Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Mystery School Yamaha’s Rich Oliver won his ninth consecutive AMA 250cc Grand Prix race of the 2003 season, the 69th win of his AMA career and his fifth 250cc class Championship, Sunday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Team Stargel Aprilia’s Chuck Sorensen got a bad launch on each of two starts in the red-flag-interupted event and could not make up the early deficit to Oliver. Sorensen took his seventh second-place finish of the season.
Irish Bike/Priority Racing’s Simon Turner led Sorensen early-on and hung with the defending Champion for two laps before slowly fading back and finishing third.
Colin Jensen crashed out of fifth on lap five and needed medical attention outside of turn 10, which forced the race to be stopped. Jensen was transported to a local hospital but details of his injuries were not released at post time.
After the re-start, Bridgestone’s Ed Sorbo crashed out of sixth while chasing Chris Pyles. Sorbo walked away from the incident.
Provisional AMA 250cc Grand Prix Results:
1. Rich Oliver, Yamaha, 16 laps
2. Chuck Sorensen, Aprilia, -8.540 seconds
3. Simon Turner, TSR Honda, -23.018 seconds
4. Perry Melneciuc, Yamaha, -41.143 seconds
5. Chris Pyles, Honda, -56.913 seconds
6. Ed Marchini, Yamaha, -60.542 seconds
7. Barrett Long, Yamaha, -61.369 seconds
8. Geoff Maloney, Yamaha, -63.452 seconds
9. Bill Himmelsbach, Yamaha, -65.684 seconds
10. John France, Honda, -70.700 seconds