Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California

Warren Russell Cup
September 15, 2007 - Costa Mesa
By: Ryan Evans

"Flyin" Mike Faria took home the Warren Russell Cup for the fifth time in his career with a brilliant performance at the world famous Costa Mesa Speedway.

Defending National Champion Charlie "The Edge" Venegas got the best start and led into turn one. Venegas drifted a little wide in turn two and the gap was just enough for Faria to exploit and take the lead. Venegas tried to fight back on the outside in turn three, but couldn't find enough grip and slotted in behind Faria on the front straight. Faria was mistake-free all the way to the checkered flag for the win. Venegas finished second, Ricky Wells was third, Scott Brant finished fourth, and Buck Blair was fifth.

Three rounds of heats began with Tim Gomez earning a very impressive victory over Jimmy Fishback and Bobby Schwartz. Venegas was leading heat two, but lost a chain and handed the win to Brant. Mike Bloom led heat three for two laps before Wells passed him on the outside and took the win. Faria ended the opening round with a win over Nate Perkins.

McConnell started round two with a win over Schwartz. Buck Blair held off Brant to win event 10. Venegas was awarded the win over Faria in race 11 when Gomez and Randy DiFrancesco went down hard on the back straight. Gomez withdrew from the meeting and it was later determined that he broke his shoulder blade. Krips won the last race of the second round with Wells getting second.

Schwartz began the final round of heats by getting revenge on McConnell with a win. Brant was awarded the win in the next race after Perkins went down and brought out the red flag. Venegas made it two in a row with a win ahead of DiFrancesco. Faria ended the heats with his second win of the night.

Venegas used the outside in turn one to take the lead and the win in the first semi and was followed into the main by Brant. Faria led the second semi before Wells blazed around the outside to take the lead. Wells had too much momentum to get back to the inside line and on the final lap Faria found enough traction to beat Wells to the line. Blair won the Last Chance to fill the final place in the main.

Five riders cometed in the Warren Russell Elimination Challenge. Wells was eliminated first, sollowed by McConnell, and then Blair. This left Schwartz and Perkins for the final two-lap challenge. Schwartz got the best start, but left an opening on the inside that Perkins charged through on the back straight to take the lead. Perkins led the rest of the way to take the win.

John Marquez got the best start and led the Support Main Event for over two laps before Vince Giamformaggio went down and brought out the red flag. The win was awarded to Marquez with Rudy Laurer getting second, Billy Braden finishing third, Giamformaggio got fourth, and Rick Farron was credited with fifth after he was unable to start the race.

Adrian Contreras led the Support B Main Event before being passed by Daniel Faria on the second lap for the lead. Faria made no mistakes from that point and was first to the checkered flag. Steve Dziadus was second, Scott York finished third, Contreras was fourth, Joe Dillard finished fifth, and Mike Boyle was sixth.

Brad Pappalardo rode four smooth laps to win the Youth First Division Main Event. Chad Hoyt was second and Joey Holt finished third.

Braydan Galvin led from start to finish to win the Youth Second Division Main Event. Major Davis finished second and Rocco Scopellite was third.

The Warren Russell Cup honors a man who has sponsored many of the top riders in Southern California over the past 20 years. Russell has also contributed countless dollars in support of speedway tracks and events in that same time span.

It was announced that four-time National Champion Billy "The Bullet" Hamill will be competing at the 39th United States National Speedway Championship. In the ten years that two national championships have been held, Hamill is the only rider to win both and he did so in the same year, 2002. Hamill will be seeking the title "undisputed" National Champion on Saturday, September 29.

Next week is Mission Motorsports Night, but there will be activity at the Orange County Fairgrounds all day. "Rad" Brad Oxley's School of Skid will begin at 8:00 a.m. Following that will be afternoon flat track and speedway classes for all ages and engine sizes. For more information on either of these events, call (949) 492-9933.

RESULTS 

Youth Second Division Main Event (restarted)
  2 - Braydan Galvin 999 - Major Davis
  9 - Rocco Scopellite (penalty line) (fell) 
  
Youth First Division Main Event 
611 - Brad Pappalardo 
154 - Chad Hoyt
4  - Joey Holt 

Support B Consolation 
343n - Jeff Irwin                	20
202 - J.C. Masters             		10
300 - Jason Dupuy                   10
308 - Hugh Randolph 10 

Support B Consolation (restarted)
102 - Jim Lavender 10
357 - Aimiris Santana 20
169 - Dan Wensloff 10
288 - Rick Fritch 20	(non starter) 

Support B Main Event 
105n - Daniel Faria             	20
212 - Steve Dziadus           		20
155 - Scott York 20
388n - Adrian Contreras      		10
714 - Joe Dillard 20
198 - Mike Boyle 20 

Support Consolation 
77 - Bryan Buffington 
222n - Robert Christian
136 - Kim Stevens 
389 - Ryan Tovatt 

Support Last Chance 
309 - Vince Giamformaggio 
132 - Justin Hassan 
149 - Philip Harmatiuk 
176 - Carl Gazafy 

Support Main Event (restarted) (awarded)
241 - John Marquez 
182 - Rudy Laurer 
117 - Billy Braden 
309 - Vince Giamformaggio (fell)
147 - Rick Farron (non starter) 

Warren Russell Elimination Challenge 
13 - Nate Perkins 
11 - Bobby Schwartz 
39 - Buck Blair 
6 - Shawn McConnell 
142 - Ricky Wells <

First Division Scoring           	1  2  3    T
 1 - Charlie Venegas R  4  4    8
  6 - Shawn McConnell 3  4  3    10
  9 - Mike Faria 4  3  4    11
 10 - Scott Brant 4  3  4    11
 11 - Bobby Schwartz 2  3  4    9
 12 - Randy DiFrancesco 1  1  3    5
 13 - Nate Perkins 3  2  F    5
 22 - Mike Bloom 2  2  1    5
 24 - Bobby Krips 2  4  2    8
 25 - Jimmy Fishback 3  F  2    5
 30 - Tim Gomez 4  2  N    6
 37 - Denny Scopellite 1  1  2    4
 39 - Buck Blair 3  4  3    10
 48 - Chris Metoyer 2  2  0    4
 55 - Travis Henderson 1  0  1    2
 93 - J.T. Mabry 0  0  1    1
142 - Ricky Wells 4  3  3    10
178 - Eloy Medellin 0  0  0    0
249 - John Stunkard 1  1  1    3
293 - Rick Valdez 0  1  2    3 

Race Results 
 1: Gomez, Fishback, Schwartz, Scopellite, Mabry
 2: Brant, Blair, Metoyer, Stunkard, Venegas (retired)
 3: Wells, McConnell, Bloom, DiFrancesco, Medellin
 4: Faria, Krips, Perkins, Henderson, Valdez
 9: McConnell, Schwartz, Bloom (tape penalty)
10: Blair, Brant, Perkins, Valdez, Henderson (fell, remounted)
11: (awarded) Venegas, Faria, Gomez, DiFrancesco, Mabry
12: Krips, Wells, Metoyer (fell, remounted), Stunkard (fell, remounted), Fishback (fell)
16: Schwartz, McConnell, Scopellite, Bloom, Medellin
17: (awarded) Brant, Blair, Valdez, Henderson, Perkins (fell)
18: Venegas, DiFrancesco, Fishback, Mabry, Gomez (non starter)
19: Faria, Wells, Krips, Stunkard, Metoyer (tape penalty) 

Runoff: Perkins, DiFrancesco, Bloom, Fishback (fell) 

Semi #1: Venegas, Brant, McConnell, Schwartz, DiFrancesco 
Semi #2: Faria, Wells, Perkins, Blair, Krips 

Last Chance 
39 - Buck Blair 
13 - Nate Perkins 
11 - Bobby Schwartz 
6 - Shawn McConnell (fell) 

Warren Russell Cup 
9 - Mike Faria 
1 - Charlie Venegas 
142 - Ricky Wells 
10 - Scott Brant 
39 - Buck Blair
Past Winners 
1989 - Bobby Schwartz 
1990 - Mike Faria 
1991 - Mike Faria 
1992 - Chris Manchester 
1993 - Sam Ermolenko 
1994 - Sam Ermolenko
1995 - Greg Hancock 
1996 - Steve Lucero 
1997 - Mike Faria 
1998 - Bart Bast 
1999 - Brad Oxley 
2000 - Charlie Venegas 
2001 - Josh Larsen 
2002 - Josh Larsen 
2003 - Scott Brant 
2004 - Mike Faria 
2005 - Chris Manchester
2006 - Charlie Venegas