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/127182
Paul L~wis (76) leads Dale Quarterley (32) and Jimmy Adamo (26) through t he infield. (Left to right) Adamo. Quarterley. Lewis and Martin Adams celebrate a ft~ r AMA Circle Bell Pro Twins Grand Prix Series: Round 1 Quarterley by a half! By Brian Catterson Photos by Henny Ray Abrams DAYT O NA BEACH, FL, MAR . 10 Fast By Ferracci Ducati 851. rider Dale Quarterley edged Commonwealth Honda rider Paul Lewis by half a wheel after a 15lap, 50-mile battle to win the Pro Twins 18 G ran d P r ix eve n t a t D a y ton a In ternati onal Sp eedw a y. Ad .di . J tmmy am, n Ing ~ T earn . L eOnI Ducat! 851, finished thi rd a scan t few feet behind th e leaders whe n his last-lap drafti ng atte~ pt came ~p. short. TI med qua lifying, held on a dam p track, provided a hint of wha t was to come as defen ding series cham pion Quarterley a n d Au stral ia n the race. L ewis clocked the fastest laps, 2:03.370 and 2:03.665, resp ectively. Next fastest was 1987 champ Doug Bra uneck on Dr. J ohn Wittner 's Moto Guzzi, four seco nds off the pace at 2:07.411 , whi le Adamo was fo urt h with a best effort of2:10.610. Germa n Handrich & Mayer BMW rider H erbert Enzinger q ua lified fifth wi th a 2: 11.2 16 h is first t i m e eve r a t Daytona. Lewis thundered off the starting line a t the fro nt of the pack, but it was polesi tter Quart erley who held the lead do wn the short ch ute to turn two. Two-t i m e cl ass ch a m p io n Ada mo foll owed in second, but no t for long as Lewis drafted past int o second on th e west ba nk in g. T ha t Ada mo was raci ng a t all was a testimony to the dedication of Ren o Leoni and cre w. Adam o had fallen on th e warm-up lap of the first Arai T win 50 Superbike hea t race o n unscrubbed tires , an d ha d a lso broken th e left foot peg off in prac- tice, both of whi ch necessitated hasty repairs. Nevertheless, Adamo had an ~ ap parent horsep ower adva ntage as he mot ored past th e lead du o to cross th e st r ipe fi rs t to end la p o ne . Quarterl ey and Lewis, ho wever: were more aggressive in the infield, with Q ua rterley takin g the lead under braking in turn one an d Lewis going under Adamo a t th e Int erna tional H orseshoe. Adamo was un doubtedly . rememberin g the last ti me Lewi s and he had tangled in the 1986 Da ytona Battle of th e Twins, a race that ended wit h Adamo slidi ng down th e banking at 160 mph. Brauneck held fourth in th e early stages but was ham pered by in terference between the Guzzi's fairing low ers a nd for k sliders which set up a wobble th at forced him to back off : and lose di stance o n th e first lap. The Geor gian lat er reti red two laps short of the fini sh wh en a ca mbelt broke, and wa s cred ited with 17th place. Australian Owen Col es, riding an innovative Ducati (co nverted from bevel- to belt-driven ca ms), went from the middle of th e sixth row on the starting grid to fifth place before the completion of lap one. Two laps later, he retired to the pits with mechanical problems. Another rider who retired ear ly was perennial hard-luck story Gene Church, who co m peted in -just two . races last year and was looking to make a co me back of sorts. The former class champion's HarleyDavidson suffered carburetion problems which ended his race on lap three. Lewis tried every possibl e way to get around Quarterl ey, but it wasn't until lap three that he led , using a high line on th e east banking to drive aro u nd the red-headed Ameri can. Lewis' pa ss set up th e best dice ever seen in T win s raci ng a t Daytona wi th th e duo trad in g places so me 30 times before deciding it in a last-lap dash to th e flag. Quarterl ey lapped through eig h th pl ace whil e tu rn ing lap tim es in th e su b- two-minute range a nd set a new average speed reco rd of 105.425m ph . The riders' mu tual trust in each othe rs' abil ities was obvious as more than a few ti mes they touch ed o n the _ banking at nearl y 170 mph a nd ran si de -by-s id e th rough Da ytona 's infield tu rn s an d th e ch ica ne. On one occasio n , Quarterley ra n u p the inside of Le wis at the In terna tional , Ho rsesh oe, but Lewis wouldn't give an inch an d the two ra n in tandem down the infield straig ht, through theover-IOO mph left-hand dogleg and into th e follo win g hairpin. T here , on the short straig ht heading into turn five (the sa me place that th e 867cc H onda broke last year whi le lead in g and " T he Angry Ant" took o u t hi s fru strations o n its windscreen ), Lewis regained a small ad vantag e. Coming around for th e last time, Quarterley ran high on th e banking as Lewis tried to use th e draft to ge t by. Quarterl ey brought the red a nd white Duca ti down off the banking, push ing Lewi s o nto th e a pro n. As th ey crossed th e line, Quarterley leaned on Lewis, almos t threatening to run him int o the infield Supercross co urse, an d it was the Rockland, Massach usetts, rider who took th e win by a half a wh eel. "That was . th e bes t race I ever finished second in," sai d Lewis, who was a warded $2160 of the $11,735 purse. " I had to watch me back and me front. I j ust wish I could have been second on th e fin al lap so I ' cou ld've draf ted him. " "Winni ng is always a good way to sta rt the seaso n," said Quarterl ey, who pocketed $3 185. " It's nice' to kn ow we can start where we left off." Quarterley is spo nsored by Fast By

