Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

lous lea p from the m iddle of th e th ird row to plant h imself secu rely in th ird. Donald J acks' troubles started early wh en so meo ne hi t th e side of hi s bike; delaying h is sta rt a nd sh redding th e bodywork 0((. Twi sting through W ill ow ' s 2.5 mile, n in e-corner race tra ck, Graves, Stevens, and Martin remained close throughout th e firs t lap. Edwards, Harth, Miller , Green e, and Gray were in a pack, a nd followed in that order, already a good two seco nds behind th e lead trio. Miller displaced Harth for fifth on the third lap, while the other frontrunners remained in position until the second pack - still headed by Edwards - ro unded turn six. At that point, the yo u th fu l Edwards' race came to a n ea rly demise when his TZ250 seized one of its two cyli nders. Miller was summarily handed th e fourth spot. On the fifth lap , Martin execu ted a daring p ass around th e o utside o f Stevens wh ile o n the bra kes heading into tur n o ne, a nd m ade it stick throug h the 190-degree tu rn two. But things wo ul d soon sour for Ma rtin. His big Suzuki encountered " fu el de livery problems," and started sp u tteri ng down th e front straight, lo sing power , a nd ca usi ng Martin to fade. H e would eventually fin ish sixth in th e fir st leg. Meanwhile, things were not working out much better for Oliver - wh o had tak en del ivery o f his 350 kit th e Monda y before th e race , bolted it o n witho ut a n y testing o r 'develop men s, a nd hoped for th e best. Though th e TZ350 kit d id wo r k well , Oli ver enco u ntered a n overhea ti ng p roblem. " It had a 1991 (TZ250) ra diator, but it had been pr etty smashed, so (th e ra dia tor) wasn 't really flowing th at much air through it ," Ol iver said. " So we switched that with a rad iator 0(( my friend' s 1992 TZ250." The bik e overhea ted on th e eighth lap, approaching critica l, seizure temperature, and O liver wise ly pitted to rid himself of the damaged radiator. H e finished 18th , one spot ahead of Gray, a nd two a head o f Edwards. Wh ile those th ree scrambled to mak e quick repairs in the pits, th ings were looki ng up for Shierts and Miller, both ' of whom moved around th e cautious Stevens late in th e race for second and third, respectivel y. Th ey fi nished there, ov er e ig h t seco n ds b ehind Graves. Harth nabbed fourth, but not until the last moment wh en he drew near Steven s in th e final turn, and drafted past a t th e finish lin e. And so th e leg ended with Graves first, followed by Shierts, Miller, Harth and Stevens. Mich ael Martin was sixth, followed by Green e, D'Aluisio , Bruce T ebo, a nd J oe Brett Williams - on the o nl y H onda RC30 in th e ra ce. The grid positions for th e second leg were decided by th e o u tcome of the first race. Naturally, Graves sa t o n th e pole. But whe n th e lights flash ed for th e start, Martin aga in blasted 0 (( the third row, a nd this time sto le th e lead. Harth held seco nd, with G rav es third, followed b y Shierts, Miller , and Stevens. Martin led th e entire first lap with Graves passing Harth to sta rt lap two. Graves th en moved past Martin and left the pack behind. Miller also passed H arth in th e eig ht/ n ine sweeper, with Shierts passing H arth a lap lat er. All th e while, Martin was beginning to fad e. As in th e first leg, Martin 's bike began falte ring, but th is time th e fuel problem seemed to be worse and he eventually fad ed to 13th . The order quickl y settled down into much th e same as th e first leg : Graves led , followed by Sh ierts, Miller , and H arth. The change, though, came from Bru ce Tebo, who pushed h is G ary McD onal d /RCG GSX RIIOO into fifth , just ahead o f G ra y. Jacks, D'Aluisi o , St eve n s, a nd Williams ro u nded ou t the top 10. Oliver fared better in th e seco nd leg and finished II th overall , four pl aces ahead of Keith Code, wh o was ma king a return to competition. Graves stoo d a top the wi nner's podium, getting an ea rly g la nce at the $10,000 Suzuki ha s p o sted for a Formula-USA Championsh ip Formula II Donnie Green e s uccess fu lly defended his WERA Formula Two plate at th e opening round. Green e thoroughly dominated th e race, running blistering la p times in th e 1:26range to finish over two seco nds a he ad of O liver, who, in turn, was well ahead of the three-way struggle for third bet ween Co li n Edwards, Kurt H all , a nd Ch ris D'Aluisio - who finished in that order, respectivel y. The weekend started out ominously for the 250cc competitors. H eavy favorite Ni ck Ienatsch fell in an ea rly practice session, and was unable to race. Then Oliver went down in th e Sunday morning p racti ce session , broke a few toes, a nd had "grindi ng feelings in (h is) knuckl es." Oli ver suspected th at something in h is hand was brok en , but he raced a nyway, and " was happy j ust to stick it up into seco nd. Donnie (G reene) p ut in a co u p le o f a weso me laps, a nd yan ked a lead on us th ere. I tried reeling hi m back in tow a rds th e middl e of the race, and I cou ld ge t wi thin o ne, o ne and a half seconds, but I never could get a break wi th traffic to get close enough to draft by him." An other favorite, Mich ael Gra ves, pitched hi s Yamaha TZ250 away on the opening lap in turn three, causi ng a red flag and a restart. Graves wa s mostly unhurt, but did not make th e restart. At the restart, Ken n y Roberts Jr. nailed the hol esh o t, leading D'Aluisio, Green, a nd C h uck Sorensen around for mos t o f th e first lap. O live r came out o f nowhere to take the lead in turn on e, with Green e following him by Rob erts and D'Aluisio for sec o n d. When th e leaders reached turn nine, Green e swooped aro u nd Oliver for th e lead , a nd he never relinquished it. Nor would Oliver forfeit second pl ace. Roberts and Soren sen began to fade, a nd a fierce battle for third soon developed between Edwards, class roo kie Hall, and D'Aluisio, with Bruce Baldus hanging on to the end of the duel. In th e fin al turn o f th e final lap, Edwards said he: " J ust set up good in tum nine, and every th ing work ed to my favor." This enabled him to claw his wa y into third, a wheel length a head of H all, wh o, in tu rn, barely edged D'Aluisio. Bru ce Baldus held o n to finish sixth, and was follow ed by Petersen , Rob erts, J oe Pittman, a nd Sorensen . Pro Twins The rules [or Pro Twin s were set up to be fair to all. U p to 750cc for liquid co o led motorcycl es, a nd unlimit ed ca paci ty [or th ose w ith ai r-coo led twins. And parity it d id create. Patrick Murray led 0 ([ the lin e, on - of a ll th in gs - a Yamaha Virago. The bike was fast enough to lead th e fir st two .laps, before he was eventually passed by th e hi ghly develo ped, 100horsepower H onda H a wk o f Kiyo Watanabe in turn o ne. Mu rray a nd hi s Virago soo n fell prey to the might of Nigel Gal e's 1200cc ...... ... . l-< .0.. < The F·I1 final was won by defending champ Don Greene (1) over Rich Oliver (97). Mike Harth finis hed fourth overall in F·USA on Dutchman Racing's endurance bike. Harley- Davidson , and the slightly tri ck Du ca ti 900 of Lance H ol st. By th e eig h th lap , Gale had caugh t a nd passed Watanabe [o r first, with H ol st all a lone in third. Kevin Erion had passed Murray [or fifth. Watanab e was not about to let G a le wal k aw ay with th e win , and soon passed him back. On the final go arou nd, G al e do ve underneath Wa tanabe, leading onto th e fron t stra igh t, swerved right, br eaking Watanabe's draft just enoug h to ta ke the win. Holst foll owed in third, with Erion three seco nds back in fourth, a nd Murray fifth. S u perstock Once again, regional heroes ruled the day. Sa tu rday 's runnin g o f th e 600cc Supers tock race turned o u t to be a ma d m ix of b umping, push in g and crashing that saw th e fifth pl ace rider , Brett H arrel so n , d isqu a l if ied in to obscuri ty. A massively wild las t-lap slide cost Andy Milton the race, a nd handed it to rival Willie BUTT. The l l OOcc Supers toc k class sa w Curtis Adams lea p hi s 1986 GSXR II 00 into first from th e second row , never to relin q uish th e lead. Donald J acks, Dean Mizdal , a nd Mark McDaniel were left to right for second, until Mizdal lo st the front end of hi s Orange County Suzuki -backed Suzuki GSXRIIOO in turn eigh t, went down, and handed second to J acks, wi th th ird goi ng to McDaniel. Mizdal remou nted to fin ish eighth. In 750cc Superstock, Milton , wh o has repeatedl y professed that Will ow Springs is a 600cc tra ck , p roved hi s point by winni ng th e ra ce on his H o nd a C BR600. Mi lto n struggled with Jacks - who was encountering a ton of setup problem s - [or most of the race, and Mizdal lost third p lace to David Stanton on th e last lap. Cl' Results F· USA RACE I: I. Ch uck G",ves (Suz); 2. Lee Shierts (S uz); 3. Rebert MiII

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