Ryan

47 years young Bobby Schwartz won the Scratch Main at Costa Mesa Saturday night. Schwartz, in his 31st year racing speedway, has been very fast at the first two meetings of the Southern California season. Below are the results of the First Division main events. For a complete report click http://www.speedwaybikes.com/res04_w/cm040501.htm Handicap Main Event (restarted) 139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 20 166 - Andy Northrup 30 1 - Scott Brant 50 130 - Chris Manchester 50 12 - Randy DiFrancesco 30 24 - Bobby Krips 30 27n - Chris Kerr 20 (fell) 39 - Buck Blair 10 (fell, injured) Scratch Main Event 11 - Bobby Schwartz 1 - Scott Brant 6 - Shawn McConnell 130 - Chris Manchester (fell) 43 - Charlie Venegas (fell)

Chris Manchester won all five of his races, including the main event, to win the annual Spring Classic at Costa Mesa. Below is the main event result and a link to the report. Spring Classic Main Event 130 - Chris Manchester 11 - Bobby Schwartz 1 - Scott Brant 43 - Charlie Venegas (tape penalty) 12 - Randy DiFrancesco Full Report: http://www.speedwaybikes.com/res04_w/cm040424.htm

I am hoping to go to Copenhagen this year with my family. Can anyone provide a link to a website for the bus routes and times? Thanks.

Here are the results from the 2004 Billy Hamill Gumball Rally. To read the complete report, go to http://www.speedwaybikes.com/res04_w/km040229.htm 80cc Scoring 1 2 3 4 5 T 1 - Simon Gustafsson 3 3 3 3 3 15 2 - Linus Eklöf R 0 1 1 1 3 142 - Ricky Wells 2 2 2 2 2 10 146 - Tyler Odom 1 1 R 0 0 2 200cc B Final 21 - Gino Manzares 114 - Joey Holt 5 - Ricky Valdez 200cc A Final 223 - Tamara Krips 8 - Austin Novratil 69 - Blake Bowen 250cc B Final 99 - Miles Calvin 29 - Jay Ricketts 1 - Simon Gustafsson (non starter) 2 - Linus Eklöf (non starter) 146 - Tyler Odom (non starter) Gumball Rally Championship Final (restarted) 142 - Ricky Wells 27 - Krystal Cramer 66 - Jason Ramirez (penalty line) 301 - Dale Facchini

Bill Thomas was racing Third Division in Northern California into his seventies. I believe that he has retired, but it has only been in the last couple years. Here is a rider profile of him: http://www.speedwaybikes.com/rw/ubill_t.htm

Lance King appeared in three World Finals - 1983, 1984, and 1985. He finished 3rd in 1984. He was tied with Erik Gundersen after four rounds, but lost to him when they met head-to-head in the final round. He then lost the runoff for 2nd Place to Hans Nielsen. Had he won, I believe he would've been the youngest World Champion ever at 21 years old. I think that Dugard was in the 1990 World Final, but I'm not sure.

The 2004 Billy Hamill Gumball Rally will be held Saturday, February 21 and Sunday, February 22 at Maely's Ranch in Corona, California. This is one of the biggest events on the youth speedway calendar and attracted a lot of interest last year. That interest spans internationally this year as Simon Gustafsson and Linus Eklöv are traveling from Sweden to compete in the event. Gustafsson, the son of former Speedway Grand Prix rider Henka Gustafsson, is the current 80cc Swedish National Champion and finished third in the Youth World Championship last year. Eklöv competes for the youth team at Smederna, Hamill's Swedish team. They will battle defending Gumball Rally Champion Ricky Wells, last year's runner-up Tim Gomez, and other top youth riders from California. Hamill resurrected the event last year because it has fond memories for him. His first competitive speedway race was the first Gumball Rally at Maely's Ranch in 1983. The trophy that day was an authentic gumball machine filled with gumballs. Billy has stated that he really wanted to win that trophy and was disappointed that he didn't. This year's event will have gumball machines for trophies. More details at Speedwaybikes.com

Scott Autrey is probably the most important American rider to have competed in Europe. As Wes Lake stated, he was the first rider to enjoy success and to stick it out. He really opened the door for other Americans to go abroad. Although several riders had already gone across the Atlantic by then, I don't think that it is a coincidence that his 3rd Place at Wembley in 1978 really opened up the floodgates for Americans to go to Europe. I think the next several years probably marked the largest exodus from the States to Europe. His rostrum finish erased any doubt that Americans could succeed at the top level. It is a shame that Autrey has become all but a forgotten man here in the U.S. Probably because he rarely made rider returns and then never competed in Southern California after retiring from England. If Autrey doesn't succeed in England, perhaps you never see the likes of Penhall, Sigalos, Schwartz, the Morans, and in later years, Ermolenko, Hancock, and Hamill.

Eric Carrillo won the Under 21 Invitational after winning a three-rider runoff with Bryan Yarrow and Ryan Fisher after each had tied with 14 points. On the first attempt of the runoff Carrillo was first to turn one from his inside starting position followed by Yarrow. Fisher tried to go around both on the outside but lifted exiting turn two and slid into the fence which brought out the red flag. Fisher was excluded from the restart. Carrillo got the jump in the restart and held off Yarrow for the title. For a complete report go to: http://www.speedwaybikes.com/res03_w/vv031123.htm

This Sunday will be the Bruce Penhall/Billy Hamill Under 21 Invitational & California Youth Championship in Victorville, California. The event will be promoted by former Middlesborough rider Donny Odom. The event will have all of California's young stars, two riders from New York, and one from Colorado. In addition to the Under 21 Invitational, the California Youth Championship will have 250cc, 200cc, and 80cc classes. Donny's son, Tyler, and Conner Penhall, son of two-time World Champion Bruce Penhall will be racing. There has been not-so-subtle hints that Billy Hamill and Bruce Penhall will square off in a series of match races. For more information: http://www.speedwaybikes.com/tracks/calvicto.htm

I talk to Josh and see him all of the time. We grew up racing Juniors together. Josh always speaks fondly of his days at Arena and the support that he received there from the Russells and the fans. I did forward your messages to him. He is aware that Arena could be moving up to the Elite League, and as much as he did enjoy racing there, I don't think that he is considering a return to Britain at this time. If he were to return, I'm sure that Arena (in the Elite League) would be at the top of his list.

Ryan Fisher won five of six races, including the Scratch Main, to win the Fall Classic at Costa Mesa. Fisher was fast out of the start all night and fast on the track as well, with his only defeat coming in his semi-final. This was Fisher's first appearance at Costa Mesa since the 2001 Fall Classic. Full report at http://www.speedwaybikes.com/res03_w/cm031101.htm Scratch Main 36 - Ryan Fisher 1 - Scott Brant 2 - Josh Larsen 130 - Chris Manchester (tape penalty) 15 - Dukie Ermolenko

Scott Brant won the SRA U.S. National Championship Saturday night at Costa Mesa. We have two National Championships in the U.S. The Costa Mesa promotion chooses not to affiliate itself with the AMA. Below are the results from the National Championship Final. Here is the link to the full report: http://www.speedwaybikes.com/res03_w/cm031011.htm U.S. National Championship Final 10 - Scott Brant 2 - Josh Larsen 3 - Gary Hicks 130 - Chris Manchester 94 - John Cook

Congratulations to Floppy for making the GB squad.

One of the video clips is from Ventura Raceway which is about 300-325 yards around. The promoters of Costa Mesa promoted one race there in 1999 and one in 2000. It is a great facility for speedway. Weekly speedway is out of the question, but to have a meeting there once a month is feasible and the riders would love to race there. I even conducted a riders' poll several weeks back. The results are at http://www.speedwaybikes.com/column2.htm. If our riders could get 4-6 meetings per year on that track, it would be very helpful when they go abroad.

We have a few riders who could make their way over to Europe in a few years. The problem over here is that the biggest track is about 220 yards and it doesn't operate on a weekly basis. Our riders don't get experience on the bigger tracks. Bryan Yarrow had never been on a track bigger than 220 yards before going to England earlier this year. There is a practice track now that is being run by Dukie Ermolenko that is supposed to be about 290 yards, so it could prove to be helpful. Speedway seems to be slowly on the rise again over here. The youth program is getting stronger in both Northern and Southern California and there are a few youth riders on the East Coast, which will help speedway in the future. Some riders to watch for in the coming years: Bryan Yarrow, Eric Carrillo, Chris Kerr, Shaun Harmatiuk, Justin Boyle, TJ Fowler, Tim Gomez, Ricky Wells (only 12). It takes riders longer to develop now because each circuit only has 1-2 tracks as opposed to 4-5 in Southern California in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s. The riders would compete in over 80 meetings per year as opposed to 20-30 now.

He will be racing in Auburn, California this Friday.

Great evening of racing. Mike Faria lifted his sixth Fair Derby title by defeating National Champion Billy Hamill in the main event. To read the full report, click on the link below http://www.speedwaybikes.com/res03_w/cm030711.htm