Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Adamo in action on the team 's Ducati; t he Glen Cove, New York, resi dent lo st the Pro Twins title th is year to Doug Brauneck. half lap from th e finish and we did n' t get points th ere. 1 fell off at Road Am erica with a two-second lead .. . no points there. At Laguna Seca an ignition problem made us 'fin ish fourth . At Sears Po int we had a n outsid e chance .. . but we didn't fin ish. If we had fini shed a nyone 'o f those races (p rio r to Se rs) we could a have been right in it for th e lead. " Leoni adds, "I wa s not realI y disappointed to lose the cham p io nship. Of course, 1 would have liked to win it. But to win four out of .the n ine races is already a ~oOO achievement for a privateer. Most factory G P teams can not achieve that ra tio ." Racing u p front and fast is th e best and also th e safest for Ada mo . , " I've had good races wi th Gen e Church ," Adamo says fro m experience. " You co u ld be bumping fair ings with him, but you kn o w wha t he'lI do. He's safe and so is Da le Q uarterley. Our Ducati is usualI y the fastest bike in the class but you can - never co unt o ut Church . This year they chad reliabili ty problem s bu t when they ge t th in gs together again, they'lI be flyin g. , "T he Guzzi was th e most reliable this year," Ada mo ad mits. " He (D o ug Br au n eck ) got poi nts in almost every race. \Ve were ac tua lly pretty reliable. We just had some weird thi ngs go wro ng like the bo lt brea kin g and the ignition problems. Bu t there were , no major engine problerns." H o w does Leoni approa ch reliabil it y wh en building special parts a nd engines? " I rea lly don 't think of it, " he ans wers. " I build a part to go th e d istance a nd if you p ut a n engine togeth er rig ht, th ere's not a reliab il ity problem. T he.on lv prob lem is with th e electrics. Wh en you buy a n electrical co mpone nt , yo u're at the mercy of the part. This year we had two igni tion pick-up prob lem s with parts th at were bra nd new , rig h t ou t of the box ." "Leon i ea ts, slee ps a nd dreams Ducat i a nd the resp ect he has for the co m pany is obvio us. Wh en as ked the reason for the factory' s apparen tly neutral support of his racing efforts, Leoni becom es perpl exed a nd sensi ti ve. " It's been 21 years and 1 reall y don't kn ow why," Leoni replies. " O ur goal sho uld be to crea te a greater demand for Duca ti bikes here by winning races on th e tra ck. There shou ld be no jea lo usy betw een th e factory a nd wh at we are do ing. The more race s we win , the more i t benefits the factory. " If Reno Leoni could get a n ything from the facto ry, what would he ask for? Leo ni thinks for a whi le a nd responds, "Consideri ng all that I have done in th e U.S . for the factory, spending my money and tryi ng to keep their name up, even in th ose dark days . .. 1 wou ld like to see th em give me a little recognition for wha t 1hav e do ne. It hasn 't come yet." ''I'm very ha ppy and gra teful for wha t Cagiva has already done for me. " (Leo n i works lo r Cagiva, troublesh ootin g techn ical problems a n d co n d u c ti ng deal er tra i n ing schools.) " Bu t actua lly for our road raci ng efforts , an d for Team Leo ni itself, we're still in th e dark." H as Leo ni ever asked for , or been offered , o ne o f t h e fa c tory ex Lu rch inv Hi Durat is 10 ru n here? " I d id as k dow n in Daytona to bu y o ne and they agreed, " he says, " Bu t since they were coming o u t with th e fourvalve engi ne next year, they sa id it wo u ld be bener to give us one'of th e newer bikes. They promised us a bi ke for next year, but it hasn 't arr ived yet. I ho pe to see it soon enough to do some testing before Daytona 'SS. It wo u ld be n ice fo r them to loan us a bike to be returned a t th e end of th e season. I rea lly do n 't have th e money to buy one of those new bik es a ny way." Wh at would Leoni do with this facto ry ma chine? " T ha t's a good questi on," Leon i replies. " If th ey wou ld loa n me th eir new bik e, my go al would not be to use it in th e T wins cla ss, but to compe te with the Su per bi kes. T he new b ike wi th factory invo lveme nt wo uld des troy the Twi ns cla ss, no t because it 's su ch a super-fast bike now , but beca use it' s a Iactorv bike. The Twins class was bu ilt fo r the privateers a nd 1 would resp ect tha t." Four years ago Leoni Sla ted th at , " T he BaTT (Pro Twins) class is not real ly a good one because the rid ers and eq uipme n t you,wan t 10 bea t ar e attracted to the Su perbike class." Hav e Leo ni's feelings cha nged a ny today? "The class is growi ng toda y," he says ent h us ias tically. "S pec tators like to hear th e d istinctive so und of th ese bikes o n the race track. Bu t the class is not recogni zed properl y by the AI\1A. T hey promo ted Supe rbike s, that's their p rima do nna class ." " If yo u want to build a competitive Twins bike, it cos ts almost as mu ch as a good Superbike. For a T wins rid er to sp en d 15,000 to 20,000 on eq uipme n t p lus ex pe nses a nd not be treat ed professio nall y and wi th su ch a lo w p urse , .. thei r moti va tion for th e cla ss wi ll soon vanish ." Ad am o adds , " If the AMA increased th e purse, I'm sur e th e clas s would be mor e inv iting. To build a 15,000 bike just to win 900 is hard to j ustify. We have good spo nsors Michelin , -Arai , Tsuba ki, Aut ol ite and F & L Fuels in pa rti cular, but even wh en we win a race, we don 't eve n cove r o u r tra nsportati on ex pe nses. " I'm su re that there arc dirt trackers and road racers that ca n' t afford to bui ld a co m peti tive Superbik e who wou ld see the Twi ns class as a feasible one if the purse was increased a bit. Th is year th ere were four di fferen t' win ners in the Twi ns G P cla ss. But in Superbikes, th ere was n 't a pri vat eer that co uld have wo n o ne of those races. T he facto ry gu ys won them al l." • At Laguna Seca, Marco Lucchi nelli . a nno u nced from the wi n ner's circle hi s intentions to co mpete in th e Superbi ke class next year, Wha t do es Ren o Leoni know about th is? "All I know is wh at I have read in Cycl e N ews," Leoni replies. " If he do es come over , he'll probably use the bike he used at Da ytona." . With la p times off from those of th e J apan es e factory Superbi ke team s, how wi ll Lu r rh in ell i be co mpeti tive? Leo niignites hi s cigar o ne more tim e a nd says, " At Daytona. Lu cchinelli was very 'close a t I:5S. It depends lipan th e track, He ma y be off a seco nd or a second a nd a haiL Bu t a t certain tracks he mi ght be fast er. Ti ght tracks lik e Mid-Ohio , Loudon or possibl y Sears Po int wou ld make th e bike rig h t." Du ring rece nt years; Europea n man ufactu rers suc h as BMW have expa nded thei r engi ne . designs to incl ud e more th an two cylinders. Mo to-G uzzi ma y, build a th ree-or four-cylinder engine. Does Ducati have suc h p lans, and if so, wh at will hap pen to the future of th e Twins class? " Duca ti has a good line of bikes for 'SS," Leoni replies. " In the '60s Ducati expe rimented withsome [ou r-cylinder engines (i.e, Du cati Apo llo - 1200cc). Du cat i ma y return . to a four -cyli nder, but I really have no kn ow ledge of that . " I bel ieve the Twi ns class will remain for a long tim e and will ac tua lly grow. Mo re manufacturers will begin to produce tw ins o nce they realize that twi ns are cheape r JO prod u ce , sell a n d to ma intai n . Besides, th ey ar e fast eno ug h for the street." Concerning h igh -performa n ce bikes for th e street, Leo ni a nd Ada mo hav e defi nit e opi nions. Leo ni sai d, " I do n 't kn ow if yo u wa nt to go to the moon , but to do 160 mph on the street doesn't ma ke m uch sense to me. You do n 't need more than two cylinders for th e street. " If I co uld make law s in Am eri ca, I wo u ld n ' t sell high -performan ce bikes to IS-yea r-ol d kids. There are excep tio ns, bu t most kid s just do n 't have th e expe rience at IS to handle a I I00 cc b ik e. Thev need more trainin g. In Europe yo u ha ve to be a certain ag e to rid e larger displacem e nt motorcycles , Ma ybe t hey sho uld look a t that system here." Ada mo 's vi ews arc so m ew h a t simi la r; " I kn ow I wou ld get in troub le with a I 100cc- bik e for the street. I ride a 650cc twin no w and would really lik e a 750cc twin. Even if I had a four-cylinder, it wouldn 't be over 75Occ." Reno Leoni is quick to recognize that motorcycle racing in Europe is much different than American two wh eel co mpe titio n, " I don 't know if it' s Marlon Branda 's fau lt for mak ing that movie, or Am erica ns just ca n' t get used to th e motorcycle bu siness, but I ca n't understa nd wh y cer tain compa n ies don't use some of th eir adv ertising money to support motorcycl ee ro ad racing. If th ey would do t ha t a n d the sport improves, it would be good visibili ty for them, especially if television is at trac ted to th e spo rt. 1Ieel th at man y companies are mi ssing a n opportunity in th is area. They shou ld wa ke up . Somebody needs to wake the m up. In Europe th e sponsors are there a nd they sho u ld be here too." If someo ne approa ch ed Ren o Leoni a nd said, " I wa nt to be your sponsor and mo ney is no object," ho w would Leoni respond? " You kn o w, 1 co uldn' t tak e adva n tge of that perso n ," he says. " I woul d on ly as k for the minimum needed to win races. You see, everyo ne is h ungr y for money these da ys a nd I ca n' t understa nd why, I'm o nly hungry to win races." Spo nsors, tak e no te of this team 's appeti te! • leoni 's shop features Ducatis in various forms of completio n, f rom Adamo 's racer to the frames and parts seen here, ~ - I, : . .- ~ ,~ ::-, ~ ..... il) ..0 E il) > o Z

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