Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eR A AE ODR C ~ Danny Walker (35) leads Larry Schwarzbach (22) and the rest of the Expert Solo GTU class at Daytona; Schwanbach won. . Jimmy Adamo and Fabian Cortez battled throughout the Expert Heavyweight Supertwins with Cortez getting the nod in his first outing on the Ducati 851. Cortez, Schwarzhach,Pounders shine at Daytona By Hermy Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL,ocr. 26-28 here was no shortage of racing at Dayton a during the last weekend in October with 24 sprint races, along with a three-hour endura nce race, marking the end of the AMAI CCS championship season. Lee Pounders, 32, of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, was the big winner, setting a new AMA/CCS record for victories. Though· he 's only been racing for 15 months, the former billboard painter was impressi ve, winning four Novice class races in five tries on a pair of motorcycles spo nsored by Outdoor Exposure Sign Co. and TBR Racing. His one non-win came in the Novice Heavyweight T 8 Superbike wher e he fin ished third to Amm an Otmane-Tani, a Swiss-born Frenchman who's a student at Dayton a Beach 's Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Institute. The four class wins were the most ever recorded by a rider in the seven-year history of the fall Race of Champions meet at Daytona International Speedway. In the Expert ranks, Pro T wins GP:! Champion Fabian Cortez and Larry Schwarzbach were multiple winners. Cortez, in his first ride aboard the Fast by Ferracci Ducati 851 that Jamie James rode in the AMA Superbike series this year, bested GiaCaMoto's Jimmy Adamo in the Expert Heavy- weight Supertwins final as well as the Expert Middleweight Superbike. along with taking a third in the Expert Heavyweight Superbike. Adamo took a win in the Expert Middleweight GP race. Schwarzbach captured the 14-lap, 50-mile Expert Solo GTU final on Fr iday and the seven-lap, 25-mile Expert Middleweight Supersport go on Sunday, just after winning the thr ee-hour AMAlCCS EBC Endurance Chall enge. One of th e more disappointing performances of the weekend was turned in by Fredd ie Spencer. The Two Brothers Ra cing-sponsored former World Champion fai led to finish Friday's Expert Solo GTO race, won by Ameri can Eagle Racing's Donald J acks, then returned for the Expert Unlimited GP final where he finished third behind Mike Harth on the Publicall /Mad Dog Racing entry a nd Tom Kipp, though he was unofficially credi ted with the fastest lap. Spencer also entered th e three-hour endurance race, running as high as fourth before pulling out to change a tire. He later rejoined th e race, only to be sidelined wi th reported engine troubles. The long warm and windy racefilled days were a race against darkness, especially with the advent of Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, but the p rograms were run smoothly and efficiently with only one red -flag incident. There were over 1200 entries for the various races, though quite a few rid ers entered multiple races. To cut sp eed going up on the banking, a temporary chicane of rubber pylon s and plastic barrels were set up exi ting turn seven and it was generally agreed that it cost riders one to two seconds a lap. Though it was never officially stated, it's possible that the ch icane will be made permanent by the 50th running of the Daytona 200 in March . After winning Friday's Novice Solo GTU final on a Honda CBR600, Pounders was back aboard a Suzuki GSXR750 in the Novice Heavyweight Superbike race on Saturday afternoon. He led the first four laps before being pa ssed on the banking by the faster Suzuki of Thomas Wilson while in a three-way battle along with OtmaneTani. Otmane-Tani led the last lap over Pounders with Wilson motoring by on the final lap on the west banking. The Novice Middleweight GP race was easier for Pounders, leading all the way and pulling off to a seven -second lead on the second of seven laps while lapping in the mid 2:09s. By the end he had close to a 20-second lead with Robert Ha in es second and William Whi te third. Pounders' margin of victory in the Novice Heavyweight Supersport race wasn 't as large , only 4.49 seconds over Brett Metzger, but it was a win nonethe less, though not wire-to-wire. Pounders was awa y second behind Metzger before passing him on th e third lap. James Schaeffer would also get past Metzger, but would later be disqualified. Pounders fin al winwould come in the Novice Middleweight Superbike race where he would aga in lead star t to finish . winning by close to 10 seconds over Mark Suggs on the Honda CBR600 Hurricane. "I didn 't know 1 was going for any record ,". Pounders said after setting it. " T ha t Hurricane felt like a little minibike compared to the GSXR750." Cortez and Adamo first faced off in the Expert Heavyweight Supertwins race and two things quickly became apparent; Adamo was riding better , but Cortez had the faster of the two Ducatis. Lap after lap Adamo, with a better line through the turn two kinks, would outbrake Cortez into the International Horseshoe turn, holding him off through the infield, only to get blown away on the banking. When it came down to the last lap, Adamo led by 12 bike lengths out of the chicane, but Cortez motored by as they passed over the tunnel exit and took his first Win. Third, over 20 seconds back, was Pablo Rea l on the Reno Leoni Ducati. Real took over that spot on the last lap when Scott Zampach, who had earlier won the Expert Lightweight Supertwins race aboard the H.O.G.owned Buell RRlOOO, was forced out of the race with a blown engine. Cortez averaged 103.879 mph for the 25-mil e race, an average he would up in the Expert Middleweight Superbike race as he adjusted to the enormous power difference between his GP2 machine, the Ducati 750 Sport, and the James' Ducati 851 Superbike, For Adamo, the scenario was -distressingly fam iliar: Scratch through the infield only to see Cortez pull ahead on the bowl. Again it came down to th e last lap with Adamo going under Cortez into the first horseshoe, only to get passed on the banking. This time , he was close enough to get past as they exited the infield going onto the banking, though Adamo kept it close. At the end, it was the Philadelphian Cortez by .230 seconds over New Yorker Adamo. • ;) The average speed for the 14-minute, 1O.80-second race was 105.444 mph, over 1.5 mph faster than the race run barely an hour and 15 minutes earl ier. "The bike gets better and better;" Cortez said after his second win . "You learn to contro l the power more and more . 1didn 't want to push it too much earlier, but now 1 feel a lot more comfortable. The power is j ust awesome." r Cortez 's boss, Eraldo Ferracci confirmed that he'd secured a ride for 1991. "I felt like he went good on the GP2, it 's time to put him on GPI," he said. Third place was hotly contested by four Yamaha FZR600-mounted riders, Schwarzbach 's Performance Un limited-sponsored machine being the fastest and good enough for third, about 14 seconds behind the winners. Though it was only good enough for third in this class, Schwanbach's bike was good enough to win the 14lap Expert Solo GTU race on Friday ,

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