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Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds - Costa Mesa, CA
2000 Costa Mesa
Costa Mesa Speedway
May 13, 2000
From Ryan Evans
Former World Number Three Lance King made a triumphant return to speedway by
winning the Handicap Main at Costa Mesa.
King, who hasn't raced in over two years, started alongside Chris Manchester, Jim Estes, and Randy DiFrancesco on the 40 yard line. The quartet battled
into turn one with King coming out ahead of the others. King set his sights
on second-placed Charlie Cooley and easily dispatched him. Mark Adams, who
started on the 10 yard line, was all that stood between King and the lead.
King reeled in Adams and made the pass on lap four. Meanwhile, Shawn McConnell had made his way up to second and looked to be a contender to
King's lead. King maintained his comfortable lead and took the checkered
flag in front of McConnell. Andy Northrup finished third, Estes was fourth,
and DiFrancesco was fifth. King borrowed a bike from long-time friend Bobby Schwartz.
Defending National Champion Brad Oxley won a Scratch Main that took several
attempts to complete. Gary Ackroyd, who had picked himself up off the deck
to win his Scratch Heat, got a flying start on the first attempt, but the
race was red-flagged as referee Bryan Galvin ruled that Ackroyd was moving at
the start. On the second attempt, Ackroyd again was first to turn one, but
this time Galvin ruled that Ackroyd had touched the tapes and penalized him
20 yards to the dismay of the obviously upset Ackroyd. The third attempt was
not the charm as Charlie Venegas was the victim of a questionable
tape-touching call. Venegas begrudgingly took his place next to Ackroyd on
the penalty line for the fourth attempt. This time all was well at the gate
as Oxley and Eddie Castro battled in turn one. Oxley led going down the back
straight with Castro fighting him all the way. Oxley was able to take
control of the lead and led all the way to the finish. Dukie Ermolenko passed Castro for second, Castro held onto third, Venegas was fourth, and
Ackroyd was fifth.
Sixteen year old Shawn Harmatiuk used determination to win an exciting
Support Main Event. Harmatiuk started alongside his father, Phil Harmatiuk, and Paul Hitchcock on the 10 yard line. Hitchcock took the lead and steadily
stretched his lead for three laps. Harmatiuk began to reel in Hitchcock on
the fourth lap, but looked to be too far behind to challenge. The white flag
seemed to ignite the young rider as he closed fast on Hitchcock, they battled
into the final corner and as they crossed the line it was Harmatiuk by a
narrow margin. Frank Pecce finished third, Dave Delbridge finished fourth,
and the proudest father in Costa Mesa, Phil Harmatiuk was fifth.
Greg Starcevic took advantage of a restart and was an easy winner in the
Support B Main Event. On the first start, Starcevic went into turn one too
fast and laid it down. A crash in the next corner forced a restart. On the
restart, Starcevic took the lead out of the gate and never looked back for
the victory. Howard Larson finished second and Tom Collier finished third.
In Junior Speedway action Skyler Greyson looked smoothe in winning the first
heat. Miles Calvin finished second, Justin Boyle third, and Krystal Cramer
was fourth. The second heat brought the crowd to its feet as Cramer held off
Calvin all four laps to take win.
The evening did have one somber note. Gary Hicks, who had won the first two
Scratch Mains and was leading last week before a mechanical failure cost him
a victory, was injured in a crash during his Handicap Semi.
Hicks, running fourth at the time, hit a hole that had developed between
turns three and four and went straight into Charlie Cooley before falling
hard on his right side. Hicks was down for several minutes and was taken off
the track via stretcher and sent to the hospital. It was later determined
that Hicks had a broken collarbone and will be out approximately four weeks.
RESULTS
Support B Consolation
196 - Rod Lenz 10
180 - Malcolm Roe 20
331 - Peter Curtis 10
198 - Mike Boyle 20
178 - Eloy Medellin 20
153 - Craig Muzio 10 (non-starter)
Support B Main (restarted)
197 - Greg Starcevic 10
168 - Howard Larson 20
141 - Tom Collier 20
107 - Monte McKeon 10
135 - Kerry Connor 10
249 - John Stunkard 10 (non-starter)
Support Consolation
103 - Brent Smith 10
162 - Mike Lupo 30
177 - Mark Hitchcock 20
121 - Mike Mosby 20
219 - John O'Neill 20
200 - Gerry Duttweiler 30
Junior Race 1 Junior Race 2
2 - Skyler Greyson 27 - Krystal Cramer
99 - Miles Calvin 99 - Miles Calvin
198 - Justin Boyle 2 - Skylar Greyson
27 - Krystal Cramer 198 - Justin Boyle
Handicap Main
24 - Lance King 40
6 - Shawn McConnell 60
166 - Andy Northrup 50
56 - Jim Estes 40
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 40
16 - Charlie Cooley 30
223 - Mark Adams 10
130 - Chris Manchester 40
Scratch Main (3 restarts)
1 - Brad Oxley
15 - Dukie Ermolenko
14 - Eddie Castro
43 - Charlie Venegas (penalty line - tapes)
8 - Gary Ackroyd (penalty line - tapes)
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