SpeedwayBikes.Com
American Speedway  

2000 Archive

Speedway Fan Mail List Index

2000 North American Archive of International Speedway

Message Section
April 14, 2000

From: sandy.spink@virgin.net
To: "Internet Speedway Fan Club List" 
Subject: PETERBOROUGH OFF
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 09:32:19 +0100

Tonights fixture Peterborough v Kings Lynn off - waterlogged track
From: Face@btinternet.com
To: "Internet Speedway Fan Club List" 
Subject: boycey
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 10:05:50 +0100

Check out my new homepage    http://www.craigboyce.co.uk

From: wimvandenberg@hotmail.com
To: "Internet Speedway Fan Club List" 
Subject: Dutch Open 15 April Amsterdam
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 16:05:25 GMT

This is to inform you that due to bad condition of the track
in Amsterdam (much rain last days) the Dutch Open Speedway on 15 April is 
cancelled.
We hope to see you in Veenoord on 16 April!!
Till then!


Wim van den Berg
bezoek onze website/visit our website
www.speedway.org/nl/dsf
dank u/thank you
From: Sideways31@aol.com
To: "Internet Speedway Fan Club List" 
Subject: Costa Mesa Results - April 8, 2000
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 15:18:22 EDT

Sorry that these results are so late.  I forgot the actual e-mail address to 
post directly on the site.  This is the same report that I posted on the 
onelist.

Gary Hicks overcame a rough track to take the victory in the Scratch Main 
Event as Costa Mesa kicked off what could be its final season in front of a 
large crowd with the annual Coors Light Spring Classic.  Hicks and Bobby 
Schwartz gated together and were side by side as they entered turn three.  
Hicks stuck to the low line leaving Schwartz out wide to battle the massive 
ruts in the track.  Hicks sped away with an easy victory.  Charlie Venegas 
and Northern California rider Chad Felicio managed to get by Schwartz for 
second and third respectively.  Schwartz ended up fourth and Shawn McConnell 
finished fifth.  
Charlie Cooley took an easy victory in the Handicap Main as he led all eight 
laps and was never seriously challenged.  Ryan Fisher had a circuitous 
journey to end up second.  Fisher was in second after the first lap, then was 
passed by several riders.  After several laps in fifth place, he worked his 
way back up to second as he took the white flag, but he didn't have enough 
time to catch Cooley who looked very smoothe considering the condition of the 
track.  Randy DiFrancesco finished third ahead of Felicio and Charlie Venegas.
Veteran rider Danny Perkins, who returned to speedway last year after a long 
layoff, was the victor in the Support Main Event.  Perkins, starting from the 
20 yard line, worked his way past Mike Lupo and ran away from the field.  
Lupo, who didn't race in 1999, held on to second place and Billy Lyons 
finished third.  
Howard Larson won the Support B Main Event in his speedway debut.  Fellow 
newcomer Rod Lenz finished second and veteran Mike Boyle finished third.
There were several riders who made the trip from Northern California, but the 
most unique visitor was Bevan Compton from South Africa.  Compton, who has 
been in the United States competing in ICE series couldn't pass up the 
opportunity to race at the world famous venue.  However, Compton had a hard 
time adjusting to the small track and didn't transfer out of either heat.  
The track was rough all evening with several holes developing in turns three 
and four.  The holes forced most riders to two-wheel into the corner to avoid 
crashing.  The circumstances made for some very interesting and unpredictable 
racing throughout the evening and left many riders picking themselves of the 
ground and even more shaking their heads.  Fortunately, there were no 
injuries.

RESULTS

Support B Consi
141 - Tom Collier           20
147 - Winston Williams      20
103 - Brent Smith           20
269 - Ed Martinez           20
132 - David Moore           10
317 - Craig Mumma           10  (non-starter)

Support B Main
168 - Howard Larsen     10
196 - Rod Lenz              10
198 - Mike Boyle            20
202n - Harry Bradwell       20
211 - Doug Lupo         20
249 - John Stunkard         10

Support Consi
338 - Dave Delbridge        20
219 - John O'Neill          30
120 - Bill McCarley         30
91n - Bill Hermant          30
131 - David Lynch           30
226 - Sean Larned           30

Support Main
189 - Danny Perkins     20
162 - Mike Lupo             10
321 - Billy Lyons           20
417n - Scott Olney          20
197 - Greg Starcevic        20  (penalty line)
182 - Rudy Laurer           30  (penalty line) (fell)

Handicap Main
 16 - Charlie Cooley            30
  6n - Ryan Fisher          40
 12 - Randy DiFrancesco     40
54n - Chad Felicio          40
 43 - Charlie Venegas       60
 11 - Bobby Schwartz        60
173 - Bryan Thompson        10
  6 - Shawn McConnell       60 (penalty line)

Scratch Main
  3 - Gary Hicks
 43 - Charlie Venegas
54n - Chad Felicio
 11 - Bobby Schwartz
  6 - Shawn McConnell (fell, remounted)

Ryan Evans
sideways31@aol.com
From: tony@theverve69.freeserve.co.uk
To: "Internet Speedway Fan Club List" 
Subject: Re: Mail digest
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 20:03:01 +0100

I'm not a big contributor to the list, however I eagerly await every new
posting.  What has prompted me to write is the issue of "Family Sport".  I
managed to get my wife interested in Speedway (no mean feat I'll tell you)
in the last few years at Odsal.  Having witnessed one heat she was hooked
and wanted our children to come along too.

Alan Ham continually complained that Speedway was not sustainable in
Bradford given the competition from the rugby and football teams, blah,
blah, blah.  Yet to my knowledge, never really made a serious commitment to
attracting new supporters.  By commitment I don't mean the local press and
radio ads, I mean selling the sport to the public, either the quid for a kid
(or is it kid for a quid) or improving the commercial side of the sport.

As a family we have only seen a small number of meetings primarily due to
cost and secondly that there is now no team in West Yorkshire, so I take my
hat off to the likes of Kings Lynn.  They are showing a professional, long
term commitment to providing the sport with a future, something that the
BSPA and above should be doing.

Sky coverage will not secure the future of this sport.  If interest doesn't
increase pro rata to the investment then it will be dropped.  Speedway is in
the best position it has been in for decades, shouldn't we now be seeing a
long term strategy for the sport, rather than the future being left to
individual clubs?

Tony
A Gator
From: chris.brown7@virgin.net
To: "Internet Speedway Fan Club List" 
Subject: Oxford 43 Eastbourne 50
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 23:59:01 +0100

Oxford                   43
Eastbourne               50
Elite League
14/4/2000

Oxford

Todd Wiltshire      2   2   2*  2   2*  3         13 +  2
Roman Povazhny      0   1*  0                      1 +  1
Ales Dryml          0   0   1                      1
Steve Johnston      3   1   6!  3   2   0         15
Jimmy Nilsen        3   1   2*  3   3             12 +  1
Lukas Dryml         1   0   0   0                  1
Jon Underwood       0   0   0                      0

Eastbourne

Joe Screen          3   2*  2   0                  7 +  1
Dean Barker         1   3   F   1*                 5 +  1
Martin Dugard       2   2*  3   3                 10 +  1
David Norris        1*  3   1   3   1*             9 +  2
Paul Hurry          2   3   1   1   2              9
Brent Collyer       2*  0   0                      2 +  1
Petri Kokko         3   1*  1   2*  1              8 +  2

Heat  1 - Joe Screen ; Todd Wiltshire ; Dean Barker ; Roman Povazhny ;
(2-4)(2-4)

A good pass by Screen up the inside of Wiltshire, Povazhny almost got into
to 2ns at one point with Wiltshire but ran out of track

Heat  2 - Petri Kokko ; Brent Collyer ; Lukas Dryml ; Jon Underwood ;
(1-5)(3-9)

Easy from the gate for the Eagles pair

Heat  3 - Steve Johnston ; Martin Dugard ; David Norris ; Ales Dryml ;
(3-3)(6-12)

Norris gated ahead only to be passed by Johno, Dugard chased very hard and
almost caught Johno on the line

Heat  4 - Jimmy Nilsen ; Paul Hurry ; Petri Kokko ; Jon Underwood ;
(3-3)(9-15)

Good battle out front from Nilsen/Hurry

Heat  5 - Dean Barker ; Joe Screen ; Steve Johnston ; Ales Dryml ;
(1-5)(10-20)

Johno almost getting into the lead on bend 3 with Barker riding a superb
corner to force him out and open the door for Screen

Heat  6 - Paul Hurry ; Todd Wiltshire ; Roman Povazhny ; Brent Collyer ;
(3-3)(13-23)

This was scary, Povazhny made the start and battled with Hurry, on entering
the 4th bedn he appeared to lock up in front of Todd who along with Collyer
had to take very smart action to avoid him, Hurry was then away but Roman
continued to made the same mess on the  same corner each time

Heat  7 - David Norris ; Martin Dugard ; Jimmy Nilsen ; Lukas Dryml ;
(1-5)(14-28)

Nilsen missed the gate badly and was never able to get back on terms

Heat  8 - Steve Johnston (Golden Double) ; Todd Wiltshire ; Petri Kokko ;
Dean Barker(F) ;   (8-1)(22-29)

A first maybe. Johno in as a GD and penalised for moving before the tapes
went up and therefore forced to go back ANOTHER 10 metres hence starting 25
metres behind. Todd made the gate and slowed up the race as you would expect
and Barker fell on lap 3 leaving Johno the chance to catch and pass Kokko
and be waved through by his teammate. Surely the first GD win off a 25 metre
handicap. Any of the Eastbourne guys think that Todd was respnsible for
bringing don Barker, because for some reason he felt the need to hurl abuse
and threats at Todd after the race ??

Heat  9 - Steve Johnston ; Jimmy Nilsen ; Paul Hurry ; Brent Collyer ;
(5-1)(27-30)

Another titanic battle with Hurry battling non stop to split the fast gating
Cheetahjs pair

Heat 10 - Martin Dugard ; Todd Wiltshire ; David Norris ; Roman Povazhny ;
(2-4)(29-34)

A fairly uneventful one

Heat 11 - Jimmy Nilsen ; Joe Screen ; Dean Barker ; Jon Underwood ;
(3-3)(32-37)

Won comfortably by Jimmy from the gate

Heat 12 - Martin Dugard ; Petri Kokko ; Ales Dryml ; Lukas Dryml ;
(1-5)(33-42)

As easy a 5-1 as you will see

Heat 13 - Jimmy Nilsen ; Todd Wiltshire ; Paul Hurry ; Joe Screen ;
(5-1)(38-43)

Again Hurry's never say die attitude made for a cracking battle

Heat 14 - David Norris ; Steve Johnston ; Petri Kokko ; Lukas Dryml ;
(2-4)(40-47)

Lukas Dryml made the start only to mess up the 4th bend and go out of
contention. Again Johno had to pass the electric starting Kokko

Heat 15 - Todd Wiltshire ; Paul Hurry ; David Norris ; Steve Johnston ;
(3-3)(43-50)

Another cracking race with Johno almost running into Norris and Norris going
across the track to avoid running into Wiltshire


All in all a disappointing result for the Cheetahs but in all honesty not
too many went tonight expecting to win against a side with 3 former Cheetahs
and Kokko and Norris who always ride the track well. At 14 down it looked
desperate but the GD and 5-1 pulling back 11 points in 2 races made in a
little more competitive. The Cheetahs were never going to win this match
though at any stage. The Top 3 scored 40 of the 43 points but 3 riders
cannot win a match.

The Heat Leaders were superb, Johno is a revelation and Todd weighed in
again with a hefty score, Jimmy 's gating was excellent. The problems lay
below this. Roman is trying very hard, probably too hard and needs to work
out the best way round the track because he sure hasn't worked it out yet.
The Dryml's continue to struggle badly, apart from Lukas's last race they
were out of contention by the first bend and they need a confidence boost
quickly. We always knew Jon Underwood would score little so is exempt from
any criticism.

For Eastbourne, Screen started well but seemed to fade in the races where
the Cheetahs top guns were there, Dugard was his normal Oxford self and
Norris had flashes. Hurry as ever tried 110% and Dean Barker rode solidly,
still can't understand why he was so upset after  Heat 8 though. Collyer
scored more than I guess he would be expected to and the Kokko's electric
gating will always get him points in this league. He made starts from all 4
gates tonight.

Oxford are certainly a Heat Leader away from being a truly competitive side
and even then the Dryml's need to show the potential they clearly have. The
encouraging thing is that a 3 man team lost to by only 7 to a team that will
be the best visiting team this season. Traditionally they have a superb
record at Oxford with all the ex Cheetahs so its not time to be too
despondant yet.


Cheetahs averages after 2 away and 1 home meeting tell a story. Last years
averages are in brackets

T Wiltshire            8.89        (8.25)
R Povazhny           3.20        (5.48)
A Dryml                  0.44        (7.50 Ass)
S Johnston           7.29         (6.90)
J Nilsen                 8.00         (8.32)
L Dryml                 2.18          (5.00 Ass)
J Underwood       0.89          (3.00 Ass)

Total                      36.38           (44.45)


A bit of scope for changes I fancy

Chris Brown
The Official Lawrence Hare Website
http://come.to/hare
ICQ: 10766338
www.speedwaybikes.com - All rights reserved.