By: Ryan Evans
Former National Champion Chris Manchester won his second Industry Hills Scratch Main Event of the season on Wednesday.
Bobby "Boogaloo" Schwartz was first to turn one, but he slowed, along with Shawn McConnell and Charlie Venegas, after seeing that the inside pole was inadvertently pushed into the racing line. Manchester, along with everyone else in the arena, didn't see what happened and he kept the throttle on and blazed into the lead. By the time the others realized that the referee was allowing the race to continue, Manchester was gone. The former National Champion cruised to his second Industry Hills main event win. Venegas was second, McConnell finished third, and Schwartz was fourth.
The first of three rounds of heats began with Northern California's Bryan Yarrow beating McConnell. Denny Scopellite earned an impressive win over Dukie Ermolenko in the next race. Round one ended with Manchester trapping from the outside gate and holding off Venegas for the victory.
Venegas won his first race of the night with Scopellite finishing in second. McConnell scored his initial victory ahead of Schwartz. Manchester closed out the second round with his second straight win.
Venegas took his second straight victory to open the final round. Schwartz scored a win over Nate Perkins in the next race. The heats concluded with McConnell defeating Manchester for his second win of the evening.
Manchester and Venegas finished one-two in the first semi and transferred to the main event. In the other semi, it was McConnell winning with Schwartz taking second to earn the other two spots in the main. Shaun Harmatiuk made a brilliant start from the outside and held off Ermolenko to win the Scratch Consolation
Hideaki Ota jumped into the lead at the start of the Second Division Main, but his time at the front was short-lived as 16 year old Skyler Greyson went by at the end of lap one. Greyson was never challenged after that and went on to his second win of the year. Brian Starr also passed Ota to get second, Ota finished third, and Rudy Laurer was fourth.
Brent Smith jumped into the lead at the start of the Third Division Main and never looked back as he claimed the victory. Steve Dziadus was second, Kim Stevens finished third, and Nathan Smelser was fourth.
Dylan Black went to the front at the beginning of the Youth Main Event, but Eddie Conner took over the lead at the end of the first lap. Gino Manzares passed Conner on the back straight to take his turn in front. Manzares was first to the checkered flag, Conner was second, Black finished third, and Austin Novratil was fourth.
RESULTS Pee Wee Main Event (restarted) 7 - Rocco Scopellite 8 - Braydan Galvin (penalty line) 6 - Dakota Workman 429 - Blaise Murray Youth Main Event 21 - Gino Manzares 135 - Eddie Conner 7 - Dylan Black 8 - Austin Novratil Third Division Main Event 103 - Brent Smith 212 - Steve Dziadus 197 - Kim Stevens 188 - Nathan Smelser Second Division Main Event 120 - Skyler Greyson 248 - Brian Starr 240 - Hideaki Ota 182 - Rudy Laurer (fell) First Division Scoring 1 2 3 T 6 - Shawn McConnell 2 3 3 8 8n - Bryan Yarrow 3 1 1 5 11 - Bobby Schwartz 1 2 3 6 14 - Eddie Castro 1 0 R 1 15 - Dukie Ermolenko 2 1 1 4 37 - Denny Scopellite 3 2 0 5 43 - Charlie Venegas 2 3 3 8 110 - Jon Stasiefski 0 0 1 1 130 - Chris Manchester 3 3 2 8 139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 1 2 2 5 214 - Steve Murray 0 0 0 0 389 - Nate Perkins F 1 2 3 Race Results 10: Yarrow, McConnell, Harmatiuk, Stasiefski 11: Scopellite, Ermolenko, Schwartz, Murray 12: Manchester, Venegas, Castro, Perkins (fell) 16: Venegas, Scopellite, Yarrow, Castro 17: McConnell, Schwartz, Perkins, Stasiefski 18: Manchester, Harmatiuk, Ermolenko, Murray 23: Venegas, Harmatiuk, Yarrow, Murray 24: Schwartz, Perkins, Stasiefski, Castro (retired) 25: McConnell, Manchester, Ermolenko, Scopellite Semi #1: Manchester, Venegas, Yarrow, Harmatiuk Semi #2: McConnell, Schwartz, Ermolenko, Scopellite Scratch Consolation 139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 15 - Dukie Ermolenko 37 - Denny Scopellite 8n - Bryan Yarrow Scratch Main Event 130 - Chris Manchester 43 - Charlie Venegas 6 - Shawn McConnell 11 - Bobby Schwartz
