Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 5: Mid-Ohio S ports C Course ar ROAD .RACE AMA National Championship R R oad aceSeries AMA250cc Grand P Series rix R ound5: Mid-OhioSports CarCourse Richie Rich By Henny Ray Ab rams LEXL'lGTON, OH, JUNE 2 eam Oliver Yamaha's Rich Oliver was the smartest rider in an intelligent field of 250cc Grand Prix rider s who distinguished themselves b y being the only class to comp lete race distance without a red flag on a cold, wet, and windy day at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Riding as he has all year, Oliver bolted to the front on the rain-soaked track, pu lled out a pr udent lead of abo u t seven seconds, then put it on cruise control to win his fifth consecutive race of the season. "1 just tried to watch my pitboard and not go any faster than I had to," the Yamaha TZ250-mounted Oliver said after extending his lead in career 250cc GP wins with 27. "1 felt like I was going sort of slow but it was relati ve to what mv lead was and the conditions, so I didn' t go too crazy ." Oliver compl et ed the 16-lap, 38.4mile race in 31 minutes, 20.530 seconds at an average speed of 73.511 mph. He won the race by 10.175 seconds, but it could easily have been much more . The win, along wi th the extra point for lea di ng the most laps, gives him a perfect 180 for the five-race-old sea son. He lead s Randy Renfrow , second today, by 32 points. After finishing fifth today, Kristian Kaas is third with 137. Se co n d p lace in tod ay ' s race wa s d ecided on the 11th lap wh en Crest Racing's Cliff Tolley repassed JHA Racing/ Dunlop/Elf's Perry Melne ciuc. Tolley, in his first wet road race, seized the initiative when Melneciuc slowed late in the race to card a career-best second in his eight-mo n th-old road racing career. "My moto cross experience helped in th e wet," the 33-year-o ld New Zea lan d er and form er moto crosser said. Melneciuc, who fini sh ed abo u t 10 seconds behind Tolley, said that it was a " Ii tt le s po o ky. I h ad a coup le of moments going down the back straightaway and that kink. The bike got a little sid eways and I came ou t of th e seat. I just wanted to bring it hom e. I backed off a little bit then Cliff caught me and I tried to ch ar ge afte r him afte r threequ arter d istan ce a nd came ou t of the sea t a cou ple of tim es and I sai d, 'ju st finis h:" Rand y Ren frow Motorsports' Rand y Renfrow o w ne d four th mu ch of th e race, excep t for a few laps toward th e en d, and w as a ble to pull well away when it cou nted. "It wa s a p retty slow first half of th e r ace and a pr etty fast seco n d half," Renfrow , wh o was riding w ith broken b one s in hi s r ight fo ot, s ai d . Th e H onda RS250-m ounted Renfrow had co m pleted tw o lap s during th e morning's wet practice se ss io n before his H onda brok e. "1 just needed s o m e more pr actice. I definitel y didn't want to fall: ' Performance Machine 's Kristian Kaas took over fourt h on the 13th lap and left Durmach/Yamaha Sports Pickering/ RNG Refin ishing 's Mark O rchard behind. Orchard crossed the line in sixth, followed by Tea m World Sports Imports ' Bobby Keith, who passed two riders to take seventh on the final lap , Deutsche Financial Services Mark Foster ended up T ... eighth. The race began in a light rain late on Sunday afternoo n, the track ha ving been rava ged by thr ee previous races wh ich sa w a n inordin at e number of crashes, red flags and dela ys. Oliver jumped into the lead of the 24rider field an d left them in his spray. He gained better tha n 1.3 seconds a lap and had a seven-second cushion by the fifth la p . Th at' s wh er e he ke p t it unt il it spiked up over 11 seconds two laps later, then to 14, before he backed it down, "1 got the holeshot, I took off, I built up a 14-second lead ," Oliver sa id. "By halfw ay I had nine, th en 14 a t threequarter, and then 13-14, 13-14, I just held it. I had no probl ems. I was jus t trying to be calm, easy on the gas, just rea l gentl e. Where I wa s strong was on the brakes at the end of the back straight and at the end of the Thunder Valley thing, I was strong through there. " It wa sn 't fun because w hen you' re in m y po sition yo u have so mu ch to lose, if you move off line or hit somebod y' s dirt from wh ere they pick their bike up . Just anything," he ad ded. Lik e Oliver , To lley and Melneciuc also split from the pack, the pair clearl y away from fourth , sticking to each other and swap ping their order on the th ird lap w it h Me ln eciuc holding th e spo t until the 11th lap . Then Tolley realized th at he had a secure third an d decided second was better. "1 was keeping Perry (Melneciu c) in Sigh t. Wh en I sa w plu s-15 on m y pit board I d ecid ed it wa s time to get going, " Tolley said. "1 saw Perry on the front stra igh t an d he had a hell o f a wobble." That allow ed Tolley to close up and pass him with five laps to go . Once in front, Tolley sped away at close to two second s a lap for a safe second. "It was getting kind of slippery and I was making mistakes and I wanted to be consistent and bring it to the end," Melneciuc said. "With Elkhar t Lake and Loudon coming up I didn 't want to bring it home in a basket." Another 40 seconds behind came Renfrow, the Virginian getting down to business in the second half of the race after a rough start that saw him seventh into tum one after running right up the white line on the edge of the track. On the third lap Renfrow moved into fourth and was there until Mark Orchard caught him on the 11th lap . A lap of that an d Renfrow split, taking fourth by over six seconds. After a slow start, wh en he completed the first lap in 10th pl ace, Kristian Ka as m ov ed up to ta ke fi ft h fr om Orchard on the 13th lap from. Aft er g ett in g a bad sta rt, Pe r fo rm an ce Machines' Rol and Sand s ap pea red to be catching Ren frow, closing the gap to within thr ee seconds on the sixth lap . Tha t would be as close as he got. Runn ing down the back stretch on that same lap, Sands crashed , taking out the number-one brake marker when he skidde d off the tra ck at the end of the back straightaway at about 120 mph. "1 had Randy in my sights and I was going for it," Sands, wh o was competing in his first wet race, said. Orchard held on to se venth and Bobb y Keith jumped pa st Mark Foster and Chris Roger s, with whom he'd been spa rring the last five lap s of the race, for seve nth on the last lap . John Burgoyn e ended up 10th. 0 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio Resuits: June 2, 1996 (Round 5 01 10) 250« GRAND PRIX, I. Rich Olive r (Yam); 2. Oiff Tolley (Yam) ; 3. Perry Melnectuc (Hon); 4. Rand y Renf row ( Ho n) ; 5. Kristia n Kaa s (Yam ); 6. Mark Orchard (y am ); 7. Bobby Keith (Yam); 8. Ma rk Foster (Yam ); 9. Chris Rogers (Yam); 10. John Burgoyne (Hoo ); 11. Eric Stephens (Yarn); 12. Dave Avery (Yam); 13. John France (Hon~ 14. Jelf Vas ( Ap r~ IS. Jason Roth (Yam); 16. Jim Bonner (Yam); 17. Charles Mackay (Yam); 18. Ja m es Ma r ti n (Yam); 19. Dav e Pa re ( Hon); 20. Joe Skrocki (Yam); 21. Roland Sands (Yam); 22. Greg Esser (Yam); 23. Bill Himm elsbach (Ya m ); 24 . Jeff Ortlip (Yam). T ime: 3 l min .• 20.530 sec. Distance: 16 lap s, 38.4 mi les. Average Speed: 73.511 mph. . Margin of Victory: 10.175 SE!'C 25O

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