Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

swa p ped plac es eve ry la p , but it was Hicks wh o collected t he g old at the checke red fl ag and co llected th e cash in the O range Count y Harl ey -D avi d so n - s p o nso r ed r a c e . B o t h rid e rs wo uld st ill adv ance to th e m ain . MAIN E VE N T It all came do wn to the next four la ps. It would t ak e l ess th an a min ute t o run, but it wou ld seem lik e an etemity to the ri ders. Br ant had gate cho ice in the MG Racing-sponsored ma in eve nt , and he cho se the p ol e. N ext to him was Larsen , and Hicks lin ed up i n gat e three. On the outs ide were Coo k in fou r and M an ch est er in five . Th ey load ed in , an d the stagi ng bega n as th e engine s started to w ind out. Th e gre en w as on, an d th e gate c ame up. Brant got o ut o n t op but n ot b y mu ch , a s Lars en (Above left to right) Larsen, Brant and Hicks take to the Costa Mesa podium. Larsen and Hicks have both visited the podium several times without taking the National w in. (Right) Nor Cal youngster Bryan Yarrow was impressive in his sophomore U.S. National. Yarrow won the Semi, which earned him a spot i n the LCQ. (Below) Legends night: Bobby " Bo og a lo o" Schwartz (left) races with fellow former U.S . National Champion Alan " Crazy" Christian. Although much older than many of their competitors, the duo can still rock and roll on a speedway bike. T he final heat , sp on sored by MG Raci ng, was a ll Schwartz 's, and he was definitely in th e hu nt. With t wo rounds in the books , two ri d ers had p erfect sc ores: Brant and Larsen. ROUND THREE Brant ag ain led off the round, and th is t im e it wa s Sp e c ial i zed C er ami c Co at ings that sweet ened th e pot and fattened Brant's wallet as he ca me off th e pol e with ano ther great st art and led all the way . He w as on track . Man ch est er got back o n track in the W arren a nd Evie Rus sell - sp on sored heat two , and he made it lo ok o h- so-easy as he we nt w ir e to w ire. Mattson' s Rad iat or spon sored the ne xt heat . Lars en ke pt hi s wi n streak al iv e as he gated off th e pole an d nev er looked back , ta k ing the wi n . Cook liked that winning feeling, so he d id it ag ain , ro osting th e sp ecta t ors wi th the big rea r wh eel as he won heat four, spo nso red by MG Raci ng. W il m ar In d ust ri es spon sored t he fina l heat of th e ro und . Christian go t the ga te, but it was Hic k s who wo n th e race . A ft er th ree round s, Brant and Larsen st ill had perfect scores. ROUND FOUR In the fi nal round of hea ts , it was MG Racing putting up the win money for heat on e. Brant e nsu re d h im self a spot in th e m ain by putting in another gre at rid e. Cook wa s o n a roll and more than happy t o p ock et th e sponsor m on ey put up by Stanl ey 's Exhaust Tech as he closed out his f ina l ro und with a win . Manchester was also ge ttin g o n tr ac k , and he di d Auto T rader Mag azin e proud as he t ook th e win in their sponsored heat. If you 're go ing to wi n, yo u m ig ht as w ell w in f o r yo u r spo nsor , a n d that's exactly wha t Schwar t z did i n th e W arren and Ev ie Ru ss ell -spo nsored fourth heat. In the fina l heat of the night, spon sored by MG Racing, Harmatiuk got very u p -c lose-and- pe rs onal w ith the turn -two wa ll , wh ic h ca use d t he red to come out. The rest art saw Lar sen's w in streak c ome to an end as Hicks put togethe r a great rid e. Goi ng di rectly t o t he main eve nt w ere Brant, Larsen and Ma nc h ester. Hic k s, Sch wartz , Cook and Ca str o got di rect tran sf ers t o the LC Q . T here wa s a run -off for the fin al spot in th e sem i; aft er Erm olenko , Parsons and Kr ips we nt at it, the fina l sp ot in that rac e wou ld go to Ermolenko. immedi ate ly lo ck ed in behind him . M a n ch es t er , Hi c k s and Coo k gave chase. You co uld have thrown a blan ke t ove r the entire fie ld, th ey we re r un nin g so c l o se . L ar sen was n ot hol d in g back , and he drove up un der Brant in eve ry tu rn, ho pi ng t o m o ve him o ff th e lin e . It d idn 't wo rk , as Br ant was tenaciou s and wa sn 't m oving any w he re . T he n ight was his, as was the year; as he to ok the check ered flag , he rec eived ac colades from the c ro wd for putting on o n e g reat show! Larsen p roved what a cham pi on he is, as he hadn't rac ed all season d ue to an inj ury, and o n only h is second night ba ck he wou ld be sta nding on th e podium as t h e secon dpla c e fin ish er. Hicks took the t h ird spot , an d h e , t oo , h a s h ad a g re at yea r, du e to some go od eq uipment and h is n ew w ife . Man ch ester and Cook rounded out th e fi eld . I n o t he r r a ci ng acti o n , Du st y Phares wo n the Pee Wee 5 0cc Match r a c e , a nd J a son Ra m i re z w on the J unio r Speedway Match rac e. God sp eed , K en Ma ely . You will be sorely missed by eve ryone in raci ng for w ho m yo u d id so m uch. We will never forget yo u . eN SEMI They li ned up for the semi, sponsored b y Ya ma ha Motor Co rp orat ion. Ya rr o w w a s o n t h e po l e , w ith McConnell in two and DiFran cesc o in t hree . On t he ou tsid e w er e Ermo lenko and Ch ristian. It w as all Yarro w , as he came off th e po le and he ld off McConnell in th e quick fo urlappe r. He would hit th e p its, t ake on fu el, cl ean off his goggles an d come right bac k out fo r th e LC Q . LAST·CHANCE QUALIFIER It wa s a dogfight for the top tw o spots in the LC Q . Hic k s got the gate, b ut Cook w en t t o w ork on th e o uts i de w ith th e bi g wh eel, and he wou ld get a slight edge on Hicks as they c am e out of th e turns, on ly to see it d isap p ear on th e stra ig htaways . They ey e I e Costa Mesa Speedway Costa Mesa, California Results : Oct ober 11, 2003 NAT'l F INAL: 1. Sc ott Bra nt (GM); 2 . J osh La r sen ( GM); 3 . Ga ry H i c k s ( J aw) ; 4 . Ch r i s Manchester (Jaw); 5. John Cook (Jaw). JR SPD WY: 1. J a son Ramirez (Han) ; 2 . Daria Gal v in (Han); 3 . Tam ara Krip s (Han) . n e "'" s: ' NOVEM BER 5 , 2003 29

• Cover