Season opens for Costa Mesa Speedway

The 36th season opener of the Costa Mesa Speedway at the Orange

County Fairgrounds brought an eclectic mix of fans. The parking lot

had Hummers and Harleys, convertibles and campers, BMWs and

barbecues. The stands were filled with cheering fans from eight to 80

and every age in between.

Mark Lane has been coming to the speedway since 1969, the first

year of its existence.

“That was when they didn’t have mufflers,” Lane said, who has

brought his daughters Danielle and Blaque to the races for over 15

years. Motorcycle riders themselves, Danielle and Blaque said they

like watching the competition and look forward to watching crashes.

Speedway racing is an espresso shot of adrenaline compared to

other types of racing because the track is small and the bikes don’t

have brakes. Brad Oxley, a former star racer and current speedway

promoter, thinks that intensity is a big draw to the fanes.

“In two hours and fifteen minutes we pack in 35 individual races,”

Oxley said. “It takes a lot of effort to sit through a NASCAR race,

but the speedway is so fast-paced.”

Another advantage the speedway has over other racing is the

intimacy of the riders and the crowd. A race will shake your chest,

pop your ears, sting your nose and defy your eyes. The acrobatic

maneuvers sidecar riders perform during a race would make any Cirque

du Soleil performer applaud considering the speed the cars travel.

Jack Wood brought his grandson Derrek, 12, and godson Dylan Ross,

10, because it offers positive family environment.

“Everybody treats everybody very nice, and the kids can get down

and meet the riders in the dirt,” Wood said. “These kids will see

what a good time is without any problems or anybody acting out.”

-- Rick Devereux

Becker, Tanamal to state

* TENNIS: Orange Coast College sophomores Leah Becker and Sabrina

Tanamal qualified for the state women’s doubles championships with

victories in the round of 16 and quarterfinals in the Southern

California regional tournament Saturday at Fullerton College.

Becker, who has been nursing shin splints, and Tanamal, seeded

third, defeated a team from San Diego Mesa, 6-1, 7-5, in the round of

16 and then downed a duo from El Camino, 6-0, 6-1, in the

quarterfinals.

Becker, the seventh seed, lost to Irvine Valley’s Andrea Nguyen,

1-6, 6-3, 10-7 (tiebreaker), in the singles round of 16 Saturday.

Quarterfinalists in both singles and doubles draws qualified for

the state championships, scheduled Friday and Saturday at Monterey

Country Club in Palm Desert.

Pirates advance to finals

* ROWING: The Orange Coast College rowing teams advanced to the

Sunday finals in the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association

Rowing Championships in three events Saturday at Lake Natoma in

Rancho Cordova just outside of Sacramento.

The Pirates were seeded first in each heat and won the men’s

novice eights (6:14.2), second varsity eights (6:18.2) and varsity

eights (6:13.3). The varsity eights will take on Gonzaga, Pudgent

Sound, UC Davis, San Diego State and UC San Diego Sunday beginning at

9:10 a.m.

Eagles finish fifth

* VOLLEYBALL: The Estancia High boys volleyball team earned

fifth-place in the Redondo Union Varsity Classic, a 32-team

tournament, Saturday.

The Eagles (21-6) defeated Rancho Santa Margarita, 25-22, 25-21,

in the fifth-place match against Rancho Santa Margarita. Scott Sankey

led with eight kills.

Kris Hartwell recorded 10 kills, leading the Eagles to a 25-19,

25-20 win over Chatsworth, which advanced Estancia to the

quarterfinals of the gold bracket. Westlake defeated the Eagles in

the quarterfinals, 25-19, 23-25, 15-12, as Josh Kornegay, who earned

all-tournament team honors, slammed 10 kills. Trevor Holmes amassed

74 assists in the three matches.

Estancia, which had 29 ace serves Saturday, will host Orange

Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.. The Eagles can clinch the Golden West League

championship with a victory.

Hwang propels Pirates

SWIMMING: Jason Hwang tied for first in the 100-yard backstroke

and Sara Natalizio came in second in the 50-yard butterfly to

highlight the Orange Coast College men’s and women’s swimming teams

in the final day of the state championships Saturday at Ventura

College.

The Coast men finished sixth out of 29 teams with 272.5 points

while the OCC women, last year’s state champions, took eighth with

187 points.

Hwang, who also won the 200 individual medley Friday, and

Ventura’s Nate Isbell finished the 100 backstroke in 52.12 seconds.

Hwang, Roger Wong, Max Wong and Chris Hunter teamed to win the 200

medley relay (1:50.17), a day after the quartet claimed the 200 free

relay.

Natalizio (26.75) edged out Kelly Thoni (26.78) for the silver in

the 50 butterfly. Natalizio also anchored the OCC gold 800 freestyle

relay team. Crystal Carroll, Sharon Maxfield, Kim Doll and Natalizio

finished in 8:08.52.

Golden West (438 points) won the men’s competition while Santa

Rosa (496) claimed the women’s title.

Vanguard splits pair

* BASEBALL: Scott Martin went 2 for 3 with three runs and three

RBIs to help lead the Vanguard University baseball team to a 10-3 win

over visiting Concordia, which split a Golden State Athletic

Conference doubleheader Saturday.

The Lions (13-33, 6-21 in conference) lost the first game, 7-2.

Adam Yoder led Vanguard with two hits. Yoder was 2 for 4 with three

runs scored in the nightcap. Concordia (20-21, 15-12) had 16 hits in

the first game, while the Lions produced 14 in six innings in the

second contest.

*--*

Golden State Athletic Conference

First game

Concordia 7, Vanguard 2

Score by Innings

C’cordia 140 200 000 -- 7 16 4

Vanguard 002 000 000 -- 2 8 1

Brunasso, Abdelkarim (9), Fuji (9) and

Hubbell; Searle, Erickson (3), Conrad

(9) and Westerfeld. W -- Brunasso, 8-1.

L -- Searle, 2-10. 2B -- Lintine (C),

Fuentes (C).

*--*

*--*

Second game

Vanguard 10, Concordia 3

Score by Innings

C’cordia 002 001 0 -- 3 2 1

Vanguard 013 420 x -- 10 14 2

Duhamel, Avila (3), Larson (3), Farquhar

(4), Abdelkarim (4), Fuji (5) and

Hubbell, Moltoni; Harris and Westerfeld.

W -- Harris, 3-2. L -- Duhamel, 2-8. 2B

-- Yoder (V), Hudgins (V), Martin (V),

Crouch (V). HR -- Cortenbach (C).

*--*

Wyman leads Estancia

* SOFTBALL: Sophomore Allison Wyman went 2 for 3 to help lead the

Estancia High softball team to a 9-4 Golden West League victory over

host Saddleback Friday.

Sophomore Muriel Mason, a first-team All-Golden West League

performer last year, played in her first full game of the season, as

she has been rehabilitating from a knee injury. She contributed a

double, as did senior Michelle McDaniels.

Estancia pitcher Chelsea Kaplan recorded four strikeouts and

allowed five hits to improve to 6-9. The Eagles are now 5-11, 3-6 in

league.

*--*

Golden West League

Estancia 9, Saddleback 4

Score by Innings

Estancia 002 043 0 -- 9 10 4

S’back 000 130 0 -- 4 5 6

C. Kaplan and Ockey; Sanchez and Bell. W

-- C. Kaplan, 6-9. L -- Sanchez. 2B --

McDaniels (E), Mason (E). HR -- Bell (S).

*--*

Erickson invited to trials

* BASEBALL: USA Baseball has extended one of 19 invitations to UC

Irvine freshman pitcher Blair Erickson, who leads the country in

saves with 13, to participate in this year’s national team trials,

June 20-26, in Durham, N.C.

The U.S. national team will be selected from a pool of 36 players,

of which an additional 17 have yet to be determined.

The official 20-man roster will be determined June 27.

Erickson, a right-hander out of Fair Oaks, broke the UCI

single-season save record with his eighth save and is one shy of

tying the Big West record for a freshman, set by Fullerton’s Chad

Cordero in 2001.

Erickson is fourth on UCI with 40 strikeouts in 21 appearances. He

has blanked the opponent in 21 2/3 of 27 2/3 innings and has allowed

eight runs and 21 hits in posting a 2.28 ERA.

Cesar Ramos, a left-hander from Long Beach State, was the only

other Big West player invited to the trials.

Two Pirates honored

* SOFTBALL: Freshmen Christen D’Alessandro and Yvonne Diaz

represent Orange Coast College on the All-Orange Empire Conference

softball second-team, selected Thursday by the conference’s coaches.

Twelve of D’Alessandro’s 29 hits came in conference play while

Diaz went 2-6, allowing 66 hits in 61 innings pitched in the OEC.

Diaz allowed 58 runs, but 21 were unearned.

Diaz, an outfielder when she wasn’t in the circle, finished 5-10

with a 4.70 ERA overall. She struck out 71 in 104 1/3 innings while

allowing 118 hits.

D’Alessandro, a shortstop, stole 10 bases, being caught just

twice. She finished with a .271 average with 19 runs scored for OCC

(11-25, 2-15 in the OEC).

Shortstops Nicole Moojen (Cypress) and Celina Rubalcaba

(Fullerton) were named the conference’s Co-Most Valuable Players.

Cypress, 39-3 overall, finished first in the OEC with a 17-1 mark.

Gravelle leads Ducks

* ROLLER HOCKEY: In recent sixth-grade play, the Ducks defeated

the Sharks, 5-3, as Dylan Gravelle scored four goals and Logan Newett

netted another. The Sharks answered with two goals by Jake Palanjian

and goaltender Joey Schuster blocked multiple shots.