Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Ignition trouble left last year' s championsh ip runne r-up Nick lenats ch with a seventh-place finish . moved back by Fabweld's Greg Esser on the final lap, then high-sided in turn one, with Esser running into him. The Fabweld Yamaha rider remounted to finish sixth, though he thought he'd one worse, with King ending up 18th. In the end it was Team World Sports Imports' Bobby Keith, who fought for second early in the race before dropping back, who took the spot. He was comfortably in front of Deutsche Financial Services/Ross Baron Racing 's Mark Foster, with Esser sixth. Seventh went to Zero Gravity's Nick Ienatsch, the second-placed rider in last year's cha mpionship slowed by a faulty spark plug after getting away near the front. Perry Melneciuc was eigh th, then . Performance Machine's Kristian Kaas, the Finnish former Grand Prix rider in front of Oliver' s new team mate, Jason Roth. O nce again, Oliver finds himself in a famil ia r positio n at the hea d of the championship standings wi th 35 points, th ree more than Renfrow . Sands is third with 30. There isn 't much to say abou t th e race from Oliver's sta ndpoin t. He was in front of the 43-rider field every inch of th e way, build ing up a seven-seco nd lead by the fourth lap and expanding it with ease. The only time he would see ot her riders is w hen he lap ped them and he d id a fair amount of that. The question put to him was how to top it. "We go to (the next AMA race at) Pomona and do it allover again," Oliver said after winning the firs t race for his new chief mechanic, Jeff M y ers. "This win, for some reason, meant a lot more after the winter thinking about it, trying to get the team ready. There was some talk of me possibly riding, test riding a bike in Europe, which threw a lot of complexity into m y w inter. It changed my mental outlook somewhat. That's all fallen through, so I'm here to stay, and I love it. It really got me motivated. I trained extra hard. I got in a littl e bit better shape than I normally would be at this time of year and we worked on the bike a little bit extra and all th ose th in gs combined gave u s a beginning edge for the season. It's no t going to last. Everbody's catching up really fa st." Tha t's p rob ab ly how Roland Sands felt in the closing stages of the race after ha ving it to himself for much of the d ay. San ds had moved into second on the second lap, buildi ng up nearly a six-second cus hion on the sixth lap after having raced early w ith Mexican Pablo EscaIante Och oa until Ochoa was shown the " m ea tb a ll " fl a g for ju m pin g th e start. Ochoa ignored the flag and stayed out, befo re pull in g i!' on the 14th lap. By th en Renfrow was up to fourth place after blistering through the pack. He'd mo ved into the top 10 on the third lap, caught a pack contesting third on the sixth, and used the d raft to move forward . By the midway point he w as up to sixth, fourth on the next lap , then third on the 13th after passing Esser, who had hooked up much earlier with Derek King. Renfrow clo sed on second-pl ac ed Sands on the 16th lap, following him out of the chicane, catching a draft off of . NASCAR tum four, and going around on the high side of the tri-oval at th e start/ finish line. Sands stuck to Renfrow for the next two laps, but the veteran was able to take his lead into and through the chicane, outrunning Sands to the flag. "I got a great drive out of the chicane, an d there was a guy in front of me and I got a tiny bit of a tow off of him and I d on't believe much in swerving so I just saved th e swervin g for the very fin al , " Renfrow sai d. "I just wen t straigh t for a lon g, long tim e an d then at the very end I gave a litt le swerve and said a p rayer for the last seco nd or two." "It was a great ride on Ran dy's part," San ds said. "I know he started fro m the back row. I tried to stretch out a lead on third place early on . I was able to do that, but I lost my knee-slider about five laps fro m the en d and ha d problems in the left-handers after that. I tried to hold it together, but Randy came up an d , wow!" The next battle was over fourth place, Kaas leading King and Esser for much of the race until making a mistake with three laps to go. That left it to King and Esser, with King going down in one and Esser becoming the victim: "It was going great until the white flag, " Esser said. "Derek King came by and high-sided in fron t of me and I hit him . I got back up and still fin ished around 10th (sixth, in fact), but I should have been fourth." Instead it was Keith taking the sp ot after riding mostly alone in seventh for m uch of the race and suffering from a horsepower defici t. "We were down a little bit on top speed and I just cou ldn't work the d r a ft , " Keith said. "I was catchi ng back up to them and I sat back, because th ey were reall y bangin g bars all over the place. I played it safe and it p aid off. Those guys took each other out." M ark Foster was a mostly solitary fifth and no t d ispleased wi th the result, consideri ng th at h e'd b roken h is left wrist in a motocross spill about five weeks earlier and was on an Ed Toomey Yamaha that was in the early stages of a development. Daytona Intematlonal Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Res ults: March 8, 1996 (Round 1 of 10) 2S0cc GRAND PRIX: 1. Ric h Oliver (Ya m) ; 2. Randy Renfrow (Hon); 3. Roland Sands (Yam) ; 4. Bobby Keith (Yam) ; 5. Mark Foster (Yam) ; 6. Ct'eJi!: Esser (Yam ); 7. Nick len a tsch (Ya m ); 8. Perry Melneciuc (Hon); 9. Kriatian Kaas (Yam); 10. Jason Roth (Yam); 11. Bill Himmelsbach (Yam); 12. Bran d on Welton (Yam) ; 13. John France (Hon): 14. Cliff Tolley (Yam) ; 15. Alan Patterson (Yam) ; 16. Mark Orcha rd (Yam) ; 17. Leon Cortes (Yam); 18. Derek King (Yam); 19. Frank Aragaki (Yam) ; 20 . Juan Ca rlos Garcia Hernandez (Yam) ; 21. John Burgoyne (Hon ); 22 . Freddy Ma ru ca (Yam) ; 23. Keith Floyd (Yam); 24. David Pare (Han); 25 . Eri c Stephens (Yam); 26 . Hans Ba ttl e (Yam); 27 . Gary Berbaum (Yam ); 28 . Lee Pounders (Han); 29 . David Binch (Yam); 30. Andy Ed wards (Yam); 31. Kevin Carl in (Ya m); 32. Cha rles Ma c ka y (Ya m) ; 33 . Timothy O'Connor (Yam); 34. Pablo Escalante Ochoa (Yam); 35. Brad y Wel ton (Yam); 36. Derek King (Hon ); 37. Robert Ze rbisias (Yam ); 38. Roma n Frias (Yam); 39. Rich ar d inman (So2); 40. Jonathan Co rnwell (Yam); 41. Tob ias Leonhardt (Hon); 42. Jeff Vos (Ap r), Time: 35 min...34.625 sec. D islance: 18 laps. 62 mites. Average S~d: 108.070 mp h. Margin of Victory: 28.282 sec. 2S0« GRAND PRIX CHAMPIONSHIP POINT ST A...'lDL'lGS: (After one of 10 rounds) : 1. Rich Oliver (35) ; 2. Ra nd y Renfrow (32); 3. Rola nd Sands (30) ; 4. Bobby Keith (28); S. Mark Foster (26); 6. Greg Esser (25); 7. Nick lenatseh (24); 8. Perry Melneci u c (23); 9. Kristian Kaas (22) ; 10. Jason Roth (21); I I. Bill Himmelsbach (20); 12. Brandon Welton (19); 13. John France (18); 14. aifi Tolley (17); IS. Alan Patterson (16); 16. Mar k Orchard (15); 17. Leon Cortes (14); t8. Derek King (13); 19. Frank Aragaki (12); 20. Juan Ca rlos Garcia Hernandez (11); 21. John Burgoyne (10); 22. Freddy Ma ruca (9); 23. Keith Floyd (8); 24. David Pare (7); 25. Eric Step hens (6); 26. Hans Battle (5); 27. Gary Berbaum (4); 28. Lee Pounders (3); 29. David Binch (2); 30. Andy Ed wards (1). Upcoming rounds: Round 2 - Pomona, CA, April 21 Round 3 - Monterey, CA, April 2B to' are you going keep' it around? And I don't know if I can take full blame or responsibility. for an entire type of racing. But I sure.believe in it and I sure try to put on as good and pro. . ~ .,. Randy Renfrow's charge to the front was fessional a show and profess ional effort as I especially impressive considering how he felt · can: and I try 'to be 'generous with my'abilities and pass them down to the riders on theteam about the 'start: "That wasatwo-wave start: . Renfrow said. "The last row, our row..was.the and the crew. I try to helpother riders as much second wave. and the other guys took offand I · as J can without cutting my own -throat. I'm sat there and sat there and sat there and finally hoping 'that Roland and his teammale and my the guy (the starter) 'started walking toward the teammate and Randy and all of us have the ladder. And when he finally took a step up the : greatest rate s that you've ever see n - 'and 1 ladder I took off: It' 'was a lousy.start: But'I want 10 win them all.don't think it would have made much differ ence. HoW marly. people can you pass in tum . Much of the 250cc GP class is beingfielded by one and two , and I caught everybody by tum ' an effort put forth by Ross Baron Racing's Ed two . So I don't think it wouldhave made any Toomey: with help from Wayne Rainey and significant difference in the outcome in the Rainey's iea m manager Tim O'S ullivan race. The longerI 'was with Roland. the better "t hro uqh' the back door . " Toomey sa id.. the chance was that.Roland was going to beat Toomeyis.responsible for Ihe machine')' of Pro me. The best-case 'scenario was I caught him Pac/Cycle City/Ross Baron Racing's Derek just when I caught him. hammer him and put in King..Brandon and Brady Welton of Gold Hill a hard lap. and he doesn't have any time to fig- Racing, Deutsche Financial Services/Ross Baron Racing's ' Mark Foster: and Apache ' .. ure anything out.Honda/UltimateMachine Company's J ohn BurSecond-place finisher Roland Sands.is off goyne. The Weltons and King are.on 1995 12 10 a good start inonly his second year of pro- Yamahas. Foster is on a 1996 Yamaha. and : fessional racin9. Finland's Kristian Kaas is Burgoyne is on a 1996 Honda RS250. Toomey Sands' Performance Machine teammate. and has also set up a training camp.at his shop in. he said that Kaas' experience in'racing the Sacramento where the riders train: "We want 250cc class 'in the 1994 World Championships t o, giv~ so me new boys a.chance ." . Toomey . 'has been invaluable in setting up their Yamaha said, adding that he was responsible for the bike preparation which allows the riders to con12250s. ·centrate on racing. :We'119ive them 900d qualIt has become the custom for Rich Oliver to ity bikes." He also said they were going to do have to defend his'continuing success , and. . things differently from a marketing standpoint. Daytona was no 'different: Though there has -We may break it into teams of two," . been a.diminution of talent. this year. Oliver is optimistic aboutthe future: "I think the class is ' Canadian ':'on ·C o~nwell. who.spent last .pretty' strong: O liver said. "There were 47 . year as .a technician for Ohlins on the World entrants at Daytona.'But the trick.is to drag S uperbike lour. made a return to racing.at 'them 'all to'. the next race and keep them all Daytonabut it wasn't a' successful one. Com,really full.·Some people have said that I've well only completed four laps before pulling in' been a detriment to the Class, and 1don't know .with enqlnetroubles. "I've had better days. I how to take that.' How would you' fee"ifyou go .was.stertinqtoqo through the traffic . trying to 'out and do'yourjob as best as You can and win get some' clear track s o-l could go a little .the race and people say you should lea've? ' quicker: Itstarted to slow down. then it didn't': How do you win in that argument? People look . feel good comingthrough the chicane. Ithink it at me and say, :Well Rich. what are you going broke the crank. I'll take it apart when I get . to do about your class in the AMA. and how'. home;- . Brieflv. ..

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