Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE WERA Pro Series: Round 5 e Rich Oliver (97) won th~ second leg of the F· USA Series at Brainerd after no t finishing the first leg due to mechanical problems: The overall win went to Oliver's teammate Robbie Petersen, thanks to a 1-2 tally. . Petersen prevails in Brainerd F·USA By Brent Plummer Photos by Jay Vergenz BRAINERD, M AUG. 4 N, obbie Petersen , of th e familiar T eam Marl boro Roberts, demonstrated his considerable talent and guts - while taki ng the overall wi n in For m ul a USA actio n a t Brainerd International Raceway. Petersen took a fir st and second on his 1990 Yamah a YZR500 in the two respec ti ve F·USA 'legs to acco m plish this feat, R 26 whic h was made easier after team ma te Rich Ol iver's simi liar YZR fai led in the first leg. The DNF cost Oliver. ' Finishing secon d to last in the firs t leg ruined any hopes of a top three overall finish, as the fina l resu lts are decided by averaging the two legs together, with th e seco nd leg results being a tie breaker - if necessary (un like the World Cha m pionshi p Superbike Series, WER A does no t score two separate races). When queri ed about th e YZR 's dem ise afte r th e first leg, th e ever tigh tlipped Marlboro cre w wo uld o n ly reply that "i t brok e." In the two hou rs between races, Team Ma rlboro including Petersen a nd O liver scra mb led to rem ove th e spare mo tor out of its chassis and get it into Ol iver's chassis. The task was acco m plished, an d Oliver went on to dominate the second leg, winnin g with 10 seconds to spare. Taki ng to p fou r-s troke h onors, second overa ll, was the YoshimuraAll ied Suzuk i- sp onsored Ch uck G raves. G ra ves rode an overgrown Su zuki GSXRllOO in th e finals to give the Marlboro g uys a scare; he wo u ld lead almost half of th e fir st race, fending off Petersen and Oliver for five ' of the 12 laps. After Oliver DNF in leg o ne, Graves assumed seco nd, and ' in the next leg, he took third behind the YZRs after briefly leading. Nothing unusual em erged from Friday's qualifying. Oliver held pole position at a blistering , one-minute, 42.64-second pace. Petersen lagged slightl y behind in second with a 1:44.75, not hel ped by the fact that this was o nly his second time at the track. T eam Suzuki riders Michael Martin and Donald J acks were the next fastest qualifiers, both in the mid I:46 range, with Martin a 10th of a second faster . T hey had th eir work cut o ut for them as Brainerd is a good track for the 500cc two-strokes. After th e long front straight (abou t three quarters of a mil e) comes the high speed ri ght-hand turn one, which the rid ers do not brake for, only ro ll off the gas while desperately hanging on; and they do so a t 170 m ph. Next is a straigh t to turn two , another flat ou t rig ht -ha nder. It is these types of corne rs that benefit th e 500s, as they waste time wi th wh eelies and massive tir e spins in the slower corners. Nary a soul in the p its wo uld risk the prediction of the Roberts teambeing beaten; this was to be their weekend, again. Wh en the ride rs gri dded for the first leg, a p leasant surprise wai ted o n the ou tside of th e fifth row; Kurt Hall 's return to F-USA racing at Brain erd. Abou t the return, Hall explai ned: "If you don ' t feel comfortable, it takes the fun rig ht ou t of it (F. USA). More so than anything, it was just . .. the fear of gelling hurt hecause it wo uld jeo pardize my main con cern with the team, which is endura nce, an d the Superstock is almost a bread and bu tter situation, a good money m a k ing cha nce with the (Suzuki) Cup series, That is where my focus is beca use (Superstock) is where most o f my mon ey comes fro m, as far as racing revenues. I di dn 't wan t to jeopardi ze those just .Ior Formula USA, which I was' no t feeling comforta ble with." (Hall fell at Willow Sp rings - in practice - an d a t Sha nno nvill e, in the rai n). At the start of the first leg, Graves lea ped off the li ne, which helped him to establish a lead over Ol iver and Petersen ; at the end of the first lap, Graves was a few bike lengths ahead of the YZRs. Bri tt Turkington held fourth, close ly tra iled by Donald Jacks and the number 96 ma chine of Michael Martin. Kurt H all followed a few leng ths back inseventh, ' Everyone stayed put for the next lap, bu t the third saw Petersen and Oliver both , ma ke th eir moves. Sw inging a round th e h igh-speed tu rn two , Oliver drove pas t Graves for th e lead. Petersen , who had a typical slo w sum - caus ing him to trail the lead duo in the opening laps - also took turn two faster than G ra ves, and closed the ga p . Not to be out do ne, G ra ves outbro ke Oliver into 10, the last turn befor e the front straigh t, and led th e entire fourt h lap. Wh en the tr io crossed the start! finis h lin e to begin th e fifth lap , Petersen weaved left , to wards th e o uts ide of the track, and Oliver brok e righ t, both passing G raves sim u lta neously. Oliver emerged from th e dualpass triumphant, and began opening . a lead; but it wo uld no t last, th e mo tor would soo n give OU I. Meanwhile, behind now thi rd pl ace Graves, J acks, with Martin in to w, had moved aro un d T urki n g to n , who dropped back a few lengths. Martin was co ntinually pressuring J acks, but just co uld no t get aro und him. The two were still ba ttl ing through th e firs t few turns of the 11th lap when the y saw Oliver's bike resti ng o n the outside of turn seven. With on ly 10 full laps com pleted, Oliver had no chance of finish ing in th e top of the overall points. More importantly for the two dueling Team ' Suzuki riders, the one that could nudge out the other would have third place handed to them; but , no more, as Petersen and Graves had insurmountable leads . This m ight have been fl owing through Jack's head wh en the duo rounded the final turn of the race. He grabbed a big handful of throttle, wanting a good drive to the flag, but the only th ing that took off was h is rear tire, spin nin g out a foot or so. Martin drove by, taking th ird, and hopes of a rostrum position at the end of the day. The grid for the second leg, being determined by th e re sults of the previous leg, saw Oliver scheduled to appear on th e last row ; and a ppe ar he did. In a testament to the skill and speed of hi s mechanics, the bike was read y and running. It even sounded good. It also ran well. Ol iver ant ici pated the start flag perfectly , leap-frogging from th e back row up to fourth, all

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