Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Costa Mesa Speedway Oxley, DiFrancesco regist~r victories By EI,sine Jones Photo by Mike Basso COSTA MESA, CA, APR. 25 t was Orange County Register Kids Night, and another good crowd at Costa Mesa Speedway came to watch the wild and wooly speedway riders as they gave the fans quite a show. The moon wasn't full, but the night proved to be full of offbeat surprises and, when all was said and done, it was "Rad" Brad Oxley and Bakersfield's Randy DiFrancesco who came away the winners of the Scratch and Handicap main events, respectively. Oxley must be loving his new laydown GM, as he romped to a wire-towire win in his Scratch heat race and then came out of gate three and had no problems winning the first Scratch semi.. Riding the pole, he held Hicks and Pappalardo to second and third. Hicks did enough to make the main, but Pappalardo and Paul Colston had one more shot in the last-ehance qualifier. Earlier in the evening, Bobby "Booga100" Schwartz was surprised when he was presented with an award recognizing his 25th season of speedway racing. The veteran rider said tha t he felt he could go another 25 years - which met with overwhelming approval from the fans - and he backed it up by scoring an easy heat-race win. Out of gate three in the second semi, Schwartz outgated the field to take the lead from the get-go and move on to the main. Ackroyd held off Castro in the quick four-lapper and he, too, transferred directly. It was one more chance for Castro and Cooley. The last-chance looked more like a war than a race. On the first start, Pappalardo and Colston got tangled up in turn one, with Pappalardo doing a bad imitation of a stunt rider. He flew through the air and did a layout without the tuck position. He got an "11" from the crowd, but the lan<;ting was just a little rough. Pappalardo was, amazingly enough, not hurt badly, but his bells got rung pretty good and he was unable to restart. On the second try it was Castro getting up close and personal with Col-. stan in turn three. Again the red came out, and Castro was deemed the cause. The field then stood at two, and Colston, a little bruised and battered, went wire to wire as he picked up the final spot in the Scra tch main. Oxley took the pole for the Scratch final, with Colston and Ackroyd in ga tes two and three. On the outside, Hicks was in four and Schwartz in five. ,Before the race, each rider had a youngster that represented them in a foot race around the bullring, and it was Oxley's racer who took the win - and maybe forecast the outcome of the actual race. Oxley came off the line and went right to his favorite place: low and on the PVC pipe that lines the infield. Hicks dropped to second, with Schwartz third while (Above) "Rad" Brad Oxley (foreground left) did his sponsor prOUd by taking the Scratch maln-event victory on Orange County Register Kids Night at Costa Mesa Speedway. (Left) Richard Jones showed the speed and patience that made him the 1997 Supportclass high-point man, as he hugged the pole and took the Support main win. (Below) New Team Moto XXXlPro Grip rider Michael Brandes won both the 125 and 250cc Pro classes again at the fifth and final round of the GA Winter MX Series North, held at the Hollister Grand Prix Track in California. I this year, it looked to be all over. Unfortunately fate stepped in, and Hicks lost power coming_out of four. Difrancesco was right there to take advantage and collect all the marbles. Following him home were Pappalardo and Baur. The Sidecars got a rude awakening when they faced the first night of not being able to touch the tapes, and several teams paid the price by being exclud, ed for the infraction. The lineup for their main event had Jeff Carr and Mike Moreno on the pole, with Alan Hall ana Dirk Votaw in two. The other half of the track was shared by Duane Carmon.t and Richard Tailing in three, and Bob Brayton and Park~ Weaver in four. The start went to Carr and Moreno, and they were able to pu t enough daylight between them and the rest of the field to have an easy time of it. The battle for second was between Carmont and Tailing and Brayton and Weaver. rt came down to who could get the best drive coming out of four, and that was Carmont and Tailing, as they won the drag race to the checkered and took the runi:ler-up spot. In the Support main, Richard Jones, the '97 high-point Support rider, came from long yardage and took over the lead on the third lap to bring home the win. Picking up second was Sean Learned, with Mark Hitchcock third. The Support B win ;""ent to John Vandermeuien. l'X Orange County Fairgrounds Costa Mesa, California Results: April 25, 1998 SCR, 1. B..d Oxley (CM); 2. Cary Leeks (Wes); 3. Bobby Schwartz (GM); Cary Ackroyd (Wes); 5. Paul Colston (jaw). HOCP: 1. Randy DiFrancesco Uaw); 2. Brian Pappalardo eWes); 3. Kon Baur (Jaw); 4. Gary Hi.cks (Wes); S. Charlie Cooley (Jaw); 6. Shawn McConnell (CM); 7. Ed Castro Oaw); 8. Cary Ackroyd (Wos). SDCAR: 1. J. Carr/M. Moreno (Yam); 2.. D. Cannont/R. Tailing (Hon); 3. B. Brayton/P. Weaver . (Han); 4. A. Hall/D. Votaw (Kaw). SUP: 1 Richard Jones (CM); 2. Sean Learned Oaw); 3. Mark Hitchcock (Jaw); 4. Marvin Sonnier (Wes); 5. Rick Bishop (Wes); 6. Frank Pecce (Jaw), SUP B: 1. John Vandermeuien (jaw); 2. Mark Prentice; 3. Fred Armenta (Jaw); 4. Allon McBee; 5. Etoy Medellin (Jaw); 6. Peter Curtis (Wes), GFI Calnornia Winter MX Series North, Round 5 Brandes · take two ByJim Enos attempting to pass around the outside. The three riders were running close enough to shake hands, but no one gave an inch and they finished in that order. After three Handicap heats had been completed to start thinning the field for the eight-rider, eight-lap main event, the first Handicap semi saw Charlie Cooley take the lead from the low yardage, and he looked to have a lock on the win. But it was none other than "Fast" Eddie Castro who came from the 40-yard line and rained on Cooley's parade, as Castro made the pass for the lead and at the checkered flag to win the race by ever so little. Cooley still made the main, along with Shawn "Mad Dog" McConnell, who got through in third. Kon Baur was tlle final transferee, finishing fourth. Brian Pappalardo, led the way from start to finish in the second semi, and he was followed home by Gary Ackroyd, Gary Hicks and Difrancesco. The mainevent field was set. The lineup for the Handicap main had Cooley on the 10 by himself. On the 20 were Baur and Pappalardo. DiFrancesco and Ackroyd shared the 30, with Hicks and Castro on the 40. AU alone on the 50 was McConnell. On the first attempt at a start, Ackroyd got out of shape and lost it in turn one, causing the red to come out. The referee deemed Ackroyd the cause, and he was sent to the pits. On the second try, it was Castro who clipped McConnell's rear wheel, causing both to go down. Another red, and Castro was done. The third time was the charm and this time it was Baur who got the gate and grabbed the lead, with Hicks in pursuit. Difrancesco was third, with.Pappalardo fourth. McConn.ell was having problems right from the start and gave up the chase. Cooley also was sidelined with trouble after two laps. On the fifth lap, Hicks took over the lead, and with the strong motor he has HOLUSTER, CA, APR. 19 fter taking both wins in the 12S and 250cc Pro races at the fourth round of the series, Suzuki-mounted Michael Brandes - once again returned to the Hollister GP track and once again - took two class wins with ease. In fact, the Mota XXX/Simi Valley Cycles/Pro Grip-backed Brandes enjoyed as much as a la-second lead in both races despite the fact that he was in the company of several other AMA Supercross regulars such as ex-teammate Jeff Willoh and Rusty Holland. With nearly 400 riders turning out for the final round of the series, promoter Jack Azevedo was relieved to finall)! get the series completed. "Here we are in the spring already and we're still running a winter serietj ra.ce," Azevedo said. "But I think our race announcer, Tim Quinn, summed it up best when he said that our mission.is to g;ve the riders the best value for theit: dollar. AU those weekends we didn'~ A

• Cover