Hicks, Cooley Post Victories

Old and new found the checkered flag on Saturday at the 31st Coors Light Spring Classic.

Gary Hicks is no stranger to winning. Last year’s second-place finisher in the speedway season series, Hicks led wire-to-wire to beat Charlie Venegas in the scratch main event at Orange County Fairgrounds.

Charlie Cooley, starting at the front of the pack in the eight-man handicap main, also led from start to finish, riding a smooth race and holding off hard-charging Venegas, whose late-race bobbles dropped him to sixth place in the eight-lap race.

“It’s my first pro main event win ever,” said Cooley, from Corona. “It’s great for my confidence, that’s for sure.”

This is Cooley’s third professional season. Northern California rider Ryan Fisher, a second-year pro, took second place, and Bakersfield’s Randy DiFrancesco finished third; both began 10 yards behind Cooley as a handicap.

Hicks grew up around the Orange County Speedway, and is the great nephew of 1937 World Champion Jack Milne, who started the speedway 32 years ago with Harry Oxley.

Hicks, 30, began riding at the track when he was 13, and his experience paid off.

Now living in Quail Valley, Hicks got the hole shot from the No. 2 lane in the four-lap scratch main and held on as Venegas and Chad Felicio battled behind him.

“The hole shot was everything,” Hicks said. “It was a hard track to ride, tougher than usual, and required a lot of concentration. When I got out front, I didn’t have to worry about the other riders.”

Venegas, Felicio, Brea’s Shawn McConnell and Costa Mesa’s Bobby Schwartz qualified for both main events.

The race also had a sentimental value to Hicks. This could be the final season of speedway on the Orange County Fairgrounds site.

“I came in saying I’d like to win because this track, this sport is a part of my family,” Hicks said. “It’s my heart and soul.”

Hicks said the track was so rough, “it was about survival.”

And like many others, Hicks made that discovery early in the night.

The season’s first event was marked by at least one crash in each of the first four races, three coming in Turn 4. The first involved Hicks, a pre-race favorite. He started his handicap heat from the 60-yard line, and was 40 yards from winning his heat when the back of his bike went wide on him. Venegas then T-boned him.

“That was a mistake,” Hicks said. “We practiced with too much gear on the bike on Friday and we simply forgot to change it.”

Hicks was disqualified, and Venegas got credit for the heat victory and advanced. But Hicks eventually got the last laugh.

“Coming back and winning the main event makes up for it.”

Brad Oxley, last year’s season champion, failed to make either main event. He twisted his knee during practice on Thursday, and wasn’t a factor in his heats.

The oldest competitor, Schwartz, 43, didn’t make the podium, but finished fifth in the handicap, fourth in the scratch.

“I haven’t rode in awhile, so I just want to find out where I sit, see how I feel,” Schwartz said before the race. “I just want to make the main event.”