Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

aUowing Yates past. A short time later, Road Atlanta Braselton, Georgia Results: October 15, 1995 ali ver used the agility of the TZ250 Yamaha to work his way by in the esses. "] was just trying to mess them up, rattle them, tmow their rhythm off," Oliver said, hoping that if he got . between them he could break the "gang draft." . Out of turn seven on the third lap, Taylor drove by Kling to take the lead, but Kling soon took it back. Graves had settled into fifth, trailing Yates and Oliver, but would soon corne under fire from behind. When the halfway flags flew, Taylor was back in front of Kling, followed closely by Yates and Oliver, and now Higbee, who had joined the leaders after dispatching Graves. Taylor and Kling went back and forth, Kling finally by for good on the eighth lap. But Yates was on the move and went by both Kling and Taylor on lap nine, taking Kling on the back straight as the Yamaha rider struggled with an ill-handling machine. "My bike was sliding in the first one," said Kling. "When the wind picked up it handled funny." The race came down to the last I~p and a backmarker. Yates got a slightly better line by the traffic on the inside, while Kling went outside and came up just short at the line. "We had a little bit of a tire problem at the end of the race; it got a little hot," Kling said, then predicted, "We're going to come back and win the next one." "] didn't think I'd get by those guys," said Yates. "Once] did, ] took off." Oliver was past Taylor for third on the ninth lap and carne in about a second behind Kling. Taylor, Higbee and Graves rounded out the top six. "] pulled some .moves at the the end there that] didn't know if 1 could get around, but I didn't care," Oliver said. "If ] could beat them into turn one, 1 could beat them to the end of the lap. Then I'd go after the next guy." "Mostly 1 was racing with Fritz (Kling) and Rich (Oliver). Racing with those guys kind of relaxed me," Taylor said. "] was reading my pit board. My mechanic, Charlie Safely, was giving me good signals. ] knew who was in front and who was behind." Graves was safely in front of Glenn Szarek, the Baltimore resident just in front of Michael Martin. Michael McIntyre and Team Pearls Suzuki's Darryl Saylor filled out the top 10. RACE TWO The second-race grid was determined by the finishing order from the first, giving Oliver and Taylor a chance to start on equal footing. Kling again went to the front early and immediately edged away. By the third lap he had moved ahead to better than two seconds, and the lead grew to more than five at the midpoint of the 12lap race. From there it. was on cruise control and he brought the "Yamamonster" home the winner for the fourth time this year in F-USA competition. "It wasn't easy," Kling insisted after the win. "] kept looking at the pit board. It was up to five (seconds) and down to two." The difference, Kling said, was a tire change. "It was the same tire. We went from a production one to a handmade tire. It seemed to work better. "] went into the first corner on the first lap and put my head down. ] wanted to lead," I

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