Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

i c w w "- III ..J <{ Z C ~ z w "" .... ~ <{ z o ~ c >- III w .... e:: ~ o u c !lUi-'- z "---'l <{ :z: Wh o is t hat guy ? Young Gene Church (8) me et s Marco Lucchinelli in the ~ infield . (Below) The first wave sta rts the race. :5 George Roeder (shown) ran away f rom the rest of t he Stock class, and did hi s rac ing w it h Roger Eliasson 's Lightweight Modif ied Triumph . ;--~ ~ o .., ru n ners. McClure turned co ns istent 2:12s en ro u te to victor y. vi :E -c a:: '" <{ >a:: >- <{ z z w :z: >- '" III o .... o :z: e, (A bove) John Williams' Ducat i, id entical t o Lucchinelli 's Cag iva; (below) Gen e Chu rc h an d Ms. Cam el, in the winner's circ le. Battle of the Twins Church outpowers a world champion By John Ulrich DAYTONA BEACH , FL, lviA R. 8 Gene Church used the Don Tilley-tuned Harley -Davidson nicknamed Lucifer's Hammer to win the Battle of the Twins combined Grand Prix/Heavyweight Modified rdce overall, fending off an end -of-race challenge by former 50 0cc R o ad R a cin g W orld 8 Champion Marco Lucchi ne lli o n a Cagiva. The bailie between Church 's H arley Owner 's Group (H O G I-sp o nsored IDOOcc H arlev and L ucchi nell i's 748cc Cagiva developed lat e in a race that C h urch co nt ro lled fro m the sta rt. 1n fact, Church had so co m ma n d ing a lead a fter severa l laps th a t T illey a nd Vic Faso la signa lled h im to slow down a nd tak e it easy ; up on command , Ch urch slowed h is la p tim es from hi s ear lv-race 2:06s to 2: 12s a nd cru ised ou t front , a lo ne. T he problem was that LucchinelI i, ridin g a new end uranc e bik e th at arrived in Daytona in time fo r a single 20-mi n llle practice sessio n, was workin g h is way thro ug h the pack unnoticed by Tilley and Fasola. Lucchin elli sta rted a t th e back of th e grid beca usehe had no 1984 BoTI' points , ':' :1'" r .s , oJ r 0' . - he didn' t ride a single even t before th is race a t Davton a - a nd last-season poi nts were the basis for gridd ing. former- World -Ch amp io n -sta tus no t- . wit hstandi ng. So it was that Lucchinelli, ch a rging hard . moved closer a nd clos er to C hurch. Along th e way, Lu cchi ne lli co llided with Mal colrne Tunsta ll's DUC" t i; T u nstall wou ld even rua ly J fini sh th ird . and wo u ld lat er tell the press th e incident ill ust rated Lur r h inell i's " ... typ ical Ital ian rid ing," Wh en T illey and Faso la real ized wha t was ha p pening , Ihey signa lled C h urch to speed u p by sticki ng th eir thumbs in th e ai r - but Ch urch didn 't understand th e message. The message did beco me clear. th ough , wh en Lucchinelli ca ug h t Ch urch in th e chica ne on th e II th lap and flew pas t; C hurch had a serious power advan tage a n d repassed o n th e bank in g, but Lucch in elli pa ssed agai n in th e in field. and th e battle was joined , Church ins ta nt ly d ro pping hi s lap t ·Ql _ f ~ rJ' I . i r • I .J I f times in a mazeme nt. The last lap in the 15-lap race showed bo th C hurch and L u cch in elli tu rning 2:08 a nd a t th e fin ish it was Ch u rch. im pr essed a nd su rp rised and wondering a ll a t o nce, T unsta ll was th ird overa ll, ahead o f Roger Reim an , wh o rod e wi th a cast o n a broken wr ist a fter ge lli ng a medica l release fro m o rthopedic su rgeo n Dr. Davi d Kieffer o f G em C ity Bone a nd J o int in Wyoming ; Keiffer rode hi s Du ca ti to fifth behind Rei man 's Harley-Davidson. Behind Keiffer ca me G reg Sm rzon Doctor John' s Mo to Guzzi a nd Da ve Roper (rid in g with a broken left foot taped up a n d co vered by a borrowed , overs ize boot a n d a medical releas e sig ned by, no surp rise, Dr. Kieffer. ) Dave McClure rod e hi s H arl eyDa v idson-and -Ca s tr ol- sp on so red XRIOOO - tuned and prepped by Fasol a - to a wi re-to-wire vict ory in th e H eavyweight Mod ified class, and wa s th e onl y rider in that class not lapped by th e Grand Prix cla ss top ~ ) ; \ ) ! ) ,. ( " . 1 ~ " .. ,l.~ [o J s t ! N ot abl e n on -fin ish er s in cluded J immy Adamo - h is T eam Leoni Cagi va 's clutch fri ed on th e sta rt a nd J ohn Will iams, wh ose Dale Newton-owned-and -tuned Ducaii (ide ntical to Lucch in ell i's Cagiva except for pa int a nd th e tank logo ) broke a m ot or mount bo lt on the sta rt ing grid, a llowing th e engine to drop down an d forcin g Will iam s to forget abou t raci ng, " I d idn 't even kn ow I was raci ng a World Cham pi on but 1 kn ew h e was one h ell o f a rider," sa id C h u rch lat er. " T he wa y he was goi ng th rough th ose turns! If 1 d idn 't have a little ex tra mo tor o n him , 1 do n ' t thi n k I would have beaten him." Church 's bike was run ni ng with h is spare engi ne, a well -used o ne wi th severa l races o n it, beca u se th e en gine he pl ann ed on using developed probl em s during Speed Week. The separate L ightweight Modi fied /Stock co m bin ed BoTI' ra ce was won by Roger Sears, wh o led every lap a nd ran away fro m the field on hi s Du cati . Sears dedicated hi s victo ry to hi s fath er, wh o faced ope n h eart su rgery and co u ldn ' t a tten d th e ra ce. The best battle of the race - for second overa ll - ca me between Stock class reigning cham p ion an d clas s lead er Will Roeder (on an XRIOOO H arl ey-Davidson ) and Roger Eli asson on h is Li ghtweight Modified Triumph. The two swa pp ed back an d forth, especia lly in th e infield, Eli as sen 's Triumph smo ki ng on downshifts but hanging with Roed er's H arley jus t th e same . Nobody else wa s close to challe nging th em for second/thi rd, and th ey were still in th e back-stra ight ch ica ne when Sears was crossing the sta rt /fi n ish lin e during the closing laps. But the bailie ended just before th e fin ish wh en Elia sso n en co u nt ered p robl em s. H e was cred ited wi th 12th in class, ou t o f th e to p 20 overa ll. Roeder was seco nd overall, first in Stock. • Resu lts GP: 1. Gen e Chu rc h (H- O); 2. Marco lucchinelli (Ca g ); 3 . Ma lco lm e Tunsta ll (Due); 4 . Roger Reiman (H- D); 5 . Dav id Kieffer (Due); 6 . Gregg Smrz (M·G); 7 . Dav id Roper (Due); 8 . Raymond Brockie (M-G); 9.1 Kurt Liebmann (Due); 10 . Madison Cox (Due) . H/W MOD: i . Dev id McClure (H· D); 2. Be rt Stuckert (BMW); 3 . Stuart Beatson (BM W); 4 . Paul Zieschang (M ·G) ; 5. Ed Culbertson (BMW); 6. Alen Cathcart (BMW); 7. Sharon Friduse (M -G); 8 . Evan Castle (H -D); 9 . Rick Weber (BM W ); 10. Don Herrerra (BMW). Time: 32 min.• 8 .78 seconds. Average speed: 99.253 mph . LlW M OD: 1. Roger Sears (Due); 2. William Ca mpbell(Hon); 3. Hilton Van Staden(Duc); 4. Ch ris Scan (Nor); 5 . Stanford Crane Jr. (Due); 6 . Marcus Day (Tri) ; 7 . Frank Shockley (Tri); 8. Thomas Weg man (Due); 9 . Fred French (Kaw); 10. Pete Kogu t" (Nor). . STOCK: 1. W ill Roeder (H-D) ; 2. Robert Fagan (M-G); 3 . Bob Crawlord (H· D); 4 . Arthur Hoover (M ·G) ; 5. Br ian Raymond (BMW); 6. James McNulty ( H o n ~; 7. Eric Paloheimo (H·Ot: 8. Robel Rancheno (H·D); 9 . Robert Hanbury (Yam); 10. Danny Turnbull (Yam) . Time : 35 min.• 6.72 seconds. Average speed: 91.25 mph. J. ~ \ '. - };' . J , .J ' ) j j ~ . ... I, .£:,tlll~I,~"'!~

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