Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Mark C hin (1 9 0 ) f inished sec ond in the Heavyweight Superbike Expert race, j ust ahead of W illiam Kelly (1 91). Rafael Ferre r won the eve nt. J immy Adamo (26x) wo n the M iddleweight Superbike and Supertwins races. Greg Smrz (9 3) got by Adamo to claim t he Formula Twins competition. . Even though 17-year-old John Kocinski (30x) started on the 13th row. he powered his factory Yamaha FZ750 to victory in Formula One racing . AMALCCS Sp-rint Series: Adamo opens Cycle Week with a bang By Randy Marrs DA YTONA BEACH , FL, MAR . 2 T eam L eoni's Jimmy Adam o opened Cycle Week '86 by riding to two w ins a nd a second a t Daytona International Speedway, takin g wins in Middleweight Superbike a nd Supertwins and a seco n d in Formu la Twins race. Adamo alternated between his ne w Duca ti 750 FI and hi s 650 Cagiva in the 29 opening rounds of the AMA/CCS Sprint Seri es. For th e first time in Cycle Week hi sto ry th e r iders used th e full Daytona co u rse a n d h ad th e garage a nd p it area fo r us e instead o f the usu al / d irt area in th e infi eld . Ro ger Edmondson , the drivin g force behind th e AMA/CCS , said, " . . . T his was due 10 th e professiona li sm o f th e CCS riders and th e co nt in ued sup port o f th e Speed way in provid in g first cla ss rac ing faci lities . We have th e en tire day for o ur raci ng a nd the use of th e full race track a nd ho pe 10 co n tin ue each year in thi s manner. " Ad am o ' s first w in came in th e o pen ing ra ce, th e Supertwins, which was co m bine d fo r Experts a nd N ovi ces a mi a lso had Li ghtwei ght Su perbik e One fo r Nov ices in th e o pe n i ng ro un d. Ada mo wasted little time in go ing 10 the front , ta king th e lead as th e field entered turn o ne . By th e time th e pack hit th e lelt-hander go ing up o n t he bankin g. Adamo had a co m ma nd ing lead with teamma te S tua rt Coope r leading P aul Zieschang o n a 1000 LeMans Moto -Guzzi, J erry Wood o n a 900 Cagiva a nd Frank Shockley o n a i50 Triumph. Adamo ron rin ued to bu ild his lead with th e o n ly cha nge in the final two laps o f th e seven -la p race co m ing o n lap five as Ziesch ang a nd Shockley d ropped from th e hum , movin g Wo od into third behind Cooper. J ames Stew art moved into fourth a n d Do n Garneau rounded out th e top five. Adamo's win in Middlew eight Superbike wa sn't as easy, h e didn 't get the lead until the fifth la p . Kevin Ren tzell wen t out in front at th e start o n his FJ600 Yamaha wi th Greg Tysor, also FJ600-moumed, j u st be hi nd Rentzell a nd Do ug Kra pa ta in fo urth o n h is 550 Suzuki . Comi ng a ll the way from th e n im h row was Cooper, who bega n 10 charge 10 th e front a n d took th e lead from R en tzell on la p three as Adamo moved into second. On the next lap, Cooper's battery went dead, and Adamo blew by o n th e banking. Ren tzell wa s not givin g up a t thi s point a nd went around Adamo o n th e next lap. T ysor, Kra p ata a nd Dann y Wa lker, riding a FJ 600 , a ll stayed close for th e race for th ird through fi fth as Rentzell a nd Ada mo began 10 p u ll a way from th e field. By th e white-fl ag lap, Adamo roa red by Rentzell for good 10 sco re hi s seco nd win o f th e dav. Rentzell followed in second, w ith Lakin third, Tyso r fourth a nd Cl ark Ohrstrorn co m in g home fifth . TheF ormula T wins race co m bined Ex perts a n d Novi ces for what turned o u t to be o ne o f th e m ost exc u mg races of th e day. Randy Renfrow , on th e Mal colrne Tunstall 750 Ducati, took a bri ef lead before Cooper took th e Leoni Cag iva 10 th e fro nt . R en frow qui ckl y dropped 10 fourth , as Ad a mo moved into second a nd Greg Smrz, on the Dr. John 's Moto-Guzzi, moved into th r id . Cooper began to in cr ease his lead, and by la p four a p pe a red to have th e win in hand . With two la ps left Cooper 's Cagiva d ropped a va lve and his rid e was done fo r th e da v. It was n ow a ll Sm rz a nd Ada mo, w'ith Sm rz h anging close and usin g th e ch ica ne to make up time. T he race ca me down to th e fin al lap a t th e fini sh lin e as Smrz moved o ut a nd slings hot by Ada mo, winn in g by less th an a bikelen gth. "The track wa s st ill a little slippery but things worked o u t," sa id Smrz. "Cooper went real fast at th e beginning , but I g uess he had trouble. I think Jim didn 't want 10 lead th e next-to-la st lap , a n d I didn 't eithe r, so ( co u ld ge t th e sl ingshot a t th e finish ." Adamo sa id, " ( had a handlin g p roblem , a nd th e bike was hopping all o ver th e pl ac e. ( was trying to make up time a nd th en got ca ug h t behind a slo wer rider. ( need ed a t least 10 bik elengths co m in g o u t o f the chica ne to get th e win, but it didn 't work o u t th at way ," . Th e racing in m ost of th e o th er classes was eq ua lly close with the RZ Cha ll enge for Yarnahas o ne of the best . Combi n ed fo r N ovi ces an d I Experts, William Kelly took a n ea r ly lead followed by Pat Curran, Doug Wi lson, and John Lowman . Lowma n we nt in front o n the next la p a nd neve r gave u p th e lead . Kell y, Curran, Wi lson, and Pau l Noble, who had join ed th e fray , were runn in g four abreast on th e banki ng a nd through th e in field as they swapped second through fifth positions. Kell y and Curran a lte rna ted in second and third unti l th e end as Lowman took th e win , wi th Curran second, Kelly third, Wilson fourth and N oble fift h . Ro bert Willi s finish ed seventh overa ll a nd fir st in th e Novi ce class. Th e Formula One race for Experts saw a n ex tre mely fast field take th e g ree n flag w ith Pat O 'Leary o n a TZ500 Yamaha go ing to th e front first, foll ow ed by Forbes DuGuid o n a G SXR750 Suzuki , Mark Chin rid.. ing a FZi50 Yamaha and William Kell y, also o n a Fl. By lap two , 17yea r-o ld J ohn Koc inski , who had sta rted o n th e 13th row, moved into th e lead o n his fa ctory Yamaha FZ750 and began to build a co m ma nd in g lead . By lap four, Ro by H ead had joined th e Iront runner s and took o ver second. H ead. Chin, DuGuid. a nd Kell y a ll ran within three seconds o f eac h oth er , but co uld no t run down Koc inski. At th e c heckers it was Kocinski, H ead o n a FJ 1100 Yamaha, C hi n, Kelly and Ca nadia n Ro y H a re in the Iron t five. " Everyth ing we n t gr eat, " Kocin sk i sa id. " T im Norton had the bi ke prepped grea t a nd we were able to d o 2:02s and 2:03s. We had a little tire tro u ble at fir st , but it worked o u t later in rhe ra ce. In the Heavywei ght Superbike ran' for Experts, it wa s Chin, Kell y, Rent - I It (Con ti nued to p age 3-1

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