Throwback Thursday: Talladega Battle of the Twins (1983)

Larry Lawrence | March 31, 2022

Jimmy Adamo Took Victory on his Team Leoni/Sure-Fire Ducati

Gary Van Voorhis photo

In this week’s Throwback we dial up March of 1983 into the time machine, location Talladega, Alabama, for the AMA Battle of the Twins race at what was then known as Alabama International Motor Speedway (today called Talladega Superspeedway). This image captured the front row just at the drop of the green flag. Riders include Denton West (No. 44), Hal Coleman (No. 86), Jimmy Adamo (No. 26), Malcolm Tunstall (No. 6) and Jay Springsteen (No. 9). Adamo and Springsteen had a great battle going early in the race before the steering damper on his Ducati broke while he was running flat out around the banking. Adamo said the bike started wobbling so badly he thought he was going to crash. That left “Springer”, on the Harley-Davidson dubbed “Lucifer’s Hammer”, alone out front with a substantial lead. But then Springsteen, who’d won the Daytona round just a couple of weeks earlier, crashed out with just a little over a lap to go. Adamo couldn’t believe his luck. He went on to win the race over Floridians Tunstall and Coleman. Adamo would go on to dominate that year’s BOTT Championship.

You can read coverage of this race and much more by subscribing to the Cycle News Archives at: https://www.cyclenews.com/cycle-news-archives/