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Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds - Costa Mesa, CA
2001 Costa Mesa
Costa Mesa Speedway
August 18, 2001
From Ryan Evans
Chris Manchester capped a perfect night by winning the Scratch Main at Costa Mesa Saturday Night.
Manchester had first choice of starting position and he chose the pole. Bobby Schwartz chose gate two, Ryan Fisher chose gate three, Josh Larsen decided to start against the fence, which left Eddie Castro in gate four. Castro was guilty of touching the tapes and was sent back to the penalty line. On the second try, Manchester was the first to turn one followed by Schwartz and Larsen. Schwartz put some heat on Manchester during the first lap but couldn't get past him. Schwartz stayed close to Manchester all four laps, but couldn't force a mistake as Manchester went on to win his fourth Scratch Main of the year. Schwartz finished second, Larsen was third, Fisher was fourth, and Castro was fifth.
First Division featured an all scratch format with four and five rider heats with the scoring as follows: four points for first place, three points for second place, two points for third place, one point for fourth place, and zero points for fifth place. There were three qualifying rounds with the top ten going to one of two five rider semis. The top two from each semi went directly to the Scratch Main with third and fourth transferring to the Last Chance. The winner of the Last Chance filled the final spot in the Scratch Main.
Round one began with Larsen taking a runaway win over Castro. The second race featured a great back-and-forth battle between Fisher and Jim Estes with Estes prevailing in the end. Manchester was an easy winner in the third race and Schwartz closed out the round with a victory of his own.
Polish rider Bartek Bardecki, making his first and only appearance at Costa Mesa, opened round two with an impressive victory over Schwartz. Castro took the win in the next race. Manchester battled Fisher before securing the win and another four points. DiFrancesco closed out the round by defeated McConnell.
Larsen regained his form by winning the opening race of round three. Schwartz took the second race of the round and Manchester kept his winning streak alive in the following race. McConnell was victorious in the last race of the round.
After the qualifying heats Manchester had a perfect 12 points, followed by Schwartz with 11, while McConnell and Castro each had 10. Jim Estes had 9 points, and Larsen, Adams, Fisher, and Bardecki completed the field for the semis with 8 points each.
Manchester and Fisher ran a comfortable first and second in the first semi to qualify for the Scratch Main. Schwartz and Larsen were the top two in semi number two, thus earning their spots in the main. Castro secured the final spot in the main by winning the Last Chance.
Michael Mattocks trapped from the outside at the start of the Support Main, but gave up the lead to David Lynch. Mattocks passed Lynch at the end of lap one and pulled away for the victory. Lynch held on to second, Chris Metoyer was third, and Mark Hitchcock was fourth.
Billy Braden made an excellent start at the beginning of the Support B Main Event and had a big lead after just one lap. A pileup in turn one on the second lap brought out the red flag. Rohn Zellnerwas penalized for causing the stoppage. On the restart, it was all Braden as he left the field behind for an impressive victory. Kim Stevens finished second, >Shane Kump was third, Monte McKeon was fourth, Zellner was fifth, and Steve Dziadus was sixth.
Polish rider and former European Under 19 Champion Bartlomiej "Bartek" Bardecki was definitely impressive in his Costa Mesa debut. Despite a fall in his first ride, for which he was penalized but still managed to finish third, Bardecki adapted quite well to the small track. Bardecki had an impressive heat win over Bobby Schwartz in round two and was able to qualify for the semis. All this after joking about the size of the track prior to the races, referring to it as "impossible" and that he "can't believe they race speedway on this track." Costa Mesa is approximately 185 yards around the inside, which is about half the size of the tracks Bardecki competes on in Poland.
Bardecki, who rides for Chestochowa in the Polish Extra League, is in the middle of a four week stint in the United States. He has been competing at Auburn the past three Fridays and traveled to Costa Mesa for a one-night appearance. Bardecki will be riding at San Bernardino on Wednesday before returning to Auburn for his final meeting before heading back to Poland.
RESULTS
Junior Main Event
142 - Ricky Wells
99 - Miles Calvin
2 - Skyler Greyson
27 - Krystal Cramer
34 - Destin Cantrell
Support B Consolation (scratch)
118 - Scott Tidwell
137 - Jeremiah LeBlanc
269 - Ed Martinez
Support B Main Event
117 - Billy Braden 10
197 - Kim Stevens 10
228 - >Shane Kump 20
107 - Monte McKeon 20
163 - Rohn Zellner 20
212 - Steve Dziadus 10
Support Consolation
165 - Randy Kreps
336 - Bill Green
293 - Rick Valdez (penalty line)
103 - Brent Smith
Support Consolation
196 - Rod Lenz
106 - Robert Fiesler
100 - Phil Harmatiuk
198 - Mike Boyle
Support Main Event
122 - Michael Mattocks
131 - David Lynch
148 - Chris Metoyer
177 - Mark Hitchcock (fell, remounted)
QUALIFYING SCORES 1 2 3 T
4 - Josh Larsen 4 R 4 8
6 - Shawn McConnell 3 3 4 10
11 - Bobby Schwartz 4 3 4 11
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 3 4 3 10
14 - Eddie Castro 3 4 3 10
17 - Robbie Sauer 1 1 1 3
23 - Mark Adams 2 3 3 8
36 - Ryan Fisher 3 3 2 8
56 - Jim Estes 4 2 3 9
69 - Bartek Bardecki 2 4 2 8
130 - Chris Manchester 4 4 4 12
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 2 2 2 6
173 - Jeff Blaydes R 0 R 0
200 - Gerry Duttweiler 0 1 1 2
216 - Kitt Nay 1 2 2 5
223 - Bobby Krips 1 1 1 3
230 - Doug Greyson 1 1 F 2
243 - Sean McDougall 0 0 1 1
254 - Bryan Yarrow 2 2 0 4
RACE RESULTS
1: Larsen, Castro, Yarrow, Sauer
2: Estes, Fisher, Harmatiuk, Greyson, Duttweiler (fell, remounted)
3: Manchester, DiFrancesco, Bardecki (penalty line), Krips, Blaydes (retired)
4: Schwartz, McConnell, Adams, Nay, McDougall
8: Bardecki, Schwartz, Yarrow, Greyson, Larsen (retired)
9: Castro, Adams, Harmatiuk, Krips
10: Manchester, Fisher, Nay, Duttweiler, Blaydes
11: DiFrancesco, McConnell, Estes, Sauer, McDougall
16: Larsen, DiFrancesco, Fisher, Krips, Blaydes (retired)
17: Schwartz, Estes, Nay, McDougall
18: Manchester, Castro, Bardecki, Sauer, Yarrow
19: McConnell, Adams, Harmatiuk, Duttweiler, Greyson (fell)
Semi Final #1: Manchester, Fisher, McConnell, DiFrancesco, Adams
Semi Final #2: Schwartz, Larsen, Castro, Estes, Bardecki
Last Chance: Castro, McConnell, Estes (tape penalty), DiFrancesco
Scratch Main Event
130 - Chris Manchester
11 - Bobby Schwartz
4 - Josh Larsen
36 - Ryan Fisher
14 - Eddie Castro (tape penalty)
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