Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GROAD RACEWERA Pro Series: Round 7 ~ Rich Oliver won both legs of the Formula USA Series in Moroso, but still lies second in the championship. , . Chuck Graves (24) and Donald Jacks (59) battle for third; Graves wo n. Oliver on warpath at Moroso By Larry Lawrence WEST PALM B EACH, FL, SEPT, 22 n the la nd of the Sem inole Ind ians, Rich Ol iver went o n a warpa th, scalping hi s co m pe titors in bo th Interstat e Batteri es Form ula USA legs at Moroso Motorsports Park. Ol iver, riding hi s trusty Yamaha steed, o utgu n ned the o ther two-whee led warriors a nd closed th e poi nt sta ndi ngs gap o n fell ow Marl boro T ea m Rober ts trib.esma n Robbie Peter sen to nine points wit h o n ly the Road Atla nta powwo w left o n th e schedule. O live r , who readil y ad mits h is cham p io nship hopes are slim at best, wants to close out th is seaso n bei ng recognized as the fas tes t rid er i n WERA. O liver drove th at po int home by q ua lifyi ng on the po le wit h a record shattering o ne-m inu te, 20-second na t run on the 2.25-mi le Moroso ci rcu it. It was th e first visit of the WERA Pro Seri es to Moroso a nd many of the local Florida riders, who race on the tra ck often, were looking forward to show what they could do against the do m i nant Ma rl bo ro Yama ha G P mach in es. It w as thought by many that Moroso I 12 cou ld be th e track whe re a big su perbik e ,m ight be able to beat th e 500cc two-stroke GP bik es, if for no o the r reason than rid er experience o n th e track. Oliver scoffed a t tha t notion , say i ng th at h e co u ld easi ly learn Moroso in 20 laps o f practi ce. T he one rid er who everyo ne was looking a t to possibl y end the stra ng lehold o f Oliver a nd Petersen on the ser ies was Valvo line Suzuki ri der . Donal d J acks. J acks began road raci ng at Moroso five years ago , a nd has won co u nt less races th ere. H e was also th e trac k reco rd holder a t Moroso comi ng into th is weekend and wo uld be rid ing the ' potent Keith Perry -built Suzu ki GSXR I IOO. O ther notable loca ls hoping to be a factor were Moroso ace Mark Ch in , former Da ytona 200 wi n ne r John Ashmead , and lon gtime Florida ra cing vete rans Rick Sh aw a nd Rick Hern do n. Ol iver's record qualifyin g ru n was a fu ll second ahead of his teammate Petersen 's time. In stead of look ing for a battle wit h O liver, Petersen seemed to be in the mod e of pr eservin g hi s poi nts lead at Moroso. ' The sur pris ing th ird pl ace qualifier was Chuck G ra ves on th e Yos h im urabui lt Suzuki GSXR IIOO. Graves cloc ked in a t I:2 1.49, almost ha lf of a second faster th an J acks. One exp la na tion given by th e Valvol in e Suzu ki team for Jacks no t having a better qua lifying speed, was th at he was usin g a specia l six-speed gea rbox from Suzuki a nd the tea m was testing different gearing setti ngs . " He wi ll be faster than Graves o n Su nday," sa id o ne Va lvoli n e Suzuki team member. O liver a nd his crew figured high 1:20s in th e two races would be good enoug h for th e win. After turning som e " unofficial" 1:19s in practi ce, Ol iver felt he co u ld run the I:20 pace th e ent ire wa y in bot h legs. If G raves went slo we o n race da y, he had a good reason. In th e morning practice sessio n a n o il lin e o n hi s Suzu ki wore th rough, o iling hi s rea r tire an d sendi ng him cras hi ng to th e pavement. Fortunatel y, neither rid er nor bik e was hurt badly a nd G raves wou ld ma ke th e fin als. O liver was ted no tim e in ta king co nt ro l in the first race. T u rn ing low I:20 la p tim es, he had a six-second lead on th e rest of th e field by the fou rth la p. Petersen , Ja cks a nd G raves were in a to ug h dice for second. In fifth, Mich ael Martin was a few seconds ahead o f the m ethanol-burn in g Suzuki of Kurt H al l. J eff H ein o (a Ne w Ham psh ire rid er wh o sometimes lives in Florida ) was holding down seventh, jus t ahead of a group th a t included Ashm ead, Ch in and Shaw. In th e closing stages of the firs t leg , O liver contin ued to pull away a nd he had a winning 6.64-second margi n at th e chec kered £lag. Petersen fina lly got away fro m J acks and Graves to sec ure seco nd. It a ppea re d th at Gra ves selected too soft of a rear tire a nd he co uld not hold o ff J acks for th ird , try as he migh t b ut ge tti ng into fu ll-lock slides out of the slower tu rn s. Martin cruised home fifth ahead of Hall. Ch in and Shaw ca ugh t Heino durin g the last co up le of la ps in the battle for seven th. Chin made it around Heino, whi le Shaw crashed trying. As -the mach in es, crews a nd riders ma de th eir way o ut to the sta rt ing grid before th esecond leg , Valvoli ne Suzu ki crew chief Keith Perry no ticed a p iece o f metal in th e fro nt tire o f Ol iver 's Yamaha. T he race was abo u t to begin a nd th e Marlbor o crew feverishly went to wo rk putting o n a new front tire. Fortunately fo r the m th ey were gett ing help fro m th e man wh o is p rob ably th e quickest in th e co u ntry a t changi ng tir es, Perry. The second leg went much lik e th e first. Ol iver rod e co nserva tively th e first lap, testing th e new front tire. Once con fiden t wi th hi s machin e th e Cal ifornia rid er blasted away. Petersen again followed Graves and J ack s in th e ea rly goi n g. Martin dr opped fro m th e race o n th e seco nd lap wh en his mot or gre na ded, sh owering hot metal a nd oil all over a trailing Hall. Hall, whose windscreen was covered in o il, slowed down expec ting a red £lag. That gave Chin a cha nce to ca tch and pass him . Once back up to speed, Hall Was tryin g to deal with getting back in front o f Chin , whil e a n insp ired H ein o was nipping a t his heels. In between races Graves' crew altered littl e things like handlebar height, and shi fter, brake a nd clutch lever adjustmen ts, th a t had been knocked off kilter from hi s earlier cras h. The adjustments must hav e paid o ff as Graves was riding much bett er in the second leg a nd held off Petersen for half th e race in th e battle for th e number two spot. At th e fini sh it was Oliver ove r Petersen , this tim e by 7.52 seconds. G raves was a no the r fou r seco nds back in thi rd , th en th ree mo re seco nds back to J acks in fourth. T he ba ttl e of the race continued to be the' th ree-way due l between Chin, Hall and H eino. Chi n held off the' o ther two to ro u nd ou t th e to p five. Fu rt her back in th e pack th ere was a gr ea t race betw een two lon g tim e racers: Ch ip Terrell , rid in g a Yamaha FZR IOOO , held Suzu ki G SXRI IOO'mo u n ted Ash mead a t ba y to ta ke eigh th. For Ol iver it was grea t to win again. It was hi s th ird F-USA win o f th e season , hi s first sin ce ro u nd fo ur a t Sea ttl e. , " It was a drea m weekend for me," said a happ y Ol iver. " I trained very hard lead ing u p to th is race. I'm goi ng to be racing J ohn Kocinski 's 500 in some exh ibi tions in Spain next month a nd I reall y want to be read y to do my best. " For points leader Petersen , 'the wait for th e Gra nd Nationa l Fin al wi ll be a n agonizi ng o ne. " I h ad a very co m forta ble rid e o u t th ere tod a y," Petersen sai d. " It's hard not to thi n k abo u t winnin g th e titl e, but I'll reserve my celebra tions until th e final race is don e." Di an et ics-ba ck ed Yamah a rid er Donnie Gr een e took over th e points lead in th e Air Tech Formula Two Ser ies by winning a nd gett ing some help from Wa yn Rainey Racin g' s 'Alla n Scott and Kenny Rob er ts J r. Rob erts led th e first lap but by lap two it was Green e lead in g a seven-bi ke freight train. On th e next lap Green e a nd Co lorado rider Danny Walker pulled away from th e group. Green e a nd Walk er put on a good show for the Mo roso cro wd, passin g eac h other numerous tim es during th e race. For most o f th e 20-la p fin al , th e race leader depended o n wh at part 01 the tra ck you were watch ing fro m. Late in th e race , Walker dro p ped ba ck wh en h is Gold H ill Racin g Yam aha experi en ced brake fade a nd Greene went on to tak e h is third straight win in the series. T he thi rd place ba t tle betw een Rob erts a nd Sco tt was clos ing in on

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