Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Olympique of Speedway Costa M esa Speedwa y By ELA INE J O N ES PH OT O BY M IK E BASSO COSTA MESA, CA., MAY 20 harlie "T he Edge" Venegas won the Olympique of Speedway Saturday night at Costa Mesa Speed way . The format requ ired strategy as well as riding abil ity. It w as an all Scratch program - with a twist . Th er e were three ro unds of hea t rac es wit h f i ve r id e r s i n each he a t. O l y mp i c scoring was used : T he wi nner earned thr e e p o in t s , t h e r u nner- up t w o po ints, and third place garnered one poi nt ; fou rt h a nd fift h ea rned zero po ints. Th e twist ca me in th e second and th ird ro unds . Th e po ints a rider ea rne d in th e f i rst heat d etermined wh at lin e he sta rte d from. If a rid er earne d three points, he started o n t he 30-ya rd li ne ; a rider w it h no points starte d on th e zero -ya r d l i ne . Th e same rules app lied to th e th ird round , with starting li ne u p s d ep en d ent o n the fi nis h . T h e r e f or e , a bad rac e almost gave a rider an ad va ntage in the next ro und. In the first heat of the nig ht. the win went to "Fly in '" Rya n Fisher , who cu t t he bes t gate and we nt wi re to wi re, wi th Ran dy "T he Rock et " D iFrancesco putting on th e press ure . Third we nt to Venegas, with M ark Ada ms fourth and Dou g Gr ay son fi fth . Th e seco n d heat b el on g ed t o B obb y " Booga loo" S ch wartz . Th e o nly on e t o get clos e t o him was And y "T he Enforc er " Nort hrup , who placed sec ond . J im Estes was a solid th ird, with Bryan Thompson fourth . In the third heat, Chris "T he Kid" Manchester snatch ed th e w in away from " Rad " Brad O xl ey at t he finish line in a move usua ll y pulled off by Ox ley . Third w ent · to " D u k i e " E r m o l e n k o , with Charlie Co ole y fourth and Dan ny Perk ins fifth . The fi na l heat was all Shawn " M a d D o g " McConnell 's . Starting from the mi ddle of the track in three , he was able to get underneath the field and get low on the pole . " Fast" Ed Castro was trying to make the outside work , but he had to g o wa y too far to get around McConn ell a nd had to settle f or se c ond . Ga r y A ckroyd was third and Robbi e Sauer was fourth . Brad Sauer c am e in as th e re serv e when J osh Larsen w ent o u t w i t h bi ke pr oblems , and h e ca m e away w ith fi ft h . Th e Hand ic ap syste m w a s i n p lay fo r th e second ro und . The first heat h ad Wal ker and Larsen on th e zer o - y ard line . Venega s wa s o n the 10 . Castro and Man ch ester we re o n th e 20 and 30 , resp ect iv el y. Larsen had no probl em p ick ing up t he w in. Ven eg as was second and Man chest er th ird. Castro and Walk er came away em pty -ha nde d . Th e second heat had Gr ayso n and Cool ey on th e zero , w ith A ckroy d on t he 10. DiFran c esc o lin ed up on t he 20 and Sch wartz on t he 30 . Co ol ey got a good st art and put eno ug h day light bet ween him self and t he res t of t he fie l d t o p ick up t he win . D iF ra n c esc o w as sec on d and Ackro y d t hird . Gra y son a nd Sc h w artz were fo urt h and fifth . Saue r and T ho m pson were on th e zero fo r th e th ird heat, with O xley and North ru p o n t he 20. F ish er w as on th e 30 . Sau er led th e fie ld for o ne lap an d th en N orthrup t o ok o v er , w ith Oxl ey right beh ind him. They battled all the way to the finish lin e; Northrup came awa y with the w in . F isher wa s third , and Th ompson and Sau er were fourth and fifth. Ada ms and Perki ns were on th e zero , with E rm o len k o a nd Est es o n the 10. McConnell was alone on th e 30. A dams went w ire t o w ire. Estes was second, with Ermolenko third . Perkins was fou r th, with Mc Connell fifth . Charlie "The Ed g e " Venegas used strategy and skill t o t op the podium at the Olymplque of Speedway at Southern California's Costa Mesa Speedway. Sauer and Grayson lined up on the zero for th e final r ound o f rac ing . A ckroyd and Ermolenko were on the 10 , a n d V enega s was on the 20 . Gr ay son was ou t on top and held on fo r o ne lap before Ermolenko ran h im down . Venegas also got through and th ey finished one -two , w ith A c kroyd third . Sau er fourth and Grayson fift h. Sc hwa rtz, Ca stro and T ho m pso n all li ned up o n th e zero . F ish er was o n th e 10 and A da ms wa s o n the 3 0 . It was no co nt est ; Schwartz went wi re to wire . Cas t ro was seco nd , with Fisher th ird . Adams was fourth and Th omp son fifth . Wa lke r a nd Perkins w er e o n th e ze ro , wi t h Ox l ey, DiFran c es c o an d Estes on th e 20 . Oxley bl ast ed off t he line and d ro pped undern eat h W alker and Perkins to t a ke th e lead b efo re tu rn two. D iFran c esco was right with him and th ey fin ished o ne-two. Wa lker and Perkin s both wen t out wi t h mecha nical problems. The fi nal heat rac e had McConnell on the zero , with Ma nche st er o n the 10 . North r u p . Cool ey and La r sen we re o n th e 30 . McConne ll was gone, and no o ne w as close. M a nc hester bea t Nort hrup fo r sec o nd . Cool ey fin ished fo urth, wi th Larsen fi fth . O nly eig ht ri de rs would m ake th e sem is, and th er e was a th ree-way tie for th e fin al tw o sp o t s. Th e run off w ou ld b e betw een F isher, Veneg as and Ermo len ko . It was Ven egas all th e w ay . w ith F isher se cond ; they would move on . T he first .sem i got off to a b umpy st ar t when F isher parked it in turn o ne an d DiFra ncesco cras hed into h im. On the second tr y , Fisher and DiFrancesco again got up close and personal in t u rn th ree , and both h it the groun d . On th e t h ird try, F isher cue. e and D iFr a n c e s c o lined up on the penalty line. O xley got the gate, bu t Man chester got the l e a d . On the white-flag lap, O x le y took over and brought it hom e. M an ch ester was second , and th ey wou ld both m ov e o n t o the ma i n . F is he r and D iFranc esco would ge t o ne m or e sh ot in the last-chance qu alifier. In th e second semi, Venegas wen t wire to w ir e. Nor t hrup w as r i gh t beh ind him. M cCon nell and Sch wartz had bike problems and mo ved to th e LCQ. Fi sher dre w th e pol e fo r th e LCQ, with M cC onn ell in tw o and Di Fran c esc o and Sc h wa rtz in three and fo u r. Sch war tz c ut th e best gate but th e fin al spo t in th e m ain we nt t o D iFran c esc o . T he Scr atc h main had O x ley o n th e po le, with Manches te r in two and D iFranc esc o in t hr ee. Northru p was in fo u r an d Venegas i n five . The y were all antsy o n the li ne ; Northrup got into t he ta pes and was sent to the pe na lty line. Th ey lined up again, an d t his time Venegas go t t he gate of the n igh t a nd he was gone . O xl ey wa s work in g t he pole , ho p ing th e sho rt er ro u te around t he track wou ld get him c loser to Venegas, but it d id n ' t hap pen and he had to settle fo r second. D iFran c esco took thi rd . Nort hr up was eN fourth and Man ch est er fifth. Costa Mesa Speedway Costa Mesa, California Results: May 20. 2000 O LY MP/Q UE OF SPEEDWAY : I. C be rfie Venegas (J aw) ; 2 . Brad Ox l ey (GM ); 3 . Ran d y DiFrancesco (J aw); 4 . Andy Northrup (Ja w); 5. Chris Manchester (GM ) : 6 . Shaw n McCon ne ll (GM ); 7 . Rya n F i sh er (J aw) ; B. Bobby Sc hwa rtz ( GM); 9 . Duk ie Erm o len k o (OM) . SOeR: 1. B. Matherson /D. Leede r (Yam): 2. S. Morrow/ C. Cha pman (Sua): 3. S. Cole/L. Crave ns (Yam) ; 4. D . Carm ont / R. Taili ng ( Ho n) . SUP: L Bentl ey Barrett (J aw ); 2 . K it Nay (J aw ); 3. Brad Sauer (Ja w) ; 4 . Paul Hitchcock (Jaw) . S UP B : 1. Brent Smi th (Ja w); 2 . Tom Collie r ( J a w ); 3 . El o y Med ell in ( Wes ); 4 . Cha d Ne wlee (J aw) ; 5. Winston Wil liams (J aw). n e _ S • J U NE 21 , 2 0 0 0 55

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