Tony Montenegro was a longtime motocross and flat track racer who went road racing in the early 1980s. He probably hadn’t faced a challenge as big as he did when this photo was taken in April of 1986 at Rockingham. Running his Kawasaki wide open on Rockingham’s steep banking had to be the thrill of a lifetime. Check out Tony’s gear – AGV helmet, Speed Mode leathers, his bike shod with Yokohama tires. As I recall Montengro was one of the fast novice riders at Rockingham that year. He had some outstanding results at Pocono that season. Incidentally, Fabian Cortez, who later became AMA Pro Twins GP2 champ, was making an early road racing debut this weekend at Rockingham. Montenegro later became one of the leading Harley-Davidson 883 road racers. He finished ranked inside the top-10 in the 1992 series. Today he lives in Florida and is still racing. That’s 30 years on the track!

Tony Montenegro was still a novice road racer when he ran this WERA sprint race at Rockingham in April of 1986. He went on to become one of the leading Harley-Davidson 883 road racers of the early 1990s. (Larry Lawrence photo)