Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE WERA Pro Series: Round 2 e Not even a rain storm could slow Floridian Michael Barnes (19) as he swept both legs of the F-USA race at Moroso Motorsports Park. Barnes ominates Moroso By Brent Plummer WFST PALM BEACH, Fl, MAY 30 he rescheduled Moroso Motorsports Park round of the WERA Formula USA Series - rained out in mid-March and continued on May 30th - was claimed by Fastline/MCM's Michael Barnes as his own. Barnes not only dominated both legs of F-USA competition, he also won the hotly contested Formula II event. And Barnes could very well have made a hat-trick on the weekend if a slowly healing broken right collarbone hadn't forced him to withdraw from the Formula ill race. For his efforts, Barnes pocketed the $5000 winner's share of the $17,650 FUSA purse, plus the $3000 he won in. Formula II aboard a Hall'N'Still Yamaha TZ25O. Second overall in F-USA was earned by Valvoline Suzuki's Michael Martin, who was also competing \\lith a broken right collarbone, suffered during the previous round of the series at Road Atlanta, scarcely two weeks before Moroso. "My shoulder still hurt pretty badly," said Martin after the race. "But my physical trainer, Drake Moore, really coaxed me back into shape...and after 1 missed the first round, 1 had to give T 20 Moroso a go because if 1 didn't, the title chase would have slipped totally out of my reach." And with the way the series is shaping up, Martin already has his work cut out for him. Tied for seventh with Hall'N'Still's Tray Batey, Martin already trails series leader Chris D' Aluisio, fourth overall at Moroso, by 13 points, 30-17. Second seeded is D' Aluisio's Southwest Motorsports teammate and the rider who claimed Moroso's final podium spot Danny Walker, who, in turn, barely leads Performance South's Rich Oliver, 26-25, respectively. Joe Brett Williams, piloting a Mike Velascotuned, 1000cc Honda CBR900 is tied for fourth with opening round winner John Ashmead on 22 points, while Barnes' solitary win puts him sixth with 20 points. D'Aluisio and Walker sitting atop the point standings is not particularly amazing news until one considers the fact that the top three ride Yamaha TZ250s - once a bike considered uncompetitive in unlimited F-USA competition. Formula USA Yamaha TZ250-mounted riders are always in a flat-out rush to get ahead of the four-strokes off the starting line - if a 250 gets caught in traffic off the grid, they're doomed as the four-strokes pull away. Add this situation with the fact that Moroso's start line leads straight down the tail end of a long dragstrip, throw in a pelting rain, and you're in for one hectic F-USA start. "I had a pretty bad start in the first leg," Barnes said later. "Entering turn one, all of these 250 guys are swarming around - I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to take any of them out, but they were on my line. But it actually worked for the best, because I don't know if I would have made the turn. . One of the Southwest guys, 1 think it was D'Aluisio, hit me on the outside and that allowed me to change my line and continue on down the track." While Barnes was bouncing around in the pack, pole sitler Craig Gaver was off and running - he was fending off Martin, Joe Brett Williams and Dave Sadowski, and looked set to pull of an upset win. At the end of the first lap, Barnes had chased down the aforementioned pack of leaders, and on the next goaround, he dropped Sadowski, Williams and Martin, setting his sights on Gaver. And Gaver couldn't hold him off for long. On the third lap, Barnes was in front, and trying to shake Gaver. Meanwhile, Sadowski dropped back and pilled after sucking a huge splash of water into his engine on the third lap. He would later reenter to complete seven of the 12 laps. That left Martin all alone in third. "1 was being really conservative in the opening laps," said Martin. "And then Danny Walker came around me and I was like 'Wow! I've got to get going: and picked it up. Danny and I had a really good batile going there for a while. And, man, I could kill him on the straights, then he'd come winging around the outside of me in the turns, but he eventually got far enough ahead of me on the straights that I lost touch." Indeed, Walker was on the go after being mired in eighth on the opening lap. He steadily picked his way up to and past Martin. With three laps to go, Walker was all over Gaver, who had by then lost touch with Barnes. "I'm not sure what happened," said Gaver after the first leg, "I. don't have much experience with rain tires, but the rear was old, and I think I cooked it." With Gaver getting into some wicked, crossed-up slides, Walker pounced on the final lap: "I went ballistic," he said. "I got around Gaver and then I took some kinda funky lines down the straight leading to the checkered: First I was on one side, then 'no, no, no, I'm over here, next down the middle, just all ir\ the way: so if Gaver was going to come around me, he'd really have to think twice about it" Walker's ploy worked, landing him in second place, five seconds adrift of winner Barnes. Martin remained in fourth behind Gaver, with Oliver beating out Graves for fifth; the latter of whom was piloting a Suzuki GSXR750 Superstock bike belonging to teammate Stevie Patterson which he theorized would be faster in the rain than a Formula bike. However, Martin proved that theory wrong. D'Aluisio, taking his time to get up to speed in the rain, ended up seventh. Chip Terrell, Performance South's Chuck Sorensen and Williams rounded out the top 10. Rain fell intermittently between FUSA legs, leaving competitors with a crucial choice between rain, intermediate, or slick tires. In the end, of the top competitors, only Martin, Graves, and D'Aluisio chose correctly as hand cut slicks were the way to go. Everyone else was caught out with at least one rain tire, which cooked and went off in the what turned out to be a dry final leg. Indecisive about what tires to run, Barnes snooped around the Valvoline pits until he sa w slicks being put on Martin's bike, at which point he bolted to his own pits and mounted a left-over cut rear slick and a new front that Hal1'N'Still's Robert Null had cut in the moming. Grid positions for the second leg are determined by the finishing order of the first, meaning Barnes was on pole - it evolved nothing like the messy start of the first leg. "I nailed a holeshot, got out front, and then, piece of cake, I took off to the win:' said Barnes after the second leg. "Basically, I got such a good start that 1 was one or two seconds ahead at the end of the first lap, and I kept that distance throughout the race -which was easy, because I'm really comfortable at Moroso. I know every inch of the track, and that is a great advantage, especially in bad weather." Martin ran an equally lonely race into second after his only challenger, Gaver, crashed out on the fourth lap. "I

• Cover