Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

EVENTS (Left) Gary Hicks returned to rac ing after a year layoff to win the Scratch ma in event at the Track at Costa Mesa Speedway in California. Costa M esaSpeedway Hicks returns By Elaine Jones Pho to by Mike Basso COSTA MESA, CA, AUG. 2 ary Hicks, wh o has not been racing for at least a year, proved Saturd a y night at Costa Mesa th at racing is like riding a bicycle: If you' re good, yo u never forge t. Hicks won the rich est ra ce of th e ni ght, the Scr atch main, a n d was seco n d to Bo bby ' Schwa rtz in the Hand icap main . The first o rder of busines s wa s to move up the program on the Handicap si de. Rand y DiF ra nc e sco, fro m 10 ,",: yardage, led the firs t heat for thr ee of th e s ix laps, but it was Rob Pfetzing who took contro l on the fourth lap and ca me a way th e winn er. Mike Fari a , co m ing fr om th e 50-y ar d line , go t through for sec o nd, w ith DiFra ncesco hanging on for third and Gary Ackroyd picking up the fina l transfer spot. In th e second hea t, it looked to be Brian Pappalard o fro m s tart to finish, but Urad Ox ley ra ined on his parade, stealing it away from him at the checkered flag . John Aden held Ed Castro at bay for the th ird , but fou rth wa s good enough to mo ve up the program, and they would mee t again in the semis. The th ird heat saw a con troversial call when Shawn McConnell and jerry Black got together in turn one, and McConnell was cha rged for the red and was n ot allowed to restart. Kon Baur, who has really com e alive lately, led from start to finish, with Black, Hicks and Schwartz following him home. T he fir st Ha n dicap semi had Difrancesco co ming out from th e 10ya rd li ne fast and hard, and he put enough day lrght between himself and the res t of the field to never be seriously cha llenged . H e was i n th e m a in . Baur did not fare as well, as Ackroyd m oved him o u t a nd wen t to seco nd . The fickle fi nger of fate s te p ped in : Bike probl em s forced him ou t, a nd it was Pfet zin g a nd Hicks w ho go t by for second a nd th ird , with Faria pi ckin g up the final spot. G , . ~ , , t;c:: a ~ ...... rJl ;::l CO ;::l -< 32 In the second sem i, Pappalardo agai n went out r eal strong , o n ly t o hav e Schwa rtz put a wh eel und er him on the fourth lap to take the lead. If you were moved o ff th e g ro ove, it w a s over; Black, Oxley and Aden all go t by to get the transfers . The lineup fo r the Handicap ma in had DiFrances co all a lo ne o n the 10yard line. Another 20 yards back, Black se ttled in o n the 3D-ya rd line . Th e 40 wa s m ore cr o w de d , w ith Pfe tzing , Hicks, Schwartz and Aden all claiming real es tate. Oxley and Faria we re on the SO-yard line. When the tapes came up, it was DiFran cesco hoping to ge t a way from the rest of the field that was bearing down o n him like a runaway freight train. It didn't work - Schwartz caugh t him by the third lap and it was all over as he ran away. Hicks was ho ping for a d ou ble win on th e ni ght an d go t by Difrance co on e lap later, bu t he wo uld s go no farther as he had to contend with third -p lace finisher Oxley, who kept the pressure o n a ll th e way to th e chec kered . Pfelzing, working the ou tside, had eno ug h for fourth . . Like Handicap racin g, yo u have to move tip the p rogram to make it to th e Scra tch ma in e vent, which is the richest race of the night. In the first hea t, it w as Fari a and Ad en who ou tgu nned Black an d Jason Dan iels. Ox ley and Pfet zin g had no tro ub le a dvancing, a s th ey topped Rick Pearce and Ba ur in the seco nd heat. In th e th ird heat , Hick. an d McCon nell ba ttle d all the way to the checkered, with Hic ks getting the win and McCon nell in second and transferring. The four th he a t belonged to Schwartz from start to finish , with Ackroyd picking up second. The first Scratch semi sa w Oxley hit the tapes, eli m ina ting himsel f. On th e second try at the start , Fa ria read th e gate perfectly and ra n awa y with the win from there. Following him home was McConnell, who wou ld meet Faria agaiIt in the main. The second Sera tch semi had a very hungry Hicks ou t on top , going away. Aden tried to catch him but could do no better tha n second: They , too , would and that was a ll he needed, as he wa s ou t first and no o ne could touch him. O xley did pick up second, with Pfet zing taking the outside route to third. Th e draw for the Scratch main put ' Hicks on the pole, with Schwartz in two and Fari a in the middle of the track in th ree. McConnell drew the fou rt h slot , and Ad en wa s on the far outside in five. It was Schwa rtz wh o read th e gat e th e best and go t off first , but it wa s H icks who held it o n a littl e lon ger and beat hi m to th e corner. emerging with th e lead as they came out of tw o. McConnell h ad a lso go tten by Schwartz, but he slipped off the groove on the second lap an d Faria go t through for second. Faria was a ll o ve r Hicks, but ju st co uld n' t move him out and had to settle for the second- place spot. McC onnell held on for the show mon ey, with Ad en ge tt ing under Sch wa rtz for the fourth. Rich ard Jon es ca me aw ay w it h hi s second ma in -even t win at Cos ta Mesa th is season and did it with a hat tri ck, w inn ing bo th of h is qu al if yin g heats plus th e main. Paul Binnquist , wh o had also bee n undefeated to that poin t, was seco nd , with Brian Burch , on a brandnew lay-down GM, third. '" Costa Mesa Speedway Co st a Mesa. California Result s : Au gust 2, 1997 SCRATC H MAIN: -t. C ary Hicks (Wl;!s); 2. Mike Faria (GM); 3. Shawn McConnell (GM); 4. John Aden (jaw); 5. Bobby Schw artz (GM ). HANOI CAr MAIN: 1. Bobby Schwa rtz (GM); 2. Carv H icks (WI-os); 3. Brad Ox ley (Wt.>S); 4. Rob Pft.'t:Lin g (e M ); 5. [ ohn Ad en (jd W). SU PPORT MAI N: 1. Richard J Oll~ (G M); 2. P.lUl 6innlJU~1 ad",); 3. Brian Burch (j d W); 5. D.wiJ Lvnch Oaw). (GM); 4. R.J.ndy Skinner SUPPORT B M A IS : 1. M.u vin Sonnier (jdW) ; 2. Rudy M"rt'....'" (joil W); 3. John V.m d .. rm pul .. n a .Jl w ); 4 . · JMvld En l•• • OdW). U .National S .S peedway Q ualifier Series, Round 4 Schwartz is tops meet again . Fou r spots had been determined, and By M, Sober o ne more rid er was need ed to fill the field . It wou ld come down to th e Last Cha nce qualifier. Oxley drew the pol e, with Schwa r tz in tw o, while Pfet zing was in three and Ackroyd drew four. Schwartz read the ga te like a good boo k, DIXON, CA, JULY 26 Ult it i m e World a n d Natio na l Speed way C h a m p ion Bobby "Booga loo" Schwa rtz finished the fi na l 1997 U .S. N ational Spe edwa y Q ua lif ie r jus t th e w ay he end ed the M first: with a clean swee p of all five of his races a nd a no ther perfect 24-poi nt score at the fi nal round in Di xon. In fact, Sch wa rtz ac tually owned this year's qua lifiers, scoring 92 of a possible 96 points for a four-event tota l points-scoring percenta ge of 95.8 percent. All told, "Booga loo" wo n 17 times in 20 sta rts for an ove rall winning percentage of .850. T he first o f three heat rounds got und er wa y when r at Linn - a rider (one of m any) w ho need ed eve ry po int he could find - go t the win ahead of another rider on the Na tio nal poin ts bu bbl e, Gary Ackroyd . Bart Bast won the second heat, a nd then Mat t Becke r, who ca me in to the event jus t three points ou t of a Na tio nal ber th , go t th e victory in th e third heat. Schwartz, Bobb y Hedden and "Flyin'" Mike Faria finished off the first round w ith convi ncing wins, as well. Faria and Schwartz won the first two heats of Ihe second ro und. Chad Felicio, w ho ca m e in to th e e ve n t three p oints shy of the 12th and final tran sfer to the Na tional, w on the third heat with a nice ride out of starting ga te fou r. Bast wo n th e ne xt rid e, while fellow Northern Ca lifo rnia regu lar Louis Kossuth mad e short work of the fifth heat. Eddie Castro ca me into th e e ve n t tied wit h Rick Pierce for th e final National spot, a nd his w in in the fin al he at of round two put him up three points in that battle. Bast kept hi. perfect score alive in the o peni n g ra ce o f th e third and fin a I round of the heats. Dating back to th e Auburn qu alifier in earl y July , Bast had , at this p o int, won e ig h t consecutive races in the se ries. Felicio continued his drive to make the National with a nice win ove r Linn and Kossuth in the next ride. Bobby Hicks, Cas tro, Schwartz and Faria all took victories to end the scoring in the heat ra ces. In the first semi, Hedden earned himself a tra nsfer to th e p oints-rich ma in e ven t with a nice win ov er the flamboya nt Castro, who seemed happy to be goi ng to the Co nsi. Bast led the seco nd se mi fro m sta rt to finish , and Felicia w as awarded second p lac e w h e n he was taken d own by Becker on the last lap. Becker was di squalified and .cnd ed th e series tied for the second reserve spot. Th e third sem i saw Faria continue his winni ng wa ys, leaving second p lace to Hicks and third to Linn , who ended up a single po int shy of making the Natio nal Championship night roster, although h e did ea r n th e fir st r ese r v e s po t. Sch wa rtz won go ing a way in th e final semi, with Northru p winning the fig ht ove r Kossu th and Oxley for the righ t to ride in the Co nsi . Castro drew th e pole for th e Co nsi a nd led Hicks, Northrup an d Felicic across the line. For Felicio, just making the Consi was celebra tion enough, as he ended the evening with 37 poi nts . The sco re was good enough to earn him the 12th an d final s po t in Costa Mesa on October 4 for the U.S. ational Speedway Championship. All fo ur o f the riders in the main event had long since locked up a spot in the National. Faria had the first pick of s tart ing posi tio n. and , oddly, he cho se gate three . Schwartz then chose the pole, and that left Bast in two and Hed d en outside in lane fou r . A n nouncer Mike Rooney ca ll. Schwartz the "Gatemeister," and the name was ap p ro priate, as "Booga loo" read th e starter perfectly and leaped in to the lead as the starting tapes fle w up. Bast was next ou t an d was hot on Schwartz's tail as the quartet screame d through th e first set of turns a nd d own the back strai g h t. Entering turn four on the first lap, Bast sudden ly

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