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 Sport Tire Services:
Rosamond California, Willow Springs Raceway 09/16/2007 “The fastest road in the West!” Dunlop riders captured the top 10 finishing positions in Sundays 3 time, red flag interrupted 200 mile race.
Jeremy Toye rode a flawless 80 lap race, in capturing the $50,000.00 first place prize money. “Dunlop came up with some ‘insane rubber’ for this event!” Jeremy exclaimed in winner’s circle after the race.
He, Toye, riding his Lee’s Cycle Suzuki GSXR1000, was challenged in every one of the first 3 starts during the race, first by Jason Pridmore, then by Jakub Smrz (2nd place $30,000.00) Hyper Cycle/ Czecher and finally Jason Curtis (3rd place $10,000.00) on his No Limits Suzuki.
At the 4th and final start, no one could touch Jeremy, as he rocked away turning the fastest laps of the 200 mile race, (1:21:64 being his fastest) and this being turned in very windy conditions.
Gabe Smith, Sport Tire Services’ Willow Springs tire technician said after the race,”The main problem we had, was we flat ran out of 16.5 rear race tires for a couple of the front runners! We had standard 16.5s but the ‘N-tecs’ were all used up! We planned for one red flag during the race……but not three! Next year we’ll have more ‘N-Tecs’ for sure.
“We are very grateful and want to congratulate all who finished this grueling event, as a full 78% of the 40 starters in the 200 mile race, were on Dunlop! Thank you guys and very well done from all of us here at Sport Tire Services!” Smith added.