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(Left) Rich Oliver (1) and Jimmy Aliee (65) launch off the start line In the 250cc Grand Prix National; Oliver won, Aliee dropped out early with mechanical problems. (Below) Oliver broke Filice's record with his 21st career win. tango, Oliver stormed to his sixth win of the year, and fourth in a row. He won by 13.868 seconds and, for the fifth time this year, his teammate Chuck Sorensen followed him home. Oliver not only became the all-time 250cc GP win leader, he also broke Filice's Brainerd International Raceway race record by nearly 16 seconds. The defending National~hampion completed the 16-lap, 48-mile race in 27 minutes, 50.617 seconds at an average speed of 103.435 mph. For the third time this year, Hondamounted Randy Renfrow was third, crossing the line about 12 seconds behind Sorensen and a slightly larger margin in front of Zero Gravity's Nick Ienatsch. Performance Machine's Roland Sands was a few seconds in front of sixth-placed Greg Esser, the Fabweldbacked Floridian getting the better of Champion Land & Development's Mike Sullivan in the closing stages. Cine Camera's Jason Paden, Jeff Vos, and local hero Bryan Okubo rounded out the top 10. Oliver extended his points lead over Ienatsch to 40 points, 242-202, with three races to go. Sorensen is another 10 points back in third. There wasn't a whole lot to the race itself - it was mostly processional. Sorensen led the first lap, Oliver took over going into the' tight right-hand turn three and tried to make a break. "I stuck with him for a couple of laps," Sorensen said. But after that, he was gone. Halfway in and Oliver had better than six .seconds and he gained better than a second a lap to the end. His race might have been even more efficient had he not lost one of his good cylinders in an engine seizure on Friday. '1t means I have to go back to Fresno and sit on a work bench for a week grinding cylinders," Oliver said. Sorensen edged away from Renfrow, . though not with the urgency that Oliver had left him with. Still, the position wasn't in doubt after the early stages when Filice was there for a few laps, even though Sorensen said his Yamaha TZ250 wasn't running well. '1 think the bike was running rich. There wasn't any grunt .like before," Sorensen said. "This morning I did a 1:43.8, two or three of them, actually. In the race my best was a 44.2." Renfrow was in third by the fourth lap and ran there throughout, adding a second podium finish to his 125cc GP win the previous day. Fourth place was taken over by Ienatsch on the fifth lap as Filice began a fade that would take him out of the show. And when Filice pulled out on the seventh lap, Sands moved into fifth with Esser in his wake until the last few laps. Then Esser was able to gain some ground and finish close to four seconds in front of Esser. His race wasn't an easy one. Veteran Sullivan was seventh, dropping off the pace at the midpoint, then putting in a second half charge that h~d him on Esser's rear fender with three laps to go. Esser needed to weave on the front straight to stay in front of Sullivan, a tactic that worked on the penultimate lap and allowed him to keep his sixth. C\' Brainerd International Rac_ay Brainerd, Minnesota Results: July 16, 1995 250cc GRAND PRIX: 1. Rich Oliver (Yam); 2. Chuclc Sorensen (Yam); 3. Randy Renfrow (Hon); 4. Niclc lenatsch (yam); 5. Roland Sands (Yam); 6. Greg Esser (Yam); 7. Mike Sullivan (Yam); 8. Jason Paden (Yam); 9. Greg Vos (Apr); 10. Bryan Okubo (Yam); II. John France (Hon); 12. Bobby Keith (Yam); 13. John Sharrard (Yam); 14. Bruce Lind (Yam); 15. David Deronne (Yam); 16. Joe Skrocki (Yam); 17. Derek King (Hon); 18. Andre Castanos (Yam); 19. perry Melneciuc (Hon); 20. Don Grijalva (Yam); 21. Andy Edwards (Yam); 22. Glen Christianson (Yam); 23. Mark Foster (Yam); 24. jim Filice (Yam); 25. Leon Cortes (Yam). Time: 27 min. 50.617 sec. Distance: 16 laps, 48 miles. Average speed: 103.435 mph. Margin of victory: 13.868 sees. 2S0c< GRAND PRIX C'SHlP POINT STANDINCS (After 7 of 10 rounds): 1. Rich Oliver (242/6 wins); 2. Nick lenatsch (202); 3. Chuck Sorensen (192); 4. Mike Sullivan (178); 5. Randy Renfrow (173); 6. Greg Esser (154); 7. Bobby Keith (22); 8. Roland Sands (117); 9. (TIE) Christopher Rankin/jeff Vos (116); 11. jason Paden (115); 12. john France (04); 13. Mark Foster (93); 14, William Himmelsbach (72); 15. Derek King (69); 16. John Sharrard (67); 17. (TIE) Joe Skrocki/ Andrew Trevitt (62); 19. mE) Takahito Morl/Leon Cortes (61). Upcoming rounds Round 8 - East. 5t. Louis, Missouri, AuguSl13 Round 9 - Sonoma, Calif0tT!ia, August 27 j' By Henny Ray Abrams Photo by George Roberts BRAINERD, MIN, JULY 16 fter a season of close 750cc Supersport races, Yoshimura Suzuki's Fred Merkel blew Vance & Hines Yamaha's Tom Kipp away in Merkel's first race since the AMA ruled that his Yamaha YZF750 was illegal. In the end, all that had to be changed was the radiator and that didn't make much difference. The Ohioan was untouchable, cruising to his fifth win in seven races. The Yoshimura Suzuki rider started well and by the third of 16 laps, Merkel - who had set a new lap record in qualifying - was pulling away from the 33rider field on an overcast, windy, and cool afternoon. By the fourth lap he had better than a four-second lead and was pulling half a second per lapin the early going. At one point his margin was over eight seconds, then he was on cruise control, coasting across the line, sitting upright, with a cushion of 6.806 seconds. "The bike's running good," Merkel said. "The qualifying times were good. We were a second quicker than anybody. My times were only a couple of tenths off my qualifying time." From the start, Kipp couldn't keep up. But it had less to do with his bike than with the start of his race. He and Ebsco Media's Mark McDaniel hooked up at the start with Kipp getting by at the end of the second lap. At that point Merkel was making his break and Kipp would have to settle for second. "I think maybe we held each other up," Kipp said. '1 think I could make a race of it if I could get away with him." Instead of McDaniel, it was Team Suzuki Sport's Aaron Yates who made a run at Kipp, keeping him honest to the end. '1 had to ride hard. Those guys were right there the whole race. I couldn't slack off too much," Kipp said. "Fred (Merkel) and Kipp got out there and I couldn't make time on (Above) Fred Merkel (27) was dominant In the 750cc Supersport final, Nslly winning his fourth straight race. them," Yates said after finishing about 3.7 seconds behind Kipp. McDaniel ended up sixth after fighting with Yates much of the race, with Kinko's Kawasaki's Thomas Wilson sticking to the pair, then dropping off at the end to a secure.fifth. His Kinko's teammate James Randolph was sixth in front of Fritz Kling. Merkel completed the 16-lap, 48-mile race in a new race record of 28 minutes, 17.329 seconds at an average speed of 101.807 mph. He chipped away another three points of Kipp's class lead, trailing 200224 with three races left. "That's a lot of points to catch up and I can't do anything but win," Merkel conceded. "I don't wish anyone bad luck, but something has ·to happen to him for me to have a chance." Wilson and Randolph are third and fourth in points at 189 and 184, respectively. The flag dropped at around 4 p.m. and Merkel was away with the lead group, .taking over the lead by the end of the first lap. It was a spot he wouldn't