1996 Costa Mesa Speedway

August 16, 1996 Costa Mesa Speedway
From: Gary Roberts

Support class main
1. Paul Binnquist
2. Richard Jones
3. Jon DeVries
4. Ken Hansen
5. Bryan Thompson
6. Kon Baur

Scratch Main
1. Steve"bad boy" Lucero
2. Shawn McConnell
3. Bobby"Boogaloo" Schwartz
4. Gary Hicks
5. John Aden

Handicap Main
1. Steve"bad boy" Lucero
2. Andy "the Enforcer" Northrup
3. John Aden
4. Eddie Castro
5. Jake Zemke
6. Jesse Finch
7. Jason Chism
8. Steve Furman

After my 4 week visit to England it was really good to get back and watch some non-processional speedway. Oops sorry, didn't mean to offend anyone. More about my UK visit later.

The track looked terrible for the first few races. More dirt had been added and was heavily watered. The evening opened with 3 Support class qualifying heats. These must have been the slowest race times ever at Costa Mesa (they never give race times here) but some managed to find their way round fast. Others were lapped. Seeing some of the bikes after the races, many riders have some heavy duty bike cleaning to do.

Steve Lucero rode brilliantly all evening to win both main events. The commentator thought he was the first to get the double all season, but in fact Gary Hicks did it early in the season too.

John Aden who is now a very competitive rider at Costa Mesa, having not ridden here much, if at all last season, broke the tapes in the scratch main. I was told he did this more than once in recent weeks. I strongly believe that once he can avoid this mistake, he will become a Costa Mesa winner.

The start of the Handicap main was messy. This is always the last race of the evening and the show is supposed to be over by 10, so when it runs late, it certainly seems that the referee is loathe to have too many restarts. However this time, although running late, he stood for no nonsense and twice put riders back for trying to jump the start. Steve Furman started on the 30 yard line with Jake Zemke and Jesse Finch. After the premature starters had been put back twice, Steve had the 30 yard line to himself, and many of his competitors had been moved back once or twice, to give him what should have been an easier crack at victory. In the event, engine failure stopped him. Eddie Castro who was penalized twice started back around the 80 yard line and rode well to finish 4th. Andy Northrup, (an off-duty LA cop) lead most of the race till the last 50 yards, when he found excess traction, allowing Steve Lucero to get by.

More information, thanks to Tom Simrak 

Handicap Semi #1 - 1st four go to 'Handicap Main'
1st Andy Northrup
2ND JESSE FINCH
3RD JAKE ZEMKE
4TH STEVE FURMAN
5TH BRAD OXLEY
6TH DONNY ODOM (DNS)

Handicap Semi #2  - 1st four go to 'Handicap Main'
1ST STEVE LUCERO
2ND EDDIE CASTO
3RD JOHN "THE ICEMAN"ADEN
4TH 161 JASON CHISM
5TH RICK PEARCE
6TH DAVID TAYLOR

SCRATCH SEMI #1  - 1st two go to Main - 2nd two go to 'Last Chance'
1ST GARY HICKS
2ND JOHN ADEN
3RD JESSE FINCH
4TH JASON CHISM

SCRATCH SEMI #2  - 1st two go to main - 2nd two go to 'last chance'
1ST STEVE LUCERO
2ND SHAWN MCCONNELL
3RD EDDIE CASTRO
4TH BOBBY SCHWARTZ

LAST CHANCE  - 1st goes to main
1ST BOBBY SCHWARTZ
2ND EDDIE CASTRO
3RD JESSE FINCH
4TH JASON CHISM

SIDECAR MAIN
1ST LEWIS/MACY
2ND CARMONT/TAILING
3RD "SIDECAR"BOB BRAYTON/WEAVER
4TH MATHERSON/COLE

BECAUSE TONIGHT WAS SPONSORED BY ORANGE COUNTY HARLEY, I SHOULD LET YOU KNOW
THE WINNER OF THE HARLEY MAIN
1ST PLACE...RICHARD JOHNSON