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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127844
stretch from 1993 to now, plus his first
win here in 1988.
And the win was as emphatic as
most have been, a 30.160-second margin
of victory after only 10 laps (40 miles) of
racing. Oliver averaged 104.545 mph to
considerably lower his own race record
of 89.128 mph, run on a damp track last
year.
"I think I have strong points in racing, and this track is where the strong
points show," Oliver said as a way of
explaining his streak. '1t just works well
on this track .and sort of results in good
lap times."
The Yamaha rider got an early jump
on the weekend by entering a club race
here just before the AMA weekend. At
the start, he was turning lap times in the
2:19 range. That mark was steadily lowered until he was able to turn 2:16s'in
the race. It was a pace that proved to be
too .!;lot to match.
The perfect season puts Oliver atop
the championship table with 144 points,
50 better than Moto Liberty's Randy
Renfrow, third today after a problematic
weekend. Team Zero Gravity's Bobby
Keith is third, a point behind Renfrow at
93. He finished eighth today.
Oliver is the last rider who needs
help to win, but he got some unsoliCited
aid today. Second place went to Team
Salaverria Aprilia's Al Salaverria, the
San Franciscan still sorting out the
finicky Aprilia RSV250, who was unable
to stay with Oliver. His greater accomplishment may have been putting the
Italian motorcycle on the 250cc GP podium for the first time since Harald Eckl
won Daytona in 1991.
"We've been having teething problems with the bike since the beginning
of the season/' Salaverria lamented,
adding that Oliver had years of experience with the Yamaha TZ250. Despite
Oliver's streak, Salaverria thinks he'll be
able to challenge him before long. "If
anyone can beat hiITla I can. It's just
going to take some time."
Salaverria spent most of his time
today trying to fend off Performance
Machine's Roland Sands. The two got
away behind Oliver, Renfrow just off
their pace, but not losing much time.
Salaverria couldn't get off the corners
as well as Sands but, once up to speed,
he had the faster bike. Sands led across
the stripe each of the first five hips, then
Salaverria came by, while Renfrow hung
about 50 yards back, taking it all in. .
He said that there wasn't a lot of
finesse to their passing, that it was mostly a braking duel - no setup passing and he expected it to end badly, though
they were racing cleanly, he added.
"AI (Salaverria) and Roland (Sands)
were riding well and really shoving
inside of each other," Renfrow said.
Though the pair was just in front,
and cutting a big wath through the air,
Renfrow found that his Honda didn't
have the power to draft by the pair.
"Even with two of them opening up
a.big hole, my bike just crawled up to
them," Renfrow said.
On the seventh lap, 'Sands went up
the inside of Salaverria going into turn
one and held the spot pretty much until
Sands' bike came to a stop on the eighth
lap.
•. Renfrow fought an uphill battle from
tWe start, and never had a fair chance to
ma!