Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126992
"Whadaya mean, illega l? " Reno Leon i (ri g ht ) goes th rough tec h inspect ion at Daytona w ith Marco Lucchinelli's Ducati. Interview: Reno Leoni and Jimmy- Adamo Road racing Italian style By John J . Schiavone Photos by Peter Calles and Schiavone The sign in the Italia n restaurant window read - " Closed " . Ren o Leoni walks in and with a few hand gestures and-some Italian words, presto, the sign suddenly reads " O pe n". " Where' s th e plaque and picture of Jimmy you promised me for the wall?" th e 10 restaurat eur politely asks in Ital ian. " Be pa tien t," Leoni replies, " yo u will have th em in time." The restaurant doesn 't serve a lcohol but a fter a few more Latin words; we're drinking wine from soda cups . " If a nyon e a sks. tell th em it 's lemo na de," Leoni says wi th a smile. Th e I tal ian s a re a pa ssi onate p eople. G ood food. fin e wine, beautifu lworn en a nd fast motorcycles are an integral p art of th eir heritage. For T ea m Leo n i, the em p ha sis is o n road ' racing motorcycles - Ducat i mot orcycles . The team is co m p rised o f builder, tun er a n d o w n er R en o Leoni from Lodi, N ew J ersey, a nd racer Jimm y Adam o fro m nearb y G len Cove, New York. They aggressively co ntes t th e -Pro T wins GP class (fo rmer!y Ba ttl e o f The T wi ns BoT F) a nd have virt ua ll y dominated that class sin ce its in cepti on in 19RO. T he name Reno L eon i is syno nymous with Du ca ti. H e h ad dedicated h is h eart , so u l a n d ba n k acco u nt . to promoting th e Duca ti marque in Ameri ca . " Bui ld in g italia n mot orcycles m akes me feel that I'm still a part o f m y home co untry," he says . "Working on Italian equipment brings back many nice memories and gives me a good feeling. " The diminutive Leoni began with th e Ducati factory in Bologna, Italy, during th e early '60s as a test rider and product developer. When Ducati sport bikes became popular in Arner - . ica during th e '60s Leoni was tapped a s a technical troublesh ooter for Berliner Motors , Du catr ' s U. S. importer. H omesick for h is native so il, L eoni refu sed to sig n any longter m co n tracts. His in ten tio n was to promote the sa le o f Du cati bikes th ro u g h ra ci ng and th en re turn ho m e to Ital y. But as he reca lls. " Six m onths here, o ne yea r th ere a n d befo re I knew it. 21 yea rs have p assed a nd I'm an Am erica n citi zen ." Man y p ro m i ne n t rid ers bega n the ir careers wi th Leo n i. Kurt Li ebm a n n . Fra n k Camilli eri , George Roc kett , Mike Bald win a nd Fred di e Spen cer are j u st a few who raced Leon i-p repared eq u i p me nt. When Bal d w in sig ne d wi th Kaw asaki fo r th e 1979 seas o n , Leo n i found an able repl acem ent in J immy Adamo, a N ew En gl and racer w ho sho wed promise. " The relationshi p with Jimm y is pretty good," Leoni says affectio nately. " We' ve been together for a lo ng time a nd it 's much better than a factory-racer rela tio ns h i p . Factori es are o u t to .ach ieve certa in goal s. If a rider ' gets hun o r n eeds so me d evelo p me n t tim e, th ey just say " n ex t." With Jimm y it 's different . . . i t' s more like a fam ily relationsh ip. H e's like a so n . .. I w ish every team co u ld have a rel ationship like o urs." Adamo 's feelings toward Leoni are mutual. " We have a good relationsh i p, " h e says. " We wo r k well . togeth er to ge t every th ing done. If so meth ing is not wo rki ng right, he'll ta ke the ti me to mak e it go a little bit extra. H e. tri es to mak e it easier for yo u to wi n ra ces. It hel p s." In th e paddock area yo u ca n find th e co lo rfu l a nd ever-p resent T eam Leoni nestl ed somew ere between th e well-eq u ip pe d factory teams and th e privateer s operating from th eir sma ll vans . You might think T eam Leo n i is eithe r a factory-based effo rt or a well-financed privateer team judging from th eir professiona l ma intained eq u ip me nt. Neither is th e case, however. / Co n ce rn ing fin an ci al support, Leoni is quick to repon d, " I tr y m y best to represent a rm promote th e Du cati- Ca g iva name. Except for some sponsors, I supp ly most of th e money. Many times I've thought of giving it up, but it's the encouragement I get from m y wife, son and daughter-in-law that really keeps me going." -Surely Leoni must. have an " in " with the factory for rechnical assistance or with trick parts. " Wh en we do get a technical problem, which is rare,: th e factory do es lend so me as sista nce," Leoni notes. "However, . th e trick parts we make o urselves in m y sho p . When we need speciali zed machrne work, I visit m y frrend Vic to r. We try to devel op p istons, porting heads an d o the r pa rts . The o n ly specia l parts we get from Du cati are ca ms , which any bo dy else ca n get. Valv e an d ca rb sizes we expe rime n t w i th o urse l ves d ependin g o n req u irern en ts for top speed and accelera tio n. " So. wh at ad va ntage does T eam L eoni have o ver th e co m peti tio n? Leoni slowly lig h ts his cigar a nd proudly states, " Yea rs of hard work and working with Ducati is my ad va n tage, An other advan tage is when th e Ducati factory team co mes o ver. I'm th eir team organizer here and we stay together so I have a good cha nce to talk with th e factory guys. But th ey are very sensi tive about giving up th eir secrets - the ones I would like to kn ow." The only o the r ad va ntage is my son Steven, who is a mechanical engi neer. Sometimes he runs profiles o n th e co m p u ter for us to determine if a p articular set up wi ll work." Ev en with minim al fin an cial support, th e rea son for T eam Leoni 's persi sten ce is 'obvio us . " My love is for ra cing, " L eoni replies. " I love go ing to th e track a nd tr ying m y best to win races. My feeling is th at I eithe r give 110% to raci ng or I'll just go to th e track with m y su n glasses a nd ca me ra . There's no in -between for me ." • For Adamo , th e rea son for racing is a direct, one word response "Winning." Adamo has started every twins race si nce th e class fir st began in 19S0. H e has won more twins ra ces than any other rider and has wo n th e Twins GP Champi onship i n 'SI, 'S2 a nd 'S3, and finish ed second in 'S4, 'S6 a nd 'S7: ' Although h e won four races this year , Adamo fini sh ed seco nd to Doug Brauneck o n a Mot o-Cuzzi. " It was reall y strange," says Ad amo pen sively. " At Da ytona a bolt broke o ne- A w inning combination - J immy Adamo and Reno Leo ni. The two hav e virtually dominated the Pro Twins GP class since it s ince ption in 1980.