Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AMA 250cc Grand P rixSeries A 75Dcc Supersport Series MA All Oliver Merkel rebounds By Henny Ray Abrams LEXINGTON,OH,]UN. 4 ich Oliver gave a riding clinic on a sunny afternoon at the MidOhio Sports Car Course, but no one was able to stay close enough to learn anything. From the drop of the green flag to the wave of the checkers, the defending National Champion was, as usual, untouchable, lapping nearly two seconds a lap fas te r than the field and drawing away so quickly tha t the only question was who would finish second. That ho nor would go to his young Team Oliver Ya ma ha tea mm ate, C h uck Sorensen, wh o took a bit longer to solidify his posi tion. Sorensen was hou nd ed during the m iddle pa rt of the race by vetera n Mike Sullivan on a 1993 TZ250 Yama ha. Sullivan closed to within 1.3 seconds at the halfway point, then slowly dropped back, though he was able to finish on the podium fo r the first time in his nine-year AMA career, afterward proclaiming it, "the happiest day in my life. I've been working for this all my !ife." Fourth place was contested the entire race with Southwest Motorsports holding off the charging ick Ienatsch, of Zero Gravity, who sneaked under Greg Esser at the line. Mark Foster, Randy Ren frow, Jeff Vos and Bobby Keith filled out the top R to. Oliver completed the 20-lap, 48-rnile race in 31 minutes, 22.490 seconds, averaging 91.793 mph. His margin of victory was 22.331 seconds, though he could easily have made it much larger. By the eighth lap he had a IS-second lead. In winning his third race in four tries this yea r, Oliver so lidified his championship points lead. With six races to go, Oliver leads lenatsch, 137-116, with Sillliva n third at 102, and Sorensen fourth at 96. The live television broadcast of the Superbike race moved the 250s to the last race on the program, and tha t was fine with Oliver . With rain wiping ou t much of p ractice and the heat races , the 250cc GP riders had very little dry track time and the track had been wiped clean by a heavy rain on Saturday . night. After a full day of racing, Oliver found the circuit had much more grip than it had on Friday and Saturday, though there were still a few damp spots where water was coming up through the track surface. It wa sn't long after the green flag dropped that Oliver began his disappearing act. Running nearly ~wo seconds a lap quicker than anyone; Oliver left the pack behind and spent much of the race watching his pit board. "1 wanted to build up enough of a lead that if 1 got into traffic 1d idn't have to take any chances," Oliver said . That wasn't a problem. Sorensen was quickly into second though he knew very early on that Oliv er would be tough to catch . "It's expected," Sorensen said of Oliver's speed. "I'm working on it and I'm on the recovery road from problems at Pomona and Laguna Seca." Like Oliver, Sorensen wa s watching his pit board and saw that he was being caught, though he didn't know by whom. By Paul Carru thers Photo by Henny Ray Abrams LEXINGTON, OH,]UN, 4 oshi mura Suzuki's Fred Merkel appeared to have the bit between his teeth coming into the MidOhio Sports Car Course round of the 750cc Superspo rt Series. The Californian had cras hed at the last rou nd at Laguna Seea, and he seemed hell-bent on reversing his fortu ne at Mid-O hio, And he did just that wit h a ru naway victory on his ma in riv al' s - Tom Kipp - hom e race track. Y (Above) Rich Oliver was his usu al dominant self at Mld-Qhlo and he easily won the 250Cc Grand Prix class. (Right) Christopher Rankin (57), Greg Esser (26), Mike Sullivan (74 ) and Nick Ienatsch do bailie behind Oliver and his teammat'l Chuck Sorensen. Sullivan ended up third, his first time ever to stand on the victory podium In an AMA National. "I did n't know who it was. I thought it was Nick (Ienatsch) . Whoever was back there, about halfway through I could see that I could keep it at plus two ," Sorensen said. It wasn't lenatsch - he had his hands full fighting for fourth - but Sullivan, who was riding the race of his life, catching Sorensen in the Keyhole and on the brakes at the end of the back straight. Sullivan had moved up to take over third on the seventh lap , and was within 1.3 seconds of Sorensen a t the crossed flags. Soon after , he got held up by some backmarkers and couldn't continue his run on Sorensen. Still, he was elated with his finish, proudly wearing his third-place medal well after the event ended. "I just put my head down and was bound and determined to get on the podium," he said in the winner's circle. Behind Sullivan were three riders fighting for fourth - Rankin, Esser and lenatsch. Rankin held the spot for most of the race, though lena tsch made a run at him forcing the Texan to brake later and later into the comers. For the final two laps he was braking into the apex at the end of the back straight and lenatsch couldn't get around him. "I was definitely riding motocross on pavement," Rankin said. "I figu red it was better to hold him off there (at the end of the back straight). It's hard to pass from there to the finish . Once I out- braked him on the last lap I knew I could beat him to the line." Esser then made a final run at lenatsch, running wide in the Carousel near the end of the lap, allowing the Spo rt Rider magazine editor to run under him in the final left-hand turn onto the straightaway, taking the spot by a bike length. a M ld-Ohlo Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio ' Res ults : June 4,1995 250« GP: 1. Rich Olivet , (Yam); 2 Chu ck Sorensen (Yam) ; 3. Mike Sulli va n (Yam); 4. Christopher Rankin (Yam); 5. Nick Ienatsch (Yam); 6. Greg Esser (Yam); 7. Mark Foster (Yam); 8. Randy Renfrow (Han); 9. Jeff V", (Apr); 10. Bobby Keith (Yam); 11. William Himm elsbach (Yam ); 12. John France (Han); 13. Jason Paden (Yam); 14. Rola nd San ds (Yam); 15. Andrew Trevitt (Yam); 16. John Sharrard (Yam); 17. Micha el Montoya (Yam); 18. Perry Me lneciuc (H o n); 19. Leo n Co rte, (Yam); 20. Dere k King (Ha n); 21. David Deronne (Yam); 22. Daniel Brenna n (Ya m ); 23 . Joe Sk rock i (Ya m ); 24. Mark Orch ar d (Ya m ); 25. Eric Stephens (Ya m); 26. Jo hn Froboese (Yam); 27. Tommy Hayden (Yam); 28. Brian Suttees (Yam); 29. Burke Meyers (Yam); 30. Jim Bonner (Yam); 31. Kevin Brown (Yam ); 32 Tim Hill (Yam). Tim e: 31 min.• 22490 sec. D istancee 20 laps. 48 miles. Average speed: 91.793 mph. Margin of victory: 22.331 sees. 2SOce GP CSHIP POINT STANDINGS (After 4 of 10 rounds): 1. Rich Oliver (137/3 wins ); 2. Nick Ienatsch (116); 3. Mike Sullivan (102); 4. Chuck Sorense n (%); 5. Greg Esser (91),6. Randy Renfrow (88); 7. Christopher Rank in (87); 8. Jeff Vos (68); 9. Jason Pad en (67); 10. Bobby Keit h (65 ); 11. Tak ah it o Marl (61/ 1 w in); 12. (TIE) Jeff France / Mark Fos ter (59); 14. Rola nd Sands (4& 15. William Himmelsba ch (39); 16. Dave Avery ); (33); 17. (TIE) John Sharra rd /Clintan Whitehou se / Derek King (31); 20. Joe Skrocld (0). Upcoming Rounds: Round 5 - ElkhartLake, WI, June 11 Round 6 ' Loudon, NH, June 18 In ultra-tricky racing condi tions, Merkel was really in a class by himself . The former two-time World Superbike Champion hounded Kipp early in th e race, took over on the sixth lap and was never headed again. Kipp, meanwhile, faded to finish fifth, but managed to maintain a semi-comfortable 13-point lead in the championship standings. That lead is not over Merkel, but over third-place finisher Thomas Wilson. Seeond place today went to Team Suzuki Sport's Aaron Yates, with the Georgian riding hard late in the race to almost challenge Merkel. Wilson and his Kinko's Kawasaki fin ished the day in third place, just clear of his teammate James Randolph and Kipp . Japan's Hikaru Miyagi rode his Honda CBR600FJ to a fine sixth-place finish in the 750cc class. Kipp leads Wilson, 128-115, in the championship with Randolph th ird on 112 points. Merkel jumps back into the top five wit h his victory, though he is 33 points behind Kipp. Yoshimura Suzuki's Donald Jacks, seventh today, is fifth with 86 points. With rivers running wild across the race track. in several spots, the 750cc final got under way with Kipp leading Merkel into turn one. Randolph held down third place with a gap ba ck to Wilson. Yates, meanwhile, completed the first lap in 10th place. Kipp continued to lead until Merkel 11

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