The 1985 WERA A Superbike final at the GNF with Meril Moen (No. 31) leading the pack at the start of the race going into Road Atlanta’s turn one. Moen is just ahead of Gary Gibson (No. 32), Ottis Lance (No. 517), Robert Head (No. 99) and Kevin Rentzell (No. 48). Moen won the race and national title on his Kawasaki GPZ900. Incidentally Rentzell appears to be riding a Suzuki GSXR, even though the bike wasn’t release in the U.S. until 1986. (Larry Lawrence photo)
I am so happy I found this roll of negatives from the 1985 WERA Grand National Finals. I had very few photos remaining from this race and this happens to be a shot from a classic race showing a ton of great riders.
It’s the A Superbike final with Meril Moen (No. 31) leading the pack at the start of the race going into Road Atlanta’s turn one.
Moen is just ahead of Gary Gibson (No. 32), Ottis Lance (No. 517), Robert Head (No. 99), Kevin Rentzell (No. 48). Just to the inside of Rentzell is Joe Nelson. Also in the photo are Steve Nardiello (No. 92), Pat Gill (No. 637), Rodney Cohen (No. 916), Tommy Sloan (No. 614), John Giambrone (No. 744), Stu Edenfield (No. 228), Jon Gray (No. 20) and Chris Thomas (No. 906). The last rider in a line straight back from Gibson is Herbert Williams (with the white stripe on his helmet).
Farther back in the novice ranks if you look to the far left of the photo you’ll see Adam Smith (No. 161) who was the standout novice star of the GNF that year. You can also see novice Bob Englert (No. 298) and Patrick Tharp (No. 917).
Texan Moen won the race and the WERA A Superbike Championship. Interestingly he and Ottis Lance were soon to become teammates on Kosar Racing’s AMA Superbike squad. Kosar was one of the top privateer teams of the mid-1980s.
The one mystery in this photo is No. 48 Kevin Rentzell. Rentzell appears to be on a Suzuki GSXR. The GSXR didn’t come out in America until 1986, so I’m a bit confused. His bike could be a Suzuki RG500, which had a similar front fairing as the GSXR. I know a lot of Rentzell’s buddies check out this site. Maybe they can shed some light on exactly what Rentzell was riding in this photo.
Doug Kidd says:
The GSXR 750 was sold in Canada in ‘85. Novice Mark Schledhorn from Alabama had one, and Cycle Tech used one to win the endurance championship
November 8, 2011, 9:38 pmScott Turner says:
Kevin used to ride a badass red Suzuki GS 1100 Superbike with a Kerker exhaust, etc. In one race, I saw him lead a pack of TZ750’s for about five laps at Road Atlanta before they were able to get around him.
November 8, 2011, 10:13 pmMark Long says:
The GSXR750 was released in Canada a year prior to the release in the USA. Canadian GSXR750?
November 8, 2011, 10:21 pmadmin says:
I knew about Cycle Tech (who could forget a 16-year-old John Kocinski?), but wasn’t aware they were allowed to race in WERA in sprint races in ‘85. Learn something new everyday.
November 8, 2011, 10:46 pmMarshall Rautmann says:
Gary Gibson from illinois?
November 9, 2011, 12:48 amMarshall Rautmann says:
Do you got more photos from the 1980s
November 9, 2011, 12:49 amKeep them coming if you do
deano swims says:
They were all lucky that race because I was the defending A-Superbike Champion sitting on the sidelines with a broken back suffered at the AMA Pro-AM race at Daytona in October, 3 weeks earlier. I never had a chance to defend my title that day which was very sad to me! I feel like the outcome would have been much different if I had been there in that race! There is no way I would have let any of those guys take my #1 plate with out a fight! Ahhhh..the would have’s and could have’s in racing!!! Don’t you just love them??? (Sorry Larry but I just had to make a comment about this one!)
November 9, 2011, 1:13 amdeano swims says:
Actually , Larry let me make a correction to my previous comment and that is…..”There is no way that the “Battle Axe” and I would have let any of those guys take our #1 plate away from us without a fight!
November 9, 2011, 1:21 amadmin says:
Marshall, yep, that Gary Gibson.
Deano, You would have given them hell for sure!
November 9, 2011, 1:57 amPat Hernon says:
I remember the Yamaha RD350LC coming down from Canada a year early and kicking everyone’s ass in 1983 WERA Sprints. Mine included.
November 9, 2011, 1:58 amKevin Fardoux says:
Pretty impressive that Head has that FJ1100 in 4th, though it’s only the first turn. I doubt he finished that high up.
Didn’t Schwantz do a race at the GNF on somebody else’s 900 Ninja that year?
November 9, 2011, 9:42 amadmin says:
Kevin,
Meril won the race on the GPz! I don’t know about Schwantz.
November 9, 2011, 9:44 amWAYNE EVEN says:
Kevin rode Merils Ninja at the 84 GNF,we Texas boys gotta stick together
November 9, 2011, 10:56 amOttis Lance says:
We had some fast guys from Texas!
November 9, 2011, 11:58 amKevin Fardoux says:
Ah…that’s right, it was ‘84. Wasn’t there something about him wearing someone else’s leathers to do that race, as he wasn’t eligible?
November 9, 2011, 12:04 pmKen Welty says:
Hi Larry,
You know that the GSXR750 was imported to Canada in 1985, & I know that you remember John Kocinski, Dave Aldana, Joey Owsowski, Wes Cooley, and (?? they had another rider too,) won the 1985 Wera National Endurance series that year on them. IIRC, 2nd was John Yurejefcic’s Speed Boys, then maybe Ralph Johnston’s Northridge Racing 3th, Solemax 4th (pre-Scott Russell,) and us Wanker’s were 5th I know.
I know by the end of the year, quite a few had made it onto US racetracks. I’m sure that’s what Kevin is on here. He had plenty of connections to help him get his hands on one.
http://www.theriderfiles.com/?m=200910&paged=3
http://www.theriderfiles.com/?m=20100314
http://www.theriderfiles.com/?p=5271
Please keep the old pictures coming! Thank You.
Ken
November 9, 2011, 12:34 pmWAYNE EVEN says:
Kevin, that yoyo Schwantz just slipped a sweatshirt over his leathers, Renfro and Quarterley were not impressed
November 9, 2011, 1:36 pmdeano swims says:
Schwantz rode Moen’s Kawasaki in the 1984 GNF A-Production race wearing Moen’s leathers. Randy Renfrow realized it wasn’t Meril inside of the leathers of the guy he was racing against so he protested and got the win back from Schwantz. Funny thing is Renfrow’s supposed production DOT Dunlops had the word “RENFROW” molded into the sidewall of the tires where the compound code was normally placed.
November 9, 2011, 2:08 pmKevin Fardoux says:
Thanks for filling in the blanks guys! Guess I bounced my head off the ground too many times, and can’t remember anything right.
I do remember that it was a BIG deal about Schwantz running that Ninja. It was kind of funny seeing the smirk on his face, as he was so bashful back then, I don’t remember him saying much about it as the controversy raged around him. Kevin also had a great race in D-superbike with Ed Key, which was pretty memorable. Watching him come down the hill towards start finish, sometimes with his legs flailing around on the bike….kid was fearless.
The ride home was pretty memorable as well. Dave Barnard and I had driven down with Evevlyn Pritz(in Buzz’s van), and coming through the south side of Chicago, a bullet struck the passenger door, just behind Ev’s head. Just a split second sooner…..scary.
Ken, Buzz let me ride the Wanker bike at Indy one year (I think it was a punched out CB900F?). I remember seeing that thing really fly at Elkhart, but for some reason it would hardly run at IRP. What a handful that thing was….I still don’t understand how you guys got around so quickly on it.
November 9, 2011, 4:00 pmSteve Nardiello says:
That was some kind of fun racing back then, grass in the runoff areas instead of concrete barriers, and gravity cavity at a buck eighty or so. Nice shots Larry. Thank you for sharing.
November 10, 2011, 10:02 amMeril Moen says:
Randy Renfow took me out in the 1984′ Saturday endurance race trying to pass me at bottom of hill leading up to the Nissan bridge – a really stupid move. I was black & blue from slamming into the guard rail at 150 +, and after a few practice laps on the 900 Sunday morning, I threw in the towel. Schwantz was excited to fill-in, he did maybe 2 practice laps. Remember he’d never raced anything bigger than a 600 at this point. He started in HIS leathers with a sweatshirt covering his name, started front row center in my slot, flew off the front and led the whole way. John Ulrich watched all this from Press Tower, and 2 weeks later Kevin was trying-out for Yosh in calif, rest is history. What a fun few years that was !! Meril Moen
November 10, 2011, 3:50 pmmike burke says:
Hi Steve..been a long time..Do you have any more pic’s of the old Ninja??..Mike Smith and I ran that thing for a while and had decent success with it. Hows things in Mtn. Park?? Happy Holidays everybody
December 23, 2011, 4:48 pmJon Gray says:
Hi I think Kevin Rentzell is riding Forbes Duguids GSXR 750 from New Englands AAMRR club. Kevin and I rode the GSXR in the endurance race that weekend and finished 2nd behind Joey Osowski and Dave Aldana on Cycle Techs GSXR tuned by Ward Ring.
January 19, 2012, 12:46 amRichard Kosar says:
First time I saw a GSXR was in 85 at Texas World Speedway under John Kocinski – I was there with Meril. That’s definitely not an RG500 (I’ve had a couple).
I can’t thank Meril enough for getting me into the world of road racing – got to meet some incredible people – Meril, Ottis, Wayne, Schwantz. Man those were some fun years!
May 31, 2012, 5:08 pm