Arrowhead Motor Speedway
Orange Show Pavilion
San Bernardino, California

2002 Week Four
Arrowhead Speedway
May 8, 2002
From 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)