FARIA WINS THIRD NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!

"Flyin" Mike Faria was just that tonight in route to his
third career National title. Faria finished the night with a 
perfect fifteen points heading into the A main. All through the
night Faria dominated winning every race without a sruggle.
I don't think he was ever even challenged. Tonights format,
unlike any other year, placed the top three in points directly
into the A main. Riders 4-7 met in the B main with the winner
going to the A main. The winner of the A main is the champion.
Every year prior, The top point man after 5 rounds was the
winner. Joning Faria in the A main were Billy Hamil with 14
points and Charlie Venegas with 13 points. Current world champion
Greg Hancock made the a main by winning the B main over Bobby
Schwartz, Bart Bast and Shawn McConnell. The A main took two
restarts to run but it was all Faria. Second place went to Greg 
Hancock and third was Charlie Venegas. Tonights raceing was also 
specail because there was no argued calls. The ref did his job
and did it well. This also marks the 6th year in a row that I have picked the winner correctly.
Next year I go for 7. 
I will have round by round results later. It's getting very 
late tonight. check back later. (10-4-97) 11:35pm

Monday 10-6-97
10:32 am
Now that I had the weekend to recover from a late saturday I will
finish the results.
There was yet another change in the program, Louis Kossuth did 
not make the trip to So.Cal. I never heard why. If you know, let
me know. IN his place was Billy Hamill. Chad Felicio got his 
regular spot back. After a first round mud bath things started
looking good. The track was shaping up fine. Around the 6th race
a bad rut came up in turn 4. This sent a few riders on a wheelie
ride straight to the wall. Fortunatly nobody hit it. The best
ride of the must have been #18. Faria was clean so the battle 
was on for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th spot. In #18 Hamill, Hancock, and
Venegas got together. All three had only dropped one point so
far. The winner and second place man went directly to the A main.
While the third had to go to the B main and hope to transfer.
They went three wide into turn 3 and made a race out of it
coming out of four. In the end it was Hamill, Venegas and
Hancock. This set up the B main. Hancock, Bast, Schwartz,and 
McConnell. Schwartz got the gate but went wide. Coming into 
3 it was bast. Hancock made a move and took the lead and moved
on to the A main.
In the A main Faria (high point man) took the pole. Hamil took
the second spot, Venegas picked the outside and Hancock got 3.
On the first attempt, Venegas and Hancock went down.On the second
try Venegas jumped early and drew a red flag and a warning.
On the third try Faria got the gate and was challenged for a 
short time by Hamill. Faria finally pulled away and claimed the 
crown. It was a great night. I thimk most people were happy with 
the new format. It did work to keep the crowd there. In years
past, Faria would have been the champ after race #17. The crowd 
would have been gone for the last 3 races. This time, you had to 
stay to the end. I hope it works this well next year. On the
lighter side. The program said "it's no wonder that few
knowledgable prognosticators have ever actually chosen the
ultimate winner." Psssst, I am 6 for the last 6 and going back to 
1990, I have only missed once. Talk to me next year. 
Here is round by round.
 
Points

1st =3
2nd =2
3rd =1
4th =0

top name is on the pole

race 1            race 2            race 3           race 4

Schwartz   0      Felicio     1     Oxley      1     Faria    3
Hamill     3      Venegas     3     Hicks      3     Northrup 1
Bast       2      Aden        2     Hedden     0     Hancock  2
Manchester 1      Castro      0     McConnell  2     Lucero   0


#5              #6                 #7               #8

Lucero    3     Northrup      2    Hicks     1     Manchester 0
Schwartz  2     Oxley         1    Faria     3     Castro     1
Felicio   0     Hamill        3    Venegas   2     McConnell  2
Hedden    1     Aden          0    Bast      0     Hancock    3


#9              #10               #11              #12

Aden     2      McConnell    1    Castro     1    Lucero      2
Hancock  3      Felicio      0    Hedden     2    Manchester  0
Schwartz 1      Faria        3    Bast       3    Oxley       1
Hicks    0      Hamill       2    Northrup   0    Venegas     3


#13             #14              #15            #16

Venegas   3     Hamill      3    Hancock    3   Hedden       1
McConnell 0     Lucero      1    Bast       2   Aden (DQed tapes)
Norhtrup  1     Castro      2    Oxley      0   Manchester   2
Schwartz  2     Hicks       0    Felicio    1   Faria        3                                                   Becker       0

#17            #18               #19           #20

Schwartz  2    Hedden      0     Bast      3     Felicio      1
Castro    1    Hamill      3     McConnell 2     Northrup     2
Faria     3    Venegas     2     Lucero DQ crash Hicks        0
Oxley     0    Hancock     1     Aden      0     Manchester   3
                                 Becker    1


            1   2   3   4   5   total

Lucero      0   3   2   1   0    6
Oxley       1   1   1   0   0    3
McConnell   2   2   1   0   2    7
Aden        2   0   2   0   0    4
Faria       3   3   3   3   3    15
Schwartz    0   2   1   2   2    7
Castro      0   1   0   2   1    4
Hicks       3   1   0   0   0    4
Venegas     3   2   3   3   2    13
Hancock     2   3   3   3   1    12
Felicio     1   0   0   1   1    3
Hedden      0   1   2   1   0    4
Bast        2   0   3   2   3    10
Hamill      3   3   2   3   3    14
Manchester  1   0   0   2   3    6
Northrup    1   2   0   1   2    6

res
Becker     -   -   -   0   1    1



B main event

1st  Hancock
2nd  Bast
3rd  McConnell
4th  Schwartz



A Main event


1st  Faria
2nd  Hancock
3rd  Venegas
4th  Hamill
       

     



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