Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds - Costa Mesa, CA

2000 Jack Milne Cup
Costa Mesa Speedway
June 10, 2000
From Ryan Evans

Charlie "The Edge" Venegas fought off Shawn McConnell to cap a perfect night and take home the Jack Milne Cup at Costa Mesa.

Venegas was perfect in his three rides during the preliminary rounds and then won his semi-final, therefore he had first gate choice and wisely took the pole. Venegas was first into turn one and looked to be an easy victor but McConnell had different ideas. Venegas drifted wide as they exited turn four and McConnell tried to get underneath but Venegas held him off. McConnell remained on Venegas' back tire for another lap and they made contact as they entered turn one on the third lap. It didn't intimidate "The Edge", however, and Venegas stretched his lead from that point on to become the third winner of the trophy named for the 1937 World Champion. McConnell finished second, Andy Northrup was third, 1998 Milne Cup winner Bobby Schwartz experienced clutch problems and finished fourth, and Dukie Ermolenko finished fifth after falling.

The format for the evening featured three preliminary rounds of scratch racing with the top 10 scorers qualifying for one of two five-rider semis. The top two from each semi qualified for the main event with third and fourth qualifying for the Last Chance. The winner of the Last Chance completed the five rider final.

Venegas started things off with a victory in the first race over last week's Handicap Main event winner, Eddie Castro. Ermolenko ran away with the second heat and Chris Manchester did the same in event three. The round concluded with Jim Estes impressively holding off Schwartz for four laps and taking the win.

Venegas began the second round the same way he began the first, an easy victory. Northrup won the second race, but Estes was the story again by holding Brad Oxley back to take a hard-earned second place. Castro was victorious in the third race over McConnell. The round was brought to a close with Schwartz and Ermolenko battling all four laps before "Boogaloo" crossed the line first.

The start of the final round was a carbon copy of the first two with Venegas winning from the start. Oxley held off Ermolenko to take the next race. McConnell held off Northrup for his first victory and Schwartz completed the round by winning easily.

In the first semi-final Schwartz made a great start and pulled away, but there was a fierce battle for second with Northrup and McConnell riding side-by-side for three laps. Northrup, feeling that the high line wasn't working, tried to get underneath McConnell on the final lap but couldn't make the pass. Venegas made the start in the second semi and pulled away to book his spot in the final along with Ermolenko.

The Last Chance got off to a rough start when Oxley gated and led into turn one before tangling with Castro and DiFrancesco and going down very hard. Oxley was able to get up and join the restart, but Castro was disqualified which brought out a large chorus of boos. Northrup gated first on the restart and withstood Oxley's challenge to take the last spot in the final. The support classes also used an all-scratch format for the evening. Billy Lyons got the start of the Support Main and established a comfortable lead for over two laps. One the third lap he bobbled in turn three and by the time he recovered David Lynch had taken the lead. Lynch held Lyons at bay for the final lap to take the victory.

In the Support B Main Brent Smith took the start and led all four laps to get the victory over Pat Dwyer.

Defending Milne Cup Champion Gary Hicks was unable to compete due to injuries he suffered several weeks back. Hicks is hoping to be able to return to action next week.

RESULTS
Support B Consolation
178 - Eloy Medellin
198 - Mike Boyle
168 - Howard Larson
107 - Monte McKeon
135 - Kerry Connor

Support B Main
103 - Brent Smith
231 - Pat Dwyer
125 - Johnny Lupo
293 - Rick Valdez
148 - Chris Metoyer

Support Consolation
338 - Dave Delbridge
114 - Paul Hitchcock
200 - Gerry Duttweiler
226 - Sean Larned

Support Main
131 - David Lynch
321 - Billy Lyons
234 - Frank Pecce
162 - Mike Lupo

QUALIFYING SCORES 1 2 3 T
1 - Brad Oxley 2 2 4 8
6 - Shawn McConnell 3 3 4 10
8 - Gary Ackroyd 2 1 2 5
11 - Bobby Schwartz 3 4 4 11
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 3 2 3 8
14 - Eddie Castro 3 4 3 10
15 - Dukie Ermolenko 4 3 3 10
16 - Charlie Cooley (scratch)
19 - Richard Jones 1 2 2 5
23 - Robbie Sauer 2 0 1 3
43 - Charlie Venegas 4 4 4 12
47 - Johnny Walker 1 1 0 2
56 - Jim Estes 4 3 0 7
57 - Brian Thompson 1 1 0 2
119 - Brad Sauer 1 1 0 2
130 - Chris Manchester 4 2 2 8
166 - Andy Northrup 2 4 3 9
189 - Danny Perkins 0 3 1 4
223 - Mark Adams 0 0 2 2
230 - Doug Greyson 0 0 1 1
300 - Bentley Barrett 0 0 0 0

RACE RESULTS
1: Venegas, Castro, Northrup, Thompson, Adams
2: Ermolenko, DiFrancesco, Oxley, Jones, Barrett
3: Manchester, McConnell, R.Sauer, B.Sauer, Greyson
4: Estes, Schwartz, Ackroyd, Walker, Perkins
9: Venegas, Perkins, Jones, Ackroyd, Greyson
10: Northrup, Estes, Oxley, Thompson, R.Sauer
11: Castro, McConnell, DiFrancesco, Walker, Barrett
12: Schwartz, Ermolenko, Manchester, B.Sauer, Adams
20: Venegas, Castro, Manchester, R.Sauer, B.Sauer
21: Oxley, Ermolenko, Ackroyd, Perkins, Walker
22: McConnell, Northrup, Adams, Greyson, Thompson
23: Schwartz, DiFrancesco, Jones, Barrett, Estes
Semi-Final #1: Schwartz, McConnell, Northrup, Oxley, Estes
Semi-Final #2: Venegas, Ermolenko, Castro, DiFrancesco, Manchester
Last Chance: Northrup, Oxley, DiFrancesco, Castro
Jack Milne Cup Final: Venegas, McConnell, Northrup, Schwartz, Ermolenko