Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

James Adamo (26), Malcolme Tunstall (121) and Bert Stuckert ('t 5) go for it. Adamo won Formula Twins and Supertwins; Tunstall, Formula Two. Donald Jacks (59) and Paul Bray (559) finished 1-2 in the Novice Middleweight Superbike race. Jacks also won the Novice Formula Two race. AMA Championship Cup Series Adamo, Rentze", Jacks double in Race of Champions By Randy Marrs DAYTONA BEACH, FL, OCT. 18-19 The AMA/CCS Race of Champions drew 583 road racers to Daytona International Speedway where they competed for the 19 National titles up for grabs. Riders from 10 different regions, represen ting every geographic area in the U.S. and Canada were on hand. AMA Battle of the Twins 8 competitor Jimmy Adamo, AMA U.S. Endurance Series ace Kevin RentzelJ, and 16-year-old Donald Jacks each won two titles. Adamo won the Expert titles in the Supertwins and Formula Two classes, Rentzell bagged the Unlimited Superbike Middleweight Superbike titles, and new road racing sensation Jacks LOok the number one plates in two Noviceclas es,theFormulaTwoand Middleweight Superbike divisions. The majority of Saurday's sevenlap, 25-mile sprint races were for Novice riders with the Lightweight Superbike One race for Experts and Novices combined being the first race of the day. Southeastern Region Expert cha mp Perry Bruce, ridinga Yamaha XT600, jumped into the lead with Novice Cam Roos, aboard a Yamaha TZR"250, in second and Suzuki 250Gamma Expert Frank Slaughter third. Roos soon got around Bruce. and Slaughter also got by LO take over second. By the halfway point Novice Roos had begun LO pull away from the field. Steve Clark (111) and Larry Jeurink (26) finished in that order in the Novice Unlimited Superbike Novice race. Clark led all the way. Roos took the win, followed by Bruce who had worked his way back LO second, Slaughter, and Novice riders Jere Peterson and Mark Royer. Next came the Middleweight Superbike Novice event and that brought young Jacks LO the line for the first time. The Floridian was an unknown quantity, having earned just enough qualifying points to make it to the Race of Champions. Paul Bray took the lead with Mike Slack and Doug Tosten running second and third. By the fourth lap Jacks was right on Bray's reartire and as the pair began LO pull away from the field. Tom Kipp had gotten around Slack and Tosten to take over third. On the sixth lap Jacks took the lead and held itLO the checkered flag for his first win of the day and his Tirst-ever National title. Bray took second, with Kipp Tosten and Slack rounding out the LOp five. "Cycle Riders really did a lot to get me here, I couldn't have done it without them," said former moLOcrosser Jacks in the Daytona winner's circle. In what would be the last race for the Unlimited Superbike class, Yamaha FZ750-mounted Steve Clark had the lead at the end of the first lap of the Novice race and was never headed. Larry Jeurink and Jimmy Mosley diced for second earlv in the race wi th that spot going LO' Jeurink at the checkered flag, while Mosley was dropped LO fourth by Ben Beasley. Doug Tosten nailed down fifth. "The bike's almost box stock," said winner Clark. "( wa ju ttrying LO go for it and didn't even know what was going on behind me. One thing that went on behind the new Novice champ was a hard get-off by David Schmidt in the super-fast dogleg section of the track that left his bike in pieces. The combined Expert/Novice RZ Challenge race for Yamaha RZ350s was next on tap. Last year's RZ Challenge National Champion, Kevin Schwantz, didn't attempt to qualify this year and that made things a lot easier for aspirants to the title. . Dave Leppelmeier LOok an early lead, but on the second lap eventual winner Bill Blythe closed on Leppdnwier 011 the east banking and then slingshot his way by Leppelmeier for the lead as they headed down through the tri-ovaJ. Leppelmeier broke and the checkered flag was waved first for Blythe, and then runner-up John Lowman, one of Summit Point Raceway's RZ hotshoes. Scott Reavis took third, Tommy Blackwell fourth and Frank Fillingham rounded out the top five. "It sure was a lot of fun," said Blythe, "In practice he (Leppelmeier) " had about three miles-per hour on me up on the banking. I thoughtI'd have more trouble than I did in the race. " The fifth race of the day involved the Heavyweight Superbike Novice entrants and as was the case in the Unlimited race, Mosley jumped out front with Beasley second. On the second lap Clark LOok the lead from Mosley as he out-braked Mosley going inLO lUrn one. But on the next lap Jeurink had taken over the lead with Clark running second, Beasley third, Tosten fourth, and

• Cover