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VOL. 52 ISSUE 47 NOVEMBER 24, 2015 P111 lead. Renfrow had a bit of trouble getting around Adamo and once into second he was still losing ground to the leader. But then he caught a break. Adamo crashed bringing out the red flag and the restart would be a short sprint. On the restart Quarterley and Renfrow began one of the hard- est fought races in all of AMA road racing that season. The two swapped the lead back and forth numerous times. On the final lap Renfrow led, but Quarterley lined him up for his patented square-off move in the last turn, a move he'd famously done to Merkel in a Superbike race a few years earlier. It nearly worked, but Adams' theory of a light, small profile machine with an ultra-light rider was proving well thought out. Renfrow got on the gas and had just enough power to hold off Quarterley at the line by inches. After the Loudon win, Renfrow was second in the standings, 12 points behind Quarterley. All the momentum Renfrow and Honda built was dashed with a brilliant run by Quarterley at Road America, where he sat patiently behind Renfrow until the final lap and drafted past at the start-finish line to win. Advantage now to Quarterley, whose series lead at midseason was back up to 16. After fighting tooth and nail, Renfrow and Quar- terley suddenly became teammates at the Suzuka 8 Hour where they raced the Edwin Jeans Honda VFR750R. They finished as the top Americans, a very credible seventh place, just behind the Mori- waki Zero-VX7 of Graeme Crosby and Malcolm Campbell and just ahead of the Yoshimura Suzuki Sietto GP-1 of Kevin Schwantz and Doug Polen. How Renfrow and Quarterley could even ride the same bike with their extreme difference in height and weight is a complete other story in itself, but they made it work. Back in America and again as rivals. Going into Mid-Ohio, in order to find more power, Ray Plumb pumped the RS's capacity to 877cc, but the additional grunt resulted in some handling issues. Quarterley outgunned Renfrow at Mid- Ohio. On the right hander leading to the back straight, Renfrow got a little out of shape braking for the tight turn. Quarterley saw about 16 inches of pavement on the inside and dove for it. The two collided midturn and it was enough to give Quarterley the victory. On the podium Renfrow sportingly praised Quarterley's pass, but pri- vately afterwards, Renfrow, perhaps feeling the pressure of the championship slipping away, for the first time scolded Quarterley for the pass. After Mid-Ohio it appeared Quarterley was untouchable for the championship, but Renfrow caught a break at Sears Point, where he won and Quarterley's Ducati developed a miss. He pitted to have the crew look at it the Ducati. It couldn't be fixed quickly so they had him go back out and circulate to the finish. It proved to be a good strategy as the three points he gained for 12th gave him a 95-92 advantage going into the series finale at Heartland Park Topeka. That set up a winner-take-all race at Topeka and it was a thriller. The leading duo was never more than a few bike lengths apart the entire way. On the final lap they entered the fast right- hand sweeper at turn 10. Both riders were at the very limit. Renfrow's Honda twitched and he checked up just a tad, then turned hard to the inside to compensate. Quarterley had momen- tum and was attempting move to the inside when suddenly Renfrow was parked in front of him. "I had a millisecond to decide," Quarterley re- calls. "And it went through my brain that if I hit him it will knock us both down and I'm going to win the championship. The problem was that I was going to drill him behind the footpeg and I was petri- fied that it would high-side him at warp speed. I decided to throw my bike on its side and I slid out, the bike just missing the back of Randy's and he went on to win the championship." So it was the ultimate respect Quarterley showed to his friend that day at Topeka that ended one of the best championship battles ever. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives