Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds - Costa Mesa, CA
2000 Costa Mesa
Costa Mesa Speedway
May 6, 2000
From Ryan Evans
Charlie Venegas combined luck and skill to become the first double
main event winner of 2000 at Costa Mesa.
In the Scratch Main Gary Hicks made the start and was well on his
way to making it three for three in Scratch Main victories this season.
However, on the second lap he broke a chain coming out of turn two and
Hicks's misfortune was Venegas's good luck. Venegas then cruised to
an easy victory over Brad Oxley, Bobby Schwartz, and Randy DiFrancesco.
For Charlie it had to be a satisfying victory as prior to the start of
the main he vented his frustration of unlucky gate draws by stating,
"Just call me 'Gate Five Charlie'."
The Handicap Main began with Gary Ackroyd and DiFrancesco beating
fellow 40 yard rider Ryan Fisher to turn one. They didn't exit the
corner in that order because Ackroyd and DiFrancesco bumped each other
forcing DiFrancesco down and Ackroyd wide. Sixteen year old Fisher
took advantage and blasted underneath both riders. Ackroyd and Fisher
were side by side down the back straight, but Fisher had the inside
line and took command of the lead. Venegas, benefitting from a great
start from the 60 yard line, passed Ackroyd and was in second on lap
two. Fisher, however, seemed to have an insurmountable lead.
Venegas slowly chipped away at Fisher and on lap five he was on his
back wheel. Fisher drifted wide coming out of turn four at the close
of lap five and Venegas made him pay for his mistake and took the lead.
Venegas stretched his lead all the way to the finish for his second
consecutive Handicap Main Event victory. Fisher finished second,
Hicks finished third, and Shawn McConnell was fourth.
John DeFries returned to Costa Mesa and was victorious in the
Support Main Event. Phil Harmatiuk led the field into turn one
from the 10 yard line and held the lead for one lap before Dave Delbridge managed to get by. Delbridge held the lead until
DeFries, after fighting through traffic, passed him at the end
of lap four. DeFries was first to the line, followed by Bentley Barrett and Mark Hitchcock. DeFries competed regularly
in Southern California for several years prior to moving to
Utah last year.
Chad Newlee was victorious in the Support B main. For Newlee it
was a great time to finally see his luck change at Costa Mesa.
Newlee's past experiences at Costa Mesa have not been good.
In his debut last year, he went over the wall in turn four,
breaking his leg, and he missed the entire season. Last week,
in his return, he met up with the turn four wall again. Brent Smith finished second and Eloy Medellin finished third.
The evening had a scary incident involving Mike Mattocks.
At the completion of his Scratch Heat, Mattocks lifted just
before crossing the finish line and clipped Gary Ackroyd's foot.
This sent him out of control and he hit the turn one wall very
hard with his back taking the brunt of the impact. Mattocks
was knocked unconscious and was attended to by the medical staff
for about ten minutes. He was taken out on a stretcher and
transported to a local hospital. It was later reported that
he had only suffered a separated shoulder. Certainly a minor
injury considering how bad it could have been.
RESULTS
Support B Consolation
147 - Winston Williams 10
317 - Craig Mumma 10
196 - Rod Lenz 20
231 - Pat Dwyer 20
153 - Craig Muzio 10
135 - Kerry Connor 10
Support B Main
123 - Chad Newlee 10
103 - Brent Smith 20
178 - Eloy Medellin 20
141 - Tom Collier 20
331 - Peter Curtis 10
168 - Howard Larson 20
Support Consolation
200 - Gerry Duttweiler 10
226 - Sean Larned 20
114 - Paul Hitchcock 10
182 - Rudy Laurer 30
211 - Doug Lupo 10
234 - Frank Pecce 20
Support Main
316 - John DeFries 30
300 - Bentley Barrett 30
177 - Mark Hitchcock 20
338 - Dave Delbridge 20
243 - Sean McDougall 30
100 - Phil Harmatiuk 10
Scratch Main
43 - Charlie Venegas 60
36 - Ryan Fisher 40
3 - Gary Hicks 60
6 - Shawn McConnell 60
1 - Brad Oxley 60
15 - Dukie Ermolenko 50
8 - Gary Ackroyd 40
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 40 (fell, remounted)
Scratch Main
43 - Charlie Venegas
1 - Brad Oxley
11 - Bobby Schwartz
12 - Randy DiFrancesco
3 - Gary Hicks
Hello everyone I finally got to go to the races yesterday and get my
speedway fix I not going to give results because Ryan does a good job at
that. There was a
older gentlemen sitting next to me that hadn't been to the races in years and
he said that a lot of the same riders were still racing but a few were missing
Ott,Collins,Lucero,Christian just to name a few. He asked me what happened to
the outside of the track !!!! he said these guys used to pass on the outside
now no one goes there anymore .At that time came out Eddie Castro and I
showed him what happens when you try to go outside at CM .He later said that
they have taken the excitement out of the racing .I would have to agree with
him. If CM is closing at the end of the season I would like to ask Brad to
please prepare the track to have an outside so we can really see some awesome
racing .
On another note I have noticed that a couple of riders are running weight on
the bottom of the seats for added traction up to 20lbs.
Ryan Fisher will be missed as he heads back to AUBURN next week .He was
definitely a top contender last night winning his handicap heat and semi
then also coming back to win his scratch heat. Gate problems kept him
out of the scratch main.
TMGracing TMGracing@aol.com
It was a pretty good night of racing wasn't it! But you are right
not enough dirt on the outside. I just thought I would share,
for anyone concerned that Michael Mattocks has a multiple broken
clavicle (collarbone). He also has part of the broken bone floating
in there so an orthopedic specialist will determine if they have
to put a pin it or not. Jim spoke to his mom and I spoke to his
wife and he is in good spirits. Kinda bummed it happened at the
beginning of the season though.
See ya at the races, Kymber TeamEstes@rampageusa.com
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