ROAD RACE
AMA NATIONAL
C
HAMPIONSHIP SERIES
•Pikes Peak Raceway
Rich Oliver - st ill
undefeat ed , st ill
National Champi on.
The califo rn ian
wrapped up his
lourth AMA 2S0cc
Grand Prix title at
Pikes Peak.
11. [)ax 5nuw (Suz); 12. Anthony lupu (SoL); 13. Nicky
Havden (Ka w ); 14 Sll<'u__CLuu. n); 1f,. Jimmy Moo re (Soz ); 17. Scott Rue hle (Stu);
18. M ich... t R.tr n ~ (5u z ); 19. John Jacobi (5u.z) ; 20.
e
Bryan
Che~!Iot" r
IHo nl . 21. Brian Lehfeldt
< U2) ;
5
22.
Denni:l Burke (Sud; 23. Ryan Burke (suz); 24. Frank
Co w g ill III CK"w) ; 25 . Terry TC'5ke (5uz ); zs. Keith
Marquez (5 uz); 27. Te esu Im a nsh i (Ka w ); 28. Ju stin
Sa vage (5u 7.); 29 . Greg White (5U 2 ) : 30 . Anthon y
lc hnscn (5U2); 3 1. Cory Andrews (Suz); 32. Larry
Pa squal e (Suz ); 33 . Mike Klein t Ho n): 34. [a son
Odrzywol!;kj (H on); 35. Ricky OrLtndo xandt>r Jr. (165 ); e, Da x Snow (151); 7, Jo hn Jacobi
(136); 8. M.nk MiIl"'r (124); q . Chris Ranki n (117); 10.
Ra d G reav es (1 17); 11. Brian Gibbs (114 ); 12. Jam...,.
Randol ph (Q8); 13. Mdtk McDd n il"l (97 ); 14. Mdriu
Du H.tln..J (Ql/t ); 15. Suu11 Ru.. hl.. (M ).
Upcoming Rounds:
Round 9 • Sonoma. California, Aug ust 30
Round 10 - Las Vegas, Nevada . October 3
E FuelslLubricants250cc G Prix Series
n
rand
Roun P PeakInte
d8: ikes
rnational Race
way
By Henny Ray Abra ms
FOUNTAL'I1, CO, AUG. 16
ich O liver rod e straight into th e
hist ory boo ks tod ay, becoming
the first rider to wi n fou r consecu tive 250cc GP titles by clinching the Elf
Fu el s /Lubrica nt' s 250cc G P cha m p iunship with his eighth win of the yea r,
and 18th in a row spa nni ng tw o y ~ars,
on an intermittently sunny da y at Pikes
Peak International
Racewa y.
That he w ould
win th e title ha s
been inevita ble for
some time. N ot
only ha s no one
b een able to beat
him, th e y' ve n o t
been ab le to come
close.
Because of th e
t ig ht and twis ty
nature of th e 1.3mile tr a ck , there
was an initial peri od of bump-andseru m at the start of
th e 29- la p ra ce .
Norma lc y
prevailed on th e third
lap, w he n O liver
took his customa ry
spot at th e fro nt to
begin his vanishing
routine.
The Fresno, ceufornia, resident
quickly built up a
lead of abo ut five
seconds, and he
kept it there, knowing th ere wa s m ore in ha nd, but not
wanting to take unnecessary risks on a
circuit wh ich he felt was far from cha m pionship-caliber.
" I tried to jus t co nt rol the margin
beca use the trac k rea lly was n't in conditi on to go o u t a nd s la m good laps,"
Oliver said after maintaining his perfect
season. " I jus t looked a t my board. I
ass u med it was (AI) Salaverria in sec ond , but it didn't really bother me who
it was becau se I was just going to shoo t
for aro und five seconds. I figured five
a ro u nd here was lik e 10 at a ny o the r
tr a ck . We ro de kind of chop py, I
thou ght, wi th the traffic and the bumps
a n d th e pa vement co m ing up , th e
greas e. You've go t cones in the chicane
and cras hed parts, and grips layin g on
t he tr ack . It wa sn 't pre tt y, but it
wo rked ."
Well en ou gh fo r O live r to win th e
37.7-mile race by 7.44 seco nds , av eraging 80.942 mph.
Characteristica lly, Olive r sha red the
s.
cred it for his continuing succes
"It's been my tea m," Oliver sai d . "I
really have had off days, but they put a
bike un der me every time that 's capable
of wi nning. And when you have an off
day but you' re on a winning bike, you
kind of cha nge you r tun e and go, 'Well.
maybe I'll just push harder: We we re a
little intimidated by th e altitude he re
and the new track and wondering how
the bike was going to run, but the bike
ran okay."
Though not strongly enoog h to do a
celebratory wheelie o n th e cool-down
lap .
His point total stands at a perfect 288,
87 more tha n his nearest p u rsu~r with
two races - a possible 72 poi nts - remaining.
The wi n was Ol iver's 40t h, his firs t
co mi ng over 11 years ago a t Pocono
Internation al Raceway in June of 1986.
O ver the past four years he's been nearly unbeatable; win ni ng every ra ce in
1996 and 1997, seven ou t of 10 in 1995,
and eight of 10 in 1994.
One of the riders to beat him in 1994
was then-Performance South teammate
Chuck Sorensen. Sorensen had begun this
season riding for Moto Liberty, but he left
the team after Daytona and hadn't raced
since. He mad e his return to th e 250cc
class today, ridin g a PJ1 Lubr icantsback ed Yamaha to a solid second place.
He plans to finish the season on the bike.
Thou gh he hadn't ridden a 250 in the
United Sti tes since 1995, Sorensen raced
a Pad get ts Yamaha 250 in th e British
Supercup series las t yea r, so he hadn't
lost his feel for th e ma ch in erv , a fact
which was evident in the early go ing.
Away in fifth a t the start, Sorens en
was up to fourth by the third lap , third
o n th e se ve nth lap, and up on Performa nce Machine' s Roland Sands on the
eighth lap. It took him one more tour to
get by, and two laps later Sands cras hed
i n th e fi na l co rn e r before the fr ont
straight while in third .
"I kind of thou ght he wa s pushing it,
but he wa sn 't ma ki ng a whole lot of
mistakes," Sorensen sa id . "So I figured I
was jus t going to ha ve to w ear him
down . An d before I know, it he' s taken
himself ou t. I pa ssed him once and he
passed me back on power . I th ou ght I
was going to have to wait this one out.
He helped me ou t with tha t."
So rense n settled in to second and
stayed there, not up to chasing O liver
down but no t being threa tened from
behind.
Barnett Tool & Engi neeri ng's Ma tt
Wait took over third when Sands wen t
out, and he held it, as secu re in his spot
as Sorensen was in second .
'This track is my kin d of track," the
Honda -mo u n te d former d irt tra ck er
said. "It' s tig ht and technica l. and I like
that kind of track. I just like this kind of
track because it's like a IT track, a di rt
track. I fed tha t' s pro bably why I d id
well tod ay o n the 250."
It was Wait's bes t finis h - and first
podium - in a season which has had its
sha re of tro ubles.
The rest of the field was procession al,
partly beca use a co u p le of the usual
front-runner s hit tr o uble early - non e
m ore so th an Moto libert y ' S Ra nd y
Renfrow .
.
The Virgi nia veteran, who'd run second to O live r at most of the races thi s
. year, missed the chicane on the first lap
and broke the left footpeg off his Honda
RS25O.
"Naturally, it had to be the left one
beca use th is is a left-hand kind of track,"
Renfrow sa id after st ruggling to finis h
14th.
Team Salave rria Aprilia's AI Salave rria also had an off da y, wi th a sticking
throttle causing him to run off the track,
then pit after he'd led the first two laps
before dropping to a close fourth.
"I would have been there at the end,
eas y second," Salaverria said .
.
Even with the problems, he made a
remarkable reco very . Slicing th r ou gh
the field at every turn, Salaverria picked
off rid er s almost every lap, getting the
final two on the last lap to take a welldeserved sixth.
After Sands' crash, the order of the
top five was set, and Moto Liberty's Ken
Iwahashi was fourth . Zero Gravity'S
Bobby Keith stuck wi th him for a while,
then settled into a lonelv fifth .
Then carne Salaverrla, after passing
Jeff Vos and De utsche Financia l Se rvices ' Mark Foster on the final lap.
Con ti nuing the return to th e cla ss
which he began at Mid-Ohio, Da n ny
Wal ker was ninth, wit h John France finishing 10th.
'"
Pikes Peak International Race way
Fo untain, Colorado
Resuns: August 16, 199 7 (Round 8 01 10)
ELF FUELSlLUBRICA NTS 2SOccGRANO I'RlX: IRich OI ivCT (Yam ); 2. Ch uck Sorensen (Yam) ; 3. M.1"
Wait (Hon) ; 4. Kcnichlf'OIwahasi (Han); 5. Bobbv Keith
CHon); 6. AI Sal.lwrria (Apr); 7. Iettrey VO!> (Hon); 8.
M.uk Mk"r (ya m); 9. Danny Walker (Han); to. John
France (H a n); 11. Coli n C tl ber t (Ya m) ; 12. P""rry
Melneciuc (lion); 13. John Burgoyne (Hon); 14 . R.1.ndy
Renfrow (Hl,n); IS. Leon Cortes (Hon); 16. Cn.-g E...'l'T
"
(Ya m) ; 17. Derek JT King (Hon); 18. Hikaru Miyagi
(Hun); 1~. Juhn Mum... (Yam) ; 20. David Pare U-fon} 21.
;
Andww Edw.mh (Yam ); 22. Kell y Newman (W-K); 23.
Tom Chri... ian (Han); 24 . 1 y David Piz (Yam) ; 25.
t
Rola nd Sand... (Yam ).
Time Z7 min.• 56.7&0 sec.
Di5tantt: 29 laps. '57.7 miles
Avuag~ 5~:
80.942 mph
Margin of victory: 7.44 ~"C
ELf FUEL Sf LUBRI C ANTS 2S0 cc C RAND PRIX
C"SHIP POINT ST ANDINCS (Alter 8 0110 rou ndli): 1.
Rich Oliver (288 /8 wi n.o;) 2:-R.. d y ~nIro w (201); 3.
;
m
Bobby Keith (195); 4. C rlc'); E~ (72); 5. Ma.... n:Pott'T
(155) ; b. AI s..I,'lIc.orria (153); 7. Jo hn Fran a- (152 ); 8
Rul" nd Sand .. (151) ; 9. Leon Cort~ (1Jq); 10. Matt Wad
(136); 11. Jd fwy VO-" 02.1); 12. Hikaru Miyagi (122); 13.
r erry Melneciu c (1 12) ; 14. De re k JT King (91); 15.
Ke nic h i ro
l w a h a ai
(86);
16 . (TI E)
John
Bcrgoync /Toshiyukt Harna guchi (SO); 18. Bruce Lind
(70) ; 1.,. Eric Stl' phc ns Uri ); 20. lAo
.
rek King (58 ).
Upcoming Rounds:
Round 9 - Sonoma. Califomia. August 31
Round 10· Las Vegas, Nevada, October 5
P FormulaXtreme .
irelli
Round 7: P
ikesPeak Internation aceway
alR
By Henny Ray Abra ms
ffiUNTAL'I1,CO,AUG 16
tta ck Performance's Paul Harrell
spent the entire Pirelli Formula
Xtreme wa iting to be attacked
by cla ss cham pio n Andrew Stroud of
Erion Racin g . Stro ud had wo n five of
the pr evi ous six races and was lurking
with intent, abo ut a second and a ha lf
behin d . But the assault never ma teria lized, Harrell's lead grew and, by havin g
made a very judicious rear-tire choice,
Ha rrell was able to romp to his first-ever
AMA professional victory in a very pr ocess iona l and dull race on the tight turns
of Pikes Peak International Racew ay.
"The whol e time I knew that he' s
th ere ," H arrell s a id. " He r id es hi s
H o nd a as fas t as so me o f th e faste r
Su perbikes, high privateer level. If he
can rid e that th ing that fast , then he' s a
problem, always. I knew wh en I we n t
o u t an d s ta r te d seeing a tw o-second
ga p, thr ee seco nds, then it went back to
two, I sa id, 'Ma n, he ' s ca tch ing m e:
Then I saw four and thought he mu st be
ge tt ing hooked up in traffic. So th en I
started really trying to work; rather than
try ing to go fast cons tantly, I just started
to work the tra ffic so that I'd pas. in the
,
right spot. Drift in, just nice and easy - I
didn't want to do anythi ng crazy."
Crazy is what he'd been at the last
race . In sight of his firs t podium ever,
Harr ell threw it away, losing the front
end at Mid-Oh io. Not this time.
At the end of the 29-Ia p, 37.7-mile
race, Harrell had a 9.65-second cushion.
It wo uld have been mo re ha d he not
eased- up to roll across the line to relish
his first victorv, Th e Ca lifo rn ia n from
Canyon Country, averaged 80.060 mph
in com pleting the race in 28 minutes,
15.250 seconds.
In addition to choosing the right tire,
Ha rrell feIt he had other ad van tages:
O ne was the inc re ased su p por t he'd
been ge tt ing from Yamaha Motor Co rporati on . "T he parts that we normally
ru n to the ragged ed ge, they keep giving
u s new pi ece s so we're ab le to keep
