From a mega-late press release issued by Rich Oliver a full eight days after the event in question, posted here purely out of a bizarre sense of obligation created by Oliver being a 4-time AMA 250cc Grand Prix Champion with some ridiculous number of race wins (although it being a slow news day didn’t hurt, either):
May 26, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Team Oliver Yamaha’s Rich Oliver and Crew Chief Robert Ward win the Road Atlanta round of the AMA 250 Grand Prix Championship, May 18th, 2003.
Rich Oliver continued to add to his Championship points lead by winning the Atlanta event by over a minute. With a practice week filled with rain, Rich and Robert had limited dry track time to set up their bike properly for the high speed Atlanta track.
Not having been to the event last year due to injury, Rich was slightly off the hot pace set by rival Chuck Sorensen early in the week. But after a motor change and some jetting work, Rich and the Yamaha TZ started to gain ground on Aprilia’s Sorensen and Honda’s Turner.
When Chuck was unfortunately high-sided off his machine on Friday afternoon, only a few feet away from Rich on the track, he dislocated his wrist and had to go in for treatment. This left Rich with the pole position and the race win on Sunday, as Sorensen was unable to ride, and Turner crashed out on lap two of the 15 lap main event.
It took Rich just over 22 minutes to complete the race, with an average speed of 101.2 MPH. He lapped up through 9th place rider Sandy Noce.
Rich won in front of recent Mystery School students Colin Jensen and Ed Sorbo. Chris Pyles and Perry Melneciuc rounded out a top 5 that was filled with all Mystery School Pro Camp grads!
Rich talks about his day, “I really enjoyed that one, what was cool was seeing Colin and Ed up there on the podium. They both had worked really hard with my Mystery School partner Sean Edin and I, and are now seeing their results improve dramatically. I’m proud of them.
“I took my soon-to-be-stepdaughter Megan up on the podium with me, and we had lots of fun together up there! She got to talk to the announcer, hold up the trophy, and then signed a bunch of posters in the tent for the fans later. Her Mom Karin and I had fun watching her, and I think she’s addicted to the winners circle now just like I am, but she calls it being up on stage!”
Rich now has a 48-point lead in the Championship with 7 races remaining.
Next race for the team is Pikes Peak International on June 1st.
Point Standings for the top 10:
150 Oliver (Mystery School, 4 wins)
102 Melneciuc (Mystery School Grad.)
98 Pyles (Mystery School Grad.)
96 Sorensen
95 Marchini
87 Turner
86 Jensen (Mystery School Grad.)
82 Sorbo (Mystery School Grad.)
70 Fulce
65 Noce