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/126758
Battle of the Twins Church goes to town on 'Lucifer's Hammer' By Dale Brown DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 9 "It was easier than I thought it was going to be," said Gene Church after running away with the GP class in the first 50-mile Battle of the Twins final. Church took control of the race before the end of the first lap and cruised to the overall win, ridin~ the same "Lucifer's Hammer" lOOOcc Harley-Davidson factory V-twin that powered Jay Springsteen to the 1983 WIn. 18 Finishing second and third in the GP class were Ducati rider Malcolm Tunstall and MKM BMW rider Harry Klinzmann, with Tunstall drafting past Klinzmann 0(( the final banking to earn to position. And finishing fourth overal L, after dicing for second was 1964 AMA Grand National Champion Roger Reiman, who re-. turned to competition with a fine ride aboard a Harley-Davidson. The other class running in the first of two finals was the Heavyweight Modified class. History was made there when a woman, Gainesville. Florida's Sherry Fridl,!st scored the victory, the first such win in an AMA professional road race. "It's incredible," said Fridus in the winner's circle, "I never thought I'd ever be able to win at Daytona." Fridus rode a team Unchained Power/Stan's Cycle Moto Guzzi to the win. The second BOTT Final of the day was for the lightweight Modified and Stock classes. The overall winner in that 50-miler was England's Alan Cathcart. Cathcart, a Cycle News contributor, also dominated his event, leading from the first lap on. Will Roeder, son of AMA dirt track great George Roeder, absolutely dominated the Stock class on a Harley-Davidson XRlOOO. Entries were way up for the fifth annual running of this event, forcing the split into two heats. The two races ran before and after the 100mile Superbike event. Harry Klinzmann lost a narrow decision for second place. GP Jimmy Adamo, still with tuner Reno Leoni but now wearing Cagiva colors, looked like the man to beat. He got the holes hot, broke the draft on Church right away, and it looked like it would be a runaway. It was, but not Adamo's. Coming onto the second high banking on the Daytona trioval, Adamo's engine expired in a big cloud of blue smoke. That left the way clear for Church, riding under the banners of the Harley Owners Group, Sure-fire and Tilley's Harley-Davidson, to lead the pack across the finish line at the end of lap one. He had a healthy lead on Klinzmann and the amazing Reiman, who had started several rows back. Tunstall was running fourth, followed by West Germany's Martin Wimmer on another MKM BMW. The foUowing laps saw Church steadil y building his lead, amassing a margin of 10 seconds by the thi.rd lap. The battle for. second was starting t9 emerge, as Klinzmann, Reiman and Tunstall moved c10ier together and farther away from Dave Roper, the Ducati rider who had overtaken Wimmer for fifth. A few laps before the halfway point the battle for second had become serious, with positions varying from corner to corner. Right after the halfway point, Reiman had advanced to second with Klinzmann dropping to fourth. A lap Later, however, Reiman lost a West German Martin Wimmer finished sixth on another BMW. few seconds due to a yet unexplained problem and dropped to fifth behind Roper. With three laps to go, Church had things well in hand and was maintaining and II-second lead on the still-fierce battle between Klinzmann and Tunstall. Reiman was up to fourth after passing Roper, but the two still remained close. Wimmer was a distant sixth. On the final lap Church took his well-deserved win. Second went down to the wire, with Tunstall taking it by a mere bikelength after using the draft-and-pass technique off the high bankingoutofthefinalturn. Reiman, Roper and Wimmer were 4-5-6. "The bike ran absolutely perfeqly, no problems at all," grinned Church when it was all over. Runner-up Tunstall had similar words, saying, "lowe it all to my father - he built one heck of a motorcycle." Tunstall is sponsored by Syd's Cycles, Lou's Leathers and Rebel. Heavyweight Modified The second wave of yellow-plated motorcycles, got to a start with Florida Norto.n rider Dwaine Williams getting out front and then starting to stretch his lead. After an initial shuffle, BMW-mounted Harrold Phillippi ran second, with Californian Bud Riddle third on a Yamaha. By the fourth lap it seemed that Williams had Church's act down pretty well as he had established a