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/126631
~ DAYTONA '83 ~ (Above) Jay Springsteen displays his road racing ta lents. (Below) Th ree abreast action shows a variety of cornering styles. Battle 0' the Twins Springsteen and Harley-Davidson runawa~ By Gary Van Voorhis DAYTONA BEACH , FL, MAR. II Jay Springsteen gave Harley-Davidson .i ts first win at Daytona International Speedway in 13 years when he took the checkered £lag for the G P class victory in the Battle of the Twins. It was the la te Cal Ra ybo rn- who gave H ar ley their last win at the Speedway and, ironically, Sp ringsteen was '1'6 aboard a bike which had its origins as one of Rayborn 's mounts. Jimmy Adamo, the king of the Battle or the Twins event since its inception , had his winning streak at Daytona stopped at two. The Team SureFire/Leoni Ducati rider lost the duel in horsepower as Springsteen steadily pu lled away from Adamo a t about one LO two seconds a lap and had establis hed a margin of 26 seconds at the finish. D u ca ti riders also ro ok third through fifth places with Englishman Ton y R u tter leading Malcolme Tun stall home by a comfortabl e margin. In fifth was Joey Mills, who was also th e winner of the Expert Modified class . (Above) Malcolm Tunstall (6 ) and Tony Rutter (10 6). fourth and third at the finish. (Below ) Jimmy Adamo. Tunstall and Springsteen lead the pack. The win in the' Amateur Modifed class went to Ducat i rider Tony G ues t whi le Gene Church, aboard a HarleyDavidson; LOok th e victory in the Stock class . The fans had a preview of what was LO come when Springsteen and Adamo squared off in their qualifying heat race on Thursday. Springsteen watched Adamo for about a lap and then LOok over, opening up a safe lead quickl y and staying in front until the finish . Adamo, speaking of times during the race that Springsteen had gotten out or sha pe in corners, told th e three-time national ch am p io n after the event that he had only saved himself from crashing because or his din rack experience. On the stan of the final , Tunstall jetted ahead with Adamo, Springsteen, R u tter and th e rest of the fourwave field. Adamo quickly took over, leading Springsteen 'acro ss the finish line at the end of the first of 13 laps in the 50-mile spr int. Springsteen grabbed the lead away on the banking o n la p two and was off and run ning. Adamo stayed close for another two laps and th en slow ly began lo sing ground to Springsteen 's fastermount. T he pattern was set for the LOp two. T unstall, in th ird, was being p ursued by R u tter. By about the halfway point. th e two had swapped positions and R u tter was in front to sta y. Ha l Coleman, aboard anoth er Harley, had been moving up on the : ;front-running pack.in the early laps.' , His ride ca me to an end on I wi th un expl a in ed mechanical problem s. Da ve R o p er-s Harl ey also dro p ped out. Meanw hile. . Mills was hust ling right along. He had been the leader of the Expert Modified class from th e stan and was squarely a m on g the GP cl ass entries by the third lap. Pa tien ce and consistent riding paid off with a fifth place finish. Springsteen was surrounded in the winner's circle by Harley team manager Dick O 'Brien . four-time AMA Grand National Champion and tuner Carroll Resweber, and tuner Don Habermehl. " I had a few tire problems and was sliding around a bit, " Springsteen said. "Other than that, the only problem was th e slower traffic. I nearly hit a couple of guys because I came up on them so fast ." "I 'm glad to see Jay win ," said Reno Leoni of Jimmy Adamo's tearn. . . " a lt ho u gh natura lly I wo u ld h ave rather seen Jimmy in front . H arl ey's involvement wi ll add a lot to the series . We 're number one so evervone is af ter us. We'll just have to try 'a Iiule harder." • Results GP: 1. Jay Spr ingste en (H- D); 2 . J immy Adamo (Duc t: 3 . Tony Rutt er (Due); 4 . Malcolm Tun stall (Due); 5. Jon M inonno (Tri). EX MOD: 1. J oey M ill s (Due); 2. Kevin Breekemp (Due); 3 . Dw aine Williams (Nor); 4 . Vernon Davis (Yam); 5 . Jim u neIDue). A M MOD : 1. Tony Guest (Due); 2. Denn is Lie brecht (Ducl; 3 . Den nis Hat ch (Due); 4 . A lan Cath cart (Duct; 5. Charles Bostwick (Due). STOCK: 1. Gene Ch urch IH,D); 2. Warren M iln er (Yam); 3 . Slua" Beal son Jr. (BMW); 4 . Devin Bet a I t1t!\j( I;'~"Yl;. 5 . Ben M eni fl8f lY "?)., •• • I ; • 'rIM E; 29 min " 00.843 sees, • • . •