Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128350
INTERVIEW tale nted riders are doing. And then, w he n I did, I had alrea dy built this wo rk ethic and strong ment al attitude to go forward with. Besid es the one-off races like the Toyota 200 or the road racingworld.com 250/50, do you have any plans to race in the fut ur e ? A friend of mine has taken up supermoto , and he calls me after each race screami ng about all the fun he' s having, so maybe I'lltry th at soon . Othe rwise, I race flat track eve nts locally on minibikes , and I did e njoy bringing out my 250 for the road racingwo rld.com 250/50 . I want to do it right and take it se riously w hen I do race, otherwise I will stay away. Q A DO you have any interest in mentoring students and getting t hem into r o a d racing? I have my eye on three you ng ride rs right now for possible spots on a new team if I have the op portunity to own/run one . I can te ll you they all have str o ng flat track skills and have been through my Pro camps a num ber of times. If I get the chance at so me point, "II let you know. Q A Have you thought about running a team as a team manager? Sure, you bet. I think I would run an awe some team. Fro m all of my teaching, I under stand so muc h mor e now about worki ng with and gett ing the mos t out of diffe rent type s of peo ple. Q A W h Y do yo u t h in k t he Yamaha S u perb ike/Supe rspo rt r id e didn't work out? When I was hired in 1998, Yamaha had just gone in #-\house with their road race team and hire d lots of new guys. Iwent to Yamaha and talked with the road racing manager and asked to bring my mechanic Jeff Myers with me . Myers and I were a good team, as we had just won 20 stra ight AMA 250 races and had an outs tanding first year in 600 5upersport. We wo rked out a deal for Jeff and Steve Rounds to be my mecha nics at Yamaha. Now, I tho ught I was set , with both of myoid mec hanics working on my bikes. Howeve r, in the first mo nth they took Jeff away fro m me and gave him to my teammate. I'm not sure w hy they did tha t. My guess is they didn't want me to have my own 'T eam Oliver" team within the ir team. Now that would have been tr ue, but why not? That' s how [Mat] Mladin and his team are now, and look at how we ll they have succeed ed . Anyway, I was new to Superbikes and so we re they. It too k us all awhile to gel. Even so, the first year I finished fourth in the amaha . The second Superbike Champions hip - and first Y year I rea llystarted to com e on str ong, with a third in the Dayton a 200 and the pole in the Supers port race the re on the R6, then fourth at Road Atlanta in Superbike race one. In race two, I got my e lbow smashed apart when I crashed and hit a wa ll in the esses. That was it for me . I had a bad ope ration to re pair it; I wo rked it out to o hard to get back on the bike as soon as possible, and then had to have anothe r operation to rep air it correctly at the end of the season . The next year I didn't get re -signed. After I left, Yamaha made a lot of positive changes to the team. They elevate d Tom Halverso n to the tea m manager role, and he is doing a great job. I wo nde r what we could have accomplished if he were in tha t ro le when I was racing for the team? Did you ever consider building a 600 or 1000cc bike a nd racing in one of those classes in 2004? Q A Q 18 NOVEMBER 17 , 200 4 • CYCLE NEWS O h, yes. Robe rt Ward, my cur ren t mechanic, was foaming at th e mou th to build a couple of Yamaha R6s for For mula Ext re me, and I wan ted to race Miguel [Duhamel ] for the ove rall race w ins record in the AMA - and race Honda head to head w ith a factory Yamaha 600. I was th inking a 2004 R6 with Dunlo p slicks and a nice motor and chassis package would be a kick to race . But Yamaha cou ld only he lp on a limited basis, and I was looking to build a pre tty goo d-sized team - yo u know, to rea lly do it right, with a st ro ng effort . My spo nsor s were excited, and I think I could have raised quite a bit of support from the industry. But I nee de d the complete backing of the factory, and they just had so much man power and mon ey invested in the Supe rspo rt and Superstock classes that they co uldn't do it at the time . A Did you try to find employment in any of t h e ex isting teams in the paddock? Yes, but I wante d to ride a Yamaha. I ta lked w ith som e other re ally quality teams , but I would have had to switch brands, and I thought I should wa it a year and think about it befo re doing that . Q A DO you think, given the opportunity. you cou ld have been competitive in World Championship 250cc Grand Prix racing? I th ink really compet itive. O ne thing is I live for new tracks - I dig sett ing up the bike, you know, the process you go through. I think I would do really we ll bec ause of my experience and fitness . Q A W hat do you fe e l yo ur single greatest racing accomplishment was? A Becoming a successful race r with no natu Mral tale nt. I didn't have any, but I was determined to figure it out, to unde rstand what Q 40th Anniversary lf you could change any single thing about your r acing career. what would it be? I wish I'd started riding in the dirt ea rlier. I started in 1989, w hen I signed on with Kenny Roberts . Q A Beside s the Mystery School. what do you plan on do ing in the near future? A Mywife Karin and I are hop ing to be under the same #-\roof by next year, as she and he r children are planning on moving to Calif ornia - as soo n as it can be worked out. They live in O hio now. That's going to be great because the kids' PW80s aren't getting used enough , and Matt and Megan are going to outgrow them before they wea r them out! I also have a book planned about racing and my life in it. I'm wor king on that, and painting when I can. , do miss the fans that I've got to know over the years, and I miss riding - but I don't miss the tr uck stops. eN Q Rich Oliver instructs a student at his My st e ry School.