"The Burner Brothers". Velasco (left) and Plumlee (right) built race winning Superbikes for Fred Merkel. This was a period of intense inter-team rivalry with Velasco and Plumlee on one side of the Honda garage pushing rider Fred Merkel while Wayne Rainey's squad on the same team were vying for the championship. Here, then Honda team manager Udo Gietel splits the two.