1996 Costa Mesa Speedway

April 12, 1996 Costa Mesa Speedway
From: Gary Roberts

The 1996 speedway season got underway last Friday with the first of its weekly meetings. The weather here is very pleasant during the days (around 75C), but cool low 50s in the evenings. There was an excellent turn out of riders. 24 first division, 18 support class, and 12 support class B, on the program, although may more reserves were present. My buddy Bill Green described himself as 10th reserve for the support race! Racing was, as normal, excellent.

Scratch Main 
1. Brad Oxley
2. Andy Northrup
3. Steve Lucero
4. Doug Nicol
5. Bobby Schwartz

Handicap Main
1. Shawn McConnell
2. Gary Hicks
3. Andy Northrup
4. John Aden
5. Brad Oxley
6. Lance King
7. Bobby Hedden
8. Matt Becker

Support Class Main
1. Jason Daniels
2. Paul Colston
3. Mike Reed
4. David Lynch
5. Dennis Stepanenko
6. Randy Skinner

Competition appeared fierce in most races. Randy Skinner, a consistent and safe rider hit the wall heavily in the support main, when the rider he was overtaking moved out.

Much discussion followed the scratch main. Going into lap 3, Bobby Schwartz was a clear leader, with Steve Lucero close in second, and Oxley a distant third. Lucero and Schwartz made contact going into turn one, Schwartz going down and Lucero going wide enough to let both Oxley and Northrup through. Many thought the race should have been stopped. Schwartz was clearly unhappy, and rightly so. He did nothing wrong. Rather than pollute my report with my thoughts on refereeing, I shall write a separate note on the subject some time.

The 4500 strong crowd was loud and enthusiastic. Next week, it was announced, both Hancock and Hamill will be competing. Lets hope this level of interest will continue through the season.

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com