Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Elf F uelslLubrica 250Cc Grand P nts rix Round6 B : rainerd International R ceway a And the winner is...... By He nny Ray Abrams BRAINERD, MN,JUNE 29 he best races are always on the fast tracks and this one was no d ifferenl. Three rid ers fighting for the ir lives, the bold and conclusi ve deciding move com ing within sight of the finish line after more than 20 min ut es of tense racing. That was the fight for second . The winner, o f co urs e, was Team Oliver Yamaha' s Rich Oliver, th e best AMA 250cc rid er eve r ad di ng to his legend by notching a 'slam -d u n k 16th Elf Fuels / Lubricants 250cc Gran d Pri x win in a row at the end of a cloudy and ove rcast day at Brainerd Intern ation al Raceway . As a lways, th e Fresno, Californi a, 'resident bolted fro m the start, ran a pace tha t was nea rl y tw o se conds per la p fas ter than an yone else in the 29-rider field , and made his way d irec tly to the winner 's circle. Before slowing down on the last of the 13 laps, Oliver had nearly a 23-second lead . The ma rgin of victory, after 22 minut es, 19.920 seconds of racing over 39 miles, was 13.070 secon ds. With four races left, Oliver has a perfect 216 po ints, 52 more than Moto Liberty's Rand y Ren frow, the veteran race r fi nis hi ng th ird today beh ind Team Salaverria Aprilia's Al Salaverria after cra shing in to a lake d uring mor ni ng warmup, then completely rebuild ing his Ho nda RS250. The thir d member of the trio figh ting o ve r second, Performance Mach in e' s Ro land Sa nds, was fo u r th today afte r ma kin g a bad jetting choice on his Yama ha TZ250. He stands th ird in the points, with 144. Once Oliver got away from the start the race for the win was over. That left second pl ace as th e most conte nt io us spo l. Barnet t Tool & Engi neering's Matt Wait held the po sition until the thir d lap when he lo w-s id ed in turn six. The n Sands was th ere, w ith Sal av crria and Ren frow ju st behin d . Zero G ra vity's Bobby Keith was n ext, the n Bulldog Racing 's Mark Foster tryin g to recov er after ru nnin g into a no the r rider and running off the tra ck early on. Ren frow w as probabl y a little su r p rised to be as far forward as he wa s after his crash in the morning w armup. A sim ple mental erro r sen t him careening off the track, w here he bounced off a wall before coming to rest in a lake. The team had to replace all of the bodywork and most of th e co ntrols. More important was the co ndi tio n of the m o to r. Since it w as his be st mo tor, the team decided to rebuild rather than replace it. They rolled the bike to the pre-grid just as th e five-minute board went up, and hoped for th e bes t. From wher e Sands was, the work seemed to have paid off. "I think Randy's bike was running a lot faster than it was at Elkh art Lake," Sands observed. At the beginning, th er e wer e problems. Water in some of the connections cau sed electrical s ho rts and problems with his electric shifter. Then it cleared up and he was able to co ncentra te on the challenge. "Then it started running good and I started getting confident in it and I started charging," Renfrow said. T Renfrow moved by Sands o n the fifth lap, th en too k Salaverria a lap later, a spot he would hold un til the eighth lap w he n th e tr io changed s pots se ve ra l times. '" ju st r eally co u ld n 't ge t i n th e rh ythm right off the ge t-go," Salave rria said . "An d 1 could n' t ge t set tled at all in the race. Then th ese guys started passin g m e left and right, her e a nd th er e. Finall y 1 go t int o the rhythm a little bit, a nd Renfrow was rea lly good o n th e brakes but I had the co rnering speed on hirm ." When th ey crossed th e line, it wa s Sa nds in fro nt of Sa laverria and Renfrow, but Sands kn ew he cou ld n't hold off the faster machines. "T he bike should have been way fas ter than it was," Sands said. " I was p retty mu ch riding my ass off and ge tting smo ked on th e straightaways..We had to make a gu ess on the jetting and that was our guess. It was good, but it wasn' t good enough." Sand s would lea d across the stripe end ing the n inth lap, o nly to see Sa la verria dra ft by, bri nging Ren frow wi th him. Sands too k one spot back in tum three and held it to th e en d of th e lap. But Salaverria was no w on the gas and seemed to be pulling away, though Renfrow had other plans. . O n t he fi n al lap, he we n t u nd e r Salaverria in turn three , the n held th e p oint in to the fina l co r ne r. Renfro w decided to pro tect the insi de line, forcing Salaverria to try the ou tside, which he did with succes s. He took second by ab out two bike lengths ov er Renfrow . Sands finished fourth. "The last lap here, he thou ght' was goi ng to go on 'the in sid e and he was guard ing all the way on the inside and , went on the outside of him," Salaverria sa id . "It's a good line, bu t I think I outtricked Rand y. He thought ' was going on the insid e and ' tricked him." "Wha t happened is, I go t out of the draft," Sands said of his failure to ma ke a las t-lap pu sh . "No way I cou ld ca tch those guys ou t of the dra ft. I just had to catch them little bit by little bit in each comer." Thoug h second wa s a th ree-ri d er affair for mos t of the race, Foster made it a four-rider affair for a few laps. There wer e tw o fatal mistakes, however, o ne ea rly and o ne late . Th e late o ne w as p robably the m ore cos tly . Foster had taken ba ck th e four seconds he 'd lost fro m an earlier er ror and wa s right up on the trio when he made a second mistake with less than tw o laps to go. Fost er sa id th at, afte r catching th e trio, "I went to pass Roland (Sand s) ov er there' (tu m nine) and , tu cked the front end under and went off the track again . I ma de two huge mistakes. From being that far behind, , got too eager too fast . I got too greed y. I had to do a bunch of 42s to catch up. I sho u ld have waited two more corners and tried to get them on the stra ightaways . If it wasn't for that white go- kart bump, 1 would've been toa st: ' Having what he felt wa s one of the fastest m ach in es o n th e tr ack, Fos ter said he was able to make up the time by himself, desp ite being un ab le to use th e dra ft. Th at a llowed Keith to co me up from behind, and it wasn' t untilthe 11th lap that Foster took fifth for good. Kei th w as si xth ; th en ther e wa s a wai t for Derek King and G reg Esser, who we re followed at some di stance by Jeffrey Vos, John Fra nce, Hikaru Miyagi and Perry Melneciuc. 0; Brainerd Internation al Raceway Brainerd, Minnesota Res ulls : J une 29, 1997 (Rou nd 6 o110) ELF FUELSlLUB RICANTS 250cc G RAND PRIX: 1. Rich Oliver (Yam); 2. A I Sa laverria (Apr) ; 3. Ran dy Renfrow (Hon); 4. Roland San d!l (yam); 5. Mark Fceeer ' (Yam) : b. Bobby Keit h (Hon); 7. Dere k King (Yam); 8. Greg Esser (Yam): 9. Jeffrey vee (Ho n): 10. John Fra nce (Honl: 11. Hikaru Miyag1 (H on); 12 Perry Mc1nceiu c (H on); 13. Bryan O kubo (yam); 14. Loon COrtes (Hon); 15. Eric Sk-plwns (Yam); lb. Bruce Lind (Yam) ; 17. James Bonner (Y~m); 18. Ty David Piz (Yam); 19. Jeff Ortl ip (Yam); 20. DereckJ.T. Kin g (Hon); 21. Clen C'hristi.l.nson (Yam); 22. Kt"nt Shot"ma lo.e-r (Hon); 23. Aaron N icho ls (Yo1m); 24, Tom Ch ri..lwn (Hun); 25. Andre w Ed ward~ (Yam); 26. Krll tT King (Yam) ; 'Z7. Patrick Bro w n (Yam); 28. Quenni King (Yam); 29. Matt Wai t (Hon ). TI me: 22 min., 19.920 ~ Dista nce 13 1aps . 39 mil es. Margin o f victory: 13.070 sec. ELF FU ELS /L UBRI CANTS 2S 0c c G RA N O PRIX CSH IP POINT ST ANDL ~GS (After 6 of 10 rounds): 1. Rich O liver (216/ b w in s); 2. Randv Ren fro w (154); 3. Roland Sand ~ (144); 4. Bobby Kei th -(H3); 5. Greg Esser (33); 6. John Fran ce (112); 7. Leon Cortes / Ma tt Wa il (106); 9. M.uk n.~tt"r (104); 10. AI Sala verria (%); 11. Perry Meln ec ic c (9 3) ; 12. Hl karu Miya gi (91); 13. Tos h iyu k i Ifamaguchi (80) ; 14. Jdfrey Vo.. (74); 15. Dereck J.T. King (64); 16. Ken ich iro Iw ah a..i (58); 17. Eric Steph en s (SO); lit (TIE) Bruce Lind /Chris Rogers (48); 20. Qucnni King (47); mE> Upcoming Rounds: Round7 - Lexington,.OH, J uly 20 Round8 - Colorado Springs, CO, August17 P rogressiveInsurance S upertwins Round 6 B : rainerdInterna l Raceway tiona Bostrom the boss By Henny Ra y Abra ms BRAINERD, MN, JUNE 29 his one came down to the last corner, Miller Electrica l C onstructio n's Eric Bostrom us ing a crafty move to ou tw it Mitchell 's Modesto HD's Da vid Est ok -and keep his perfect Progressive Insurance SupcfTwins season intact at Brainerd Inte rnational Raceway. Californ ia's Bostrom had matched Florida's Estok com er for com er, Estok leading m ore laps a cross th e line, thou gh th ey swap ped ba ck a nd forth eve ry lap. Estok led across the stripe on th e last lap, th en Bostrom was in fron t and le adin g m o st of the final tour, including out of turn nine up to the final T The 250cc Gra nd Pr ix class gets under way wit h e ventual cla ss winner Rich Oliver (1) starti ng Irom pole pos ition. right-hand turn 10. Th at's where Esto k th ou ght he wa s go ing to make his move, .snea king by on the insid e. But Bostrom · pr otec ted the line and held the th rottle on until the last m inu te, forcing Estok to go wide on the short run to the flag. "I just decid ed to go down the inside of the stra ightaway and if he wa nted to pass me, he wa s going to have to do it on the outside," Bostrom said after wi nnin g by .310 of a secon d . "He wen t, came around the outside - it came to a chicken ma tch coming into turn 10. I just left it on tilt he shut off and 1 wa s able to make the tu rn , but it was really close." "I thought I had it," said Estok, who led the firs t five laps, plus lap eig ht. "I was kin d of setting up Eric. But he was smart, runnin g down the ins ide line all the way and not braking until I did . He was so far inside and he had to go wi de and it pus hed me out wide and he got a bet te r dri ve corning on to th e fron t straig htaway. We had a great rac e. I tho ug ht I had it tod ay, an d he just o utsmarted me a litt le bit. I guess I have to ge t a little sma rte r." IT! wi nn ing his sixt h race of the yea r, Bostrom completed the nin e-lap, 27-mile event in 17 min u tes, 19.5 seconds , at an average speed of 93.506 mph. After six of 10 races, he lead s Esto k by 31 poin ts, 214-183. Jake Zemke, fifth today in a pack, is third with 158. Bostrom and Estok had sp lit from the pack from the very start and, by the end of the race, had nearly 30 seconds on the third-p lace rld er. The rid er who crossed th e line in third was Las Vegas H-D's Jess Roed er , the Ohioa n jubila ntly celebrating his firs t-ever road ra ce podium finish . His elat ion was sho rt-liv ed, howeve r, when he was d isqualified fm having an illegal head modificati on o n his H-D 883. It was too ba d , because he'd wor ked hard for the spo t, scrimmaging wi th five other ri ders for places three throu gh eigh t. "It seemed like Dave (Estok) and Eric (Bostro m) we re well ou t in the lead and every body else was racin g for th ird ," Roed er sa id before his disqualificati on. When he was taken down, Hal's HD's Todd Evans was promoted . Evans ran at, or ncar, th e front of th e six-rider p a ck s oo n after it formed up o n th e third of nin e laps. On lap six, it looked like he might be bre aking away, but he was su cked in from behind, then 'd rop ped to six th in the running order. He took a spo t back from Mitchell 's Mod esto's H-D's Nate Wait very late on th e fina l lap to take fourth, th en th ird when Roeder was taken down. Wait, who also led the six-ride r pack, 11

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