1996 Costa Mesa Speedway

April 19, 1996 Costa Mesa Speedway
From: Gary Roberts

Scratch Main

1. Brad Oxley
2. Don Odom
3. Rob Pfetzing
4. Gary Hicks
5. Steve Lucero

Support Main

1. Mike Reed
2. Richard Jones
3. Steve Donovan
4. Bill Green
5. John DeVries
6. Rick Pearce

Handicap Main, handicap shown in brackets

1. Steve Lucero  (50)
2. Paul Colston  (10)
3. Gary Hicks    (40)
4. Greg Hancock  (50)
5. Don Odom      (40)
6. Walt Farnum   (30)
7. Ronny Kemp   (20)
8. Jessie Finch  (30)

The crowd was down from last week but nevertheless, well attended. The track looked in excellent shape throughout the evening. Greg Hancock, our national champion gave a better showing than the results suggest, being one of the few who tried the outside of the track. But this was not enough for him to qualify for the scratch Main. He won his heat, but failed to qualify in the semi-final. In the last chance qualifier, he worked his way to the lead, only to be overtaken in the last few yards by Gary Hicks. One of several extremely close races. This left the scratch main a bit empty, from where it rather continued downhill. Steve Lucero was disqualified for touching the tapes and Gary Hicks's engine gave out when he was holding a commanding lead. The handicap main was another close race. Paul Colston, who has normally been competing in support class at Costa Mesa, demonstrated true division one skills winning his heat and his semi final. He lead the main until about 5 yards before the tapes when Lucero caught him. Another great evenings racing.

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com