The Ducati TT/F1 forum www.ducatittandf1.com and New Hampshire Motor Speedway www.nhms.com hosted their 5th annual gathering October 4-6 2013, accompanying the Loudon Road Race Series http://www.lrrsracing.com. http://www.lrrsracing.com final event of the 2013 season.
A gathering of like-minded Ducati TT/F1 owners/enthusiasts, this years event combined bike displays with on-track racing opportunities and honored one of America’s great racers, Jimmy Adamo, whose accomplishments made these bikes famous. Adamo was killed competing in the 1993 Daytona 200 & this years event was held in remembrance of the 20th anniversary of his tragic passing.
The event started from humble beginnings at TTF1 forum member Lou Saif's shop in Queens, N.Y. & is a donation-based event with many contributing either monetarily, with their time, or both. It has grown in popularity mainly by the efforts of Saif & forum members Steve Munro, Ralph Stechow & Mike Weber. Weber worked with speedway official Steve Aspland to secure a location within the facility for both garage space for several of Adamo's ex race bikes, and to have a large event tent adjacent to the garage area so that roughly 50 cherished Adamo-era Ducati race bikes could be displayed, allowing the racing public to get up close to the amazing machinery that was piloted around racetracks back in the day. Aspland has raced various Ducati machines over the course of the last few decades and competed with Adamo back in the day. His efforts in working with track management paid off & allotted the organizers the space needed to house the growing event. 
Bernd Bressel contributed his time in working to rescue and convert a lot of racing film footage to electronic media and also set up two separate video screens that showed Adamo racing from the era, as well as a promotional video of Adamo and Leoni produced by Italian TV company RAI.
USCRA racer & graphic artist Doug Donelan designed the posters that the group had made to commemorate the event. Donelan was at Daytona when Adamo was killed & noted that he felt honored to be able to contribute his skills to the event.
Enzo Assainte was on hand with a large variety Adamo-related memorabilia items including many photos, home videos & many personal Adamo items he collected during his time as Adamo's mechanic, as well as items donated by Adamo's widow Melanie after Adamo's passing. Assainte's presence was a nice compliment to the weekend in that his offerings displayed Adamo's transition from the Taglioni based machines early in his career to the Bordi based 851 & 888, which helped to provide a complete picture of this loved Ducati racer.
Many in attendance felt that this years event had a more personal feel to it due to the people involved & not just the machinery, with attendance of Adamo's two daughters in honor of their father capping things off.
When Adamo died, younger daughter Danielle was only 8 months old and her older sister Jamie, who does have memories of her father, was three years old. Regardless, both daughters were excited and shocked at the level of appreciation that the group had for their dad and his accomplishments within Ducati world. When the pair arrived to the event, there were few dry eyes in the house. The group made sure to include the girls in the event as it progressed. On Saturday night, the group presented both Slinn & Leoni lifetime achievement awards for their work, which helped the Ducati TT garner it's notoriety; this, at a time when Ducati themselves teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. Both men graciously accepted their awards & spoke of how great it felt to be acknowledged for their efforts within the Ducati community today. Slinn was doubly appreciative as the group threw him a 70th birthday party in which he was presented a cake depicting him standing next to a TT back in the day. There were also cookies with the old school Veglia tachometer face depicted on them.
The group acquired two original Arai Adamo Replica helmets to present to the Adamo girls during the Saturday evening festivities. A new Arai Adamo replica was sourced from the collection of a member & presented to Jamie Adamo. It featured the original red/white/green color scheme designed by her father and included an inscription commemorating the 5th annual TTF1 Symposium, also honoring her father. The helmet presented to younger daughter Danielle was the rare red/white/blue scheme & was the last Arai Adamo Replica in the inventory of legendary southern California Arai distributor, Sammy Tanner, who generously donated the helmet for the event after hearing of it. After the girls accepted their helmets as appreciation for making the trek to New Hampshire, they presented Lou Saif an original Jimmy Adamo memorial pin which were produced by a Ducati enthusiast 20 years ago & sold to benefit Adamo's family after his death. Adamo's widow donated one of the few pins from her personal collection to Saif for his tireless efforts to make the event such a great success.
The Jimmy Adamo Memorial Twins race was held on Sunday & NHMS staff held a special awards ceremony, with the Adamo girls presenting awards to the winners of each class. Chris Jensen took top honors in the expert class with Rich Paxson winning the Amateur class on his Ducati TT that he started racing in 1988. It was an emotional win for for both riders, as each have a Ducati racing history dating back to the days when Adamo competed.
At the conclusion of the event, NHMS staff told the group that they were happy to have them and looked forward to having them back.
Noted contributors to the event:
Jane Kennedy-Brithday cake & cookies
Seth Wolins-Party tent for bike display
Lucy Berritto-snacks and beverages
Rich Paxson-Beer & pizza
Steve D'Angelo-I paint
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