Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

he wouldn 't ge t it dialed in unti l Sunday's final. D'Alu isio qualified a disap pointing 14th , bu t he wasn 't worried: " We tri ed d ifferent gearing a nd it di d n 't work. We know what we did, so it won't be a problem ." Heats The first of Thursday's two five-lap heat races saw O liver all bu t fried hi s cl utch at the start, in itia lly holdi ng down founh p lace, but recovered to catch a nd pass his former Ra n d y Ma mol a Racing teammate Al Salaverria, Cornwell, a nd early leader Andy Leisner to ta ke the lead by la p two. Ol iver was pursued by Bra u neck , who fin ished seco nd a mere .9 10 of a seco nd in arrea rs. Sa la verria hung on to fin ish third on hi s privat eer Yamaha , his best finish yet in pro-l evel road racing. Cornwell held off Sch ick to take Iourth , as Green e recov ered from stalling on the grid to pass Leis ner for sixth. " I go t a great sta rt - I'v e been practicing," said Leisn er , wh o was riding a Tony Murph y-tun ed P ro Italia April ia com prised of a 1988 April ia chassis, '90 R otax tande m-twi n motor, a nd White Po wer in vert ed for ks. " T he o n ly problem was they . made us sit on the sta rti ng line too lon g and the bike started overhea ting. The tem perature gauge climbed to 70"C, and it. shou ld be 55°. .I th ought it would get coo ler on the bankin g, but it didn 't." Yamaha-mounted Venezuelan Lu is La vado, yo unger brother of former 250cc World Ch am pi on Carl o s La vado, fin ished eigh th in th e first heat race, with Finns john ny Wickstrom and Esko Ku pa rinen o n Sil ja L in e Ya mahas ro und ing o ut th e top 10. ' The second heat race was a Gary Cowan benefit as he passed ea rly lead er Petersen o n lap o ne, then held him off to wi n by .620 of a second. D'Alu isi o ca ug h t a nd passed La ycock and Tamura to claim third pl ace, with the ot her two finish in g fourth and fifth, respectively. Eckl , Danny Coe, j oey Col e, Nick Ienatsch and Fren ch Honda rider Alain Dua rounded o ut the to p 10. Final Co wan's two second-faster hea t race tim e gav e him the pol e for Sunday's final , and he used the position to pull out an immediat e lead. Ol iver bided his time in seco nd; his pl an was to wait for his tires to heat up before taking a run at the leader. Petersen battled with Bra uneck for third, but Brauneck was stuffed by T a m ura on lap three and lost time taki ng evasi ve action, dropping to fifth . Meanwhile, Petersen got by Oliver for second, but by the next lap Oliver was bac k in front. La p five saw Co wan 's crash , which so stun ned eyewi tnesses O liver and Petersen that they both slowed noticeably for the next few circuits. " Gary' s accide n t co m p letel y fazed me o u t," sai d P eters en, who was lamentin g the tir esome life of a privateer. " I couldn ' t even co nce n tra te after that.", Thi s allowed Tamura to p a ss Petersen for what was now second pl ace ; the trio would hold these positions to the finish. On the same lap, Leisner crashed at the other infield/banking juncture at the exit of the backstraight chicane. A hos e clamp broke on Leisner's Aprilia, and he crashed in his own water, suffering a broken right hip. Meanwhile, D'Aluisio caught up to Brauneck and began challenging for fourth. A few laps later, the duo were ca ug h t by Schick, Coe and Lay coc k. Sch ick edged D'Aluisio a nd Brauneck in a draftin g battle to th e stripe to finis h fi nis h fou rth , fo llowed b y D'Aluisio a nd Bra uneck, respectively. " It wa s too windy for me to lead down the backstraight so I wasn 't concerned when Schick went by me," said D'Alu isio. " Co ming off the turn four bow l I should have wa ited a bi t longer a nd go ne low to mak e my pass, but I moved too soon a nd had to the high line to ma ke the pass. It wasn 't the right way to do it a nd I came up about a foot shon at the li ne. "T here wer e two wavi ng flag s for mo st of th e race (a t the Cowan and Leis ner cras h si tes), and that's wh at acco u nted for the large openi ngs and closings . Sometimes , you'd ge t stuck behi nd a slower rid er." Brauneck also had a battle pl an: " O n th e last lap I wanted to be the third rider in the gr oup ou t of the chicane. But when D'Alu isio went high, I decided to foll ow Schick and I go t box ed in at the fin ish." Despite bein g severely underg eared, Coe edged La ycock at th e stripe to finis h seventh. "Laycock gave me a ridi ng lesson. He passed me in pl aces I j us t co u ld n't believe," said Coe , whose Fost ex -spons ored Ya ma ha sports the wildest paint scheme si nce Greene's '89 Spla tm a ster decor. Coe and Petersen collaborated th is weeken d - Coe helpin g Petersen wit h jetting a nd Peter sen returning the . favor with suspens io n settings - and bo th heaped praise upon each o ther afte r the race. Sa laverria won hi s dispute with Lavado, Cornwell a nd Eckl, who never got hi s Aprilia runnin g right, to ta ke nin th place, with the o thers filling in th e 10 th t h ro u gh 12 th p laces, respectively. Greene had an even worse start in the final tha n he di d in his hea t race. The three-ti me class champ from Novato, California, jumped th e start and then balked, a nd was given the meatball flag sig n ifying a lO-seco nd sto p -a nd-go p enalty. H e ended u p 20th. T hree riders from the graduating class of 1989 600cc Supersport racing moved u p to the 250cc GP ranks, with Nick Ienatsch a nd 600cc champ Scott Za m pach finishing 13th a nd 18th respective ly on ex-Ro ber ts Yamahas, a nd j eff Farmer finishing 23rd o n Cam Roo s' o ld bi ke. Cl' Results Hear 1: I. Richard O liver (Ya m); 2. Doug Bra un eck (Ya m ); 3. AI Salaverria (Ya m); i . j ona than Cornwell (Yam); 5. Bernard Sch ick (Yam); 6. Don Greene (Yam ); 7. And y Leisner (Apr); 8. Luis Lavado (Yam); 9. J ohnny Wicks tro m (Yam): 10. Esko Ku parinen (Ya m); I I. Clifton Bigoney (Yam ); 12. ScmtZampach (Yam ); 13. Eduardo Aleman (Yam); Ii. Jim Bonner (Ya m); 15. johnny Rea (Ya m ); 16. RIck T ri podi (Yam ); 17. Mar k Dru cker (Ya m); 18. Tom Pari, (Yam ); 19. Richard Inman (Yam); 20. Donn Lewis (Yam ); 21. Perry Meln eciuc (Yam); 22. j ames Ro na n (Ya m); 23. David Avery (Yam); 24. Bob Bossardet (Ya m); 25. Rick Newman IYa m); 26. Christopher EIIi, (RlX); 27. Will ia m HImmelsbach (Ya m); 28. jose Sojo (Yam); 29. Maih Stirf (Hon ); 30. Darrell Cooney (Sp n). Time: 10 m in. , 11.21 sec. Margin or victory: .9 1 sec, Averagup«d: 104.841 mph Heat 2: 1. Cary Co wa n (Ya m ); 2. Robbie Petersen (Ya m): 3. Ch ris D'Alui,io (Yam); i . Eddi e Laycoc k (Ya m); 5. Keij i Tamura (Yam) ; 6. H arald Eckl (Apr); 7. Daniel Cor (Yam ); 8. j oe Co le (Ya m); 9. Nick Iena tsch (Yam); 10. Alain Dua (H o n); I I. Andrew Trevi u (Yam ); 12. Lee Shiens (Yam ); 13. jrff Farmer (Ya m ): Ii. Bill y'Grad (Ya m ); 15. Pat O 'Leary (Ya m ); 16. Martin MIll er (Yam ); 17. l ohn Fran a' (Hon); 18. G reg Esser (Yam ); 19. jd( j ohnson (Ya m); rry 20. Mark Sch ube rt (Yam ); 2 1. Eric Riner (RlX); 22. Mika j okinen (Han); 23. Peter Kovacs (Ya m ): 24. j ohn Bickle (H on) ; 25. Frank K1ementich (Yam); 26. Lawren ce H anlon (Hen): 27. Brad Sawyer (Yam); 28. Robert Dewitt (Yam); 29. Na tha n Don oh ew (Yam); 30. Vaner Spec h t (Yam ); 31. j ell rey VOS (RlX); 32. Jack Pater son (C-A); 33. Mark Robin son (R MC). 'time: 10 m in., 9.1 sec, Mar&iD of victory: .62 sec. Averagup«d: 105.2Oi mp h 250 GP FINAL: I. Rich Oliver (Yam ); 2. Kriji Ta mura (Yam): 3. Robbi e Pet ersen (Yam ); 4. &mhard Schick (Ya m); 5. Chris D'Aluw o (Ya m); 6. Dou g Brauneck (Ya m); 7. Daniel Cor (Yam ); 8. Journalist/racer Danny Coe rode his severely undergcarcd Yamaha to a seventhplace finish. Here, he leads Schick through Daytona's International Horseshoe. Connecticut's Chris D'Aluisio (leading ), Germany's Bernhard Schick, Georgia's Doug Brauneck and Ireland's Eddie Laycock waged a war over fourth place. Eddi e Laycock (Yam); 9. AI Salaverria (Yarn) ; 10. Lo uis Lavado (Yam): 11. JonaLhan Co rnwell (Yam); 12. Harald EckI (Apr); 13. Nick Ien a tsch (Yam); 14. Mark Drucker (Yam); 15. Ct ih on Bigon ey (Yam) ; 16. j oe Co le (Yam); 17. Martin Miller (Yam); 18. Soon Zampach (Yam); 19. johnny Rea (Yam): 20. Don Greene (Ya m ); 21. Alai n Duo (Hon); 22. Lee Shim, (Yam ); 23. jrff Farmer (Yam); 2i. Greg Esser (Yam ); 25. Pat O'Leary (Ya m ); 26. Edua rdo Alema n (Yam); 27. Tom Paris (Ya m); 28. John ny Wick.suorn (Ya m) ; 29. William H imm el sba ch (Ya m) ; 30. Andrew Trevitt (Ya m); 3 1. Rick Tripodi (Yam ): 32. Ma ih Stirf (H o n); 33. Ji m Bonner (Yam ); 3i. J ohn Fra nce (H on); 35. Don n Lewis (Yam); 36. j ellr ey j ohnson (Yam); 37. Perry Meln eci uc (Ya m); 38. Robrn Dew itt (Yam ); 39. Mila Jok in en (H o n); 40. David Avery (Ya m); 41. John Bickl e (Hon ); 42. Eric Rin er (R tx); ·U. Christopher Ell is (R1X): 44. Lawrence H an lon (H a n): 45. Esko Kuparin en (Ya m); 46. j ose Sojo (Yam); 47. Vancr Spec ht (Ya m ); i 8. Mark Schubert (Yam); 49. J ames Ronan (Ya m ); 50. Peter Kovacs (Ya m ): .51. BIlly Gra ef (Yam); 52. Ga ry Co wa n (Ya m ); 53. Andy Leisner (Apr); 54. Nathan Don ohew (Yam) : 55. Rick Newman (Yam ): 56. Darrell Coo ney (Spn): 57. j ellr ey Vo, (RlX); 58. Frank Klem em ich (Ya m); 59. Mark Rob inson (RMC). Time: 36 min., 11.02 sec. Margin of victory: 9.64 sec. Average ap«d: 105.788 mph 250 GP POINT STANDINGS: I. Ri ch Oli ver (20); 2. Kri ji T amura (16); 3. Robbie Petersen (13); 4. Bern ha rd Sch ick (II); 5. Chri, D'Alui,io ( 10); 6. Doug Brauneck (9); 7. Dan iel Cor (8); 8. Eddie Laycock (7); 9. Al Salaverria (6); 10. Lo uis Lavado (5); I I. j onathan Cornwell (1); 12. Ha rald Eekl (3); 13. N ick Ienatsch (2); 14. Mar k Drucker (I). Oliver celebrates his bittersweet victory in the Daytona winner's circle. 17

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