Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE AM! 250cc Grand Prix Series: Round I ~ Rich Oliver rode his Team th e 100 Kilometer Intern ational Ligh tweigh t final at Daytona In ternatio nal Speedway. Japan's Keiji Tamura beat Zimbabwe's Robbie Petersen for second. The Americans criticized Tamura for his unusual lines. but most agreed they were effective. Oliver wins crash-marred 250cc Grand Prix final By Brian Ca tt erson Photos by Henny Ray Abrams DATIONA BEACH, FL, MAR. II eam Marlboro Roberts Yamaha's Rich Oliver overcame a pair of practice crashes and a near mi ss in th e final to win th e 100 Kilometer International Lightweight Road Race, the first round of the 250cc Grand Prix r 16 Series held at Daytona In tern at ion al Speedw ay. The victory was a bittersweet on e, however, as it came at the expe nse of Oliver's new teammate Gary Cowan of Ire land , who i ncu r re d life- threat eni ng injuries when he crashed while leading in hi s first race for the Kenny Roberts sq uad. Oliver too k the lead on th e fifth lap of Sunday's 18-lap final when Cowan had a horrend ou s accident as he exited the in field onto the west banking. Cowan's Yam ah a TZ250 sna ked violently after h illing a bump a t th e tra nsition to th e bank ing, and th ou gh he recovered from the tankslapper, hi s wide lin e carried him dire ctly into the hay bale-lined con crete wall. Cowan flew over the windscreen and into the chain link fence a top the crash wall, th en careened back down across the banking right in Oliv er's path, where Oliver somehow missed him. With his teammate and on ly serious challenger out of th e race, O liver cruised home to a comfor table 9.640second margin of victory . O liver was awarded the $5500 lion 's sha re of the $30,000 p urse. ' Second pl ace was owned by K eiji Tamura , a Yam ah a-backed road racer and former mot ocrosser from j apan, wh ile Robbie Petersen of Zimbabwe" Africa, brought h is privateer Yamaha home th ird in his first ride since the dis ba nding of his former j ohn Lassak Ra cin g eq u i p e. German Ber n a rd Schick on his Hein Gericke Yamaha an d Connecticut's Chris D'Aluisio on his DavH ar Racin g Yama ha ro unded out the top-five fini shers. Cowan had been the sensa tion of practice, as he was the only rid er to dip into I:59 lap times on Tuesday, the first day of practice. The 25-year old Ir ishman had garne red the alle ntio n of Kenny Roberts du rin g the 1989 Grand Prix seaso n, as he put in sp iri ted rides on a sta ndard T Z250 to claim 19th in the 250cc World p lace Cha mpionship. "T' rn getting used to th e track - th e bik e's gelli ng slower," the likeabl e Iri shman joked , addi ng th at he found Dayton a "q uite excit ing , rea lly." As Co wa n rall ied , O liver floun dered , crashing twice in the same pl ace on Tuesday. The first cras h was simp ly a case of trying too hard on cold tires, bu t the second one Ol iver blam ed on hi s un fam iliarit y with the Michelin tires (last year, he used Dunlops), and on hi s bike's awkwa rd rid ing position . Both tim es, Oliv er highsided at the exit of the Intern ati ona l Horsesh oe, th e latter tri p earni ng h im an ambulance ride to th e infiel d care cent er and su bseq uent trip to th e hosp tal , Ol iver suffered a severely ground right forehand , and though the re were n o broken bon es, the hosp ital wa nte d hi m to stay overnight to comba t infection. Oliver sim p ly wo uldn ' t ha ve it. "T here was a big hole in my hand - you cou ld see the tend on s moving," Ol iver to ld , g ra p h ica lly. " Ken ny (Roberts) made me stay up a ll' night icing my hand to redu ce the swelling. 1£ it was swo llen, they never would have let me ride. I brought my X-ra ys to the track and Dr. David Kieffer released me to ride. Ken ny flew in our trainer , Dean Miller, to help me thank God he was here." Q ualifyi n g Despite Cowa n 's faster pra ct ice times, Wedn esda y's q ualifying session to determine heat race grid positi ons sa w him clock th e secon d fa st est officia l lap (2:00.291) behind Oliver (1:59.971), wh o'd filled wider cli p-ens in an effort to make his new bike feel more like last year 's model. Cowan 's bi ke was ru nning poorly, a nd crew chief Bud Aksland said that he believed the bik e' s cranksh aft was o ut of phase - a problem incurred during manufacturing. The cran k was rep laced befor e Thursday's heat races. Georgian Doug Brauneck turned th e thi rd fastest qualifying lap on his Hasty Raci n g Ya ma h a (2:01.540), followed closely by Petersen (2:01.592). Sch ick (2:01.615) bested fell ow German H aral d Eck l o n a V-twi n Aprilia (2:01.859) to claim the fifth and sixt h po sitions , respectively. McIver Racin g 's Donn ie Greene (2:01.928), Irishman Edd ie Laycock (2:02.020), Canadi an d i rt tra ck er jon Corn well (2:02.202), and Ta m u ra (2:02.36 1) rou nded o ut the top 10, a ll o n Yam ahas. Brauneck was putting in his best sho wing on a 250 in a few years , sayi ng, "It's good to have a fast bik e; I th ink mine's faster tha n Ol iver's." , ' Peter sen said that hi s bike was fast on top but was sluggish o££ the bouom , and that the stock shoc k was inadequat e. H e replaced it with an Ohlins unit in tim e for hi s heat race, though

• Cover