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VOL. 53 ISSUE 10 MARCH 15, 2016 P109 motorcycle racer and racing enthusiast, who set speed records at Brooklands. Graves was being given a tour of the Cosworth facilities by Keith Duckworth (the "worth" in "Cosworth"). Graves spotted the P86 engine sitting in a corner and asked Duckworth about it. Duckworth declared: "You're looking at the only engine Cosworth have built that has never won a race." Apparently Graves saw this as a challenge and promptly took the dusty old engine, sunk 100,000 pounds ster- ling into further development, hired John Surtees to help tune it, and made it competitive. The Quantel Cosworth made its first appear- ance at the Daytona Battle of the Twins race in 1986 with Paul Lewis. The bike garnered massive attention and Lewis finished runner-up to Ducati's Marco Luchinelli. They tried again in '87 with Rob Phillis, but the engine broke and Phillis didn't make the race. Everything finally came together in 1988. Cos- worth picked a perfect rider in Roger Marshall. A veteran British champion, Marshall was not only fast, but with his experience he could provide the team excellent feedback. It worked. Marshall was turning times in practice just a couple seconds off the pace of the superbikes. And even though the Cosworth/ Marshall combo was looking good out of the box, it wasn't going to be a cakewalk. Stefano Caracchi was there on a very strong factory-backed Ducati 851. And then there was defending series champ Doug Brauneck on the Dr. John Wittner Moto Guzzi, also with direct factory backing and running an experimental OHC four-valve per cylinder Guzzi V-twin. There was also the constant threat of multi- time BOTT champ Jimmy Adamo on the Team Leoni Ducati, Dale Quarterley on a Ferracci Ducati, Jay Springsteen on a Mert Lawwill-tuned Harley and per- haps the only bike getting as much attention as the Cosworth, the meticulous Commonwealth Honda RS750 ridden by Paul Lewis. The only major rider missing was Tilley Harley- Davidson's BOTT great Gene Church, who had broken his hand and would miss the '88 event. Due to rain the original Friday race day was rescheduled to run after Sunday's Daytona 200 and the final was shortened from 15 to 10 laps. Marshall on the Cosworth and Lewis on the Honda broke to the front early even though both leaders were dealing with issues with their bikes. A replaced generator caused glitches with the Cosworth's fuel injection and Lewis reported the Commonwealth Honda was pinging out of the turns from the start. Caracchi then began to pick up the pace on his Ducati making it a three-way battle. Lewis had hoped to nurse the Honda around and draft behind Marshall, but with Caracchi pressuring, Lewis decided to try to breakaway. He built up a solid lead before the Honda began seizing and then finally locked up. The race then came down to a last-lap battle between Marshall and Caracchi. Instead of trail- ing and trying the drafting game coming out of Daytona's famous chicane, Marshall decided to go for broke and pushed it into the turn. "I stuck my neck out and slid the bike pretty hard into the chicane," Marshall explained. The gamble paid off. The Cosworth, in spite of its fuel injection issue, had just enough top-end to hold off the Ducati of Caracchi by a few feet. The victory proved the validity of the Norton- Cosworth project of the mid-1970s that just ran out of finances. It was also a thrill for Cosworth's Bob Graves. "I'm so pleased for Bob," a gracious Marshall said in Victory Circle after the race. "He really brought a lot of color to Daytona with this bike and I'm glad I finally did it for him." Graves passed away in 2012, but among his many accomplishment, one that he was also most proud of resurrecting the only winless Cosworth engine and giving the forgotten power- plant a victorious ending. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives