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SPEEDWAY Del Mar SpeedwaylFox Hunt Del Mar Fairgrounds • enln (Left) The Southern California speedway racers entertained some 3000 spectators In the horse arena adjacent to the mile track on the night before the Del Mar Mlle. (Above) Bobby Schwartz wheelled his way to the Scratch main-event victory. (Below) Steve Lucero (right) dives under Gary Ackroyd (left) en route to the win In the elght-lap Handicap main event. (Bottom) The team of Bob Brayton and Frank Tamburelll slid to the Sidecar feature win. By Scott Rousseau Photos By Joe Bonnello DEL MAR, CA, OCT. 14 0bbY Schwartz and Steve Lucero did what they do best to show Scott Parker, Chris Carr, Larry Pegram and several other Grand National dirt trackers a good time as promoter Chris Agajanian brought pro£lissional speedway racing to the picturesque horse grounds on the night before the Del Mar Mile. Lucero and Schwartz bagged one first division main-event win each while Mike Reed was victorious in the Support-class feature and the team of Bob Brayton and Frank Tamburelli topped the wild and crazy Sidecar main. The event, a last-minute addition to the historic and popular Del Mar weekend, was arguably a success, drawing some 3000 spectators to witness Southern California's brand of circle-track racing. In order to pack in as many races as possible, the first division Scratch program utilized a points-paying format to determine berths in the two semis, which transferred two riders each to the main and dumped the rest into a Last Chance Qualifier. Southern California speedway stars Charlie Venegas, Rob Pfetzing, Shawn McConnell and Arizonan Lance King earned spots in the first semi while Schwartz, Lucero, Brad Oxley and Northern California's Bobby Hedden qualified for the second semi. Venegas got a fantastic gate and led the first three laps of the opening semi before Pfetzing gunned his Weslake up the inside on the front straight to grab the lead on lap three and go on to win. Venegas stood pat in second for the other transfer spot. Lucero got an equally excellent start for a flag-to-flag win in the second semi while Schwartz drifted wide then pulled down on the low line in front of Oxley for the second transfer spot. McConnell came back from the dead in the Last Chance Qualifier by pulling off the move of the night when he I3 " """" I-< Q) "S > o z 14 Q) threaded his way between a pole-riding Hedden and Oxley on the cushion to emerge with the lead off turn four on the opening lap. McConnell held the lead for the rest of the four-lap race to earn the final spot in the main event. It was Schwartz's turn to take command of the start while Pfetzing was literally left at the line when the five-man, four-lap Scratch feature left the gate. Lucero was all over Schwartz's rear wheel and tried to make his move as he slipped to the outside when the pair powered into the first turn on lap two. But just as Lucero drifted wide, Schwartz hooked up and wheelied, sending him wide as well, and right in front of Lucero, who rolled off the throttle and never mounted a serious challenge for the rest of the race. Schwartz took the win followed by Lucero, Venegas, McConnell and Pfetzing. "I just got right on the rubber and rode the inside - that's all 1 needed to do," Schwartz said. "This was fun, and 1 think they should do it more often here. I was excited to see all the dirt trackers here. I'm happy they're here. They've always been my heroes." After a first-turn pileup involving Don Odom caused a restart of the eightlap, eight-rider Handicap main, Lucero gained a measure of revenge by blasting off his position on the 4O-yard line and pulling in behind leader Gary Ackroyd on. the opening lap. The reigning California State Champion then pressured Ackroyd for three laps before driving underneath him and taking the point position as the two front-runner.s streaked across the start / finish line. Ackroyd's motorcycle then began to smoke, and it expired two laps later, leaving him in last place. Lucero then stretched out his lead to score the win while Pfetzing and Oxley nabbed the place and show positions, respectively. "1 just waited on him (Ackroyd)," Lucero said. "1 wanted to make it a show. As long as we can put on a show and come back next year, that's all that matters to me. We all had fun." The wild and crazy speedway Sidecar division had the fans cheering for most of the night as their high horsepower combined with a track that offered a lot of straightaway speed and tight turns made for some excitement. The team of Bob Brayton and Frank Tamburelli provided plenty of their own excitement as they threaded their way past the rigs of Matherson and Cole, and Carmont and Taling on the opening lap and sped to victory in the four-lap feature. Jason Daniels held the lead for half of the Support-class main event before Mike Reed drifted underneath to take the lead for good. Daniels put on one of the best rides of his young career as he followed the veteran Reed across the line for second. Paul Colston was third. ~ Del Mar F81rgrounda Del Mar, California Resuhs:~obef14,1995 SCRATCH: 1. Bobby Schwartz (Wes); 2. Steve Lucero (Cdn); 3. CJ,arlie Venegas Uaw); 4. Shawn McConnell (Gdn); S. Robert Pletzing (Wes). HDCP: 1. Steve Lucero (Cdn); 2. Rob Pfetzing (Wes); 3. Brad Oxley (Wes); 4. Charlie Venegas craw); 5. Don Odom (Gdn); 6. Doug Nicol (GM); 7. Bobby Hedden craw); 8. Gary Ackroyd craw). SOCAR: 1. Brayton/Tamburelli; 2. B. Mathersonl Cole; 3. Carmont/Taling; 4. Partainl Albright; 5. Hall/Moreno; 6. J. Matherson/Leeder. SUP: l. Mike Reed (Wes~ 2. Jason Daniels (Wes); 3. Paul Colston (Wes); 4. Richard Jones (eM); 5. larry Rowley (Wes); 6. Doug Lynch craw).