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/1469992
I n two seasons of Battle of the Twins racing Jimmy Adamo was the undisputed King. Racing the Reno Leoni-built Ducati, he won both the 1981 and '82 Battle of the Twins Championships go- ing away. So, after two seasons of running roughshod over the competition for two seasons, and at times being competitive in the AMA Superbike class, Adamo and Leoni decided to pump up the Ducati, which started life as a production 750SS, even more and put a little more focus in the Superbike class. The timing they felt was perfect with rule chang- es, which saw the big four-cylin- der AMA Superbikes restricted to 750cc, down from the previous limit of 1025cc. The teaming of Leoni with Adamo came at the recommen- dation of Mike Baldwin. Baldwin had been riding for Leoni in '78 when he signed with Kawasaki. Leoni was looking for a new rider. The two were watching the novice race at Laguna Seca, where Adamo had a great ride, in spite of his bike losing a foot- peg. Leoni asked Baldwin about Adamo. "Mike told me that Jimmy was a good rider," Leoni recalls. "And that he lived on Long Island, not too far from me in New Jersey. So, I talked to him that weekend and when we got home, I talked to Berliner, and they agreed, and then I had Jimmy come to the Berliner factory in New Jersey and we started our partnership." Berliner Motor Corp. was the U.S. distributor for Ducati and Moto Guzzi at the time. In '79 Adamo raced his first Superbike races with Team Leoni, at first on the Moto Guzzi and later on a Ducati. During its first year as a national championship, AMA Superbike racing was dominated by two-cyl- inder European motorcycles like the BMW, Moto Guzzi and Ducati. In fact, for the first season and a half, nothing other than a twin won an AMA Superbike race. But then came Reg Pridmore's victory at Pocono in August of 1979 on a Ka- wasaki, quickly followed by Steve McLaughlin's win on a Suzuki, and the flood gates were open. The Japanese 1000cc multis now had such a power advantage over CN III ARCHIVES P136 BY LARRY LAWRENCE SUPERBIKE UNDERDOGS JIMMY AND RENO Race builder extraordinaire Reno Leoni (left) and Jimmy Adamo turned out to be one of the winningest combos of the 1980s in AMA road racing. Together they won three- straight Battle of the Twins titles and scored some impressive Superbike results. PHOTO: BERT SHEPARD