|
|
Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds - Costa Mesa, CA
2000 25 Lap Classic
Costa Mesa Speedway
June 24, 2000
From Ryan Evans
Charlie "The Edge" Venegas continued his dominance in Southern California by
winning the annual 14-rider 25 Lap Classic at Costa Mesa.
Kitt Nay led America's longest speedway race from the beginning by getting to
turn one ahead of Brad Sauer and Doug Greyson who started alongside Nay at
the tapes. Defending Auburn 25 lap winner Ryan Fisher was unable to
duplicate his success here as he fell entering turn three on lap two. The
race was allowed to continue and Nay lengthened his lead. The real story was
Venegas who started alongside National Champion and defending 25 Lap Champion Brad Oxley on the 70 yard line. Venegas was somehow able to get through the
crowded field and was fourth after just two laps. He quickly climbed to
second and applied the pressure on Nay. Venegas passed Nay on lap six and
looked like he was going to run away with the race. Venegas wisely slowed
his pace to conserve energy for the marathon race. That strategy had to be
scrapped after several laps as Dukie Ermolenko passed Nay and immediately
began to close on Venegas who was now having to contend with a speedway
rarity, lapped traffic.
Chaos began when Mark Adams fell coming out of turn two on the tenth lap and
with the field spread out the corner workers were unable to safely retrieve
the bike. After two laps with the bike on the track Brad Sauer and Brad
Oxley fell in turn four. The race was finally red-flagged and, after several
minutes of sorting through what had to be a score keeping nightmare, it was
determined that Sauer was the cause of the crash, 12 laps had been completed,
and the staggered restart with the 11 remaining riders would take place with
the positions determined by the riders' positions at the time of the
incident.
The restart should've provided excitement because, despite the handicaps,
this race was far from over considering the amount of laps left and the fact
that Oxley had won this event four times. Venegas quickly put all of those
notions to rest as he jumped to a comfortable lead and was never challenged
for the rest of the race. Ermolenko had to take comfort in holding second
ahead of Oxley, Randy DiFrancesco finished fourth, Jim Estes finished fifth,
and Bobby Schwartz, after a self-imposed 80-yard handicap, finished sixth.
Three rounds of scratch heats were used to determine the 14-rider main event.
The original program called for a 20-rider field with five-rider heats.
However, four riders were unable to compete so the traditional four-rider
scratch heats were used and due to the smaller field only two riders would be
eliminated.
A lot of new decomposed granite and a wet track caused the riders to ride
cautiously through round one. Schwartz, Oxley, Venegas, and Fisher were
victorious in the opening round.
The track began to shape up after the first round and the opening race of the
second round provided a showdown between first round winners Schwartz and
Fisher. It was the wise veteran who took the victory over the young lion
with a great start and a superb job of holding Fisher at bay. Estes took the
gate over Oxley in the next race, but Oxley was determined to not drop a
point. His determination didn't prove to be fruitful as Estes put in a
strong four laps to get the victory. Venegas joined Schwartz among the ranks
of the unbeaten with an easy victory. Ermolenko got his first three-point
tally after a great battle with Andy Northrup to close round two.
Schwartz made it three for three by beating Northrup to open round three.
Oxley held off Fisher for four laps to get his second victory in three races.
DiFrancesco put a stop to Venegas's unbeaten streak after getting a good
start. Ermolenko closed out the qualifying heats with a victory over Estes.
The Support Main Event was also a marathon race as a 10-rider field competed
in a 12 lap race. Johnny Lupo led the field into turn one followed by Pat
Dwyer. Shawn Harmatiuk, celebrating his 17th birthday, quickly dispatched
Dwyer and set out after Lupo. Lupo held the youngster off for six laps but
drifted wide on lap seven and Harmatiuk seized the lead. Harmatiuk began to
pull away until Dave Delbridge fell in turn two and forced a restart. It was
announced that 9 laps were complete leaving only 3 laps to go on the
staggered restart. Harmatiuk and Lupo lined up next to each other at the
tapes and as they entered turn one Lupo went down forcing a second restart.
Harmatiuk was now by himself at the tapes and was uncontested as he led the
field into turn one. Joe Winston quickly raced to second and began to apply
pressure to the young rider. The pressure continued through lap 11, but as
they came off turn four no white flag came out. Winston continued to stalk
Harmatiuk and as they finally took the white flag he was planted on his back
tire. Despite the extra lap, Harmatiuk remained cool under the pressure and
took the win for the biggest victory of his young career and probably his
best birthday present. Winston was second, Bentley Barrett was third,
multi-time Support 12-lap winner Randy Skinner was fourth, and Billy Lyons was sixth.
RESULTS
Qualifying Scores 1 2 3 T
1 - Brad Oxley 3 2 3 8
3 - Gary Hicks (scratch)
6 - Shawn McConnell (scratch)
8 - Gary Ackroyd (scratch)
11 - Bobby Schwartz 3 3 3 9
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 2 1 3 6
15 - Dukie Ermolenko 2 3 3 8
19 - Richard Jones (scratch)
23 - Robbie Sauer 0 0 0 0
36 - Ryan Fisher 3 2 2 7
43 - Charlie Venegas 3 3 2 8
47 - Johnny Walker 1 1 1 3
56 - Jim Estes 1 3 2 6
57 - Brian Thompson 2 0 0 2
119 - Brad Sauer 0 0 0 0
166 - Andy Northrup 2 2 2 6
216 - Kitt Nay 1 1 Fx 2
223 - Mark Adams 1 2 1 4
230 - Doug Greyson R 0 1 1
243 - Sean McDougall F F F 0
Race Results
1: Schwartz, DiFrancesco, Adams, Greyson (retired)
2: Oxley, Northrup, Walker, B.Sauer
3: Venegas, Ermolenko, Nay, McDougall (fell)
4: Fisher, Thompson, Estes, R.Sauer
8: Schwartz, Fisher, Walker, Greyson
9: Estes, Oxley, Nay, B.Sauer
10: Venegas, Adams, R.Sauer (retired), McDougall (fell)
11: Ermolenko, Northrup, DiFrancesco, Thompson
16 (restart): Schwartz, Northrup, McDougall (fell), Nay (fell, excluded)
17: Oxley, Fisher, Adams, Thompson
18: DiFrancesco, Venegas, Greyson, R.Sauer
19: Ermolenko, Estes, Walker, B.Sauer
12-Lap Support Main
139 - Shawn Harmatiuk 10
314 - Joe Winston 50
300 - Bentley Barrett 40
383 - Randy Skinner 50
321 - Billy Lyons 40
120 - Bill McCarley 30
200 - Gerry Duttweiler 30
161 - Hector Quevado 20
231 - Pat Dwyer 0
125 - Johnny Lupo 0
338 - Dave Delbridge 30
316 - John DeFries 50 (fell, remounted) (retired)
25-Lap Classic Main Event
43 - Charlie Venegas 70
15 - Dukie Ermolenko 40
1 - Brad Oxley 70
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 50
56 - Jim Estes 30
11 - Bobby Schwartz 50 (started from the 80)
166 - Andy Northrup 50
57 - Brian Thompson 10
216 - Kitt Nay 0
47 - Johnny Walker 10
230 - Doug Greyson 0
119 - Brad Sauer 0 (fell, excluded)
223 - Mark Adams 20 (fell)
36 - Ryan Fisher 40
FORMER WINNERS
1990 - Bobby Schwartz (16 laps @
Glen Helen)
1991 - Chris Manchester (20 laps)
1992 - Chris Manchester
1993 - Lance King
1994 - Gary Hicks
1995 - Brad Oxley
1996 - Brad Oxley
1997 - Brad Oxley
1998 - Shawn McConnell
1999 - Brad Oxley
|
