VOLUME 59 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 19, 2022 P125
ing both the Superbike and
Formula One classes for Honda.
Switching from the heavy four-
stroke production-based Inter-
ceptor to the flyweight 500cc
two-stroke each race weekend
provided a steep learning curve.
"Yeah, I learned that you have
to focus on one type of bike,"
Rainey says.
But as far as the demands of
racing both classes go, Rainey
was up for it. Although he col-
lected only a single race win in
the Formula One class that sea-
son, at Road America, he was
consistent enough to ultimately
land fourth in the series stand-
ings by the end of the season.
But on the Superbike, Rainey
was magic. Unfortunately, he
got off to a shaky start when he
chunked a tire on the 15th lap
of the Daytona 200, ultimately
finishing a lucky fourth. That
race was followed by a con-
troversial Sears Point event,
in which Rainey and Suzuki's
Kevin Schwantz were docked a
lap each for failing to heed the
waving yellow flag and passing
lapped riders in the process
after Scott Gray went down.
The pair crossed the finish
line one-two, but third-running
Merkel was awarded the victory
instead. Protests by Rainey and
Schwantz did not reverse the
outcome.
"Schwantz and I were lapping
riders," Rainey recalls. "And the
guy that we were lapping had
broke, and he was coasting,
but they had a waving yellow in
that corner. But when you're at
speed and somebody is coast-
ing, it's impossible not to pass.
The guy wasn't racing. They said
we passed a rider under the
waving yellow, and Merkel won
that race. That basically cost
me the championship. Then
after that they decided not to
DQ guys for passing riders with
broken machinery."
Rainey crashed out of the
race at Mid-Ohio later in the
year, but those three miscues
marked the only three times that
he failed to win. Rainey saw the
checkered flag first in six of nine
races, including the series finale
at Road Atlanta.
And the win streak spilled over
into 1987, too, as Rainey earned
his only career Daytona 200
victory, lapping up to second
place in the race. He then went
on to win the next two rounds, at
Gainesville, Georgia, and Brain-
erd, Minnesota. Consistency
the rest of the way would land
Rainey his second career AMA
Superbike title that season, even
though Schwantz basically did
what Rainey had done in '86:
won more but finished less.
"It was pretty cool." Rainey
says. "Through the year we also
had those Camel Challenges,
Honda HRC
Honda's Rainey
went on to win the
AMA Superbike
Championship for a
second time in '87.
