Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127388
BROAD RACE WERA Pro Series: Round 4 e Marlboro Team Roberts' Rich Oliver won both legs of the WERA Formula USA race at Seattle International Raceway. Oliver 's teammate Robbie Petersen finished second in both legs to nail down second o verall. O sailstoSeattle w liver in . By Larry Lawrence Photos by Lawrence and Andrew Crain KENT, WA, JUNE 23 arlboro T eam Roberts Yamaha YZR500-mounted Rich Ol iver won both legs of the Interstat e Batteri es WERA Formula USA race at Seat tle Interna tional Racewa y. Ol iver fou ght off tough challenges by several o ther riders to win the event, making him th e first two- tim e F-USA of the year. O liver's team mate Robbie Petersen finished seco nd in both legs to na il down second overa ll. Valvoline Suzu ki 's Michael Mart in had h is best Formula USA race ever by fini sh in g M fifth and third in th e two legs to take th ird overa ll. The Seattle round was the first tim e for the two -race forma t in F-U SA. In stead of one 20-lap fin al, the Seattle race featured two l2-l a p legs with o verall scoring compiled by co mbin in g the scores of the two legs. WERA's ex p la na tio n for impl em enting th e two-race format was to ma ke the fou rstroke superbi kes competit ive wit h the 500cc Grand Pri x ma ch in es ridden b y Oliver and Petersen . Their reaso ni ng was that the heavier su perbikes were burn ing up their tires in a long sp ri nt race, giv ing the GP bikes a big advantage. . The success of the new format was mixed. The first leg was one of th e best F-USA battles ever, with four bikes battling for the lead . The second leg, howev er, was an Ol iver runaway. The bottom line is that th e combinatio n of riders and machin es for th e Marlboro Roberts Team is a very good one, and wh ether the race is 12 laps or 25 laps , they are likely to come ou t o n top. Kevin Schwantz held the track record at SIR for five years a t on e-m inute, . 26.1 I- second s. J oe Pittman had recently bettered that mark in a local club race. Pittman 's record fell to Robbi e Petersen in tim ed practi ce when he turned a 1:25.75 to earn th e po le. Oliver was a close second at I :25.88. T he fastest Superbike rider in practice was Donald Ja cks who managed a I:26.50 to qual ify third. At the start of th e first leg it was J ack s wh o put his big Valvoline Suzuki in to th e lead, followed by team ma te Britt Turkington on a nearly iden tica l machine. Oliver and Petersen were both star ting fairly co nservativel y, taking ca re to bring their Yam ah as up to temperature before ma ki ng a full- out assa u lt on th e superbikes. Oliver held third early while Petersen was back in ninth. A lot of draftin g took place down the front stra igh t on the next lap, and . as a resu lt the pos itio ns were sh uffled a bit: J acks still led, but Turkington was dropped to fourth close ly beh ind Oliver and Pittman. Chuck Graves and Martin were battling for fifth abo u t t wo seco n ds be h i n d th e leading quartet. The 5200 hi ghly pa rt isan race fans roa red with a p p rova l wh en local favori te Pittman o u tbra ked J acks and , Ol iver go ing into th e downhill turn three to take the lead o n la p three. At the same tim e Petersen was sta rt ing to let his Yamah a run to its potential and had moved past Doug ' Ren frow and Brian .Bern ard. H e now was focused o n a three-rider pack jus t in front of him th at in clud ed T urki ng ton , Graves and Martin. Whi le leading on lap four, Pittman aga in shattered the track record with a 1:25.25. Petersen and Jacks were still ri ght on the rear tire of Pittman's Yamaha FZRIOOO. Oliver passed Pittman on lap five only to be ou tbraked by Pittman again go i ng into 'th e tri ck y turn three. 'Pittman 's years of experience at SIR was showing, as he seemed to kn ow exac tly where to mak e his moves. G ra ves, meanwhile, ra n into problem s and was dr opping back quickly, It a p p eared th at som e mountin g brakets on his fairing had brok en and hi s fairing would drag loudly while just barely lean ed over. Graves rode bravely on, but dr opped to II th place at th e fini sh . O liver took the lead back on lap seven but was still being dogged by P ittm an a nd J a ck s. Pet er sen had finally broken free into fourth pl ace and began gaining on the leading tri o. Apperen tly Ol iver' s crew gave him a pi t signa l that hi s teammate was o n the move, because on lap eigh t he blistered the track turning a record 1:23.32 (99.856 mph), leaving Pittman and J acks in th e dust. That one lap showe d th e tr ue p otentia l o f the Yamaha GP bike under Ol iver and gave him a two-second lead . It also gave some credence to th e rumors that Oliver and Petersen were being told to make the race look competitive by not running full-out. Now it was Oliver cruising up front, with Pittman and Jacks finally succumbing to Petersen's charge with three laps to go. At the fini sh it was Oliver with a 3.59-second lead over Petersen. Pittman held off Jacks for third while Martin beat Turkington to the line to grab fifth. The 'second leg was anticlimactic after the thrilling first race. Turkington was determined to do better in the second leg and he took the lead from th e start followed by Jacks. An incredible th ing happened at the end of the first lap . As Martin and Pittman exited th e high-speed turn out on to the front straight, Martin, who was slightly ahead, slid causing Pittman to hit the concrete wall at 120 mph. It was a glancing blow but still a hard hit. Amazingly, P ittman stayed on the bike and led Martin the next lap! In quick su ccession, most of the top superbi ke riders crashed o ut. Jacks fell o n lap three; Pittman on lap six ; and Turk in gton on lap eig h t. With those