Throwback Thursday: Wild Card Rich Oliver in the 1994 USGP at Laguna Seca
Larry Lawrence | March 24, 2022
American was headed for World Championship Points before his bike broke
Henny Ray Abrams photo
In this week’s Throwback we travel back 28 years to the 1994 USGP at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. That weekend Americans Rich Oliver (No. 97) and Chris D’Aluisio raced as wild card entries in the 250cc GP World Championship class. Another American, Kenny Roberts, Jr., was also in the race, but he was a regular in the world championships in ’94. That season Oliver was on a tear in the AMA 250 Grand Prix Championship. He would win all but two rounds of that series, dominating and winning the title. So American fans were eager to see how Rich could do against the world championship competitors. His weekend was hampered by a couple of crashes, one hurting his knee. He qualified 17th, gritted his teeth and forgot about his aches and pains and his team managed to get his bike back together. In the race he ran solid and moved up to 15th and had the elusive world championship point in his grasp. He was looking to climb even higher on the board, but then a broken crankshaft on his Yamaha ended his day. Still Oliver was happy with his performance. He overcame several obstacles and turned his personal best lap time ever at Laguna. Roberts, Jr. topped the American entries by finishing eighth. D’Aluisio was 19th.
You can read coverage of this race and much more by subscribing to the Cycle News Archives at: https://www.cyclenews.com/cycle-news-archives/
