Battle of the Twins

BATTLE OF THE TWINS

Racing isn't simple. If it was, the Battle Of The Twins would have been a classic confrontation, with three-time BOTT champion Jim Adamo on the Cagiva-labeled Ducati vs. Gene Church on the vintage Harley-Davidson XR1000 aboard which Jay Springsteen trounced Adamo last year.

Racing isn't simple, and the race sim ply didn't take place.

Instead, Adamo and his Pantah-based Cagiva-Ducati didn't finish. Adamo got a good start and established an impres sive lead on the first section of banking before the chicane but suddenly the bike slowed and Adamo pulled down off the banking and cruised into the pits, the Cagiva's engine snorting smoke from the crankcase breather hose, looking for all the world like a steam locomotive labor ing uphill.

And there sat Church for the rest of the race.

He earned his victory, but in a differ ent way. A dirt tracker for 15 years, Church had never so much as sat on a road racer before last season. But Harley introduced the XR1000 and it looked like a good bet, so he entered-and won-the BOTT stock class. He won the class at Daytona and Mid-Ohio, The stock class is limited to novice road rac ers but Church's speed earned him a bump upstairs to expert, so he won the Laguna Seca BOTT overall.

This brought more attention so for 1984 Church, 22, of Turnersburg, North Carolina, and tuner Don Tilley are after Adamo's championship with the backing

of the Harley Owner's Group (HOG).

While Church, turning 2:16 laps, dis appeared into the distance Harry Klinzmann, on a Krauser MKM BMW, Malcolm Tunstall (Ducati) and Roger Reiman (yes, that Roger Reiman, yes, on a Harley-Davidson) battled for sec ond place. Klinzmann braked late into Turn One and charged the infield to make up for distance lost on the banking. Tunstall, on a Ducati built and tuned by his father Syd, beat Klinzmann at the finish line. Reiman was fourth on the Robison Harley-Davidson, Dave Roper fifth on a Ducati, and 250cc Grand Prix star Martin Wimmer sixth on another MKM BMW.