American riders got their first look at Japanese racer Takahito Mori in 1993. Right off the bat Mori began building a reputation as an aggressive rider who would find the smallest of gaps and use them as passing lanes.

This photo is from the WERA Pro Series Air-Tech Formula II race at Road Atlanta in May of 1993. Chris D’Aluisio, Rich Oliver and Kurt Hall turned in blazing opening laps to gap the rest of the field, but when Mori broke through to fourth he chased down the leaders, bringing Danny Walker and Chuck Sorensen with him making it an epic six-rider battle for the lead.

Mori was riding up to, and on occasion, past his limits. With two laps to go he made an impossible pass on Oliver going into turn five, and the crowd on the hill overlooking the turn went nuts. Everyone turned and looked at one another; they couldn’t believe the move that Mori had made.

Hall, who had been chopped off by Mori earlier and saw his pass on Oliver later said, “I’m surprised Rich didn’t force him off into the weeds. That was some of the craziest riding I’ve ever seen.”

Oliver was more diplomatic, “The guy was riding aggressively and stuffed me. When someone does that to me I just do it back to them – that’s racing.”

Staying just inches in front of the wild fracas was the ever calm and collected D’Aluisio. “I was just riding my own race then I looked back once and couldn’t believe all the guys that were right with me,” D’Aluisio said. D’Aluisio didn’t get flustered and he was able to hold off Oliver and the rest by two-tenths of a second at the finish. Mori was a close third.

Mori went on to become one of the leading AMA 250 Grand Prix riders of the 1990s. He won a couple of AMA 250 Grand Prix Nationals, including Laguna Seca in ’95 and Daytona in ’98, but he made riders around him more than a little uncomfortable to say the least.