Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 2: Phoenix Jnternational Raceway (Left) Rich Oliver dom inated the 2SOcc Grand Prix class at Phoenix Internat ional Raceway. (Below) Jon Cornwell (49) fin ished second; here he leads fourth-place finisher Mike Sulli van (64). By Henny Ray Abrams GOODYEAR, AZ. MAR 'lJ e 250cc GP season began in earnest at Phoenix w it h defending AMA 250cc GP Cha mpion Jimmy Filice absent and Performance Sou th Racing's Rich Oliver taking over his mantle as the ma n to bea t. Filice, w ho won't defend his title, ha sn 't made his plans . 'known for the rest of the year, but Oliver certain ly has, d omina ting th e race from start to finis h and demo nstrating the stand ard the rest of the class w ill ha ve to mat ch if they want to win. "This is the best ou r bike has run," Oliver said after winning his first AMA 250cc GP race since last year at Elkhart Lake. "We got the bike tun ed just perfect. It ran great th e w hole race. We h ave the cham p ionsh ip p oints lead , whi ch we've neve r had before. It's nice to have the lead this earl y, but it doesn't mean an ything." O li ve r won th e 32-lap, 48.32-m ile race in record time: 33 minutes, 24.205 seconds at an avera ge speed of 84.081 m ph. H is -m a r gin of victory over McBride's Cycles / Jackson Racing /HydMech Saws-backed Jon Cornwell was 4.623 seconds, though he held a lead of over seve n secon ds for much of the race. " I saw my tim es were in the 1:03's and l :04's," said Oliver, who qualified on the pole with a new track rec ord. "My gap wo uld shrink in traffic and I'd lay down a couple of threes. 1 tried to hold it above six an d towards th e end Jonat ha n caught me, but it did n't mak e much d ifference." "I had no idea how far back I was," Cornwell said. "They forgo t to give me a pl us or m inus. I kn ew wher e I was beca use I cou ld see him (Oli ver). My main concern was to be consistent and do quic k lap times, not blistering times. If 1 d idn't, I cou ldn't hang with tho se guys." So uthwes t Moto rsports' Da n n y Walker finished third, a spot he took over from Redline Racin g's Mike Sulli- van on the 12th lap. Walker said he was tiring toward th e end of the race and was in no sha pe to challenge Cornwell. He would finish nearly seven seconds behind Cornwell, but wi th a 4.6-second gap on Sullivan. Ne xt would be Ze ro Gravity's Nick Ienatsch, the Sport Rider magazine ed it or surviving a se iz u re ea rly in the race, nearl y crashing, then cha nging his riding st yle to move forward. len a tsch 's Zero Gra vit y tea mma te Ch ris Tayl o r be t tered Perfo rm a nc e So u th Ra cing 's Chu ck So rensen fo r sixth, with Mile Hi Motorsports Donni e Hough taking eighth. Al Salaverria and Jason Pad en filled out the top 10. Oliver g o t the jump on the field, leadin g the s na ki ng 33-rider pa ck throu gh tum one, a p ack that w ould d iminish quickly w it h t h e exi t o f Motoworld /Lassak Racing /Spec tr o' s Chris D'Aluisio on the third lap. D ' A lu i s io's Ap rilia had broken a ca rbo n Chris D'Aluisio was second fastest, his team making progress with the Motoworld / Lassak Racing /Spectro-backed Aprilia that he took delivery of at Daytona. "We found the problem (at) Daytona is that the rings were polished," D'Aluisio said . "They were never bro ken in." D' Aluisio explained that Having never before seen the track, Performance South a probl em with the fuel tank allowed the carbuRacing's Rich Oliver won the pole position for the 250cc retors and cyli ner s to flood and th a t likely GP final with a new qualifying record on the lSI-mile dr-. caused the polishing . "It wouldn't pull at Daycuit Oliver, the defending WERA Formula II champion, tona and it had no top end. It would rev, but it turned a lap of 1:03.895 (85.077 mph) to better the mark of had no power. "We made a lot of progress with the suspension. Jim 1:04.248 that Chris D' Aluisio set last year. Lindemann cut us a spring. On a bumpy track like this "I was surp rised to get the pole," said Oliver, whose where you use a lot of travel, you're in trouble. We put last pole was at the AMA National in Charlotte last year. lighter springs in the front and it made the handling "I've never been here and 1 didn't have a good lap. I was worse, so we we n t back to w hat we had yesterday, just aiming for the front row. D'Aluisio said, adding that they also discovered a faulty "1 was having some suspension trouble and I think 1 rotary va lve and had a problem with the electric shifter could go a lot faster. Over the bumps it's really harsh. It that caused the engine to shut down on the banking. feels like it's going to break in half. It's something we ha ve "As long as we're on the front row, we're fine. We're to work through. My chassis set ups work on smooth trying to make changes to make it better and we used the tracks. That set up won't work here, " Oliver said of his sessions to try to make gains," D'AJuisio said . Yamaha TZ250M Zero Gravi ty's Nick lena tsch was third fastest, his best His first impression o f th,e circuit was that "as long as qualifying effort since 1991, and he did it at a pace that it' s dry, it's fine. If they were able to re-pave turns two wasn't a struggle. "I was really comfortable in qualifying," Yamaha -mountand four it wo uld be a fun place to race. Going aro und the bow l is really fun. It's kind of hairy, but it's fun. It feels ed lenatsch said. "Last year 1was on the front row but I was like dirt-tracking. When 1got here 1thought I was good on never in third. The traction is a lot better on the bowl- there's no big bump. The traction is better coming off the bowl. the fast parts, but 1was terrible," Oliver said . First-timer Oliver takes p_ole _ H fiber rotary valve in practice so an aluminum replacemen t was made, on ly to get sucked into the engine earl y in the race. Out fron t Oliver was flying, holding over a 2.5-second cushion after th re e lap s mu ch to his surprise. "I was making time in the bowl and in the ba ck," O liver said. "Going in 1 wo uld drift it, m iddle of the corner 1 would straighten ou t, and I could slide it on the exit. Sliding it there helped me get a lead righ t awa y. A lot of 2505d on't like to slide really well, but min e is real controllable. 1 though t there would be a freight train of eigh t guys." At th e mid poin t of the 32-lap race, Oliver held abou t to an eight-second edge and he wo uld never be in danger of losing it. Th ou gh th e gap closed in the final laps, th e result was never in doubt. "It was a ha rd rac e beca use there was a lot of lapped traffic," O li ver sai d . "I fe lt li ke I did alright with tha t because I'm not the greatest with lapped traffic. "The bike is very good . Steve (Biganski) is doing a really good job and Jim Lindemann is doing a really good job," lenatsch added. lenatsch's best lap came while following Rich Oliver, though he nearly equalled it on his own. And , aside from what he learned following Olive r, lenatsch said Oliver offered invaluable advice about machine set up and his lines on the racetrack. "I feel confident doing what I'm doing. I'm trying to keep it all in perspective," lenatsch said. The front row was filled out by Jonathan Cornwell, the McBride's Cycles/Jackson Racing/Hyd-Mech Saws-sponsored Canadian still learning to work with his new tuner. "Dave (Ray) is trying to gel confidence with everything about how the bike runs," Cornwell said . "This place is the kind of place you do safe, qu ick laps: If I do a good time, I do a good time. I'm losing a little in the bowl and coming onto the front st raigh t. The top end is not . there yet. We're approaching everything as a test." Cornwell's YamahaTZ250 uses an updated engine in a 1992 frame. '" . Mark Foster was fifth fastest, Mota Liberty's Takahito Mori, Mile Hi Motorsports' Donni e Ho ugh, and Southwest Motorsports' Danny Walker joining him on the second row. All but Mori were Yamaha-mounted , as were all but three of the.32 qualifiers.

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