Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California

1999 Jack Milne Cup
Costa Mesa Speedway
June 26, 1999
From Ryan Evans

Gary Hicks brought the Jack Milne Cup back to the family in a hard fought main event at the Orange County Fairgrounds. Hicks, the grand-nephew of the legendary 1937 World Champion and grandson of Cordy Milne, led wire-to-wire in the restart.

In the first start Scott Brant utilized the pole position to take the lead off turn two. "Rad" Brad Oxley spun out in turn two, but didn't impede any of the other riders. In turn three, Charlie "The Edge" Venegas, running second spun around and as the front wheel lifted, it caught Hicks knocking him down and forcing Andy Northrup to the ground as well. The riders were on their feet in a rather short amount of time. Venegas' bike was a casualty to the accident and he was forced to borrow a bike from Randy DiFrancesco. In the restart, Hicks grabbed a slight lead from gate 3 and was able to hold off Scott Brant all four laps and take the 2nd Annual Jack Milne Cup. Northrup was third, Oxley fourth, and Venegas was fifth. The prestigious trophy is Jack Milne's actual 1937 World Championship trophy, The Queen's Coronation Cup. The trophy was presented by Milne's granddaughter, Catherine Lopez.

There was a distinct advantage to stating in gates 1 and 2. By the time the semi-finals rolled around, the riders in gates 3, 4, and 5 had virtually no chance. Defending Champion Bobby "Boogaloo" Schwartz was a victim of this as he started from the outside in both his semi and the last chance and was unable to make the main. The fact that the gates were so slick made Hicks' victory all the more impressive.

Randy Skinner had an excellent start and won the Support Main very easily over Kitt Nay, Tim Tucker, Mark Hitchcock, and Kevin Rubio. The Support Main also featured a wild crash on the original start. Rubio, starting from the pole, just went straight in turn 1 knocking Skinner down, and Tucker went down hard near the pit gate in turn two. Fortunately, no one was hurt. The 1st Division part of the program featured 3 rounds consisting of 4 5-man heats. The top ten in points transferred to the semi-finals. The top two from each semi transferred directly to the main, third and fourth transferred to the Last Chance, and fifth was on the trailer. The winner of the Last Chance then qualified for the Main Event.

The Support Class had four heats with riders transferring to semis and then transferring to the main event.

RESULTS:

Support Main
1st 383 - Randy Skinner
2nd 216 - Kitt Nay
3rd 215 - Tim Tucker (tape penalty)
4th 177 - Mark Hitchcock (fell, remounted)
5th 302 - Kevin Rubio

1st Division
Heat Scoring
3 - Gary Hicks 4-4-3=11
5 - Brad Oxley 4-3-3=10
7 - John Aden 3-2-3=8
10 - Scott Brant 4-4-4=12
11 - Bobby Schwartz E-4-4=8
15 - Dukie Ermolenko 2-3-4=9
16 - Charlie Cooley 1-2-1=4
19 - Richard Jones 0-1-0=1
22 - Kon Baur 3-2-2=7
26 - Jason Chism 3-0-2=5
30 - Brian Burch 1-0-1=2
43 - Charlie Venegas 3-4-4=11
47 - Johnny Walker 0-M-1=1
56 - Jim Estes 4-3-2=9
72 - Randy DiFrancesco 2-2-2=6
117 - Robbie Sauer 1-1-F=2
119 - Brad Sauer 0-0-F=0
166 - Andy Northrup 2-3-3=8
173 - Bryan Thompson 2-0-1=3
223 - Mark Adams 1-1-0=2
314 - Joe Winston (R)1=1

Heat Results
1: Hicks, Aden, DiFrancesco (tape pen.), Cooley, Jones
2: Brant, Chism, Thompson, Burch, Schwartz (EF)
3: Oxley, Baur, Northrup, R. Sauer, B. Sauer
4: Estes, Venegas, Ermolenko, Adams, Walker
9: Hicks, Ermolenko, Baur, Jones, Burch
10: Schwartz, Estes, Aden, R. Sauer, Thompson
11: Brant, Oxley, DiFrancesco, Winston, B. Sauer, Walker
(excluded, 2 minutes)
12: Venegas, Northrup, Cooley, Adams, Chism (fell, rem.)
17: Brant, Aden, Chism, Cooley, Adams (fell, rem.)
18: Venegas, Hicks, Baur, Burch, Jones
19: Schwartz, Oxley, Estes (tape pen.), Thompson,
R. Sauer (fell)
20: Ermolenko, Northrup, DiFrancesco, Walker, B. Sauer (fell)

Semi-Finals
Venegas, Hicks, Estes, Aden (tape pen.), Baur
Oxley, Brant, Northrup, Schwartz, Ermolenko

Last Chance
Northrup, Estes, Aden (tape pen.), Schwartz

JACK MILNE CUP MAIN EVENT
1st 3 - Gary Hicks
2nd 10 - Scott Brant
3rd 166 - Andy Northrup
4th 5 - Brad Oxley
5th 43 - Charlie Venegas