Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

wi nning : Oliver's lead was close to 19 seconds at th e halfway p oint, and he barely backed off, winning by over 32 seconds. • "Some times if you take it easy you al mo st go fas te r," Oliver s ai d . " Yo u can 't really force Dayton a too ha rd . You force a little bit too hard and you start running wide everywhe re and you can 't go faster. My ra ce was easy. It sounds like Chuckle's race was a lot mo re exciting." Mori was chasing Oliver for the first seven laps and was losing ground at a rat e of abou t a se cond a la p . Still, he forged on, only to come undon e w hen he los t the fro nt end in th e West En d Horsesh oe on the eigh th lap . Q u ick ly up, he only lost a hand ful of places and fin ished th e e igh th la p in fif th pl ace, well behind Nick Ienatsch . Iena tsch was on the move after ge tting off the line badl y. He exp lained that hi s bike load ed u p a t the start and he was abo ut 14th off the line. By the end of the second lap he was u p to sixth, a spot he wo uld keep until the fou rth lap whe n he moved up to fifth when Cornwell dropped out. Cornwell w as running in front of Sorense n and Renfrow when he slo wed o n th e b ack s traig ht with a broken power- valve linkage. " We w ere runnin g thi rd an d the n th e bike (a 19 92 m od e l TZ250 w it h updates) began to go slower an d slower," Cornwell sai d. "I decided to park it rather than cause any more damage to the eng ine." Then Mori fell and 1en atsch was up to fou rth, whe re he wo uld fini sh, after being un abl e to make a run a t the Sorensen-Renfrow battl e. He was wit hin abo ut 2.5 seconds at one point, then hit a couple of backm ar kers on the same lap and the mar gin d oubled. It was about the mid point of the race when the gap grew an d Ie nat s ch was never able to make it up. "I was about two and a half seco nds back from them about the middle of the race, but they put together some good lap s in the middle and toward the end, and stre tched away from me," Ienatsch said . "I ra n abo u t th e same (la p tim es the who le race). It was mid to high 59s, and th ey stre tched away, so they just sucked it up in the last ha lf. l-w as hoping to ca tch th em a nd thought I was going to, but my last lap was pre tty mellow." By the n it was too late. The seco ndand third -place riders were in the end stage of a ga me that had played ou t the en tire race, and neither had mu ch of an edge in machinery. "The Honda handles really good and has good torque. He wo uld ge t off the corners a lit tle better," Sorensen said. "Top end -wise , I cou ld draft him. "Halfway through the race I rea lized we w ouldn' t be about to take off fro m ea ch other. I s tarted stra tegizi ng after that," Sore nsen added. Renfrow had a pla n, but he had to revise it u nder Sorensen's re lentless pressu re. "So I thought the best thi ng to d o was to try to ge t away from him, and a few lap s from the end I pu t together most of what would 've been a reall y good lap, and then I blew it," Renfrow admitted . "Bu t I don 't thi nk it wo uld've d one a ny goo d an yway. I thi nk th e script was wri tte n abo ut five or six laps from the end when Ch uckie figu red ou t th at h e sho u ld be beh ind me, and he di d, and he did a gr eat job. He was riding good, h is b ike was good , and we . had a great battle and it was real sa fe." Th e p air cha nged positi on s several times, but So rensen se ttled in behin d Renfrow at the en d of the 13th lap. He could have passed him at any time, but he wan ted to be seco nd on the fina l lap for the all-important run to the flag from the chicane. Renfrow led across the line to sta rt the final lap , and Sorensen followed all the way to the exit of the chicane. That's whe n Sore nsen began to make his move, heading for the high line - Renfrow was also up there ~ then swooping down to take seco nd at the flag. Ienatsch would be next across th e stri pe w ith Mori never close enough to cha llenge, thou gh lenatsch was aw are of his p rese nce. " I k n e w M ori was co m ing, h e 'd p icked h is bi ke u p off th e ground as (Right) Takahito Mori rode a strong race, finishing fourth behind Nick lenatsch. (Below) Oliver (center), Sorenson (left) and Renfrow (right) celebrate their 1·2·3 finish on the famous Daytona podium. 32 . Jason Paden (Yam); 33. Kei th Flo yd (Ya m ); 34. Jona than Cornwell (Yam); 35. Alan Patterson (Yam ). Ti me: 35 min .• 21298 sec. Dist ,jllnce: 18 laps . 64.1 mil es . Average speed. 108.749 mph . Margin of yictory: 32.247 sec, 250« G P CH AM PI O NSHIP PO I NT STANDINGS (Afte r 1 of 8 ro unds): 1. Rich Olive r (35 / 1); 2. Chuck Sorensen (32); 3, Randy Renfrow (30); 4. Nick Iena tsch (28); 5. Takahita Ma n (26); 6. Tatsuro Ara ta (25); 7. Greg Esser (24); S. Luis Lavado (23); 9. Akihiro Yam ad a (22); 10. Ju rgen Oe lsch lager (Ho n); 11. John Fran a" (21); 12Willia m Himmelsbach (20); 13. Mike Sulliva n (19); 14. Tobia s Leo nh ardt (18 ); 15. John Sharrard (17); 16. Je ff Vas (16); 17, Bill Qu lrm (15); 18, Perry Melneciuc (14); 19. Leon Cortes (13~ 20. Mark Orchard (12); 21. David Deronne (11); 22. Roland Sands (10); 23. [am es Bro nson (9); 24. Mark Coo p (8); 25. Oistein Borch (7); 26. Scott Martin (6); 27. John Froboese (5); 28. Gary Berbeum (4); 29. Cha rles MacKay (2); 30. Ouistopher Ran kin (-I). Upcoming Rounds Round 2 - Pomona, California, April 1 Round 3 - Monterey, California. April 29 same motor combination since 1991." Cornwell's best .finish at Daytona is a fourth in. 1992. ' . u su al," len at sch said. "T he rest o f u s crash and our bi kes fall in h alf. Mori crashes, runs over, p icks th e b ike up and keeps going. So h e did that. I knew he w a s co mi n g . 1 ha d a lap bo a rd, I s ta r ted off ' Pl us th en ' Plus 4: H e caug h t up a little bit, but I managed to ge t him." Nex t came Mori, all alone, and then the three-way figh t for sixth . The thr eeso me had br oken away from the p ack at the halfway point and the order was differe nt alm ost eve ry time the y crossed th e li ne righ t to the e n d o f th e race. Though Esser ended u p seventh, behind Arata, he was pleased wit h the finish . " It was grea t:' Ess er exclai med . " It was me an d (Tatsuro) Arata at first, then (Luis) Lavad o from Venezuela caught up and then the thre e o f u s s ta rted goi ng back an d fort h , and none of u s coul d ge t away fro m ea ch other. Arata passed me on the last lap ge tting rea dy to go ou t on to the banking. I came out an d ra n wide o n p urpose because 1 knew Luis was there and I wa nted him to come by me too, beca use the y had a little better drive. I let them go into the chicane , I jus t sat up going down the back straigh taw ay. I let the m go into the chicane an d ge t about four or five bike lengths on me, and I got a run out of the chicane like I' d been d oing. Bu t I ju st l~ played it wrong: ' 6: Daytona International Speedw ay Daytona Beach, Florida Resu lts: March 10, 1995 250c c G RA ND P R IX: 1. Rich Olive r (Yam ); 2 . C h uc k So rense n (Ya m) ; 3. Randy Renfrow (H o n ); 4. Nick Ienatsch (Yam) ; 5. Takahito Man (Hon); 6. Tatsuro Ara ta (I-Io n ); 7. G reg Esser (Yam ); 8. Luis Lavad o (Ya m ); 9. Akihiro Yamada (Hon ); 10. Ju rgen Oe lsch lager (Hon); 11. John France (Hon ); 12. William Himmelsb ach (Yam ); 13. M ike Sullivan (Ya m ); 14. Tobias Leonhard t IHon ), 15. Joh n Sha rrard (Ya m); 16. Je ff Vos (A p r); 17. Bill Qu inn (Ya m); 18 . Perr y Mel ne ciuc (Ho n ); 19 . Leo n C o rte s (Ya m ); 20. Ma rk Orcha r d (Yam ); 21. Da vi d Deronn e (Ya m ); 22 . Rol and Sa nds (Ya m ); 23 . Ja mes Bronso n (Hon); 24. Mark Coo p (Yam); 25. Oistein Ber ch (Yam); 26. Scott Martin (Ho n); 27. Joh n Proboese (Yam) ; 28. Ga ry Berba u m (Ya m ); 29. Charles MacKa y (Ya m ); 30. Ch risto pher Rankin (Yam ); 31. Frank Aragald (Yam); Randy Renfrow found out the Wednesday ' Moto Liberty's Doug Carmichael had his ' before Speed Wee k that his original plans for 'hands .full with three Japanese riders in the racing 125 and 250cc Aprilias in 1995 had 250 GP race: In' addition to Takahito Mori, . gone awry. ."1t was a wee k ago yesterday who rode a 1995 RS2SO Honda , Carmichael 'when I struck a deal with Moto Liberty," Ren- ", was also tending to Tatsuro ,A'rata ,'whotin- . frow said after finishing second in the Friday ished sixthaboard a 1994 RS250 with a t 995 afte rnoon race .' "La st W edn esday I got a engine. Akihiro Yamada: who finished ninth, ' phone call and Thursday , I thlnk,-! calted. was onan RS250 Honda that had a 1993 M~to : Liberty.. But I'd already spoken with ,chassis and 1994 motor. Arata had previous'S am (Yamashita) about running a 125 in the , lyraced in the WERA F-USA Series in 1991 ' CCS stuff." Renfrow said his firstproqram . aboard both a 600cc Supersport bike and a didn't wo~ ' out. "The guy that 'was putting it : Superbike. ~We've been -busy," Carmichael together lost one of his sporisors. For his part . -saic.' Only .Mori will cont~st the entire AMA they worked hard and he tried to get ~ togeth- 250GP se ries . .er.and I was real disappointed that it didn't come togethe r, but 'everybody. was kind ,The 250 race was without a nUmber of regu: ' enough to .jump through. hoops a nd make lar 250 GP competitors from recent years. something available to me here. We took it ' Danny' Walker; who rode for Southwest out of the crate and put it together and eveiy· .Motorsports the past few years, and finished body worked good. Thls was a one-race deal ' fifth in the series last year, is pursuing a car and I don 't know what I'm going todoItor' the . racingcareer in Formula Atlantic: AI Salaver- ' .rest 01 the season)." He added that he would ria, who was fourth in the 250 GP se ries last . only race again "i, it's a really good bike and , 'yea r, has moved to the 750cc Superspoit , f there's a proqram." Renfrow sa id he used the , .class. He finished :21st at Daytona on a PR setting directly out of the se rvice manual on Motorsports Suzuki. ,chris D'Aluis io, who : the Honda RS250 . Renfrow also said he had fina ncial troubles throughout las t yea r spoke with Zero Gravity, fellow' 2SO 'GP corn- . campaigning an .Aprilia 250, is retired from . petitor Nick lenatsch, and lenatsch'stuner . motorcycle racing,. but continues to work as Steve Biganski about building him' a bike if'· an engineer at Cannondale Bicycies. the need a rose. . . . . ' . . Team OliverlYamaha's Rich Oiiver last won J onath an Cornwell had yet another disa p- the 250 GP race at Daytona-in 1990 when he pointing Daytona finish when the power-valve was riding for Kenny Roberts on the Marlboro' 'linka ge on his Hyd· Mech Saws Yamaha Yamaha team. He'd finished second In 1989 TZ250 broke on the fourth lap. He'd had a to John Kocinski and also finished second the 'similar,problem last year at the AMA Sears tasttwo years to Jimmy Filice. Oliver's fi rst Point National, but, in,that race , .the power trip to' the Daytona 250 GP.winner's circle ' 'valve stuck open. At Daytona it closed s hut. "I, Came in 1987 when he finished third to Kork was feeli.ng happy arid thought things were Ballington and Kocinski, , going okay, I was watching the show in front of me and, with' a lillie luck, I could've been Team Olive r/Yama ha 's Ch uck Sorensen with the guys the whole race.".When Dave Said that he knew he had some work to do to Ray, Cornwell's mechanic' in'1994, decided ' caich up to tearno wner.Bich Oliver. "The way ' not to go to the 'races this, yea r for.financial . I see ~ is it's two steps and they're'very large. reasons, Cornwell was left to take care of the In the heat race when I took over the lead I bike himself, though he had two friends - Gra- . was riding over my head and I could feel ~. I' ham Borden and BobbySchroeder - helping have to keep building to see if I can get to at Daytona. He said that tuning'as well as rid- . that pace. I'm not quite sure if it's all setup in , ing wasn't much 01 'a distraction.."A lillie bit, . the motorcycle. It's going to take some work not as muchas I though. t.thouqbtwe made ' toqet to that level and to get your brain to . out okay, conslderinq. We had basically the accept going tlirough a comer like that.'

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