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
third," Adamo later told Cycle News' Gary Van Voorhis. "The shift lever fell off and there wasn't anything I could do except hope that there wasn't anyone close enough to pick me off." Adamo held on and earned the podium finish. It marked his career high AMA Superbike finish. It also marked the end of the early era of AMA Superbike. A twin-cylinder powered motor- cycle would not score a series podium result for another six years. Adamo would go on to score fourth at the expansive Road America and three more seventh-place finishes. Despite doing a very limited schedule Adamo finished ranked 10th in the final 1983 AMA Superbike point standings. Again, that was the last time a twin finished ranked inside the top 10 in AMA Superbike until 1989 when Dale Quarterley managed the feat on a Ferracci Ducati. It was an outstanding per- formance by Adamo on what was by then an ancient bevel- drive Ducati. The combination of Adamo's relentless drive to improve and Leoni's ability to get the most horsepower, handling and reliability out of the old Ducati proved a highly competi- tive combo. And as Enzo Assainte, who worked as Adamo's mechanic in the early 1990s, points out, "Jimmy and Reno were running this effort with very little budget. Compare that to the millions Honda was spending at the time. For Jimmy to be able to regularly run with those guys is nothing short of a miracle." Over the years Leoni and Ada- mo became close friends. They even formed an import business together called Gio.Ca.Moto USA. Sadly, Adamo passed away in a crash at Daytona in 1993. Today, though, Leoni can look back with a smile on his face when he thinks about life on the racing circuit with Adamo. "Jimmy and I argued all the time, but in a friendly way," Leoni recalls with a laugh. "He used to start swerving on the highway acting like he was falling asleep so I would take over the driving. Or he would have fun flirting with girls in those early days and look at me with a big smile while he was talking with them. He was very serious when it came to his racing, but he knew how to have a good time too." And no question Leoni is proud of the BOTT wins and championships they won to- gether, but even he admits it was especially fun to stick it to the factory Superbike teams every now and then. "We were underdogs for sure, but sometimes we had a good bite!" CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives Jimmy Adamo (right) took third on the Team Leoni Ducati and shares the 1983 Mid-Ohio AMA Superbike podium with Honda riders Fred Merkel (left), the runner up, and race winner Steve Wise. It would be another six years before a twin- cylinder machine scored a podium in AMA Superbike. PHOTO: BERT SHEPARD CN III ARCHIVES P140