Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.... (1) ..0 S (1) ;> o Z M ike Smith (19) won three class championships at Daytona . He re . h e chases Danny Roberts (41 ) an d Mark 'Reynolds (5 2 ) i n Unlimited Supersport. 10th Annual Daytona Pro-Am Smith triples at Race of Champions By Brian Catterson Photos by Daytona International Speedway, George Hoffman and Cat terson DAYTONA BEACH , FL, OCT. 29-30 , Mike Smith -was the big winner 'Dayton a Pro-Am road race meet, home three R ace of Ch am p io n s Smith, 22, from Can to n , Georgia, quartet of .Bo b Hartmanprepared machines - Suzuki GSXR750 H ' d CB R600 . ' on a ~ Hurncane, Yamaha TZ250 8 and RZ350 - in. seven races, record ing three wins , a third; a fourth and two DNFs. T his year's Race o f Champions saw 450 racers from 33 sta tes go headto-head to decid e 18 cha m pionsh ips in 15 seven- lap, 25-m ile sprin t races. Las t year, II o f 13 races were decided between the ch ica ne a nd th e finish line, so AMA/CCS Director Roger Ed mondso n in vested in a stop-actio n came ra for th is year's even t. Co rnerworkers were supplied by the Mid Atl a nti c Road Racing Clu b. ' Sm ith 's string of victories bega n in Sa turda y's first race for Lightweigh t Su perbi kes. Rid in g hi s RZ, Smi th started in fo urth, passi ng Sta n ' Dilche r, David Mu rray a nd Willia m Kranenb erg befo re the com p letio n o f lap one . Ed wa rd Abdo , ri di ng h is at the taking ti tIe s. ro de a imma culatel y prepared J:I ond,a Hawk GT, a lso wor~e? his wa y through the p~ck to .ftms~ seco~d . Murray put his RZ In th ird, with Benj amin Stower s tak in g fo u rth o vera ll and first novice o n ye t a n o t her RZ . J eff J ohnson h eld second in th e Novice ra n ks on hi s Suzuki GS550, but was docked a lap fo r passin g under a wav ing yellow flag result ing in a 42nd p lace overa ll fin ish . . Sm ith's next wi n ca me in race four, Un li mi ted Supersport. Co mpeting aga ins t a num ber o f liter-plus machines, Sm ith a nd Dan n y Rober ts rode 750cc Suzu kis to finish one- two, wi th Mark Reynolds taki ng thi rd on h is 1I00 cc Su zuk i. " At fir st I th o ugh t it was goi ng to be hard ," said Smith, la ter. " I tho ug h t I' d dra ft to stay with them , the n get the m in th e infield. Bu t I did n 't have to." Sm ith's thi rd and fina l wi n came o n Sunda y in the Midd le weigh t Su perspo rt class. At the start, David Clyde a nd Bri an Wh ite took turn s a t th e front o f th e pa ck with Sm ith grabbing third from hi s fourth-row gr id po siti on , a ll three ridin g Hurricanes. Sm ith took the lead on th e back straigh t o n th e fir st lap , but Sean Osowski wo u ld n' t let him ge t away, a nd the two trad ed the lead back a nd forth until th e fifth lap whe n Smi th mad e it sti ck. Osow ski took seco nd wi th Lance Nordby, both on Hurri can es, rounding out the top three. Clyde crashed o ut and Whi te fad ed to 10th pl ace. Though happy with his results, Sm ith lamented over th e difficu lty of setti ng up four mach in es. " I' ve go t so man y bik es, it's hurting me every wh ich way ," he said, adding th at the two-strok es were way off in jetting a nd th e 750 was leaki ng o il. Smith is sponsored by Roswell Honda , . Dun lop, Phi l Fl ack Racing, Ka lGa rd and Bell H elm ets. The o the r big winner in the Expert ra n ks was Sm ith 's Roswell Honda end u ra nc e racing teammate a nd fellow Georgian Cam ' Roos, who took two wins. Roos' first win ca me in the Lightwei ght Grand Pri x di vision. Riding a Sam Yamashitabuilt, Stuart Anderson -tuned 41 Icc Yam ah a FZR s tree t bike, R o o s defea ted a number o f th orou ghbred racing machines, desp ite th e fact that he 'd seized the bike three tim es d u ring Fri day's p ractice. Cliff Big o ney rookseco nd on a T Z250 with Fa bian Co rt ez third o n a 400cc Yam aha. Smi th had problems when hi s T Z25 0's p o wer va lve ca me u nplugged a nd he fini shed fou rth. J oe Co le wo n the No vice d ivision o n hi s Ho nda 250. " I was tryi ng as ha rd as I could o n the first la p ," sa id Roos, who'd tu rne d 2:09 lap times d u ri ng th e race tho ugh th e best he 'd done in practice was 2: 13s. " I kn ew I'd have ~ th e adv antag e a t th e start , but I didn 't think I'd be able to hold off those 250s." Roos is spo nsored by Ro swell H onda, Psycle Racin g, Mota Lib. er ty, Dunlop, Phil Flack Racing, NGK and Arai . Roos ' second win ca me in the first race Su nday mornin g, Heavyw eight Su perspo rt, The race in iti a lly looked to be a rep eat of Sa turday's Unlimited Supersport even t with Rob erts a nd Smith battlin g for the lead on th eir GS XR 750s, but Smith cras hed in th e turn four hairpin on the seco nd lap a nd Roos passed Roberts o n th e third lap to tak e the win. Rob erts ca me home seco nd with Co rtez taking th ird-place . . Th e o n ly o th er doub le cl ass winner was .David Kam ps, wh owas aw arded the J ohn D. Rue cu p and a check for $500 for turning in the mo st impressive performan ce by a novi ce. Kamps won th e Middlewei ght Grand Pr ix a nd Midd leweight Superbike Novice races on his 600cc Hurrican e, sho d with Dun lop K591s, despite being hi t in the first turn of th e first race and los ing hi s ex ha u s t baffl e. Kamps defeated Michael Barnes (who, co incidentall y, los t hi s muffler ) a nd Mike Bonn, the second a nd third place riders trading po si tions in th e two ra ces. .Kamps, from n earb y P ort Orange, Flo rida, is spo nsored by Cycl e Desi gn o f Port Sa in t Lu cie. Floridia n Mark Chi n turn ed in a co n vi nc i ng p er forma n ce o n h is Yamah a FZRIOOO in th e Un li mited G ra nd Prix race, averag ing 107.774 mph for a new Race o f Ch ampion s record. Chin beat Kevin Rentzell on th e Dut chm an R a cing Suzuk i GSXR l l O end ura nce bike a nd J eff O Farm er o n a Yam ah a FZR7 50 , res pectively, to po st a 16-second margin o f victory. Dale Quarterley worked u p fro m a last-ro w sta rt to ta ke fo urth pl ace on hi s Lockh art I

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