Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE I t passed with little fanfare, but on September 12, 1982, at Seattle International Raceway in Kent, Washington, history was made. John Williams won the AMA Battle of the Twins, becoming the first African- American to win an AMA Na- tional road race. This, some 30 years after black riders were first allowed to compete in AMA national events. Nothing was mentioned about it in any of the coverage of the era. It's not clear anyone recognized the significance of the occa- sion and that includes Williams himself. "I wasn't thinking of my win that day in terms of making history," Williams admitted. "I was so fo- cused on climbing the ranks as a racer, that it was just another step towards my goal of becoming a factory rider." The other thing on Williams' mind that day was Jimmy Adamo. Adamo was the dominant force in BoTT racing of the era and Williams felt Adamo re- fused to give him the credit he deserved for winning that day in Seattle. That trend would continue. "Everybody wanted to beat Jimmy," Williams explained. "And when he was on and things were working, no one could touch him. But Jimmy was a little funny, in that if something was bothering him, or the bike wasn't just right, he would sometimes throw in the towel. I was catching him at Seattle and I had him. Suddenly he pulled off the track. I went to ask him about what happened after the race and he was sort of dismissive, just shrugging his shoulders and telling me something happened to his bike. "Nothing against Jimmy, but I beat him a few more times, and every time he claimed something was wrong with his bike. I guess it was the one thing I wanted that I never got - acknowledgment by Jim- my that I beat him fair and square." Williams was racing Dale Newton's mighty Ducatis. Newton first approached Williams about riding for him the day he beat Sears Point legend Paul Ritter on the last corner of an intense AFM race at Sears. The relation- ship between Newton and Williams proved a fruitful one. Williams would go on to win a total of four AMA BoTT rac- es on Newton's machines. "Those bikes were probably the best race bikes I ever raced," Williams said. During his stint on Newton's squad Williams was teamed with none other than a rising young star named Kevin Schwantz. Schwantz was racing Superbikes for Yoshimura Suzuki, but in a unique deal they allowed Schwantz to race the Ducatis in the Battle of The Twins. "The old adage that if you can beat anyone on the race track, you'd better beat your teammate," Williams said. "I knew Kevin was a great talent, but when we raced together all I was thinking was, 'Who is this kid coming in here trying to beat me?' The tension in our pits was pretty crazy." At the behest of racing journalist John Ulrich, Wil- liams was given a Superbike tryout with Yoshimura Suzuki. Williams did well in the test. He remembers having the second fastest time of the four riders in the tryout, but he admits that it was still relatively early in his career and at this point he really didn't have much experience outside of West coast rac- es, that and the fact, that besides being a studious rider, he hadn't yet developed the language of con- veying feedback to the mechanics. "I remember in the Yoshimura test they put on a different tire," Williams said. "I came in and Don THE BERKELEY BURNER: PART 2 P106 PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF ROADRACINGWORLD.COM

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