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The best race on the track came among Dennis Pinheiro, Wayne Warrington, Paul Colston and Clyde Dennen, the quartet often running side by side in pairs as they negotiated the wide but semi-slick Perris groove in a battle for seventh place. Colston made his way to the front of the group on the last lap to take the spot, with Warrington, Pinheiro and Dennen rounding out the top 10. In the closest lead battle among the three main events Bradley Spencer outgunned Canepa off the start in the Suzuki 250cc Novice main event, and the two began a furious scrap that carried them far away from the eventual third-place finisher, 16-year-old Justin Filice, son of former AMA 250cc Grand Prix Series Champion Jimmy Filice, who was battling with series regular Daniel Brown. "He [Brown] was pulling me down the straightaway, but I was running it in deep into the corners," Filice said. "I finally got by him, but those other guys were long gone by then. It was an awesome track, and the people were great. We'll be back next year." Canepa attacked Spencer once on lap three, pulling alongside him down the back straightaway, and then once more by trying to run around the outside of Spencer in turns one and two on lap five. The pair ran nose to tail with no gap between them across the start/finish line under the checkered flag. Spencer took the win, Canepa the championship. "That's just the way we race," Canepa said. "We have both agreed that, as long as me or him win, everything's okay. I can't give enough credit to Bradley. He's my mechanic!" eN (Above) Rick Hocking (13) Jumped ou1 front early and ran away to win the Open Vintage maIn. It was cia. . win number .Ix for the longtime flat track campaigner, who had clinched the Open Vintage title before Penis. (RIght) Cousin act: As they had for much of the year, Bradley Spencer (73) and Chris Canepa (1) banged ban for the 250cc Novice win. Spencer won the main, bu1 Canepa copped the cIa. . championshIp. "I watch NASCAR too much," Hocking joked. "I wasn't going to take anybody off for him [Souza), but it was one of those deals. I had a beautiful bike, and I just kept on two wheels." Up front, Sanchez tried to gain on Corsetti, but Corsetti appeared to be leading comfortably, able to up the pace at will. He would not be seriously challenged for the rest of the race, winning by almost half a straightaway when he crossed under WCFTS flagman Scott Zimmerman's checkered laundry. "It was really important for me to win this last race," Corsetti said. "I'm very happy with this series, and I'm happy for Kevin Bricker. My bike worked great tonight. It makes my job easy when the bike is working that good. I want to thank Ron Wood and Elliott [Iverson]. Without them, I couldn't even be out here." Sanchez held on for second. "Second ain't bad at all," Sanchez said. "I have to thank Ray Diaz for letting me ride his bike. Mine blew up at Sacramento, so Ray came through and gave me a bike. Corsetti just got away. He had more power than we had, so we pretty much just had to settle for second. But I still got two wins and a dash win this year. I'm pretty happy with the way this year." Casey was third and Hocking fourth. AMA Grand National number 22 Dan Butler was on hand at Perris, but didn't really make his presence known until late in the main event, as the tire on his Jim Wood Racing Suzuki came in and propelled him past Bricker in the last couple laps to secure fifth, bringing Rotax-mounted Nick Moore with him. Bricker's seventh-place run was still good enough for the title after Souza dropped all the way back to 10th, behind Butler's teammate (RIght) West Coast Flat Track Series Clerk of the Course Deanna Bergen was presented with the 2002 Rob DamronlDan Hart Memorial Award In recognition of her devotion to the Romero sertes. Jimmy Wood, and Shawn Raggio, before the finish. "Tonight was unbelievable," Bricker said. "We started out with the bikes not running, but we just rode 'em. Every time we would find one problem, another one would occur. In the main event, [Danny] Casey was holding me up a little bit at first, and I thought that I could get by him I could still get second, because we had beaten Sanchez earlier in the night. Then the bike started tying up, and I had to back off. We were sweating it tonight. It was a long road." Bricker said that he plans to promote some events of his own next season. "I'll probably do four or five of these," Bricker said. "But some tracks I don't want to go back to. We need to look at some of them for safety reasons. I've talked to Gene Romero about it, and he agrees with me. Hopefully we can step the tracks up and put on even better shows." With the absence of his chief rival, Rod Spencer, Hocking dominated the eight-lap Open Vintage race, grabbing the holeshot and setting a torrid pace on his C&J-framed Yamaha IT special. He quickly left runner-up Brad Spencer (Rod's brother) and third-place finisher Joe Steffen well behind him in what amounted to a sprint to the finish line. Hocking held a half-straightaway advantage over Spencer, who had about an equal advantage on Steffen at the finish. Yamaha-mounted Jim Steet and BSA-mounted Steve Hensley were fourth and fifth respectively. Penis Auto Speedwey Penis, ClIlifDrDie Results: September 21, 2002 [Round 10 of 101 OPEN PRO (16 laps; IS riders): 1, Mark Corsetti (W·R); 2. Jesse Sanchez (CCM); 3. Danny Casey (ATK); 4. Rick Hocking (CCM); 5. Dan Bu~er (Suz); 6. Nick Moore (Rtx); 7. Kevin Bricker (W-R); 8. Jimmy Wood (Suz); 9. Shawn Rogglo (CCM); 10. Tony SOUZlI (CCM); 11. Trllvis Petton (Hon); 12. Royal Adderson (H·D); 13. Joe Steffen (Rtx); 14. Mike Besemer (Hon); 15. Steve Fonune (Rtx). OPEN VINTAGE (8 laps; IS riders): 1. Rick Hocking (YlIm); 2. Brlld Spencer (VlIm); 3. Joe Steffen (YlIm); 4. Jim Steet (YlIm); 5. Steve Hensley (BSA); 6. Bob Groves (Tri); 7. Paul Colston (Yam); 8. Wayne Wlirrington (Tri); 9. Dennis Pinheiro (YlIm): 10. Clyde Dennen (Nor); 11. Rlchllrd Hutchins (Yam); 12. Ruben Mliiagulirnero (HoD); 13. Peul Herman (Yam); 14. Mounce Ortego (H·D); 15. Ben Meyer (Yam). NOVICE 250 (8 laps; 10 riders): 1. Bradley Spencer (YlIm); 2. Chris Clinepe (Vern): 3. Justin Filice (YlIm): 4. Deniel Brown (Yem); 5. Chuck McCorty (Yom); 6. B",d Rudy (Yam); 7. Todd Barry (YlIm); 8. Brendan Bergen (YlIm): 9. Jimmie Moffett (Yom); 10. John Fogas (Han). GENE ROMERO'S WEST COAST FLAT TRACK SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (Arter 10 of 10 rounds): OPEN PRO: I. Kevin Bricker (146); 2. Tony Sou," (134/1 win); 3. Jesse Sanchez (123/2 wins); 4. Mlirk Corsetti (123{2 Wins); 5. Rod Spencer (105/1 win); 6. Billy Martin (93); 7. Lonnie Pauley (83/1 win); 8. Beau Brown (75/1 wm); 9. (TIE) John Hlebe III (54/1 win)/Rick Hocking (54/1 win); 11. Danny Casey (52); 12. Ken Netto (45); 13. Don Howard (43); 14. (TIE) Jeremy Hannah (42)/Dan Bu~er (42). OPEN VINTAGE: I. Rick Hocking (205/6 wins); 2. Brad Spencer (167/1 win); 3. Rod Spence< (141{2 wins): 4. PllU! Hermen (132); 5. Steve Hell (95); 6. Joe Corrora (66); 7. Robert Baco50 (59); 8. Wayne Warrington (53); 9. Mike Kibby (48); 10. (TIE) Donnie Harrell (42/1 win){Dennis PinheIro (42): 12. (TIE) Robert Scally (29)/Joe Steffen (29); 14. Gory Ritchie (27); 15. Dave Johnson (26), NOVICE 250; I. Chris Canepo (207/5 wins); 2. Bredley Spencer Jr. (190{4 wins): 3. Dlivid Brown (146/1 win); 4. Daniel Brown (129); 5. A.J. Kirkpetrlck (48); 6. Brllnden Bergen (47); 7. Bred Rudy (43); 8. (TIE) Aaron Randolph (38)/John Figas (38): 10. Menuel Jimenez Jr. (37); 11. Cherlie McElroy (30); 12. (TIE) Josh Ritchie (29)/Matt Pinheiro (29)/Chuck McCorty (29); 15. (TIE) Evan Myklebust (23)/Louis Canepo (23). "I got the holeshot and just pegged it," Hocking said. "I had just gotten my hip drained last Wednesday, but I felt pretty good out there. I don't know how to explain this season. I've been doing this for 30 years, but it's so much more fun and more important to me now, you know? Next year, I want to do both classes, but I don't know if I can do that. I really want to." Spencer admitted that "things went all right" for him in the main event. "Rick was the man to beat - no doubt about it," Spencer said. "Anytime you get beat by Rick, it's like, 'Oh well.' Other than that, I'd like to thank Gene Romero for having a heck of a series, and I'd like to thank the fans for coming out here tonight." Mr. Ed's/Progressive Suspension/Old World Finish-backed Stef· fen, likewise, was glad with third, especially after struggling with his setup all night. "We couldn't get the gearing right or the tire pressure right," Steffen said. "We finally got some information and got it straightened out. The track was great tonight." cuole n e _ S • OCTOBER 9, 2002 33