Sliding Sideways Speedway
Chowchilla, California

2004 Season Opener
May 29, 2004 - Chowchilla
By: Robert Mellor

Scott Brant wins opening night scratch Main at Chowchilla.

Greg Searle opened up Chowchilla winning heat one, followed buy Devon Defreece, J.T. Martynse, Tommy Hedden and Matt Browne. Heat 2 went to Shawn Eldridge with Bob Hicks hot on his tail, followed by J.T. Mabry, Chris Kerr, and Steve Martynse. Scott Brant showed the back yardage boys how its done in heat three going around the outside to take a convincing win. Second was Vince Bertolucci making a very impressive ride in his first div.-1 handicap race. Ivan Sevart took third with T.J. fowler in fourth. The first division 2 heat of the night was one buy Kell Kerrigan with Malcolm Roe and Ron Woodsford getting those last two transfers to the Main Event. Heat 6 had first time rider Scott Robinson leading wire to wire and showing that it won't be long before the next division has another racer to think about. Way to go Scott! Second place went to the man that made more starts at the Chowchilla winter series than any other rider, Clark Caravella, with the last transfer to the d-3 main going to Brian Leventon.

Handicap Semi #1 and Scotty Brant showing why That big #1 appears on his bike. A straight away behind there was a good race going on with Greg Searle taking second and J.T. Martynse capturing the last transfer to the main event. Sevart was fourth then Hicks and Kerr. T.J. Fowler Knows how to win races and it showed in handicap semi #2. He was followed by fast charging Tommy Hedden and Devon Defreece.

The second D-3 heat had a repeat winner with Kell Kerrigan winning from the 30 yard line. Kell made his first div. 2 start earlier in the program and what should be his last div.-3 start. Second went to Greg Lovlien Followed by Ronny Woodsford, putting Ronnie in his first main event as an adult. Good Job Ronny. Div.-2 Heat #2 and Shawn Eldridge from the 30 showed that he came to win.

Heat#1
T.J. fowler Showed he is ready for division one with a win over Tommy Hedden, J.T. Mabry and Matt Browne.

Heat#2
Greg Searle made the best of his chance to show what he has for the division 1 riders with a win in heat two over Chris Kerr, Ivan Sevart and J.J. Martynse.

Heat#3
Scott Brant took the win over Bob Hicks, Devon DeFreece and Greg Hooten Jr.

Last Chance
With the three scratch heat format the third place finishers were given a last chance to transfer to the semi's. Ivan Sevart made it work for him with a win over J.T. Mabry and Devon Defreece.

Semi #1
Scott Brant was not going to be denied his spot in the main, followed by Chris Kerr and the hard charging T. J. Fowler.

Semi #2
T.H.R.P. Riders Tommy Hedden and Bob Hicks Made a two man race out of this one.

Semi #2
T.H.R.P. Riders Tommy Hedden and Bob Hicks Made a two man race out of this one.

Division 3 Main Event
Kell Kerrigan
Clark Caravella
Greg Lovlien
Brian Leventon
Ronny Woodsford
Scott Robinson
It looked as though Scott Robinson had this one in the bag when Kell Kerrigan started to close Scott made a little bobble coming out of four there was some of that d-3 contact and Scott went down giving a big lead to Kell.

Division 2 Main Event
Shawn Eldridge
Vince Bertolucci
Malcolm Roe
Ron Woodsford
Kell Kerrigan
Shawn came to ride and came from the back to take the win.

Handicap Main Event
Tommy Hedden
Scott Brant
Greg Searle
Devon Defreece
T.J. Fowler
J.T. Martynse

T.J. Fowler made the best of his 0 handicap and quickly opened up a lead. Tommy Hedden was the first to get through the field and took off after T.J. with Brant starting to close. Tommy was coming fast and T.J. must of felt the pressure. One mistake and the field went by.

Scratch Main Event
Scott Brant
Bob Hicks
Chris Kerr
Tommy Hedden
Bob Hicks jumped out of the gate first with a great start with Brant coming out of gate four in second. Hicks was flying and was not going to make it easy for Brant and he was going to have to go around the out-side. With plenty of grip still in the race track Brant powered around the out-side to take a close win over Hicks.

Thank You to all the riders who attended and a big thanks to Joe Diaz for making this all possible.

From: Robert Mellor rmellor236@yahoo.com