Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126605
(Above) GP class winner Jimmy Adamo heads up Malcolm Tunstall (6) on the first lap. (Inset! Yamaha's Chris Steward (140) won the Stock class. AKA Battle one 0' the Twins: Round Adamo Due's to seeond Da~tona • win By Tom Mueller DAYTONA BEACH , FL, MAR . 5 Ducati pilot Jimmy Adamo topped the Battle of the Twins on Daytona International Speedway's 3,87 mile road race course for the second year in a row, using a hard charging pace which carried him to th e checkered flag 33 seconds ahead of BMW rider John Long, who took second in the 13 lap, 50 1.4 mil e even t. " We worked over the engi ne , added Fox Sh ox and put new disc brakes on: ' said Adamo as he waited to gr id the same Reno Leoni machine he used last yea r. " We' re getting so me help from Castrol and Moto-X Fox and from Kenny's Restaurant-in japan! The guy has been watching us for a year now." Harley-Davidson mounted Dave Roper took a competitive third, aft er co nte ndi ng with a fuel shortage whi ch had him crossing the line on fum es. The best racingof the da y was between Long a nd Roper, who p u t on a show a nd dem onstr at ed h ow to pi ck any line possibl e wh en pa ssin g lap ped riders. A two wa ve sta rt put the co m bined four class field o nto the co urse, a n d it was soon ea sy to see th at Adamo was in a class of hi s own. He put a 11.5 seco n d cus h io n on Du cati rider Malcolm e T u nstall and Lon g by lap two. Roper had his work cu t o u t for him. as he left the grid from th e back, o ff his original front row position, and wa s running back from the frontrunners. By lap three Adamo had 15 seconds over Long, who had displaced Tunstall. Roper was swiftly moving up and was now into fourth. Doug Lantz a nd Bo bb y Good in were decidin g who wo u ld ru n in th e fift h slo t. By lap four th e top rid ers were running th rough lapped ri ders. Roper passed T u ns tall, th en p owered over the top o f Lo ng on a high line down th e front straig h t. Adamo was ge tt in g close to a half minute lead by lap eight wh il e Roper a nd Long went hi gh and low through back markers, holding th eir pace. Tunstall reta ined fourth a n d held a cus hi on o n Lantz and Goodin. Steve Wynne had been push in g his Du e to the front but fad ed to an event ua l n inth. Ada mo was fu n to watch , but by lap 10 he was so far a hea d he wasn 't part of th e race. The rea l ac tio n was between Roper a nd Long , wh o were separated by 10 feet go ing o nto th e banking out of th e in field . Tunstall a nd Lantz wouldn 't gi ve up th eir 4-5 slo ts, a n d Ed Mullin eaux m oved in to sixth on his Ducati, with Goodin o n h is heels. Mullineaux used lapped riders to ga in on Goodin through lap 11. On lap 12 Ada mo sho wed th e way a round to Lon g, who had a bo u t 100 yards on Roper, whose engi ne was sta rved for ga s. The next time aro u nd th e chec kered flag waved for Adamo, who sported a 33 second lead on Long, who in turn helda safe m argin over Roper. Tunstall , Lantz, Mullineaux, Goodin , j on Minonno on a T riu m p h, Steve Wynne on a Ducati and Winfried Hopp rounded out the top 10 overall , " I just pulled off th e lead reall y quickly and sa t on it :' said Adamo in winner's circle. "Some of the lapped riders gave me trouble, but that was it. The bike smoked a bit, but that's because we run it loose because we race it so much . Thanks to Castrol, Wiseco , Keith H art, and Reno Leoni. There's a whole long list of folks who help me." Alongwith hi s win, Adamo received a slot in the record books for setting the fastest trap speed ever recorded by a twin at Daytona, 162 m iles per hour. Long didn 't have time to make it to winner 's circle, as he hopped off his Beem er a n d jumped on his Yamaha TZ250 to grid for the Formula Two co nsy, where he placed second. " It wa s p opping out of third gear and running o u t of fuel :' said Roper. " I pushed it as hard as I co u ld." " We went up II increments on the jets and did a bunch of stuff internally: ' sai d Rob Iannucci, owner of th e Harley Ro per ran. " It uses a bunch more gas now , and all we had was th e 3. 1 gallon tank. We topped th e fu el a t th e two minute mark, and the O -ring o n th e gas ca p wouldn't go back on, so we went to th e back of the grid. We hav e to thank the Harl ey-David son deal ers of metro New York , New j ersey and Connecticu t, Works Performan ce, Champion, Castrol and Walneck's Vintage Motorcycle Sales for getting us here." Of note is th e Stock class win taken by Christopher Steward, on a Yamaha Motors Corporation sponsored XV920. • Results GP: 1. Ja mes Adamp (Duel ; 2. John Long (BMWI; 3. Devid Roper (H·D); 4 . Meleolme Tunstall (Duel; 5. Doug Lantz. EX MOO ; 1. Jon M lnonno (Trll; 2. Wlnfriad Hopp (Duc); 3. Kevin Bracken; 4 . Walter Schaefer (Duct; 5. Madison Cox (Duel . AM MOD : 1. Chris Bannister·Brown (Due); 2. Frank Sortelli {M ·GI; 3. Douglas Gross (Due); 4. Alan cathcart (Duel ; 5 . Wallace Mailers. STOCK: 1. Christopher Steward {Yaml ; 2. Peter Brady (BMW); 3 . Clifford Lucas (Yam); 4. Cha..... BosIwick {Duct 5. Marcus Day. TIME ; 29 min.• 51.34_. AVERAGE SPEED: 101.1 mph . oe