Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

1""""'1 1""""'1 .... Cl.,) ..0 8 Cl.,) ;> o Z Dale Quarterly (32) topped bo th the Unlimited Expert class and the Supertwins division. Rick Shaw (22 3 ) took second in the Unlimited race. Richard Resta took overall honors in the M iddleweight Superbike class .. and t he Formula Two Novice race. AMAlCCS Race of Champ-ions Quarterley, Resta, Smith top Daytona sprint races By Randy Marrs DAYTONA BEACH, FL , OCT . 24-25 f Expert Dal e Q u arterIey and Novices Mike Smith and Rich ard Resta came out the big winners at Dayton a Intern a tion al Speedway in the AMA/Championship Cu p Series . " Race of Champions." More than 760 riders competed in the year-end battles to see who would be National champs in 14 their respective divi sions. Quarterley, Smith, and Resta were the only sprint riders to claim number one plates in more th an one class. Quarterley took wins in th e Unlimited Superbike and Supertwins divi sions. Resta won No vice titles in th e Formula Two and Middleweight Superbike classes, and Smith grabbed the Middleweight Supersport and Lightweight Superbike Novice titl es. Na tio na l titl es were hard to come by at Daytona - every race bu t two went right down to th e fini sh line. The vast majority of the No vice races took place on Saturday with most of the Expert classes taking to th e high banking on Sunday. All sp rint finals were 25 miles in length (seven laps). The combined Expert /Novi ce Supertwins race was one of the best races of th e weekend. Quarterley won the event aboard Ru ss Paulk's Fastby-Ferraci Ducati 750. The co nt est was a race-long battle . between Florida riders John Long, Malcolme Tunstall and Quarterley. Ducati-rnounted Jimmy Adamo (26X) topped the Formula Two Expert race. John Long (42), also on a Ducati 750, fin ished second. ., Tunstall, on the Syd's Cycle/Lou's Leathers 840cc Ducati, jumped from a third-row start to lead the field going into tum one with Quarterl ey and Long in tow. Kurt Liebman , Roger Reiman, and Pete Johnson diced for position in a second group of riders, while 1986 winner Jimmy Adamo was running in midpack. Quarterley passed Tunstall as the duo entered the infield a t the beginning of lap two, then Long moved around Tunstall to take over second. Exiting turn six, and running high on the west banking, Long closed on Quarterley, then dropped low and passed the leader; Tunstall ran a close third. Reiman's run ended in turn five when he came in too fast and sh u t th e Robison Harley-Davidson off and was unable to restart, Johnson had a hard tim e in ' turn five, too, missing a shift and losing two positions. Adamo's ride also ended in the turn five area with mechanical problems: . Long and Quarter ley cont in ued to tra de posi tions and wer e n ever sepa rated by more than two seconds. On lap four, Quarterle y led into th e ch icane ; Long attempted to pa ss, but Quarterl ey held his ground. On lap five Lon g ca ught and passed Quar terl ey halfw a y down th e ba ck strai gh t o n ly to see the Massachusetts rider go wide into turn one to retak e th e lead . Long again closed on th e back stra igh t and appear ed set to pull off a Daytona slingshot pass, but at th e checkers it was Quarterley winning by half a wh eel over Long. Tunstall , Liebmann , a n d Rand y Kirn ec follo wed. • Quarterl ey's win in th e Un li m ited Superbike di vision came in a field laced with Camel Pro riders. Quarterl ey foll owed early lead er Rick Shaw for th e first three laps as Shaw, o n a Yam aha FZRIOOO, and Quarterley, riding a Suzuki GSXRllOO, pulled awa y from a battle for third between Dieter Lane (VFR750 Honda ), Doug Whelan (Yam aha FZRIOOO), a n d La rry Shorts (GPX750R Kawasa ki). By la p three Shorts had moved into third, Lane ran fourth , and Mark Chi n had taken over fifth: . Shaw led lap three through th e infield but Quarterley moved into first on the west banking. J eff Farmer, on the K&P Cycles Yamaha FZR750, took over fifth, while Chin got by Shorts in th e tri -oval for third. At the checkers Quarterley claimed win number two; Shaw, Chin, Shorts, and Farmer rounded out th e top five. . Resta took the lead coming out of Daytona's east bank on the last lap to win the Formula Two Novice race, which boasted a field of 45 riders. The race was a back-and-fort h battle between Resta and Smith, both of whom were riding CBR600 Ho nda Hurricanes. The two riders swapped the lead time after.time in the infield, leaving the bala nce of the field behind. Ernest Oxenknecht and Steve Seaborn battled for a distant third, while Mark Pastir, Geoq~e Matthews, Bruce Bain, and DaVId Cl yde all raced for position even . farther back. ". On th e white flag lap, Smith ente red turn five too wide but still held a slight edge over Resta , As the pair headed onto the east banking, Resta closed in on Smith and used a classic slingshot pass to take the win. Following Resta and Smith home were . Oxenknecht, Seaborn, and Matthews. Win number two for Resta came wh en he beat a 54-rider field in th e Middlew eight Superbike No vice class. Resta led from flag-to-flag and by lap three had built a six-second lead . By lap four he had increased hi s lead and won by a huge margin over Mark Pastir, Seab orn, Oxenknecht and Smith. " It was a Iittl e easier this time," said Resta. " I don 't know what happen ed to (Mike) Smith. '1 gues s he didn 't hav e as much motor as he th ought he did ." . Smi th beat out a field of 52 riders in th e Middleweight Supersport class .after taking th e lead from earlyleader Mike Moores. J ohn Ch oate, riding a 600cc Honda Hurricane, led into turn one at the start, but Moores held the point at th e end of lap one. Smith took o ver the top spot on lap two and left the field beh ind. On lap four, Gerald Shenk, Moores a nd Oxenknecht closed th e gap on Smith to mak eit a four-rider race with the top four riders run ning neck-and-neck through the tri -oval . I Choate moved into the fray on the next lap, taking third after going to th e inside line in the international horseshoe. Up on the west banking, Smith would take the low line while Shenk, Moore, O xen knech t, and Choate ran high. At the checkers it was Smith, Moores, Shenk, Oxen knecht, and Choate.

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