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RACE WATCH

Team Roberts, Team Suzuki dominate WERA season openers

With all the attention focused on the U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, many race fans have overlooked the fact that a pair of Yamaha YZR500s are racing in the U.S. on a regular basis. Team Marlboro Roberts’ Rich Oliverand Robbie Petersen have so far dominated the WERA Interstate Batteries Formula USA Series, with each winning one of the two races to date.

In the season opener at Road Atlanta, Petersen recovered from a poor start to beat his teammate. Oliver raced for the lead early with the 1 lOOcc Team Valvoline Suzuki of 1 989 series champ Kurt Hall, but Petersen worked his way up from sixth place to take the lead just past the halfway point. Oliver finished a close second, while Hall hung on to third, his teammates Donald Jacks and Britt Turkington filling the fourth and fifth positions. Team Mad Dog's Mike Harth put his Yamaha FZR 1000-powered OWO1 into third place during the middle stages of the race, but crashed near the end.

Oliver returned the favor a month later at Willow Springs. Petersen got another poor start there, and while Oliver raced for the lead with first Mike Smith, then Chuck Graves, both on big-bore Yoshimura Suzukis, Petersen again worked his way up from behind. The rider from Zimbabwe, Africa, eventually passed Muzzy Kawasaki Superbike rider Scott Russell. Smith and Graves to finish second, with Graves third. Smith fourth and Russell fifth.

In the newly formed WERA Formula 2 Series, which pits 250cc twostrokes against 600cc four-strokes, the 250s have so far been unchallenged, winning both races to date. DavHar Racing's Chris D’Aluisio passed Del Amo Yamaha's Nick Ienatsch to win at Road Atlanta, while Ienatsch turned the tables to win at his home track > of Willow Springs, with D'Aluisio running off the pace. Rainey Racing, a new’ team fronted by 500cc World Roadracing Champ Wayne Rainey and sponsored by Otsuka Electronics, made its debut at Road Atlanta, with riders Allan Scott, a former 125cc GP contender from Northern California, and Kenny Roberts, Jr., 17-year-old son of you know who. Scott finished third in Atlanta and second at Willow, while “K.R.JR.” showed promise, finishing fifth in Atlanta and third at Willow.

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SIGNET Christian Sarron

As dominant as Team Marlboro Roberts has been in the F-USA Se ries. Team Suzuki Endurance has been even more-so in WERA's endurance rounds. The six-time and defending series chamDs. with riders Kurt Hall. Britt Turkington and Mi chael Martin. won a pair of 6-hour races at Road Atlanta and Talladega Grand Prix Raceway to begin the> season, and then also won the 24Hour at Willow Springs. with help from additional riders Wes (ooley, Donald Jacks. I)avid 1)eveau and (~`de ftor/~fs Associate Editor Don (a net.

Carr claims Sacramento

With only two rounds of' the I 7race Camel Pro Series completed. it's a hit early to predict a Grand National Champion. hut Chris (`arr's chances look better than ever. Following his second-place finish in the season-opening 1)aytona Short Track. the f'actorv llarlev-I)avidson rider won the Sacramento Mile. tak ing the checkered flag at the end of' a 25-lap main event that saw no less than 41 lead changes.

Carr got the ball rolling bv qualifying fastest, and then ran away with his heat race. However, Carr's bike lost third gear right after he took the heat-race checkered flag, which meant some frantic wrenching on the part of his mechanic, Kenny Tolbert.

Nevertheless. Tolbert got the bike> ready in time for the Camel Challenge, and Carr made those efforts worthwhile by winning, earning a $ 10,000 paycheck.

Carr looked like a sure bet to win the main, as well, but when the green light flashed, all bets were off. The race turned into a virtual freefor-all, with five riders taking their turn at the head of the pack, and the lead trading constantly. Carr’s teammate, three-time and defending series champ Scott Parker, got off to a slow start, but he gradually worked his way up, passing the battling Carr and Garvis Honda’s Ronnie Jones for the lead with three laps remaining. Parker then held the lead until the final lap, when Carr drafted past on the back straight and Jones nipped by on the front straight, relegating Parker to third. The three crossed the line within inches, and it was Carr who was awarded the win, followed by Jones, Parker, Larry Pegram and Kevin Atherton, the third factory Harley rider who led early on before fading with a blistered rear tire.

Carr and Daytona Short Track winner Jones are now tied for the series points lead, with Parker languishing in fifth, thanks to his not earning any points at Daytona.

Stanton injured, Bayle leads indoors and out

Hfith Honda’s Jeff Stanton suffering a separated left shoulder at the Pontiac, Michigan, Supercross, teammate Jean-Michel Bayle looks almost assured of the 199Í AMA Camel Supercross title.

Bayle and Stanton arrived in Pontiac with a mere 10 points separating them in the series standings, but on the first night of the doubleheader, Stanton was hit from behind in the first turn of his heat race and crashed hard. Though the two-time and defending Supercross champ remounted and tried to continue, his shoulder popped out of its socket and he was forced to miss the remainder of the weekend. Stanton then flew to Southern California to seek the help of his personal trainer, Dr. Jeff Spencer, who expects Stanton to miss at least one more race while he’s recovering.

With Stanton out, Bayle won the first Silverdome race, then finished second to Team Yamaha’s Damon Bradshaw the following evening to amass a 57-point lead over Stanton. With seven rounds remaining in the 1 8-race series. Bayle should now be able to cruise to the title.

Bradshaw's w in on Sunday night w'as his second of the season, his first having come at Atlanta, and he remains the only rider other than Bayle or Stanton to win a Supercross so far this year.

Meanwhile, Bayle leads the 250cc outdoor motocross series as w'ell. with a pair of second-place finishes at Florida’s Gatorback Cycle Park and Northern California’s Hangtown Classic. Stanton won the season opener at Gatorback, but then DNFed at Hangtown. a race run in atrociously muddy conditions that w'as won by Honda-riding New England privateer John Dowd.

In 1 25cc outdoor action, defending champ Guy Cooper leads the series with a win at Gatorback and a sixth-place finish at Hangtown. As in the 250cc ranks, the super-sloppy 125cc race at Hangtown was won by a privateer from New' England, in this case Yamaha-mounted Doug Henry. 13