From a press release issued by Team Oliver Yamaha regarding the Mid-Ohio AMA 250cc Grand Prix race:

Oliver wins 60th Grand Prix race in front of Sorensen, Disalvo, and Turner! TZ250 Yamaha again on top of podium!

Rich Oliver of Team Oliver Yamaha was again the dominate rider in Sunday’s 250 Grand Prix race, during the Mid-Ohio AMA Superbike race weekend. Rich was able to ease out a 5-second win with a strategy of observe, copy, execute, then slice and dice.

Asked about this confusing strategy, Rich commented thusly; “Well, Chuckie was riding really well as usual, so in the race I thought if I followed his lines I could learn where I was slower. Then what I did was adjust my lines to copy his where they were better, and keep my lines the same where mine worked pretty well. At that point I was getting around the track quite quickly and decided to take the lead. This put me in great position to take any advantage possible to scrape him off in traffic, which I was able to do after a couple attempts. Then all that was left was to hammer out a few fast laps, and build a lead to the finish.

“A bonus was that I also won the pole and led the most laps, so I took all 38 points available for the race. This helped my teammate Perry hold on to second in the Championship tally going into the last race next week in Virginia.

“I have to thank Rick Schell for sending me a new crankshaft after Laguna, and of course big kudos go to Robert Ward for spinning the wrenches and changing the brass all weekend long. Also a big thanks goes to Team Stargel for all the kind mentions in their current press release. Shucks guys, you’re going to give me a big head!”


Perry Melneciuc again rides hurt, rides spare bike, but hangs on to second place in the Championship with a 5th-place finish!

Perry Melneciuc finished 5th place in Sunday’s main event, after jumping off his spare machine Saturday morning in a high-speed 5th-gear crash!

Perry executed a front wheel lock-up, shoulder grind, back-spin, low level dismount with a reluctant-grip release. This later was termed a self torpedo with a hot back and finished with a cattle mutilation! (See below for glossary of terms.) Not to be dissuaded, Perry and wife Kellee dove into repair mode, and as the pile of smashed, mangled, grass-and-dirt-clod-filled parts grew higher, the Melneciuc TZ250 slowly came back to life.

Perry dragged his aching and still bleeding carcass out to the line Sunday, and in a gutsy and determined ride raced hard for 4th with Simon Turner and Chris Pyles, Pyles later cracking under the Melneciuc pressure and spinning down going into the infamous keyhole section of the course! Turner was able to finish 4th, Perry going on to finish the hot and humid race in 5th, and stay in the hunt for the AMA 250 Championship!

For the benefit of our fans who hear highly technical terms emanating from inside the Team Oliver tent, and may not completely understanding them, a further explanation in layman’s terms now follows:


CATEGORY: Crashing terms and related topics.

“Leaped off, jumped off, took a fast walk, spun her down, stepped off, took a break early, rode in on the truck, sanded her down, took the shine off, gave up when I was dragging the bar, and, it’s still out there, what’s left anyway!”
These all mean crashing. See also; Get out the bike cover. See also; Santa Rosa Trauma Center. See also; Swimsuit model. See also; Titanium hardware, not from Yoyodyne.


Following are more specific terms for certain types of crashes.

“Human auger!”
Crashing and screwing yourself into the pavement. See also; Kerry Bryant

“Snapped her to heaven!”
Big highside crash. See also; Turning down the damper now. See also; More rear rebound. See also; Hey, my front number is upside down. See also; Water leak.

“I could see my shadow!”
Big highside crash, minimum height at least 10 feet in the air. See also; Duhamel, Laguna. See also; Oliver, Daytona. See also; Momentarily delayed pain. See also; Anticipation of same.

“Head whacker with a twist!”
Banging your helmet and twisting your neck in the process.

“I had some pillow talk!”
Hitting the Air Fence.

“It was a cattle mutilation!”
Hitting the haybales and scattering a cloud of hay. See also; mowing the back 40.

“Torpedoed him!”
Losing the front and crashing into another rider. See also; Oliver, Pomona.


CATEGORY: Engine terms.

“She’s hacking up a lung!”
This refers to overreving of the engine until reed flutter sets in and the engine pops and coughs. See also; Oliver, Pikes Peak

“Blew the fat lady!”
Seizing a big rod end. See also; Oliver, Laguna.

“Dropped a snake!”
Chain came off.

“Locked her down tight!”
Seized the piston to the cylinder

“Running like a raped ape!”
Running well and fast. See also; Laguna, Brainerd, and Pikes Peak.


CATEGORY: Paddock terms, and rider nicknames.

“Circus is in town!” or “Snap the floor, pop the top, set up shop and let’s rock!”
Let’s get to work on setting up the team pit area and tent. See also; Wednesday morning. See also; 9:00 AM. See also; Sharp.

“Five minute break!”
Pretty lady walking by the team tent. See also: Corona Suzuki. See also; A and R racing.

“Rocked, locked and docked at the shore, she’s not sailing anymore!”
Woman is married. See also; Large diamond. See also; Bodybuilder husband.

“Pit fly by!”
When a rider we compete against has crashed earlier, but has now fixed his bike and rides by our tent on same fixed bike revving engine and starring at us. See also; I’m not hurt, just bleeding profusely. See also; Computrack. See also; Sharkskinz. See also; Do you have any spare pipes? See also; OK, well then can I borrow your torches?

Rider Nicknames:

“Sandman”
Roland Sands

“Chuckie”
Chuck Sorensen

“Smoke”
Simon Turner

“Piles”
Chris Pyles

“D’ Salvinator”
Jason DiSalvo

“Sore Hole”
Ed Sorbo

“Mad Bomber, or just yelling FRANCE and rolling the R!”
John France

“T-D-P”
Ty Piz

“Paint job”
Collin Jensen

“The Check”
Perry Melneciuc

“That big-nosed four-eyed old bastard”
Rich Oliver