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Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California
Speedway Olympic
May 6, 2006 - Costa Mesa
By: Ryan Evans
Gary Hicks returned after several weeks off to win the Speedway Olympic at the world famous Costa Mesa oval.
Hicks entered the main event with the most points and selected the pole. Last week's winner Charlie Venegas went for broke in gate four and paid dearly when he went through the tapes and was excluded. On the restart, Bryan Yarrow was first off the line from gate three but didn't have enough to get across Hicks to the inside line in turn one. Yarrow tried to use the outside on the back straight, but Hicks's inside line gave him the lead entering turn three. Yarrow stayed wide through lap one, but realized he wouldn't find enough grip and slotted in behind Hicks on lap two. Hicks was flawless the rest of the way and scored his first main event victory in several years. Yarrow finished second, Shawn McConnell was third, Buck Blair finished fourth, and Venegas was credited with fifth.
An earned-handicap format was utilized for the event with a 4-3-2-1 scoring system. The first round was purely scratch racing. For rounds two and three, the riders were handicapped 10 yards for each point earned in the previous round.
Hicks gave a preview of the evening's ultimate result by winning the first heat. Venegas was awarded race two after Randy DiFrancesco went down on the back straight and brought out the red flag. McConnell was battling Yarrow in the next race but hit a hole and went wide which slowed both riders dramatically and handing the win to Shaun Harmatiuk. Bobby Krips used the outside line on lap one to get the lead and held off Bobby Schwartz to win the final race of the first round.
The second round began with McConnell taking the win over Blair. DiFrancesco started at the tapes and was never threatened in winning race ten. Tommy Hedden was victorious over Nate Perkins in the next race. Round two ended with Yarrow scoring an easy win over Mark Dwyer.
Schwartz began the final round by using patience to pass George Fox on the final lap to get the win. Hicks earned his second win in race 17. Harmatiuk beat Krips to win the next race. Brian Starr led all four laps of the final heat to get the win. A five-rider runoff was required to fill the final three spots in the semis. DiFrancesco got the best start and held everyone off for the win. Castro was second and Yarrow was third to take the final spots in the semis.
The first semi ended in a heap in turn two when Krips got into the back of Schwartz who slammed hard into the ground. Schwartz was down for several minutes before gingerly walking off the race track with pain in his chest and right shoulder.
On the restart Yarrow shot into the front with Blair right behind. The two remained in those positions to take the first two transfers to the main. Hicks won the second semi with McConnell following him into the main event. Venegas held off Harmatiuk in the Last Chance to take the final spot in the main.
Eloy Medellin was awarded the victory after a red flag ended the Support Main Event prematurely. Bryan Buffington was second, Billy Braden was third, Carl Gazafy was fourth, and Dave Delbridge was fifth.
It took three attempts to complete the Support B Main Event, but Mike Bershee was able to overcome the chaos to score the win. Travis Henderson finished second, Justin Hassan was third, Steve Bowen finished fourth, and Robert Glamuzina was fifth.
Jason Ramirez was victorious in the Junior Main Event. Gino Manzares finished second, Joey Holt was third, Rocco Scopellite finished fourth in his junior debut, and Kyle Hicks was fifth in his first ever junior race.
RESULTS
Junior Main Event
66 - Jason Ramirez
21 - Gino Manzares
114 - Joey Holt
9 - Rocco Scopellite
3 - Kyle Hicks
Support B Semi
177 - Steve Bowen
136 - Kim Stevens
212 - Steve Dziadus Sr.
198 - Mike Boyle
288 - Rick Fritch (fell)
Support B Semi
313 - Robert Glamuzina
303 - Toni Hicks
169 - Dan Wensloff
308 - Hugh Randolph
194 - Tony Bracy (retired)
Support B Main Event (restarted twice)
391 - Mike Bershee
238 - Travis Henderson
132 - Justin Hassan
177 - Steve Bowen
313 - Robert Glamuzina (fell)
Support Consolation
269 - Ed Martinez
272 - Steve Dziadus Jr.
118 - Scott Tidwell
273 - Matt Monkress
Support Consolation
148 - Chris Metoyer
106 - Robert Fiesler
163 - Rohn Zellner
309 - Vince Giamformaggio (fell)
Support Last Chance
178 - Eloy Medellin
182 - Rudy Laurer
125 - Johnny Lupo
228 - Shane Kump (tape penalty)
Support Main Event (awarded)
178 - Eloy Medellin
77 - Bryan Buffington
117 - Billy Braden
176 - Carl Gazafy
178 - Eloy Medellin
First Division Scoring 1 2 3 T
3 - Gary Hicks 4 2 4 10
6 - Shawn McConnell 3 4 1 8
8n - Bryan Yarrow 1 4 1 6
11 - Bobby Schwartz 3 3 4 10
12 - Randy DiFrancesco F 4 2 6
13 - Nate Perkins 1 3 0 4
14 - Eddie Castro 3 1 2 6
20 - Skyler Greyson 2 2 F 4
24 - Bobby Krips 4 2 3 9
29 - George Fox 2 0 3 5
39 - Buck Blair 3 3 2 8
40n - Tommy Hedden 1 4 1 6
43 - Charlie Venegas 4 1 3 8
89 - Danny Perkins 0 N N 0
105 - Michael Hernandez 1 0 2 3
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 4 1 4 9
145 - Mark Dwyer 2 0 4 6
248 - Brian Starr 2 0 4 6
293 - Rick Valdez F 1 1 2
301 - Dale Facchini 0 2 5 7
Race Results
1: Hicks, Castro, Dwyer, Valdez, Hedden, Valdez (fell)
2: (awarded) Venegas, Blair, Starr (tape penalty), Hernandez (tape penalty), DiFrancesco (fell)
3: Harmatiuk, McConnell, Fox, Yarrow, D.Perkins
4: Krips, Schwartz, Greyson, N.Perkins, Facchini
9: McConnell [20], Blair [30], Krips [40], Valdez [0], D.Perkins (non starter)
10: DiFrancesco [0], Schwartz [30], Hicks [40], Harmatiuk [40], Starr [0]
11: Hedden [10], N.Perkins [10], Facchini [0], Venegas [10], Fox [20]
12: Yarrow [10], Dwyer [20], Greyson [20], Castro [30], Hernandez [10]
16: (restarted) Schwartz [30], Fox [0], Hernandez [0], Valdez [10], Greyson [20] (fell)
17: Hicks [20], Venegas [10], Blair [30], Yarrow [40], Dwyer [30]
18: Harmatiuk [10], Krips [20], Castro [10], McConnell [40], D.Perkins (non starter)
19: Starr [0], Facchini [20], DiFrancesco [40], Hedden [40], Perkins [30]
Runoff: DiFrancesco, Castro, Yarrow, Starr, Hedden
Semi #1: Yarrow, Blair, Krips, Venegas, Schwartz (non starter)
Semi #2: Hicks, McConnell, Harmatiuk, DiFrancesco, Castro
Last Chance
43 - Charlie Venegas
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk
24 - Bobby Krips (tape penalty)
12 - Randy DiFrancesco
Scratch Main Event
3 - Gary Hicks
8n - Bryan Yarrow
6 - Shawn McConnell
39 - Buck Blair
43 - Charlie Venegas (tape exclusion)
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