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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127777
SPEEDWAY CoorsLight S pringC lassic O rangeCountyFairgrou nds (Left) " A y ln'" Mike Faria held the checkered fla g In victory for th e thi rd straight time as the winner of the Coors Light Spring Class ic . The win marked Faria's first appearance at Cos ta Mesa since cla iming the tit le on e year ago. (Bel ow) Faria (secon d fr om left ) bl asted out of the gate In the Scratch main to grab the lead and th en held o ff Bra d Oxley (far right) and Steve Lucero (left) for the title. (Right) Oxley was all smil es after pulling off a last-lap vict ory In the ei ght-man. eight-lap Handicap main eve nt. (Below) The team of Bo b Brayton and Parke Weaver (left) rolled t o the Sidecar-elass main event win. By Sco tt Rou sseau COSTAMESA, CA. MAR. 16 ike Faria is still perfect. In his only ap pearance at the Orange Co u n ty Fairgroun d s d uri ng the 1995 speedway season, the then -38 -year-old Californ ian wowed fans wit h his second consecutive Coors Light Spring Classic victory before jetting acro ss the Atlantic to join the Edinburgh Monarchs of the British Premier League. His oversea s schedu le may ha ve prevented Faria - a lon g ti m e darling of Southern California's hard core speedway e n th u s iasts - fro m returning to Costa Mesa to sh o ot for a third U.S. Nationa l Ch ampionship titl e in 1995 . Yet one yea r later and one year older, Faria did return, and he contin ued his winning form as he grabbed h is third consecutive Spring Classic crown befo re 4600 fans at the fabled Southern Californ ia bullring, once again provid in g his home-country faithfu l w ith a winning glimpse before re turni ng to Europe again for 1996. At 39, Faria proved that he sti ll has wha t it takes as he cha rged off th e li ne fro m th e secon d s tarti ng position and put tog ether four flawless lap s to notch the wi n.ยท Former Na tiona l Cham p ion Brad Oxley wo n .the H andicap main eve nt for the second yea r in a row . Geor ge Fox picked up the Suppo rt class victory, and the team of Bob Brayton and Parke Weaver emerged with the win in the often unpredictab le Sidecar class. "Sa me old Flyin ' Mike," Faria sa id after completing the triple. "Us old guys still know how to twist th e th rott le, don 't w e? I couldn't three-peat in th e U.S. Nationals, but I did it in the Spring Classic." M Three former Ll.S.' Na tional Cha mpion s and one p ossible future N at ion al win ner started off the scratch po rtion of the evening with wins. Faria stormed to the win in the first scrat ch heat w hile Don a do rn crossed the stripe in second to earn the other direct transfer to the main event. "Th e s tart h e lp s a whol e bun ch her e," Faria said. "Later in the night, I'll make some changes for the blu e gro ove, and that should help a lot more." Two-time Nation al a nd former World Pair s Champion Bobb y Schwartz also gain ed e asy entry into th e se m is with a clean gate technique which propelled him far ahead of second -placed Robert Pfetzing. "I had a good race," Schwartz sai d. "I thought that I made a pretty good start. It felt great." Brad Oxley, the 1987 U.s. N ational winner, cla imed the w in in heat three after b eating Gary Hicks, And y Northrup and Jesse Finch off the line, Oxley, who rarely has good luck on the scratch side of the program, dominated the race. "I was a little bit nervous out ther e," Oxley sai d . "I am notoriou sly slow off th e s tart, and I u sua lly h ave to co me from beh ind. But 1 go t it goin' an d ran away. That never h appens." H e at fo u r pro vi d e d a n up s e t, as Northern California su perstar Bobby Hedden put away '88 us National title winn er Steve Lucer o, John Aden and Ed Cas tro to notch a ra re heat-race victory at Cos ta Mesa.. " I h a ven't rid de n at all 's in ce last October," Hedden said. "I made a good gate and then I kind of pushed the rest of the guys up to the fence a bit. After that, I d idn't look back." Faria con tinued h is good fortune in th e fir st se mi , d efeati ng Lucero, who also gained entry into the Scratch main event b y transferring ahead of H icks and Schwartz, w h o p ull ed ano ther decent s tart only to get swept aside going into tum one and finish last . "I kind of got pushed ou t," Schwartz said . "But oh, well - that' s the first tum at Costa Mesa." Oxley and Hedden climbed into the main event throu gh a 1-2 finis h in th e second semi, and Hi cks gained the final spo t in th e fi ve-ma n Spring Class ic fina le via a narrow wi n over Don a do rn a fter the tw o raced side by s ide fr om start to fin ish. It ap peared as th ough a dorn ha d w on th e ra ce , an d eve n Hi cks looked to congratu late adorn as th e two went d own th e back straigh t, but the refe ree ru led in favor of H icks. adorn went ballistic. "I can ' t believe it," an angry a dorn said afterward. "Didn't it look like I had won th a t race? Did n 't th e sa me th in g ha ppen to me last year? What do 1 have to do b e fo r e they'll give m e a win aro und here?" The same race e n ded Schwartz's cha nces for a berth in the main eve nt, but the Southern Ca lifo rnia speedway racing mainstay wasn't too wo rrie d . " I' ll get better as th e season gets going," he said. As th e fi ve fa ste st ri ders o f th e eve ni n g li ned u p for the m ain event, Faria was in gate tw o wit h Oxley on the pole. Pfetzin g was di aled into ga te three wit h H icks to h is right and Lucero on the ex treme ou tsi de. When th e tapes went up, Fari a d rop p ed th e hammer an d w as go ne : Ox ley d ucked in to the second spot with Lucero in his hi p pocket. Both Oxley an d Lucero tightened the race up front as the y ran Faria down on