Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 2: Pomona Fairplex Oliver Racing 's Rich Oliver was again the class of the 250cc Grand Prix field. This time , though, t he competition was a lot closer. Oliver by less By Mark Hoyer Photo by Kinney Jones POMO:-JA, CA, APR. 21 fter Rich Oliver' s dram atic defeat of h is nearest ri val by so me 2S seconds at Daytona Interna tional Speed w ay jus t over a month ago, people were begin ning to wonder just what it was going to take to close the gap on the reigning 250cc Grand Prix Champion . After a practi ce crash that ground a couple of fingers down on his thrott le hand an d blowing u p hi s bes t motor during Frid ay practice, those people are still w ondering, but jus t a little bit less. Like arou nd 21 seconds or so less. For while the Team Oliver Yamaha rid er still won the race at the Pomon a Fairplex, it was b y a consid erabl y sm aller m argin of 7.675 seconds over veteran racer and former dirt tracker Mike Sullivan, also riding a Yamaha, but his a '93 model tun ed by Brian Swart. Sullivan was hap py just t o h a v e m a d e it to th e st a rti n g line on time, never mind lan d ing ,the runner- up spot on th e podium at Po mona . "We h ad pulled the cy lin der head to check th e color of the piston to make sure the jetting w as right and we st rip pe d one of the (sttf h oles," said the Wash ington d) rider, whose previou s best 250cc AMA finish was a th ird at Mid-Ohi o last year. "We had to put a He licoil in just before th e race and we barely m ade it to th e line." Sullivan got a strong s tart and held second plac e at the end of the first lap but was quickl y m ov e d to third when the ever-efficient Oliv er took his ea rly stab at the lead, first passing Sulliva n and then eventual third -place finisher Randy Renf row, who had gotten the h oleshot and early lead. After Oliv er took over, Sullivan ran th ir d for a sho rt time behin d Renfrow and while it took a little bit of work, after a few tries Sullivan w as ab le to make a pass sti ck on th e Mot e -Liberty-back ed -rider and held a steady pace to finish second wit h a fairly comfortable margin of arou n d A tw o seconds a t th e en d of th e IS -la p race. A su rprise fourth was Ros s Baro n Racing's Mark Foster w ith Zero Gravity' s Nick len at sch en d ing h is race in fifth after wh at he felt was a slow star t. Olive r leaves Pom ona with a perfect 70 point s, looking well on h is wa y to a third co nsecuti ve championship in a class he has virtu ally owned for the pa st tw o seaso ns. Renfr ow sits second on 62, wh ile Foster is third wi th 54. After nailing the holeshot at the star t of the IS-lap rac e, p ole-sit ter Renfrow had looked set to make a race of it w ith Oliver. "My start w as great," said Renfro w, who just turned 40: "I nailed the start an d got the holeshot. I had a hard tim e rig h t off the lin e with a w he elie an d go t si d eways, bu t go t It b a ck do wn." Renfrow w a s fo llowed close ly b y both Sulli van and Oliver with Ienatsch and Derek King follow ing . The leading trio finished the first lap in their starting order, but Oliver fir st found hi s way past Sullivan, then rou ghl y h alfway through the second lap H onda-mounted Renfrow ran wide in turn seven, lettin g Oliver fly by. "When Rich go t by I didn 't qu ite make th e tu rn ," said Renfrow. "I ran almost all the way off the track and he passed me whe n I di d tha t." The Virginian migh t·have been more aggressive in trying to salvage his line, but the bumpy track with it s large number o f pa in t lines cro ssing at va rious po in ts force d him to exercis e caution. "You get out to an unfam iliar part of the track and you ju st can't be su re," he sa id. "I h ad n o problem with the paint lin e, but I was scared anyway." "I got a p retty good start but Randy beat us to the first turn," said 34-yearold Oliver . "I followed him for abou t a la p a n d a h al f, he went wide in tu rn seven and I slipped u nderneath him." A fte r t h a t, th e .r ac e for fi r st wa s esse ntially over and Oliver did what he seems to do best, steadily pulli ng away to wi n by over seven secon ds , th ou gh not qu ite as quickly as he wou ld ha ve liked. "It took me a while to ge t some wha t of a lead," he said . "I was just trying n ot to go b er serk. I d idn' t r eall y kno w wha t the competition had to offer. I start ed turnin g 27s and pullin g a hal f a secon d a lap which got me up to a plus five and I wa s able to hold it there, but usu ally by ha lfway I start to gain a little mor e, so I step ped it up an d go t it to p lus seven." With Oliver ou t o f th e picture, th e focus fell ba ck to th e fig ht for se co nd p lace betwee n Renfrow an d Sullivan, but th at didn't last lon g either as Sulli van immedi ately started putting heav y pressure on th e n ow-sec ond -p la ced Ren frow . The p air ran neck and neck for aro und tw o laps but by the end of th e fou rth lap th e Simpson Constructi on / Dick Wall-backed Sullivan finally made the pass stick through turn nine . "Sullivan actually passed me twice," sai d Renfrow. "The second time he got by he pa ssed me on the outside through th e ca rou sel. I have a rea l ha rd ti me w ith that corn er. He just rode around faster than me." . Renfrow was ab le to h an g in for a while, b u t once h e a nd Sullivan hi t lapped traffic, Su llivan was ab le to pull away. "I think I was taking a few more chances through traffic than he (Renfro w) w as and it rea lly help ed me get away," sai d Sullivan. Their early scrap for the runner-up spot allow ed Sullivan and Ren frow to pull a gap on fourth-p lace starter lenat sch , an d King in fift h . Kin g p assed len atsch e ar ly in the race to secure fourth, bu t one lap later he was running 14th . His drop in position put Ienatsch back wher e he started, just a little more alone this time as the now -fifth-p laced Foster w as t r a ili n g so me dis tance behind. Some five lap s' into th e race, however, Foster had reeled in the Zero Grav it y rider an d m ade the pass for fou rth, a position he wo uld hold to the end. . Af ter a slow s tar t a n d grap p li ng wi t h chas s is se tu p for much of the we eke n d, numb er-two plate holder lenats ch was disa ppointed with his performance. "I just di d n' t ride it well," said lenatch. "I took too lon g to ge t into it rh y th m an d just wa sn't agg res sive enough in th e first five lap s." He felt bet ter for the las t half of th e race but m ade a m istake thro ugh turns 12 and 13, thus lo si ng hi s ch ance at ge tting back p ast Foster. ' "I go t int o the chicane area too hot," s ai d th e Spo r t Rider e d it o r, "an d it dr oppe d m e fr om Foster . I a lmos t cau gh t him at the end ." Early in th e race Foster thou gh t he m ight ha ve a chance to ru n wi th Renfro w but m ade a mi stake in tr yin g to pass a lap ped rider throu gh the difficult turn nine. "I caught Ren frow ,when h e h it la ppers." said San Ju an Cap istrano, California's Foster. "I tri ed 'g etting th e lap p er, b ut whe n I g o t o n th e gas I ' m issed th e brak e and stepped on th e footpeg instead . The rear end went way ou t and I alm ost high- sided." Tha t mist ake gave Re n fr ow so me b re ath in g room and he would n 't be ch allen ge d again. Toward th e en d of th e race, Foster would face so me slight pressure from lena ts ch , who h a d dropped h is la p times into the mid-1:27s by the last two laps. "My (pit) boa rd said p lus five so I starte d cruising thi nking he (Ienatsch) wasn't eve n on th e sa me s tr a ight as m e, " s a id Foster. "I popped so me wheeli es an d started mes sing around . Wh en I looked back at th e checker ed , th ere he was an d I tho ught, 'that' s no five seconds .' '' And while it wasn't five secon ds, it wa s enough for Fos ter to ha ng on to his fourth-p lace finis h with Iena ts ch fift h . Performance Machine' s Kristian Kass was sixth after closing in on lenatsch at the end, but the combination of wrist pain and a rear Dunlop that was provid ing no tra ction by the end of t he race co llu ded to put a sto p to his progress. Road Racing World 's Ch ris Roger s was seventh , with Cliff Tolley, Jeff Leggitt an d Bobby Keith rounding ou t the top 10. After a strong third at th e ope ning ro u n d. in Davtona, Kass' Performance Machine te~ate Roland Sands ended his ra ce ea rly with a cras h on the first lap. "It w as m y fau lt," sai d the disap p ointed San ds. "I got a h orrible sta rt and w as running like 11th ." Sands wen t int o turn se ve n an d tried a dram ati c late-brak ing maneuver to make up a few p laces, but it didn't work out and Sand s lo st th e fr ont en d , s liding into Team ' World Sports Imports' Bobby Keith. "I went in wi th the rear whee l in the air and t r ie d to pas s five g uys w h e n I sh ou ld have only passed three. It' s the first and last time I'll take anybody else out. " ('X Pomona Falrplex Pomona, Californ ia Resu lts: April 21, 1996 2S0cc G RA N D P RIX: 1. Rich Oliver (Yam ); 2. Mike Sullivan (Yam); 3. Ran dy Renf row (Ho n); 4. Mark Foster (Yam ); 5. Nick Ien atsch (Yam ); 6. Kristian Kass (Yam ); 7. Ch ris Rogers (Yam ); 8. Cli ff To lley (Yam ); 9. Jeff Legg itt (Hon); 10. Bobby Keith (Yam ); 11. Greg Esser (Yam ); 12. Walt Dor sch ( W~ R ); 13. Michael Montoya (Yam ); 14. John France (Han) ; 15. Jason Rot h (Yam ). Time: 26 min ., 22.054 sec. Dis tan ce: 37.8 mi les. Average Speed: 86.015 mph. Margin of Victory: 7.675 sec. AMA 250cc GRAND PRIX CHA M PIONSHIP POINT STAND INGS (After 2 of 10 rounds): 1. Rich Oliver (Ya m); 2. Mike Su lliv a n (Ya m); 3. Ra n dy Renfro w (Hon); 4. Ma rk Foste r (Yam ); 5. N ick Jen atsch (Yam ); 6. Kristian Kass (Yam); 7. Chris Roger s (Yam ); 8. Cliff Tolley (Yam ); 9. Jeff Leg gitt (Hon ); 10. Bobby Keith (Yam); 1l. Greg Esser (Yam ); 12. WaIt Dorsch (W·R); 13. Micha el Mon toy a (Yam) ; 14. John Fran ce (H a n); 15. Jason Roth (Yam ). . Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 - Monterey, California. April 28 Round 4 - Homestead, Florida, May 19

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