By: Ryan Evans
Former World Finalist Josh Larsen made a great pass to win his second Scratch Main of the week at Arrowhead Motor Speedway Wednesday night.
Gary Hicks got the jump on the field and entered turn one first. Hicks used the inside line to hold the lead exiting turn two. Larsen, who started in gate three, had gone wide in turn one and then made his move on the outside of Hicks on the backstraight. Hicks took Larsen extremely wide entering turn three, but Larsen made a savvy move as he crossed underneath Hicks and took the lead coming out of the fourth bend. Hicks was unable to recover from the pass and eventually suffered a flat tire which forced him to pull out of the race. Larsen cruised the rest of the way and took the victory. Scott Brant, who was returning to action after a couple weeks off due to a back injury, finished second, Bobby "Boogaloo" Schwartz was third, and Hicks was fourth.
In the Handicap Main, it was "Cowboy" Bobby Krips who found himself at the front of the field at the start. Brant, one of four riders starting on the 50 yard line, quickly passed Randy DiFrancesco to take second place. Brant began to reel in Krips and pressured him from the inside. Krips fought valiantly, but on the fourth lap his engine gave up the fight and the dejected rider slowed to a stop. Brant had a comfortable lead and was never challenged on the final two laps as he took his first main event victory of the year. Larsen finished second, Hicks was third, DiFrancesco finished fourth, "Fast" Eddie Castro was fifth, and Krips was sixth.
Billy Braden and Eloy Medellin both started at the tapes in the Second Division Main Event and it was Braden who got to turn one first to take the lead. Braden had a sizable lead when he had an engine failure. This handed lead over to Colorado's Chuck Johansen, who is in California to race for a month. Johansen ran away from the field to take the win. Marvin Sonnier fought his way through traffic to earn second place, Medellin was third, Randy Kreps was fourth, Terry McCurdy was fifth, and Braden was sixth.
The Second Division B Main Event was more like "Survival of the Fittest" as two restarts whittled the six-man field down to four. On the third attempt, it was Neil "The Italian Stallion" Facchini who assumed the lead. Facchini put together four very smooth laps to earn his first main event victory in speedway. Greg Vandemore, making his speedway debut, finished second. Japanese rider Hideaki Ota, who raced briefly in 2000, returned to the U.S. and finished third, Steve Nelson finished fourth, Geoff Herkner was credited with fifth, and Steve Murray was credited with sixth.
Wednesday night was the first full evening of racing at Arrowhead in three weeks. Promoter Charlie Venegas had a run of bad luck with rain forcing a cancellation of the meeting scheduled for April 24 and an electrical problem forced the abandonment of last week's meeting at intermission.
RESULTS Second Division B Consolation 332 - Brian Hunt 0 163 - Rohn Zellner 20 269 - Ed Marinez 20 124 - Mitch Melott 0 108 - Mike Hernandez 0 350 - Kodiak Calkin 0 167 - James Herr 10 (non starter) 212 - Steve Dziadus 0 (non starter) Second Division B Main Event (restarted twice) 201 - Neil Facchini 0 209 - Greg Vandemore 10 240 - Hideaki Otah 10 202 - Steve Nelson 0 (fell) (penalty line) 208 - Geoff Herkner 10 (non starter - restart) 214 - Steve Murray 10 (non starter) Second Division Consolation 239 - Philip Williams 10 123 - Chad Newlee 20 336 - Bill Green 0 125 - Johnny Lupo 20 126 - Doug Lupo 0 161 - Hector Quevedo 0 Second Division Consolation 147 - Winston Williams 10 174 - Tomasz Hampel 10 182 - Rudy Laurer 30 128 - Doug Benjamin 10 196 - Rod Lenz 0 19 - Richard Jones 30 Second Division Main Event 45c - Chuck Johansen 10 52 - Marvin Sonnier 30 178 - Eloy Medellin 0 165 - Randy Kreps 10 158 - Terry McCurdy 20 117 - Billy Braden 0 (engine failure) Handicap Main Event 10 - Scott Brant 50 2 - Josh Larsen 50 3 - Gary Hicks 50 12 - Randy DiFrancesco 30 14 - Eddie Castro 50 223 - Bobby Krips 20 (engine failure) Scratch Consolation 14 - Eddie Castro 223 - Bobby Krips 12 - Randy DiFrancesco 6 - Shawn McConnell Scratch Main Event 2 - Josh Larsen 10 - Scott Brant 11 - Bobby Schwartz 3 - Gary Hicks (retired)
