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Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California
1999 U.S. National Championship
Costa Mesa Speedway
October 2, 1999
From Ryan Evans
Qualifying Rounds:
1: Faria, Schwartz, Northrup, Castro
2: Hicks, Cooley, Marr, Estes (fell, remounted)
3: Bast, Janniro, DiFrancesco, Ermolenko
4: Venegas, Sisemore, Manchester, Ackroyd (fell)
5: Oxley, McConnell, Hedden, Aden
6: (restart) Sisemore, Ermolenko, Cooley, Sauer, Castro (fell, excluded)
7: (restart) Bast, Northrup, Aden, Hicks (engine failure)
8: Venegas, Faria, Hedden, Marr
9: Schwartz, Oxley, Ackroyd, Janniro
10: Manchester, McConnell, DiFrancesco, Estes (fell, remounted)
11: Faria, Hicks, Ermolenko, Ackroyd
12: Venegas, Oxley, Castro, DiFrancesco (fell)
13: Hedden, Manchester, Cooley, Northrup (engine failure)
14: (restart) McConnell, Bast, Schwartz, Marr
15: (restarted twice) Estes, Aden, Janniro, Walker, Sisemore (fell, excluded)
16: Oxley, Manchester, Ermolenko, Marr
17: (restart) Bast, Estes, Ackroyd, Sauer, Castro (tapes exclusion)
18: Venegas, McConnell, Janniro, Northrup (engine failure)
19: Faria, DiFrancesco, Aden, Cooley
20: Hicks, Schwartz, Hedden, Sisemore (fell, remounted)
QUALIFYING SCORES:
1 - Bart Bast 3-3-2-3=11
3 - Gary Hicks 3-E-2-3=8
4n - Bobby Hedden 1-1-3-1=6
5 - Brad Oxley 3-2-2-3=10
6 - Shawn McConnell 2-2-3-2=9
7 - John Aden 0-1-2-1=4
8 - Gary Ackroyd F-1-0-1=2
9 - Mike Faria 3-2-3-3=11
11 - Bobby Schwartz 2-3-1-2=8
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 1-1-F-2=4 (changed number from #72 to #12)
14 - Eddie Castro 0-Fx-1-T=1
15 - Dukie Ermolenko 0-2-1-1=4
16 - Charlie Cooley 2-1-1-0=4
43 - Charlie Venegas 3-3-3-3=12
47 - Johnny Walker (R) 0-/-/-/=0
56 - Jim Estes 0-0-3-2=5
81n - Jimmy Sisemore 2-3-Fx-0=5
94 - John Cook (SCRATCH) (listed as #99, but former number was #94)
117 - Robbie Sauer (R) 0-0-/-/=0
130 - Chris Manchester 1-3-2-2=8
138 - Michael Marr 1-0-0-0=1
166 - Andy Northrup 1-2-E-E=3
Runoff for 10th place:
Sisemore, Estes
Semi-Final #1
Hicks, Faria, Sisemore, Bast, Schwartz (engine failure)
Semi-Final #2
Oxley, Manchester, McConnell, Hedden, Venegas
Last Chance
Bast, Hedden, Sisemore, McConnell
U.S. National Championship Final
(restart) Oxley, Hicks, Bast, Faria, Manchester
Faria began the evening with a beautiful trap from gate four and held off
Schwartz to take the first three points of the evening. Hicks copied Faria's
efforts with a gate four trap of his own. Oregon qualifier Mike Marr took
down Jim Estes, but the red flag never came out. Bast began his title
defense with an easy victory in race three. Venegas trapped from the outside
and ran away with race four. Oxley closed out the first round with a
victory, but not without effort. McConnell made the start, but Oxley passed
him in turn three. Hedden pressured McConnell all four laps. As Oxley was
in the final bend, he straightened and McConnell tried valiantly to steal the
victory, but it was Oxley by about two feet.
The second round began with Dukie Ermolenko taking the gate. As Sisemore was
passing Ermolenko, Eddie Castro and Charlie Cooley went down in turn four.
The referee excluded Castro and Robbie Sauer replaced him on the restart.
Sisemore then made a great start and took the victory. Race seven had a
nasty pileup involving Hicks, John Aden, and Andy Northrup that forced a full
restart. Bast and Hicks gated together and were side-by-side, but at the
close of lap one Hicks slowed with engine problems and Bast took the win.
The eighth race pitted Venegas against Faria. They gated together, but
Venegas found the grip in turn two and ran away with the victory. Faria was
passed on the inside by Hedden on lap two, but returned the favor and held
off "The Blaze" for second. Schwartz was an easy victor in race ten, but
Oxley had to come from last place to take second. Manchester came to life in
race ten as he passed McConnell and Randy DiFrancesco on the outside on the
back straight of lap one. He and McConnell waged a battle that had Manchester winning by about a wheel.
SpeedwayBikes.com fans, left to right: Gary Roberts, Amanda, some guy,
Linda Love and her son, and on the right, Tim Crump from Las Vegas!
Photo by Bill, taken at the US National at Costa Mesa, Oct. 2, 1999.
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