Rick Leventhal was gracious enough to send me a bunch of his 4X6 racing prints. Rick was a racer himself in the mid-1980s, but took the time to break out his camera when he wasn’t on his bike. Rick wasn’t a pro photographer and didn’t always have the best access to the track at times, but I think he still managed to record some wonderful images from a great era in American road racing. I love this photo Rick shot from Mid-Ohio; I’m going to say it appears to be 1986. If correct this was the last year of AMA Formula One and while the class still had its share of GP-based bikes, much of the field was filled out by riders on their Superbikes looking to earn a little extra cash on the weekend. I’m not 100 percent sure on these, but I believe this photo shows Ted Boody, Jr. (No. 13) on a Honda RS500 leading Dale Quarterley (No. 32 Yamaha FZ750), Ricky Orlando (No. 12 Honda VFR750), John Bettencourt (No. 50 Honda VFR750), Kevin Monahan (No. 89 Yamaha FZ750), Boonie Knott (No. 31 Suzuki RG500) and Dave Busby (No. 72 Honda VFR750. I can’t make out the rider behind Knott. It sort of looks like John Kocinski or possibly Pat Hernon. Maybe someone will be able to make a positive ID.
A photo from the collection of former racer Rick Leventhal. When he wasn’t racing Rick was taking photos and we’re fortunate he kept them all these years and is now sharing them with us. I’m not 100 percent sure on these, but I believe this photo from Mid-Ohio shows Ted Boody, Jr. (No. 13) on a Honda RS500 leading Dale Quarterley (No. 32 Yamaha FZ750), Ricky Orlando (No. 12 Honda VFR750), John Bettencourt (No. 50 Honda VFR750), Kevin Monahan (No. 89 Yamaha FZ750), Boonie Knott (No. 31 Suzuki RG500) and Dave Busby (No. 72 Honda VFR750. I can’t make out the rider behind Knott. It sort of looks like John Kocinski or possibly Pat Hernon. Maybe someone will be able to make a positive ID. (Rick Leventhal Collection)
Rider Files 
My last AMA Superbike race was Daytona ’86
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Larry………..In my Daytona program is a listing of issued numbers and Larry Shorts was issued #20 and #80 was Pat Hernon.
John Kocinski used #30
the bike that is partly hidden looks like either number 80 or 30
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Hernon says it’s not him, so I’m leaning towards Kocinski. Thanks Gary
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Or maybe Shorts. ??? Man, this is bugging me!
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Larry…..got any photos of Kocinski and his leathers from 1986,finding photos of Shorts might be a little harder to find.
I enjoy doing these look back thru my numerous programs to try to ID a rider
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See below. Now I’m thinking it’s Pat.
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I stand corrected… Old age is getting to me. My former mechanic says that I raced Mid Ohio that year on the Honda. That certainly looks like my leathers so it could be me.
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I bet that is you Pat.
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So Pat,you got any photos from 86 of yourself?
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Most of my past racing stuff was destroyed in a fire 20 years ago. Larry’s got more pics of me than me. LOL.
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Looking at this photo I suspect it is a photo of the 1985 Mid-Ohio formula one race not 1986. The clues that lead me to that conclusion are 1) Dale Quarterley’s leathers and helmet are the ones he wore during the 1984 season and likely during 1985 after he replaced his gpz750 with an fz750. During races earlier in the 1986 season he is wore almost completely white leathers with a helmet with blue flames, and his fz had a all white paint scheme with a white front fender. 2) The presence of Ted Boody, if I remember correctly Honda supported dirt trackers moonlighting in formula one on RS500s something that occurred in 1985 and had been scaled back during 1986. 3) The presence of John Bettencourt, he didn’t race many events in the 1986 superbike series, but we know for sure he was at Mid-Ohio in 1985 as he won the superbike race that weekend
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