Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

;.. RO'AD RACE: '. :SUnoeo ~ FoeISFonnuIaU$A-Series.. Round 3: Grattan Raceway • el Instead of crashing, he straightened the bike, ran off the track and "into the tulies. I was able to turn it, get it going, and was going through the gears in the dirt," he said. '1 was doing stuff I hadn't done all weekend to pass those guys." Though Sorensen was able to save it, many riders weren't as lucky. As previously stated, Oliver, who'd crashed at the end of the front straight in qualifying, crashed in leg one. Sadowski crashed in leg two and had the wind knocked out of him. He was taken to a local hospital for observation. The cause of the aash wasn't immediately known, though Sorensen, riding behind him at the time, and Harrington, the unintended victim, both thought he must have lost his brakes. "He came by and grazed me, knocked my rear end out. There was no way he was braking when he hit me," Harrington said. But team owner Bruce LaBelle said they didn't know what the By Henny Ray Abrams 10 GRAITAN, MI, JUNE 25 n the end Dutchman Racing's homeboy Fritz Kling validated the old maxim: There is no substitute . for cubic horsepower. Using the brute strength of the Dutchman Yamaha- FZRI000, the Lansing, Michigan, resident stormed to a clean sweep of the two Sunoco Race Fuels Formula USA races at his home track of Grattan Raceway; though he did so under the incessant buzzing pressure of Team Oliver Yamaha's TZ25D-mounted Rich Oliver on a scorchingly hot day that was plagued by a number of crashes. The battle was horsepower over handling, with Kling able to outmotor Oliver up the 3000-foot front straight, and Oliver slicing his way through the 10turn infield only to lose the advantage at the end of the straight. In the first leg, Oliver was able to . take the lead on the sbcth of 12 laps around the twisty two-mile course in western Michigan. But two laps from the end Oliver, turning the quickest laps of the weekend, went wide into turn three and hit a bump, unweighting the front end and sending him skittering down the track. He quickly re-mounted, but Kling was long gone on his way to an 11.03-secorid victory. Oliver ended up fifth. '1 was hoping r d do that in front of my friends and family. It's great," Kling said. "I think if he'd (Oliver) stayed up he might have had me. I couldn't keep up in the infield. I couldn't muscle the thing around." In the second and faster of two legs, Kling settled into the lead, Oliv.er into second, and that's the way it would end. Oliver probed and prodded, but Kling wouldn't be denied his second win in as many tries, though the Californian kept him honest to the line losing by a mere .15 second. Because Oliver was so close, "I couldn't do the wheelie I wanted," said Kling. Oliver's chances at a win were hampered by a crash in the hairpin on the second lap. .Team LaBelle's Dave Sadowski, second in the first leg, ran into American Flyers-backed Todd Harrington (sixth in leg one) taking both out in (Above) Frtlz Kling (77) and Rich Oliver (97) were this close throughout the second leg of the F-USA final at Grattan Raceway Park; Kling won both legs, with Oliver crashing out of the first race and'ftnlshlng second In the second. (Right) Michael Martin (96) and Chuck Sorensen (2) battled in both races, with Martin getting the edge on the . Yamaha lZ25Occmounted Sorensen; the pair finished third and fourth, respec:tlvely, both times out. an area that Oliver, and teammate Chuck'Sorensen, had been using for latebraking passing maneuvers. Because of a waving yellow, Oliver couldn't make his move there until the final lap when the ambulance was cleared..But Kling anticipated the move, ran it in deep, and denied Oliver the chance. "I knew Rich was there the whole time," Kling said. '1 got really wide the last lap. I knew I had to do it." "He rode fantastic," Oliver acknowledged. "Anyone who watched the race knows what happens when you have horsepower versus handling." Kling earned $5000 in prize money for winning the two legs, plus at least another $2700 in contingency money from Yamaha, EBC Brakes, Wiseco, and Michelin. Oliver pocketed $2125, plus contingencies, and another $500 for winning the Middleweight GP. Third in both legs, was another horsepower versus handling battle; Team Valvoline Suzuki's Michael Martin against the TZ250 Yamaha of Team Oliver Yamaha's Chuck Sorensen. In both legs the result was the same, Martin, riding with a separated shoulder, coming out on top, though he got some help from Sorensen in the first one. While running in second with less than two laps to go, Sorensen felt his front end starting to slide entering the hairpin. cause was. "He (Sadowski) said Harrington got on the brakes early and he tagged him," LaBelle said before the destroyed CBR900 was returned to the . pits. "Dave's okay. He has some chest pains. He hit his chest pretty hard. He was conscious, aware, al¢." It was a particularly tough weekend for LaBelle. Sadowski's EBC Brakes Triple Crown Challenge teammate, Dale Quarterley, crashed spectacularly when the right front disk on his Team LaBelle Honda CBR900 shattered upon braking at the end of the front straightaway. Both bike and rider were catapulted into the air, across a sand trap, and over a berm. Quarterley was strapped to a back board and taken by ambulance to a hospital where it was discovered he'd suffered no broken bones or serious injuries, though he was kept overnight after biting into his tongue. Virginia Breeze's Chris Taylor also crashed, though his first leg mishap was fairly low speed and caused no real damage to bike or rider. Michael Martin and Oliver ended the day tied on points with 92, after two of four rounds of the F-USA competition. Tied for third with 68 are Chris Taylor and Martin's Valvoline Suzuki teammate Chuck Graves, who rode with damaged ligamenls in his left foot to ninth and 10th on the day. RACE ONE Kling got the jump on the 26-rider field in the first race, with Martin second in front of Oliver, Taylor, and Sorensen. On the next lap Oliver was under Martin to take second as Martin went up and out of the saddle when he screwed on the power too early. The bobble caused Martin to lose ground on the leaders, who soon settled into their own duel, leaving Martin to the pack. On the fourth lap the Valvoline Suzuki rider was out of the saddle again, this time more spectacularly out of the lefthanded tum seven. Though he was able to save it, Sadowski was quickly by and Sorensen made his way past by the end of the lap. By now Kling and Oliver had close to an eight-second gap on Sadowski, who was third in front of Sorensen, Martin, and Harrington. Oliver stuffed his way under the big Yamaha of Kling in turn seven on the seventh lap, but Kling was able to take the lead back before the strip. Oliver did it again a lap later, this time making it stick and pulling away slightly. He clocked his fastest lap of the day on . the ninth, a 1:21.54, well under the time he'd clocked to take pole position in timed qualifying. At the end of the ninth lap he had a l.5-second lead, but it would come undone a few turns later. Pushing hard, Oliver ran wide and found the one bump in turn three, an off-camber left. After skidding to a stop he did a quick inventory, found nothing broken, and started off again, dirt spewing out of his fairing and onto his rear tire'for a few turns. He crpssed the line in sixth on the 10th lap and would make up one spot at the end. By then Kling was long gQne, winning by better than 11 seconds, with Sadowski second. Sadowski had been running in third behind Sorensen after Oliver's crash, when Sorensen ran into the woods at the hairpin and headed for the pond. "1 went in there too hot and felt the front start to go," Sorensen said. "I almost went into the pond." When he got back on the track he was in fourth place, where he would finish, behind Martin, who seemed happy to have the race over. "1 had a few scary moments out there," Martin said. "1 was on the gas too hard. I know 1 slowed Sadowski down. I was tying to hang on out there and keep that baby up. Everybody was having problems falling off at the end. I was counting them. There goes another one, and another one. My shoulder was hurting a little bit. I was trying to hard. I was trying to overcompensate a little bit for my injury." "The track changed a lot from the . first to the sixth lap," Sadowski said. "A lot of corners deteriorated, especially the hairpin. Those 250 guys showed me a thing or two about corner speed." RACE TWO For the second race in a row Kling read the green light best and was away in the lead. Oliver, Harrington, Martin, Sadowski, and Sorensen followed for a lap before Sadowski ran into Harrington entering the hairpin. Both Sadowski and his Team LaBelle Honda CBR900 were thrown over the guardrail, with Harrington, who was riding with a broken left collarbone, also being knocked down. Sorensen was right behind at the time with a perfect view. He said it appeared that Sadowski didn't have any front brakes "and he knew it and he jammed on the rear," Sorensen said. That brought an ambulance and a waving yellow and defined the race into

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