Rich Oliver wins the 5th annual Roadracing World 250/50 at Willow Springs, Sunday September 16th. Finishes way down in 34th in the Toyota 200. Race Report: Roadracing World 250/50 Mystery School owner Rich Oliver earned pole position for the Roadracing World 250/50 during the timed qualifying session on Saturday, with a lap time of 1:22.5. The main event Sunday was run in blustery conditions, with unpredictable wind gusts blasting dirt and dust over the track! Even so, Rich was able to pull away from the field to win with a 43 second margin over rising star Vincent Rolleri and Willow Springs great Mark Watts in the 20-lap, 50-mile contest at Willow Springs International Raceway. Rich comments: “The race went well despite the high wind. I had a great set up on the bike thanks to some fork and shock adjustments that Jim Lindemann of LE Engineering made before the race, which helped my Dunlop tires grip even better for the entire 20 laps so I was able to ride quite hard and keep my lap times at a high level throughout the race. We had made some other chassis geometry changes last year for the wind, so overall I had a really good Yamaha 250 under me this year. We all really missed Crew Chief Robert Ward’s help this year, as he had to be at Laguna Seca with his team. After working on the bike myself all weekend, now I realize how much effort he puts in every day! ‘Thanks to Roadracing World and Willow Springs for such a great event and we will be back for more next year! 6th Annual Toyota 200 Oliver qualified 10th for the 200 mile race putting him on row three of the grid with a 1.23.7 After winning the 250 race, Oliver was looking to capitalize on the team’s one pit stop fuel strategy and the great Dunlop tires they had found in practice that would go the 80 lap distance with only a single rear tire change! Rich comments: “I got a decent start, but right away I knew I had a problem with the back of the bike. In the right hand corners it was slipping sideways and snapping out from under me, so I had to slow down. I figured we had the wrong tire pressure or the tire was not warm enough, but after a few laps it was only getting worse so I had to pull in for a new tire. By then, we were is last place again like last year. Our pit stop went fine, although it was about 32 laps early, but once I got the new tire the bike went back to normal and I was able to go fast again. I started passing guys and going around the track thinking at least I could finish the race this year, when the engine started to go. The first thing I noticed was my speed shifter starting to mess up, and the only reason it does that is if it gets too hot from exhaust pipe heat. Then going down the front straight after only 25 laps the motor tied up for good. It seized the lower cylinder pretty hard and that pipe is the one that’s near the speed shifter so it must have got really hot. When I coasted to the side of the track the engine temp gauge read 93c. Normal is 65c so it was cooking hot! The motor broke because we thought we could go with just one stop, and to do that we ran different fuel than normal and just had the jetting a bit too lean to save fuel in order to make it the needed 40 laps. Next year we will learn from this and just ride the bike with the normal set-up and try to finish every lap, even if we have to stop twice! ‘I do need to thank 250 racer Ed Sorbo who made us some great rear axle parts that speeded up our pit stop, our friends from Auberry–Brian Bartlow, Christoph Lusse and Jim Taves. And a big thanks to fellow 250 racers Theis Corneliussen, Daniel Qualtire, and Mark Watts for providing invaluable assistance to us before and during the Toyota 200 race! For more information about Rich Oliver’s racing career, there is a on-line biography here: http://www.richoliver.net/RichOliverBio To find out more about Rich Oliver’s Mystery School, its courses and date offerings, visit ~http://richoliver.net~ or contact Rich Oliver at [email protected]. More, from a press release issued by Damian Cudlin: DISSAPOINTING KAWASAKI FRANCE DEBUT Australian Damian Cudlin spent more of his time in the grandstands than aboard the Team Kawasaki France machine at the 71st Bol’Dor in France on the weekend. Cudlin who was drafted in to ride the second factory 111 Kawasaki was promoted to the bench after Warm Up allowing Former World Endurance Champ and Frenchman Jehan D’Orgiex to take his place in the race. After struggling to get comfortable with the set up of the machine, the young Aussie battled on with the Kawasaki eventually managing 1.43second lap times in race trim. Without being given a qualifier to test, Cudlin seemed confident with his predicted race pace, however a shock move from TKF Manager Christian Bourgeois saw Cudlin sidelined for the race and replaced with D’Orgiex. “I don’t really know what to say at the moment, other than I’m disappointed with the decision that’s been made by the management.” Cudlin said after the race. “I was told that 43’s and 44’s was going to be too slow in the race, and that D’Orgiex was a safer bet. Listen I’m not a team boss so I don’t know what pressures they are under from other places, but I do know he was wrong about that. The fastest lap of the race was a 1.42.7 and the bloke they replaced me with didn’t get anywhere near my times plus he crashed, so I think they shot themselves in the foot to be honest.” Both Kawasaki’s eventually retired in the race with engine problems. “It’s a disappointing way to have spent the weekend as it looked so promising in the beginning, but that’s racing I suppose.” Summed up Cudlin. “It’s a shame it didn’t work out with me and the TKF squad this weekend, but I’m still thankful to have been given the opportunity by Bourgeois in the first place. It could have turned out very differently, and I wish them all the best for the rest of the season. Now I’m just looking forward to climbing back aboard the YART R1 in Qatar and hopefully ending the season on a high.” Cudlin’s regular Yamaha Austria Racing Team also suffered a blow in the race retiring from 3rd place at the 5hour mark with an engine problem. The race is now on for the YART squad to solve the problems before the final round of the World Endurance Championship in Qatar. The final round of the series will take place on November 10th.