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/126644
Jimmy Adamo led it all the way in the Battle of the Twins. 10 Sha rp finis hed in fourth an d fifth, less than a bike len gth beh ind. Busby's win in the 14 lap , 56 m ile fin al was th e second stra ight at Road America for riders using 350cc aircooled Yamah as. Craig Morris was a board a n ident ical machine for last year's wi n . The vas t maj ority of Formula T wo competit ors rid e 250cc liquid-cooled machines. David Emde, the series po ints leader going into th e event, had h is ride en d before the first lap was in the books after havi ng ignition p rob le ms . Howa rd , by virt ue of h is second, now ass umes th e points lead over Randy Renf ro w, 57 to 55. Emde lies third at 53. Russ Pa ul k, aboard the P&N Su spension /Cycle Nuts a nd Bolts Yarn aha TZ250. held the pole for the final via h is heat wi n wh ich was a fu ll two seconds faster than Howa rd , who had wo n the ot he r hea t. Ho ward was o n a Motorcycle Work s spo nsored Yamaha. Round ing o ut th e front row were Busby a nd th e Pietri Racin g/ Sh oei/ Liq uid Horsepower Yamah a . Sharp, on the BMX Facto ry Yam aha an d Dave Ernde, aboard th e Bob Endico tt/ Bell Yamah a . Busby held th e lead at th e end of la p o ne wit h the rest o f th e field strung o ut beh ind. Pau lk, Ca nadia n Ma rtin Sch ubert. Sharp and H owa rd filled o ut the top five. H ugh H umble. tied for second in th e poi nts with Ren frow . had started fro m th e th ird row after ha vin g smacked h is knee o n a speed bu m p while leading his heat and fin ish ing way back. Hum ble was on the move in seven th . R unning well bac k in th e pack. bu t a cro wd pleaser, was Da vid Bennett on the Advance Aerodynamics Yamaha . wh ich had bod ywork more in tune wit h rockets tha n mo torcycles. The fifth lap saw Busby wi th a six second a dva nta ge o ver H o wa rd . Sharp. Labrosse. Paulk, Kiyo ta, Schubert a nd Humble were in a stri ng behi nd. T he average speed was 93.385 mph for five laps. H oward was ga in ing ground o n Busby as the field took th e halfwa y flags to begin lap eigh t. Behind th e fron t two was a tremendous five rider battle inv o lving Labrosse, Kiyota , Sh ar p, Schubert and Humble. The five were swa p p ing positions all over the enti re four mil e track wh ere horsepower was a premium. especia lly on the up hill fro nt stra igh t section whi ch is 4.200 feet long. Paulk looked down at th e righ t side of h is bike as he began lap nine a nd quick ly dropped back from third to eig h th and then was out of the ra ce with an expe nsi vely blow engine . H oward co nt in ued in second wi th '<'iyota moving to thi rd on lap 11 followed closely by Sharp a nd Labrosse. Busby held a seven seco nd ad van tage over Howard as did Howard over th e battle behind h im . Busby took the white fla g for th e final lap holding th e same seven seco nd adva n tage over Howard. The a ttention focu sed on the battle fo r th ird . Kiyo ta and Sh arp crossed the line side-by-side with La brosse a bikelength beh ind. Busby took the chec kered flag with hi s fist in th e air as di d Howard in second. Kiyota , Labrosse a nd Sha rp were side- by-side as they crested th e h ill in sigh t of th e chec kered flag. Kiyo ta mad e th e first move, a nd. with his fist in the a ir. held off th e ot her two for third. "T h ings wen t m y way like I knew they would. My secret is read ing Keith Code's book A T w ist of th e Wrist before each race . I learn some th ing th at hel ps me every tim e. I want to thank Roberto Pi etri, wh o sponsors me. a nd Sh oei for a ll the ir support ," said Busby. " I go t a terrible sta rt ," said Howa rd . " I had to fight my wa y th rough traffi c a nd we had a to ug h di ce going for thi rd for a lot of la ps. Once I go t clear, I had th e power to stay in second:' " It seemed like every body had more horsepower than me so I had to ride a bit harder." said Kiyo ta . " My las t lap stra tegy worked . I want to tha nk my brother. Kirk , for th e job he does tu ning the bike a nd paying th e bill s so I can go raci ng: ' Results FORMULA lWO: 1. Dave Busby (Yam); 2. Rhys Howard (Yam); 3. Keith Kiyota (Yam); 4. Alan Labrosse (Yam); 5. Rusty Sharp (Yam); 6. Martin Schuber1 (Yam); 7. Daniel Coe (Yamt. B. Steve Baron (Yamt. 9_ Randy Renftow (Yam); 10. Don Greene IVam); 11 . Bill Himmelabach(Yam); 12. carl MuHley IVam); 13. Joe Lachn iebt (Vam); 14 . Joe France (Yam); 15. Dan Guglielmo (Yam); 16. Alan Ward IVamt. 17. Devid Geiger (Yam); lB. Robert Uewin(Yom); 19 . Denn is Hayslen(Yamt. 20 . Darko Rogul ie (Yam). Time : 36 min.. 19.763 sees. Average speed: 92.487 mph . FORMULA TWO CHAMPIONSHIP PO INT STANDINGS : 1. Rhys Howa rd (57); 2. Randy Ren· frow (55); 3. Dave Emde (531 4 . Hugh Humble (49); ; 5. Dave Busty{351; 6 . RustySharp(2B); 7.(T1EIDan Coe/Russ Paulk(16); 9. Don Greene (1BI; 10. Steye Baron (16t. Battle of the Twins Adamo all the way ELKHART LAKE . WI , J UNE 5 Jimmy Adamo. looking like he was on a casual Sunday. ride. took an easy victory in the ten The Fillery/Celen sidecar leads the Essaff/Crueger rig. lap, 40 mile Battle of th e Twins final a t Road Ameri ca. Adamo slowed in the fin al two laps. trailing smo ke from oil leaking onto h is exha ust pipe, but he still had 48 seco nds in hand at th e fini sh . Th is was Adamo's third straight GP class victory. Joey Mills and Gen e Church fill ed out the top three. Adamo, a boa rd th e T eam Leon i/ Sure-F ire Du cati, j um ped to a seven second lead by the end of la p one o ver th e Malossi USA Ducat i of Mills. Winifred H opp, a lso on a Ducari , held th ird while yet anothe r Du cati ridr , Ron Sbordone, led H arl eyDavidson rider Church. It was the first race for Church in the Expert Modified class after hav ing sta rted th e seaso n in th e Stock class ranks. Church a nd Devin Bartley were moved up because of ha vin g previously held an Expert licen se. Harl ey-Davidson rid ers Eri c Buell a nd David McClure held six th a nd sevent h. McClure wa s leading th e Stock class entries. Chuck Quen zler , a no ther Harl ey rid er. was in 11th and leading th e Amateur Modi fied cla ss. Adamo cont in ued to roll up ground a nd by the fifth lap had a n adva n tage of 41 seconds o ver Mills, who was beg inni ng to feel a bit o f pressu re from Church . A 24 hour a ro u nd th e clock work program to a lter Church 's Harley had ens ued after he was notified a bo u t the class cha nge in the middle of th e week. Hopp a nd Sbordone co nti n ued to hold fourth and fifth . By lap eig ht. Adamo was over 50 seco nds in front. but as he ca me past the sta rt/finis h lin e the bike was smoking and he was look ing down to find the problem. Mills had wi cked up the throttle a nd used traffic to break away from Church. Sbordone had moved to fourth with Buell chargi ng in an effort to have a last lap go a t it for fourth . Adamo took th e white flag with smoke clearl y evident. but still commanding a good lead. Mills was a good distance ahead of Church . Sbord one , Bu ell , Bill Atkinson and McClure were a di stance apa rt a nd would rem ain in position to the chec kered flag. Adamo took th e GP class win with Mills topping th e Expert Modified ranks. Quen zler was th e Amateur Mod ified class winner. McClure took the Stock class win . " 1was getting a little worried about the oil leak I had and was hoping oil wouldn't get on the rear tire ." said Adamo. " 1 looked down at th e tire in the last two laps a number of times. I had enoug h of a lead where I co uld slow down and ride cautiously." ''I'd hav e to say it was rath er lon ely out there in second pl ace," said Mills. " I wasn 't really catching Jimmy and Gen e Church was far enoug h behind me so I didn 't really worry. Results BATTLE OF THE TWINS : 1. Jimmy Adllmo IDue); 2. Joey Mills (Duct. 3. Gene Church IH-Dt. 4. Ron Sborclone (Duel; 5. Eric BuelIIH·D t. 6. Bill Atkinson IBMW); 7. Devid McClure IH-D); B. Devin Benley IBMW); 9. Stuert Bet-. (BMW); 10. Chuclt Ouenzter IH-Dt. l l . Me rll Heiser IDuc ); 12. DeenJones(Yamt. 13. Charles Bostwick; 14. Paul Harr ison; 15. Patrick U neen (BMW); 16. Sta nford Crane; 17. Paul B _ (Yam); 1B. Erin Poole (BMW); 19. Chartes Lang (Yam); 20 . Sharon Friduss (M -G). Time: 26 mins .• 29.947 sees. Ayerage speed: 90 .569 mph . Sidecar Rig win to Fillery/ Celen ELKHART LAKE . WI . J UNE 5 The team of Ian Fillery and Bru ce Celen took the lead for good on th e six th of eight laps in th e 32-mile Sid ecar final and roared a way to a n eigh t second margin of victo ry. Bru ce Lind and Jack H art held off th e last la p challenge of Pete Essaff a nd Denn is Crueger to take second . The top three were the only sid ars in content ion for th e win from th e sta rt , with Fillery/ Celenjumping out to the lead on the gree n flag. Lind/Han came from third to take th e lead on th e third lap. dropping Fillery/Celen to seco nd. The lead ch anged hands twice more before Fillery/Celen took over for good. The two a vera ged a quick 86.256 mph in the final which was just over four mph over th e individual one lap record of 82.1 mph. "We hada good race. " said Fillery , " a ltho ugh we did have a number of problems. We had a fla t in th e heat race, but man aged to win . We replaced th e tire with a rather worn one so the rear end was sliding a bit. About th e middle of th e race. the clutch went away and th en we stalled the engine. but lu ckily it restarted. I thought for a minute it was all over : ' Canadians Filler and Celen have sponsorship from Sumak Industries and Niagra Racecrafters for their Yamaha powered machine. • Results 1. Ian Fillery/Bruee Celen (Yam); 2. Bruce Lind / Jack Hart (VarnI; 3. Pele EssaH/Dennis Cruager IKaw); 4. John Dailey l Arlhur Dailey (Suz); 5. PeIe Knoll lTim Mooney (Kaw). Time : 22 min.• 15.557 aecs. : _ age speed; 86 .256 mph .