Erion By Bri an Catterson Photo by Henny R ay Abrams D YTONAB A EACH, fL, MAR. 9 n his first- ever race in the professional ranks, Fast By Ferracci Ducati 750 Sport rider Fabian Cortez defeated defending class Champion Kevin Erion on his Two Brothers Racing Honda Hawk to win the inaugural round of the newly-named AMA Circle Bel1 Pro Twins GP2 Series at Daytona International Speedway. Erion, riding on Dunlop tir es, made the best possible use of his polesitter status by leading the start, quickly establishing a five-second advantage. Meanwhile, Cortez, riding on Yokohama tires , had started from the outside of row six, taking just one lap to move into the second-place position. Erion 's lead stayed at five seconds until la p six, when Cortez began closing in a t a ra te of abo ut a second per lap. That gap closed 10 nothing when , o n lap nine, a wavi ng yello w flag in the Int ern atio na l Horsesh oe allowed Certez to move in for the kill. - - - - -- Con tin ued on page 35 I

• Cover