Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

..... V .D. a V ;;> o Z The 11th Annual Daytona Race of Champions saw a huge turnout and dismal weather. Andrew "Tripp" Nobles III (114) won three Novice races. The Unlimited Grand Prix Expert race was one of the best of the weekend. and saw Dale Quarterley (32) defeat Canadian Rueben McMurter (24). AMAjCCS Race 'of Champions Record entries and rainfall at Daytona By Brian Catterson DAYT O NA BEACH , FL, OCT. 27-29 Whoever nicknamed Florida the " Su n sh in e State" ought to be shot. No, make that drawn and quartered - tied to each of the over 500 motorcycles at the II th Annual Daytona Race of Champ io ns and pu lled 6 in as ma ny directi ons. I Sim p ly p u t, the RO C was a wa sh ou t. Th e o n ly b r ig h t spots were th e few races that managed to be run in more-or -less dr y cond itio ns, and th e 25 members of the Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Club wh o along wit h students of Dayt ona's American Motor cycle In stitute provided some of the fin est cornerworking ever seen at a mo torcycle road ra ce, h el p in g to m ak e the weekend that much more bearab le. T he Amer ica n Mo tor cycli st Associa tio n/ Cha mp io ns hi p Cup Seriessanc tioned event d rew a reco rd 1400pl us entries, man y com ing from as far a way as Cal ifornia for wh a t they fig ur ed wo uld be a racing vacati on in the warm Florida suns h ine. But Mother Na ture showed her mean strea k, a nd wit h the except ion of most of Frida y a nd brief peri ods of Saturday and Sunday, it was rain , rain , rain .. . Two of th e 14 races schedu led for Sa tu rday were bum ped to Sunday whe n the precipita tion caused th e program to ru n beh in d sched u le, a nd as a result those two races, p lus th e three origi na lly sched uled fo r Sunday were sho rte ned fro m seven laps to j ust five. The m iserable weather did littl e to det er a Novice by the nam e o f Andrew No bles Ill. The Georgi abased rider , spo nso red by Downstaging, Su zuki of Macon , Ph il Flack Racing Services a nd Conner Carr iers, was o ne of on ly two th ree-cla ss winners. Nob les rode h is Vic Faso latun ed Suzuki GSXR750 to wins in both th e Heavyweight Su perbike and Hea vyweigh t Superspo rt races, then backed th at up with a victor y in the newl y-fo rm ed U.S. Twin Sports class (exclusively for H arl ey-Davidso n 883 Spo rts ters ), Nobles was backed by Grover Sassaman 's Harley-Davidso n of Maco n (Geo rgia) in the 883 race (wh ich was held in a dow npour), and no t on ly wo n the Novi ce div ision over noted H arley-Davidson vintage racer Pa t Moroney, but worked hi s wa y up to fin ish fourt h o vera ll . a mo ngs t the Expert s. So uthe rn Californian Nigel Ga le was the 883 Expert win ner, wi th local Rand y Kirn ec second, 15.59 seconds in arrea rs, and Missouri's Darrell Jones th ird. Bro thers Will a nd J esse Roeder , sons of eigh t-time Nationa l dirt track winner George Roeder, fini shed fourth and fifth in th e Expert ranks, resp ectively. For his efforts, Nob les received the J oh n D. R ue Cup and the $500 chec k that goes alo ng wi th it, presented a nn uall y to th e top Nov ice rider a t the ROC. Florida 's o wn Micha el Barn es was the on ly Expert three-class winner , rid ing hi s Yamaha FZR600 to victory in Sa turday's Midd leweig ht Superspo rt a nd Sunday's Middleweig ht Gra nd Prix contes ts, before capp ing his stella r weekend with a $5000 win in th e fina l ro und of the AMA/ CCS Yok oham a 600cc Supe rspo rt Series. Barnes' first taste of victo ry came in the Middleweigh t Supers po rt race, where he defeat ed Friday's Solo GTU wi nner Mike Moores on a not her FZR by over five seconds. T ryg Westb y fini sh ed th ird on a Honda CBR600. Marylan d' s G lenn SZarek had led early , but cras hed h is FZR in th e International H or sesh oe on lap two , rem ounted , a nd put o n a ch arge to fini sh II th o Barnes' second win came in th e restarted Middleweight GP, where he fend ed off Yam aha -mounted Todd H oge a nd Szarek for the wi n. Barnes also fin ish ed seco nd twice. In Ligh tweight G P, the Boca Raton resident rode a Yama h a TZ250, s ha do wi ng sim i la rly -m o u nte d win ner J oe Co le. T hen back on his FZR , Barn es took seco nd behind Tom Kipp in a hard-fough t Middleweigh t Su pe rbi ke d ice. Moores, 1989 600cc Na tiona l Su pe rsport Ch ampion Scott Zampach, a nd Co lorado 's J o hn H op perstad ro und ed o ut the top five, all on Yamahas. Da le Qua rt erl ey was th e other Expert-cl ass stando ut, as he won two of the dr iest races of th e weekend, H ea vyweigh t Supe r twi n s a n d U n l i m i ted G P ,' o n h is Fas t By

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