Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

leg cras h to finish seventh ahead of Takahito Mori, Martin nursed his bike home to eighth, giving him sixth overall. Batey finished ahead of Danny Walker to finish 10th. Sad owski's average speed of 94.112 mph was the faster of the two legs. "I wasn't the fastest guy out there toda y but I did a good job using strategy," said a happy Quarterley after the race. "I finally broke my string of bad luck in Formula USA." . Quarterley wo n $5000 in WERA Pro purse money for his victory. FORMULA II Rich Oliver wo n th e fastest ra ce of the weeke nd in th e Fo rmula II final. Oliver pulled away from a heated ba ttle between Ch ris D' Aluisio and Takahito Mo ri to wi n by 7.27 seconds . Oliver's race average of 94.233 mph bettered the average spee d of the best F-USA leg. It was the first tim e in a WERA F-II race that th ree differe n t b rands of bikes Yama ha, Aprilia and Honda - finis hed in the winne r's circle. No one came close to Oliver all weeken d . In Saturday's four-lap qualifying ra ce the Californian O li ve r won b y almost fo ur seconds over teammate Chuck Sorensen. The fact that Sorensen was riding at all w as quite an acco mp li s hme nt. Sorensen crashed heavily at Mid-Ohio the week before and broke his left leg: Sorensen was glad he decided to ride instead of sit out the weekend. "My leg didn't really hurt that much, but it wore me down," Sorensen said. "I couldn't ride at a high level for very long." Without having to deal with the big F-USA and superbikes in front of him, Oliver ran at near track record pace during the entire 14-lap final. After the second lap there was no question tha t Oliver wou ld win the race. With the leader pulling away qui ckly, the focus turned to the race for second. D' Alu is io , Soren sen, Mori and Walker duked it out in the early going. By lap nine D' Alu isio a nd Mori had pulled clear. The two proceed ed to swap second seve ral times per lap . On the last lap , D'Aluisio ran around the outside of Mori in tum three to take the lead, but Mori caught back up when D'Aluisio slipped in the carousel. As the two headed down the front straight for the checkered flag, it was D' Aluisio winning by inches. "That was a fun race with Mori," said D'Aluisio. "He d idn't chop off my front end like he used to do." With his win Oliver takes a commanding lead in the WERA F-II standings over Sorensen, wh o eventually finished fifth behind Walker. "It was great racing out there wi thout alI those big superbikes in my way," said Oliver . "Once I got the lead I basically just set a lap time goal for myself and just raced against the clock." Combining his F-USA and F-II earnings Oliver went home $4200.richer. FORMULA III Fresh from a summer spe nt racing in Spa in, Nick Hayden came home to win h is sec ond WERA F-III race. Hayden took an early lead in the final over seri es-lead er Kevin Murray. Do u g Carmichael worked his way through the ' fast-sta rti n g four-stroke singles a nd "closed on the leaders during the middle stages of the race. Carmichael passed Murray and was on the heels of Ha yd en when his bike began to seize. Hayden w ent on to a two- second margin of victory. Murray, 'who has won three of the F-ill races this season , finished secon d . Carm i chael slowed but had enough of a margin to hold on to third. Chris Rogers was fourth followed by Tommy Hayden, who said he had tire problems. Jim Struke finished alone in sixth. John Ulrich, who was nearly run off the track by Stroke on the second lap, held off Michael Himmelsbach for seventh. Dave Knap p, who was ninth, was the only four-stroke rider in the top 10. Canadian Nancy Dewar roun ded out the top 10. "I got by the four -strokes early which helped me a lot," Nick Hayden said. "I ro de a litt le harder when Ca rmi chael caught me. I think I could have held him off even if he didn't have problems with his bike." SUPERSTOCK Two words described all three of the Michelin Superstock races: Tom Wilson . Wilso n, riding a pa ir of Kinko's Yamahas, domi nated all th ree of the Superstock races giving the up-and-coming Ohio rider the best race weekend of his career. Wilson, who was o riginally only going to ride in the 600cc and 750cc Superstock races, decided to race in the 1100cc race on his Yamaha YZF750 after an incident during the WERA Regional Sprint races on Friday. Wilson explained: "Yamaha pays $1000 for the B Superbike race and I was entered on my Supersport bike. Suzuki doesn't pay in that race, but (Chuck) Graves entered the race anyway on his superb ike. Graves won the race and then they (members of the Valvoline Suz u ki team) came over joking about it. I thought, 'All right, I'll pay them back on Sunday: " In th e 1100cc race, Wilson chased down early lead er Tray Batey and held off the bigger Suz uki by a half-second at the flag. In the 750cc race, Valvolin e Suzuki ri ders Dave Sta nton, Batey and Steve Patterson took the lead on the first lap . W il son m oved up through the fie ld quickly and joined the Suzuki riders on the second lap . By lap four Wilson was clear and starting to pull awa y. On lap nine a rider crashed coming on to the front straight and the race was red- flagged - Wilson was the winner. In the 600cc race, Wilson again started from the back of the field. He, along with local fast-man Lanny Allen , came charging through the crowded field. By lap four Wilson had caught up with Grant Lopez and Brian Gibbs . A few laps later, Wilson, who was turning 1:39s, passed Lopez and Gibb s and Lopez crashed trying to keep pace. In the end it was Wilson by three seconds over Allen. Glenn Szarek moved up to finish third. YAMAHA SECA II CHALLENGE Michigan rider Thomas Rose overcame a la te-ra ce d u el with Tomm y McComas of Illinois to w in the Yamaha Seca II Challenge. Mic hael Laney ran with the leaders early, but fell off the pa ce and finished a distant third. (N Ind ianapolis Raceway Park Indianapolis, Indiana Results: July 24, 1994 F·USA LEG 1: 1. Mich ael M~rtin (5 uz); 2. Dale Quarterl ey (Ka w); 3. Rich Oli ve r (Yam), 4. Ch uck Gra ves (5uz); 5. Dave Sadowski (Ho n); 6. Scott Gra y (Duc) ; 7. David Sta nton (Su z); 8. Trey Batey (5u z); 9. Chris D'Aluisio (Apr); 10. Ma rk Kowalski (Yam); 11. Taka hito Morl (H on) ; 12. Danny Walker (Ya m) ; 13. Micha el Barn es (Hon); 14. Chuck Sore nse n (Yam); 15. Chris Taylor (Yam); 16. Willia m Himmelsb ach (Yam); 17. John Sharrard (Yam); 18. James Rand olph (Suz) ; 19. James Perrault (Kaw); 20. Nick Morehouse (!

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