Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California

1999 Coors Light 25 Lap Classic
Costa Mesa Speedway
May 15, 1999
From Ryan Evans

"Rad" Brad Oxley captured his fourth Coors Light 25 Lap Classic Title last night by inches over Andy "The Enforcer" Northrup last night at Costa Mesa. Oxley started from the 80 yard line and slowly made his way through traffic showing the patience and poise that helped him capture the title 3 consecutive years from 1995-1997.

Jonnie Walker took the lead from the start from the 10 yard line and held it the first 3 laps before drifting wide and allowing Charlie Cooley to assume the lead. Cooley held until lap 9 and showed signs of fatigue and Gary Ackroyd slipped by and controlled the race for the next 14 laps. Ackroyd held a comfortable lead for most of this time, usually leading by about 20 yards ahead of Northrup. Every time Ackroyd made a mistake, Northrup was too far behind to exploit it. Northrup was too busy trying to hold back Oxley who had managed to get to third rather quickly. Ackroyd, who looked exhausted by this time, finally made his fatal mistake as he just completed lap 22 and Northrup, Oxley, and the rest of the freight train went by.

Northrup had Oxley practically inside his leathers the next two laps. When they took the white flag Northrup looked as if he would hold off Oxley and managed to do it in turns one and two, but as they went into three Andy drifted just a tad and gave Brad his opportunity. As they came off four Andy was in the middle of the track and Brad on the pole and according to the scorers, it was "Rad" Brad Oxley taking the victory. It was VERY close and I wouldn't have argued either way. From my angle (and it was a bad one--low and coming out of turn 2), it looked like Northrup, but that's why the judges are at the finish line and not turn 2. Finishing third was Charlie "The Edge" Venegas, fourth was Bobby "Boogaloo" Schwartz, followed by Ackroyd.

Out of the 12 who started the race, 8 survived and surprisingly, all 8 were on the lead lap when it was over.

Randy Skinner picked his way through traffic from the 50 yard line and took the lead on lap 6 of the 12-man, 12-lap Orange County Marketplace Support Main and cruised to victory. Second was Michael Mattocks, followed by John DeFries (who was making his farewell appearance at Costa Mesa), "Smokin'" Joe Winston, and Tom Winchell.

FORMAT:
The 1st Division format was 20 riders, each competing in 3 rounds of 5-rider scratch heats with the top 12 qualifying for the 25-lap main event. The handicaps were pre-determined so what a rider scored in his heats carried no weight on his handicap for the main. (Note-Dukie Ermolenko qualified for the main event but declined to ride because he had scattered his motor in a heat and didn't want to his the bike he had been borrowing for the main. Jason Chism replaced him in the main. Dukie's motor, with the bottom blown out of it and flywheels exposed was attracting a lot of attention from the fans in the pits after the races.)

The Support format was 4 scratch heats, 5 riders each, the top two from each heat transferring directly to the main. Third and fourth in each heat qualified for one of two "Last Chance Semis". The winner of each semi transferred directly to the 12-lap main. Support B competed under their regular rules.

RESULTS: Support B Main
103 - Brent Smith 10
198 - Mike Boyle 20
186 - Scott Mersereau20
331 - Peter Curtis 20
135 - Kerry Conner 10
319 - Brad Rudy 20 (ns)

12-lap Support Main
383 - Randy Skinner 50
122 - Michael Mattocks 30
316 - John DeFries 50(assigned to the 50, but chose to start
from the 60)
314 - Joe Winston 40
233 - Tom Winchell 30
216 - Kitt Nay 50
164 - Tom Buckingham 40
234 - Frank Pecce 20
302 - Kevin Rubio40
177 - Mark Hitchcock 20
100 - Phil Harmatiuk 10
200 - Gerry Duttweiler 10 (fell)

1st Division
Points
3 - Gary Hicks 3-4-4=11
5 - Brad Oxley 4-3-4=11
6 - Shawn McConnell 2-3-4=9
8 - Gary Ackroyd 3-3-3=9
10 - Scott Brant E-4-3=7
11 - Bobby Schwartz 4-4-4=12
15 - Dukie Ermolenko 4-E-2=6
16 - Charlie Cooley 3-1-2=6
19 - Richard Jones 0-0-2=2
22 - Kon Baur 1-1-1=3
26 - Jason Chism 1-2-1=4
30 - Brian Burch 0-0-0=0
32 - Rick Pearce 1-2-1=4
43 - Charlie Venegas 4-4-3=11
47 - Jonnie Walker 2-2-2=6
56 - Jim Estes scratch
72 - Randy DiFrancesco 2-2-2=6
117 - Robbie Sauer 2-1-0=3
166 - Andy Northrup 3-3-3=9
173 - Brian Thompson 0-1-0=1
223 - Mark Adams 1-0-0=1

Heat Results
1:Venegas, Hicks, DiFrancesco, Chism, Burch
2:Oxley, Cooley, Sauer, Adams, Brant (EF)
3:Ermolenko, Northrup, McConnell, Pearce, Thompson
4:Schwartz, Ackroyd, Walker, Baur, Jones
5:Hicks, Ackroyd, Pearce, Sauer, Ermolenko (EF)
6:Venegas, Oxley, Walker, Thompson, Burch
7:Brant, McConnell, DiFrancesco, Baur, Jones
8:Schwartz, Northrup, Chism, Cooley, Adams
9:Hicks, Northrup, Northrup, Pearce, Thompson
10:Oxley, Ackroyd, Jones, Cooley, Sauer
11:Schwartz, Venegas, Ermolenko, Baur, Burch
12:McConnell, Brant, Walker, Chism (tape penalty), Adams

25 Lap Main Event
5 - Brad Oxley 80
166 - Andy Northrup 50
43 - Charlie Venegas 70
11 - Bobby Schwartz 70
8 - Gary Ackroyd 40
72 - Randy DiFrancesco 40
10 - Scott Brant 60
6 - Shawn McConnell 70
16 - Charlie Cooley 30 (retired)
26 - Jason Chism 30 (retired)
47 - Jonnie Walker 10 (retired)
3 - Gary Hicks 70 (retired)

PAST 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