Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 17, 2015 P109 than second. We're not going to be number one because they're going to occupy number one, which is probably true with almost any manufacturer that's involved in racing." Martin was a flat track fan and intrigued by Honda's RS750 powerplant. And he had the idea in his mind, "What if somebody was to build a very small motor- cycle with this small flat-track engine in it, and at the same time hire a small rider? The more I thought of that I was thinking that spells W-I-N." Out of the blue Brian Uchida at American Honda received a rather large order from Adams for an RS750 and a slew of RS500 road racing parts. "His jaw must have hit the floor," Adams smiles. "He called me back and said 'What is this?! You want all these GP parts and you don't have a GP bike? You want an RS motor, which is restricted to numbered AMA Pros? You want more restricted stuff than any- body I've ever seen. And this is like a 10-page order and this is a lot of money, Martin.' "I said 'execute the order, Brian.' And he told me I needed to talk with Gary Mathers," Adams conclud- ed. "To my amazement Gary had the same vision of a road racing RS and had made a pitch to Honda management a year or two before, but they said no." Mathers was so eager to help Adams fulfill a dream that both of them had of building a road racer based on Honda's flat track engine, that he ended up not only selling all the parts to Adams at a re- duced price, but offering up the services of factory mechanic Ray Plumb to assist and advise. Adams then commissioned legendary Welsh frame builder John Caffrey with the request of making the bike much smaller than the Ducati 851. Caffrey met the dimensions Adams wanted and produced a frame that not only worked well, but was aesthetically beautiful. The Commonwealth Honda debuted at Daytona in 1988 and with Australian Paul Lewis at the controls, led the Pro Twins race before the motor broke. Lewis came back to race Laguna Seca and finished second to Quarterley and the Ferracci Ducati 851. Doug Chan- dler gave the Commonwealth bike its debut victory at Mid-Ohio in a one-off ride. With a season of sorting, Adams hoped his unique Honda was ready to battle for the '89 championship. The only problem was he didn't have a rider. Renfrow was the man he wanted, but, "Randy felt coming back to Pro Twins was a step backwards in his career at that point," Adams recalls. So Adams filled the seat with former GP rider Paul Lewis again for Daytona '89, knowing in the back of his mind that he couldn't afford to fly Lewis, who was racing in England at the time, back and forth for the entire season. But he had a mo- torcycle that was capable of winning and with the diminutive and skilled Lewis, he also had a rider who was also up to the task. The '89 Daytona Pro Twins race came down to a last-lap battle between Lewis on the Com- monwealth Honda and Quarterley on the Ferracci Ducati. Longtime Battle of the Twins star Jimmy Adamo was right there in third should the top two make an error. The race was not only a battle between riders, but between legendary tuners Ray Plumb (Honda), Eraldo Ferracci and Reno Leoni for Adamo. On the final go around with Lewis leading, he tried to brake early for the chicane, but Quarterley didn't take the bait. He laid back and waited for the draft coming around for the checkered flag. Quarterley be- ing Quarterley, couldn't simply make the draft move; he actually banged fairings with Lewis as he came around the outside on the tri-oval and forced Lewis down on the flat apron, where Lewis would not be able to re-draft into the lead. The winning margin was a half a wheel length. Unbeknownst to Martin Adams, Renfrow, who had retired at that point after losing his Vance & Hines Superbike ride, sent his brother Shawn down to Daytona to see the Commonwealth Honda operation. Shawn came back with a glowing report and Randy made the call to Adams to see if the offer was still on the table. A few weeks later Ren- frow debuted on the Honda at Road Atlanta. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

• Cover