ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, March 5, 1997               TAG: 9703050107
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: B-2  EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: NEWS OBIT

MOTORCYCLE CHAMP DIES AT DAYTONA

Longtime motorcycle racer Roger Reiman, who won the first Daytona 200 motorcycle race, died after crashing during practice for the BMW Battle of the Legends racing series in Daytona Beach, Fla. He was 58.

The Harley-Davidson dealer from Kewanee, Ill., crashed on the infield of the Daytona Speedway's 3 1/2-mile road course. One rider partially lost control of his motorcycle, and bikes behind him slowed, causing a chain-reaction collision involving at least five bikes, said track spokesman John Story.

Reiman won the inaugural Daytona 200 in 1961 and repeated in 1964 and 1965 to become one of only five racers to win the famed motorcycle race three times in its 55-year history. He also won the AMA Grand National Championship in 1964.

LENGTH: Short :   26 lines