Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

by the fir st tum. Petersen started slo w again, and ran third beh ind leader Graves and T urking to n. O li ver wasted no tim e in thi s race, darting in fro nt in tum six , the second lap. The third go-around saw Petersen pick off Turkington for third, whi le Graves hounded Oliver down the front straight. The YZR puIled a bit of a lead in o ne and two, and from then on, Ol iver was never chaIlenged. Back in fifth, j acks and Martin were going at it again. The two had team ma te Turkington in sig h ti ng distance, steadi ly drawing nearer. On the sevent h lap , Petersen caugh t and passed Graves, wh ose tires were givi ng out, and j acks was closing o n fourth p laced T ur king to n. T wo mor e laps, and j acks was trying his lu ck at getting ar ound Turkington. On the 10th lap jacks passed The Turk, but Martin co u ld n't, and stayed moored in sixth. HaIl was seventh, battling with Brian Bernard, who was two laps down after early problems, with Stevie Patterson hot o n hi s heels , in eig h th . This o rd er remained th e same to the end; Oliver, Petersen , Graves, j acks a nd Martin in the top five, foIl owed by Martin, H aIl , Patterson, Roger Hendricks and Noel Kalilnoski roundin g o u t the to p 10. In the winner 's circle, Petersen stood param o unt , flanked by Graves in sec o nd, a n d j a ck s thi rd ov era ll. Petersen pocketed the $3200 winner's share of the $12,500 F-USA purse. By virtue o f hi s 16-1 fin ish es, Oliver ended up eig h th overall, H e is still four points ahead of team ma te Petersen , and quite happy wi th the performance of the new moto r: " The second bike was faster tha n the fir st," he said. " T ha t's a good mo tor that Tve got in th ere now, I m ight just keep it in th ere - that th ing runs good. I expec ted it to run cruddy; the spare bike has never run on a track in America, on ly j apan. We had ' no idea if it ran or no t, or if parts wer e missing out o f the engine." Luckil y, it was a ll th ere . . . On the outside of the track, nearing th e wooded areas that approaches highway 371, is a set of garages. Chuck Graves was wedged int o a comer of one of the smaIler ones, explaining . how he does so weIl compa red to other four-stroke teams: "They (meaning Team Suzuki) think it 's all speed, but it is all in hooking up and carburetion. The Yoshimura carbs and exhaust gi ve more midrange than boring it o ut (T eam Suzuki bikes are rumored at 126Occ). The best thing to do is try and save weight, GSXRs hav e too much midrange to start with ; the more power you mak e, th e more yo u spin tires ." Graves must be do ing so meth in g correct, He is solidly positioned in third in th e po ints, and is determined to stay there. Formula II If the Air Tech Formula 2 race was a 125cc race, Kenn y Roberts, jr. ma y have dominated, but it wasn't, and he didn't. Roberts' Wayne Rainey Racing machine would not run on both cylinders all weekend, which was only part of the numerous woes encountered by the Otsuka Electronics team at Brainerd. Crew chief Dave Peterson, along with mechanic Sandy Rainey, changed everything on the bike, except for a small capacitor mounted on the head tube. Britt Turkington borrowed one off someone at the AMA National at Ohio on Saturday, and brought it with him that night to Brainerd, but it didn 't help, the little TZ250 still refused to run. Nor was Allen Scott having a better time with his Rainey Racing machine. His motor ate a big end bearing in Sunday's practice, hammering the , Petersen is four points behind Oliver. piston into the head ; total destruction was th e resu l t. The elder Rainey fran tica Ily replaced the motor with a spare, whi ch did not help eit her. Scott would run second for half of the race, until th e clutch sea l went so u th , mi sting th e rear wh eel with oi l. T he leak ing oi l wou ld eventually be Scott's downfal l. In the middl e of the 14th lap, he began sliding through tum ni ne - a relatively slow rightha nde r - and coul d not avoi d event ual second pl ace finisher Dave Sjoblo m. With both the Roberts boys o ut, Donnie Greene wa s left to run a solitary race; he never saw anyone after th e sta rti ng grid. Greene, wi th his Dianetics-sponsored ma chine, ran well in front of Sjoblom, finishing over a minute ahea d at the end. Superstock Kurt HaIl dominated both th e A and ' B Superstock races at Brainerd. HaIl ran away from Bruce Baldus and Michael Martin in the B Superstock race, but it was the A race that had the crowd going. In this race ~ whi ch HaIl ruled from flag to flag -Stevie Patterson, a fan favor ite, was hounding Chuck Graves from th e th ird lap on, vying for th e number two position. H e finally passed Graves in the infield, on the fifth lap. Soon aft er, at the beginning of th e sixth lap, Graves made a bold move and swung around Patterson in the ultra-fast tum one. This whole scenario was repeated on th e seventh lap, with Graves leading onto the front straigh t to begin the eigh th lap. It was th en that Patterson gritted hi s teeth and held his Suzuki wide open through one, passing Graves on the outside. the two swapped back and forth repeatedly , but in the end, Patterson got the better drive out of turn 10 to take the checkered ahead of Graves. C'f Results f -USA RACE ONE: I. Robbie Petersen (Yam); 2. Oluck Gl3V<> (Suz); 3. Mich.>e1 Martin (Suz);·1. Donald jacks (Suz); 5. Brirr -Turkington (Suz); 6. Brian Bernan:I (Yam); 7. Kun Hall (Suz); 8. Stevie Patterson (Suz); 9. Roger Hendricks (Suz); 10. Paul Vogel (Yam); II. Michael Dye (Suz); 12. Olri'lOpha La cy (Yam); 13. Doug Carl son (Kaw); 11. David Gro" (Suz); 15. Noel Kalinoski (Suz); 16. Rich Oliver (Yam ); 17. Casey Bearm an (Yam ); 18. Andrew T ocko (Suz). f·USA R.ACE TWO: I. Rich Oliva (Yam ); 2. Robbie PC'IC'fSC'n' (Yam); 3. Chuck Gravo (SUI); 4. . Donald Jacks (Suz); ~. Britt Turkington (Suz): 6. Michael Martin (Suz); 7. Kun Hall (Suz); 8. Stevie Pauezson (Suz); 9. Roger Hendrick. (Suz); 10. Noel Kalinoski (Suz); II. Michael Dye (Su,); 12. Paul Vogel (Yarn); 13. ChriSl0l,lher La cy (Yam); Ii. Doug Carlson (Kaw); 15. DaVId Gmu (Suz); 16- Brian Bernard (Yam); 17. Andrew Tuck" (5uz); 18. Casey Beannan (Yam). f-D: I. Don Greene (Yam); 2. Dave Sjobl om (Hon ); 3. Mike Reed (Hon); 1. Brian Bernard (Hon); 5. Olcuk Kurkowski (Hon ); 6. SCOff Ruehle (Yam); 7. Billy Vassili ou (Yam); 8. Doug Lundholm (Hon ); 9. Kenny Iloberts, jr. (Yam); 10. David Stanrcn The top (our-stroke rider on the day was Chuck Gra~ the Californian went 2-I. Donnie Greene easily won the F-II final in Minnesota; he's third in the championship. (Hon); I I. Alan Scou (Yarn); 12. Thomas Montano (Yam) ; U . Casey Bearman (Yam); 11. Stephen Vlasbho m (Suz). C S ISTI: I. Bruce Baldu s (Hon); 2. Thom as Mon lan o (Yam); 3. Mike R.eed (Ho n); 1. Dale Kie/la (Yam); 5. SCOll Ru ehle (Yam ); 6. Matthew Mach (61); 1. Donald jacks (52); 5. Michael Martin (19); 6. Brill Turkin gton (18); 7. Brian Bernan:I (39); 8. Kun Hall (30); 9. j oe Bren Will iams (21); 10. enE) Tom Kip pljefl Gaynor ,(20); 12. Pascal Picone (17); 13. Yves Brisson (15); 14. enE) Mike Smilh/Lin ley Cla:rkeiDoug Renfr ow (13). f·n C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS: I. Alan Scou (60 ); 2. Kenn y Roberts, jr. (55); 3. Don Grren< (17); 1. Brian Bernan:I (Hon); 5. Olris D'AIui3io (38); 6Nick Ienatsch (36); 7. Brad Sawyer (31); 8. Dave Sjoblom (31); 9. Michae l Gl3ves (26); 10. Darrell Cooney (20); t I. Will iam Himmelsbach (16); 12. enE) Steve Lombardo/Mike Reed/Mike Sulliva n (15). 27

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