Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Shawn McConnell. shown here leading Eddie Castro , s cored the victory in the Handicap main event at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California. re turn of the Bill Mat herson /Dale Leed er team, and they came back in style. Matherson rece ntly underwent su rgery, but he was back aboa rd th e Mi ssion Yam aha-backed V-Max. They came off the line on top and they stay ed ther e in the qu ick four- lap race. The team of Jeff Carr and Mike Moreno was also bac k in actio n after Mor eno' s ea rlie r cras h had left their bik e in tw o pieces . They, too, w ere runnin g s tro ng as th ey held the team of Peter Lewis and Jamie Macy at bay to take second. Four th place went to Mike Gilmour and Chris Jon es. Rand y Skinner picked up his second w in in as many weeks as h e won the crash-shortened Support ma in ev e nt , topping Joe Winston and Bill Green. The Su pport B main win went to a visitor from Co lorad o, Ge ne Petz. Following h im hom e w a s Brent Smit h a n d .Bill McCarley. I~ Costa Mesa Speedway Venegas, McConnell shine By Elaine Jon es Photos by Mike Bas so COSTA MESA,CA. AUG. 8 ction was fas t and furio us during Saturday night spee dway action at the Orange Coun ty Fairgrounds as Cha rlie "The Edge" Vene gas on his IMSs po nsored GM w on th e Scr at ch m ain 'e v e n t a n d Sh awn "M a d Do g " McConnell on h is RPM-sponsor ed GM wo n the Hand icap main. The road to the main eve nts was not an easy one, as rid ers were still try ing to ge t d ialed back in af ter a two -week layoff. In th e fi rs t h ea t , And y "T h e En fo rcer" No rth ru p sa t on th e p ol e , with Cha rlie Coo ley in tw o and Venegas in thr ee. On the outside it was "Fast" Ed Cas tro in four and Brian Burch in five. The first start attempt had Castro in the tapes, and he wa s se nt ro the 20-yard lin e. The gate w ent to Venegas, as he was sho wing the troo ps early on that he was th er e to wi n. Northru p locked in beh ind him , with Cooley third . Cas tro just couldn' t get on track and he settled for fourt h. McConnell d rew the pole in the second hea t, with Davi d Lyn ch in two and John DeFries in thr ee. "Rad " Brad Oxley load ed into fou r, wi th David Taylor in five. Oxley rea d the ga te the best and he was ou t on top , wit h McConnell in hot pursuit. The y soo n di stanced t he mselves from the rest of the field and from then on it was just for br aggin g rights. Taylor got around DeFries with one lap down a n d wo u ld e ve n tua lly fi n is h third . DeFries and Lync h wer e fou rth and fifth, respectively. The lineup for the third heat had Kon Baur in two, with Chris "The Kid" Man ches te r in th r e e , Bo bby " Boogaloo" Schwartz in four an d Rick Pear ce in five. T he p ol e was emp ty w hen John ny A ..... rJJ ;:l 00 ;:l -< 44 Walker was una bl e to ma ke the ca ll . Man chester and Schwa rtz fought for the lead ea rly, with th e ve teran a n d th e rooki e d oing battle. At the finish, it was Manche ster by the sma llest of margin s, with both riders ad van cing to the sem is. Baur ended up third and Pear ce fourth . Rich ard Jon es sa t on the po le, w it h Gary Hicks load ed into two and Rand y Difrancesco in thr ee. John Ad en was in fou r with Robbie Sauer in five. Hicks, who seems to be getting his bike proble ms u nder co n trol, went out on top , w ith Aden in second and DiFrancesco thir d . In the quic k four-lapper, not hi ng chan ged an d they finish ed as they had st arted . Jon e s a n d Sa uer ended u p fourth and fifth. The first Scra tch semi had Schwa rtz o n th e p o le , w.th O xl e y in tw o a n d Venegas in thr ee. The final slot went to Aden. Alth ou gh Ade n had the bes t ga te, Schwartz go t int o the firs t corner with the lead . That didn' t last a lap, though, as Venegas mad e an incredible move on the outside. Oxley, meanwhile, was try ing to ge t into the mix, and he cou ntered w it h a n ins ide move. He was in it for one lap before his bike wen t down wi th mechanical problems . Venegas was on a roll, w ith Schwartz making certai n that wh en the chec kered flag came ou t, he was in a transfer position. Aden and Ox ley wo uld have one more shot in th e last -chan ce qu ali fier. The second sem i had McConnell on the pole, with Hicks in tw o and Man chester in thr ee. On the far outsid e, in five, was N orthrup . Wh en th e ga te came up, it was Manch ester a nd H ick s ou t fro n t. Man chester was wo rking the d irt on the outs ide while Hicks was trying to make th e insi de wo r k as they circu la ted tog eth er. Hic ks looked to have the adva ntage as they came ou t of the corners, bu t Ma ncheste r seemed to have the ed ge on the straigh ts. At the finis h, it wa s Man chest er taking the wi n. Hicks, by vi rtu e o f hi s s econd -pla ce finish, would have an oth er crack at Man chester in the main . McConnell a nd Northrup moved on to the LCQ , On e more spot had to be filled for the Scratch main, and four guys wa nted it. No r t h ru p dre w th e pole, w i th McConnell in two and Oxley and Aden in fou r an d five. No rthrup go t the best ju m p on th e field, determin ed to hold h is pos iti on on the po le. McConnell, who is known to like it down low, tried , with Oxley also knoc ki ng on the door. Nobody budged , and th e fin al spo t in the mai n eve nt went to Northru p. The Scratch main event had Venegas on the pole, w ith Schwartz in two and Hicks in three . Man chester was in fou r and No rthru p was on the far outs ide in five. Venegas go t the best start and wa s never h ea ded . Manch ester a nd Hi cks were left to battle for second , wi th Hicks on the inside an d Manchester out in the dirt, making the hig h line wo rk . Man chester had second for two laps, but it was Hicks holding the spo t when it mattered most and he collected the secondplace mon ey, w ith Man chester finishi ng thi rd . Northrup held off Schwa rtz for fourth. The first semi on the Handicap sid e of the pr ogram saw David Taylor start fro m the 30-yard lin e, bu t th at didn't sto p hi m fr om takin g th e win . McConnell go t by Rick Pearce on th e white-fla g lap to fi nis h second , wit h Schwartz and Venegas, from the 60-yard line, also moving around Pearce to take the last two trans fer spots. The second Ha nd icap se mi was a ll Ma nches ter fro m the ge t-go. Hicks got by DiFrancesco on the white-flag lap for the second, with Ox ley followi ng su it. Di Fran cesco s hu t th e d oor o n Castro and picked up the fina l tran sfer spot. Th e lin eup for th e Handicap main had no one on the low -yardage mark. Ta yl o r h ad th e 30 t o him s elf, a n d ' DiFra ncesco was the sole resident of the 40 . The 50 -yard line was a bi t m ore crowded , with McConn ell a nd Manchester sha ri ng the real esta te . The 60 had a full ho use with Schwartz, Venega s, Hicks and Ox ley. Taylo r led in to turn one, but DiFran cesco ran him down by the end of the corn er and managed to hol d on until the fi fth lap , wh en McConnell passed him on the inside. By this time, Oxley had gotte n thro ug h tra ffic on the insid e an d was tryin g to ge t a w heel und er McConn ell. Mc Conn el l, thou gh , wasn' t intimid ated by Oxley. Ox ley, ho wever, mana ged to pi ck up seco nd, w ith Hicks ta king third . Venegas, ho p in g fo r a d oubl e win , ca me away wit h fourth and DiFra ncesco and Sc hwartz fi n is he d fi ft h a n d sixt h , respectively. Manchester and Taylor did not finish. The Sidecar ma in e ve n t saw th e Costa Mesa Speedwa y Costa M , California esa Results: August 8, 1998 SCR: 1. Cha rley Ven egas (eM); 2. C ary Hic ks (Gt\.J); 3. Chris Manche ster (Jaw); 4. And y Nort hru p Q.1\\,,); 5. Bobby Schwartz (CM) . HDCP: 1. Shawn McCo nn ell (GM); 2. Brad Ox ley (GM ); 3. Ga ry Hicks (GM); 4. C ha rlie Vene ga s (C M); 5. Randy Dil-ra uce co (law) . s S DCR: ,1. B. Mat herson /D. Leeder (Ya m) ; 2. 1. Ca rr /Mike Moreno (Kaw): 3. P. Lcwia / ] . MaC)' (Yam); 4. M. Gilmo ur /C. 1om.'S (Ka w). S UP: 1. Rand y Skin ne r Oaw) ; 2. J Winston (Wes ); Ot;' 3. Bill Green Oaw ); 4. Frank Pecce (Wes ); 5. Gr eg Co ro na (law). SU P B: 1. Ge ne Pctz (law): 2. Brent Smith (Ja w); 3. Bill McCarlco (J3 W); 4. C L y 'IT)"Duttwicler (Jaw ). Snapple CanadianN ationa M l otocrossSeries, Round 6 Roy's back, but Dube holds lead By Jason T. Griffiths ULVERTON, QUEBEC, CANADA. AUG. 9 ean-Sebastien Roy returned to the Ca nadia n Na tional Motocross Series and won bo th classes at roun d six of th e series in Ulve rton, Qu eb ec. Th e Acto n ' Vale, Qu ebec, rid er battled back h a rd a t h is hom e-provin ce tr a ck to regain lost points fro m his ab sence at rounds four and five. But even with his two overall wi ns in the 12Scc and 2S0cc classes, his fellow Quebec rid er, Mar co Dube sti ll remains ahea d by 42 points. J 125cc CLASS Mot o number one was a typica l series finish for the top thr ee riders, Roy, Blair Morgan and Dube. Two Wheel / Walk er Transport / Kawasaki teamma tes Roy and Morgan finished one-two, wit h Suz u ki Ca na da's DuM fin ishing th ird. Kaw asaki rid er Darcy Lange fin ished the moto in fourth, with Marty Burr taking fifth. In th e second rnoto, Dube gra bbed th e h ol eshot a nd ran away w it h the ea rly lead . Roy was fou rt h off the start and was gai ning on DuM until a thirdlap cras h forced him back int o the 11th spot. Roy regained his composure and cha rged ba ck, b u t Dub e was out of reach.

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