Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE I n this special two-part Archives we'll take a look at the memorable 1989 AMA Pro Twins battle between Randy Renfrow and Dale Quarterley and the backstory leading up to that standout series fight. Look for part two of the stories in next week's issue. The AMA's Battle of the Twins morphed into AMA Pro Twins in 1987 and the class began to run out of gas. The series, which once saw Harley-Davidson battle Ducati, Moto Guzzi, Cagiva and other very interesting racing ma- chines slowly became a Ducati benefit. By 1988 Dale Quarterley dominated the series on a Fast by Ferracci Ducati. But in 1989 Martin Adams, with help from Honda, breathed new life into the series with the introduction of the innovative Honda RS850, a race bike powered by a Honda RS750 engine and featuring many components from Honda GP bikes. Initially in '89 Quarterley looked poised to glide home to another Pro Twins Championship, but the addition of 1986 AMA Formula One Champion Randy Renfrow on the new Honda meant the factory Ferracci Ducati had a battle on its hands. What transpired was an amazing season-long wheel-to-wheel battle between Renfrow and Quar- terley that came down to a last-race showdown. One of the beauties of the epic '89 AMA Pro Twins showdown was that the two riders involved, while fierce competitors, were also good friends. Quarterley was a hard-nosed rider who was known for sometimes forcing his way to the lead. His famous last-corner Superbike pass on Fred Merkel at Loudon in the mid-1980s solidi- fied that reputation. Yet when the battle was between Quarterley and Renfrow the racing was tight, but almost always clean. Another unique aspect to the '89 series was that smack-dab in the middle of the season, these two tough opponents, who were racing each other for the same title that season, became allies as they teamed to turn in a head-turning performance in the Suzuka 8 Hours. The very fact that Renfrow and Quarterley could race the same motorcycle was a wonder all in itself. "We came together as teammates on the race- track, but off the track we couldn't be more polar opposites," Quarterley said of their Suzuka ex- ploits. "I'm 6' 2", he's 5' 2"; I'm 190, he's 118; I'm fat and eating ice cream, he's .3 percent body fat and one solid muscle; I was brash and demanding, he was diplomatic, but that's what made us work." The other interesting backstory to the '89 season was that Commonwealth Honda's owner Martin Adams had considered buying a "works" Ducati to contest the Pro Twins Series, but from his perspective the best that might get you was second place. "You had to be a very trusting dog to put your money on a Ducati and run in that series and expect to win," Adams said. "The bottom-line is they were running themselves in the series. There was a long history of disappointed customers. I realized if I give these guys an order of tens of thousands of dollars, we're going to finish no better RENFROW VS. QUARTERLEY: PT. 1 P108 Before Randy Renfrow agreed to come on board with Commonwealth Honda, it was GP rider Paul Lewis (76) who battled defending AMA Pro Twins Champ Dale Quarterley (1) to the line at Daytona in 1989. Quarterley won by a half-wheel. PHOTOGRAPHY BY LARRY LAWRENCE

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