Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 00 O"l ....... Roger Marshall (8 2 ) smiles in the winners' circle after winning the AMA Pro Twins GP race at Daytona International Speedway. U.S. National Champion Doug Brauneck (1) finished third on Dr.John's Moto-Guzzi. AMA Pro Twins GP Road Race Series: Round 1 Marshall 'nips. aracchi C in Pro Twins GP By Brian Catterson Photos by Henny Ray Abrams DAYTONA, FL, MAR . 6 R oger Marshall of Eng lan d passed Stefano Caracch i of I taly on th e las t lap after a racelon g battle to win the AMA P ro T wins G rand P rix class race at ' Dayto n a In ternational Speedway. ' idi M ars h a II, n m g t h e Quan . . tel Cosworth,. inherited the lead from Lewis, who led for 24 four laps, when Lewis' Honda motor broke. Do ug Brauneck rode the Dr. John's Moto-Guzzi to third aft er a last-lap di ce with Chris Oldfield of Au stralia on a Bimota DB-I . The race was originall y scheduled for Friday afternoon but inclement weather forced postponement unti l Sunday after the Da ytona 200 and th e ' event was shortened from 15 laps on the 3.56-mile circu it to 10 laps. The riders comp leted a warm-up lap and gr idded for the start on Fr iday, but the ra in increased as th e one- m in ute board was disp layed so AMA officials ca lled off the race . It was a lu cky br eak for J am es Ada mo, since h is new eight-va lve ' Du cati spru ng a leak in the gas tank moments before the scheduled start, a nd he was forced to revert to la st year's bi ke, wh ich th en broke a chai n whi le they were trying to push-start it. Adamo received the eig ht-valve motor o n T uesday before the race and q ua lified it on Wednesda y, but teethi ng problems ham pered his efforts. H I D id Th e ar ey- aVI so n team h a d a tough time of it. 1986 Battle of the Twins Champion Gene Church crashed his Buell/Ha rley on T ues day and suffered a badly broken hand. Dirt tracker Scott Parker, who had trouble with a leaking oi l tank throughout the week, crashed in turn one d urin g Friday's practice. rebreaking the oi l ta n k and forcing him to scratch. Chris Carr, who qualified on the outside of row th ree, had to miss Su nday's P ro Twins fina l · due to the re-schedu led AMA 600cc Na tional Short Track being h eld co nc u rre ntly a t nearby Memoria l Sta d iu m. Jay Sp ri ngsteen was a lso a no-sh ow . Du e to th e sched u li ng cha nge and th e fact"th at th e races were ru n one right a fter th e o the r, m any co m pet itors sat ou t this event; 21 o f the origi na l 44 entra nts d id not compe te. Notable among the absentees was Dr. David Keiffer, who ha d qual ified in fourth p osi tion o n h is new eigh tvalve Duca ti, Stefano Ca racchi of T ea m Ciamp ini led th e field into turn o ne a t th e start, with Doug Brauneck and J ohn Long in pursui t. Dal e Quarterley, ridi n g th e Fast By Ferraci / Cagiva/Mich eli n / Cas tro l/ Tsuba ki sp o nso re d H arris-fram ed Ducati , came from 'th e second row to pass the three leadin g rider s between turns o ne and two. Quantel Limited / Michelin/Ferrodo/ Reyno lds Chainsp-ons ored Ma rshall wa s running fifth o n th e Q uantel Cosworth that Pau l Lewi s rode here in 1986. T h e wa ter-cooled , parall el twin cylin der , machine is esse ntially part o f a Cosworth Indy ca r m otor, with bel tdr iven o verhead cams and four valves per cylinde r. Brauneck drafted p ast Cara~chi down th e long back straigh t a n d o u tbra ked Quart erley into the ch ica ne 10 take the lead. Brauneck, sponsored by Maserati MG , Koni, MGMOC, Mo bi l, Au tol ite, Raceco, KU , and Devins, was deb u ting the overhead cam , eight va lve percylinder MOIO-Guzzi prototype, claiming that it was "basically stock with a pipe and bigger carbs." Lewis also put on a charge, going from seventh 10 fo u rt h on the back straight. At the end of the first la p , Marshall led Lew is, with Brau neck third, Q uarterley fo urth , Carr ach i fift h, Long sixth. Adamo seventh, Oldfield eighth, Roger Reim an n inth, and Ala n Ca thcart 10th . On ' lap two, Caracchi p a ssed Qua rterley for fourth, with Ada mo workin g h is wa y into fifth on h is 1987 bike. T eam Leoni/ Mich elin/ Arai /A u lOli te / FBL .R a ce Fue l! Gi oCaM ot o-sponsored Adamo 's race was short- lived h ow ever , as he pu lled off th e trac k durin g the th ird lap . Lap three also saw Paul Lewi s ta ke th e lead fro m Ma rsh all o n th e banking. Caracch i p a ssed Brauneck for ' th ird, ~i t h O ldfi eld ge tti ng by Quarter ley for fifth. Lewis ex ten ded h is lead , unchallenged for th e nex t - four lap s, tu rnin g lap times in th e low 1:59s. Lewis used a different line through turn one, leaning int o th e turn early, th en straig h ten ing up to brake and downsh ift , a nd lea ni ng over again . Mos t rid ers gradually leaned over furthe r until th ey reac hed the apex w h ich is very late in the co rner. L on g evi ty R a cin g / Mi ch el in / S hoei /Flyi ng T igers -s po nsore d Duca ti ri der Lo ng ba ttl ed Q u arterl ey for sixth o n lap five; La p six saw Caracchi sneak past Marshall for second. '. On lap seven, the motor of Lewis' Co m monwealt h Racing H onda tied u p in th e in field. T he exo tic 350pou nd mach ine, built by Louisville, Kentu cky, classic enthusias t Martin Adams, fea tures a n eight -valve H onda RS7 50D di rt track engine, NS500 forks a nd swingarm, flat slide M ikuni ca r bs, a n d a five-spee d gea rbo x. It 's bo red ou t 10 860cc and now has iron liners, rather than th e Nikisi l cylinders of the 750, which may have con trib u ted to th e seizure. Lewi s had co mpleted n o m ore tha n six laps of practice. Frustrated, th e "Angry Ant" pounded h is fist on th e windscreen , destro ying it. " After th e warm-up lap, I to ld Ray Plumb (Bubba Shobert's m ech anic) ' It 's making terrib le no ises.' H e said 'J ust do th e best you can'," exp la ined Lewi s. " I tried to nurse it a n d short cha n ge it, but it fin ally wouldn't pull over 5000 rpm." Marshall re-took th e lead on lap nine, b ut Caracchi stu ffed it under Marsh all in tu rn o ne to start the fin al circu it. " I don ' I th in k he hit m e but I was leaning on him and h e was sliding th e rear wheel," Marshall said later. Mar sh all ou tbra ked Caracchi into th e ch ica ne for th e last time, with Caracchi bobbl in g a t th e exi t. Marsh all th en used th e su perio r sp eed o f th e Quantel Co sworth to hold off . Caracchi 's Ducati for th e win. " I got into a rea lly big slide going o nto the banking on th e la st lap. I wanted to lea d into th e ch ica ne because I knew if I co u ld get a good drive o u t, I' d win, " sa id Marshall a fter th e race. He averaged 104 mph o n his way 10 victory. Caracch i sa id th at th ere was oi l on hi s wi ndscreen , ruining hi s visio n a nd forcin g him to keep h is h ead up. H e also claimed th at this affected h is top sp eed. Brauneck let Oldfield p a st on th e las t lap to set u p for a draf ting p ass at th e finis h, and hi s p lan worked . like a charm. ·" Look a t where yo u are now," shou ted Dr. J ohn Wim er to Doug Braun eck in th e win ners' circle. " I had a problem with the rear whee l hopping in turn three," said Brauneck. "It was okay for the first couple of laps and then it started to happen agai n. It 's probably th e shock. " Fifth place went to Long, who fought with Quarterley in the early going, then passed h im for good on la p five. . Seventh went to British journalist Ala n Cathcart ridin g a Duca ti th a t he h ad j ust purchased from Aus tral ian Bob Bro wn. Bro wn and Team Lu ck y S tri ke / Ro bens G P rider Kevin Magee bu il t th e bike - wh ich fea tures a cus tom-built chassis and fai ring , a TTl ta nk a nd sea t an d Krob er ign iti on - in just one week. Eig h th fell to former Daytona 200 win ner Roger Reiman on a HarleyDa vid so n . Th e R obinson H-D / Reiman 's Inc.lH -D Inc.-sp onsored vetera n had a good Cycle Week ; durin g th e p rev io us weeke n d's AMA/ CCS sprint ra ces. Reim an 's H arley beat th e H onda H urrica ne of yo u ngs te r Don a ld J a cks in the Middlewei ght PG class. •

• Cover