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Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, CA
Stanley Exhaust Tech Motorcycle Demo Derby
Costa Mesa Speedway
August 17, 2002
By: Ryan Evans
One week after his 46th birthday Bobby "Boogaloo" Schwartz turned back the clock and captured his second Scratch Main at Costa Mesa this year on Saturday.
Josh Larsen had first choice and selected the pole. Chris Manchester then selected the outside starting position. Next was Schwartz who chose gate four. Randy DiFrancesco took gate two and Andy Northrup was left with gate three. Larsen and Schwartz entered turn one together and as they exited turn two Larsen hugged the pole and Schwartz stayed in the dirt on the outside. Schwartz found more traction than Larsen and went around the outside on the back straight and into the lead entering turn three. Schwartz then pulled his machine down to the low line. Larsen stalked Schwartz for the duration of the race, but Schwartz wasn't moving and he went on to the victory. Manchester finished third, Northrup was fourth, and DiFrancesco was fifth.
The evening featured an all-scratch format for First Division comprised of three rounds with four races in each round. The top 10 scorers qualified for the semi-finals with the top two out of each semi transferring to the main event while third and fourth transferred to the Last Chance. The winner of the Last Chance completed the five-man field for the Scratch Main.
The evening began with Larsen powering to a win over DiFrancesco and an off-pace Eddie Castro who was still suffering from a fall the prior evening. Kitt Nay used a great start to gain the advantage and the win over Robbie Sauer in race two. Scott Brant was victorious over Manchester in the third race. Schwartz finished the round with a victory ahead of Northrup.
Larsen began round two with another win, but not after missing the start and turning in an impressive ride in which he split Northrup and Sauer on the front straight to take the lead and brought the crowd to its feet. Castro earned his first victory by defeating Shaun Harmatiuk in the next race. Manchester took his first checkered flag by defeating DiFrancesco in race 14 and Brant kept his score perfect by beating Yarrow to end round two.
Larsen started the third round the same way he began the first two, with a victory, which gave him a perfect nine points. Manchester got the gate in race 21, but Schwartz motored around the outside to take the lead and pulled away for a win that drew an ovation from the crowd. Castro's victory in race 22 gave himself seven points. Brant kept his score perfect to finish the round, but experienced some bad luck in the process as he suffered an engine failure while returning to the pits.
Manchester started on the pole in the first semi and used it to get the advantage over DiFrancesco. Manchester cruised to the victory and would be joined in the main event by DiFrancesco. Larsen got the gate from the pole in the second semi, but Schwartz showed that his pass on Manchester was no fluke as he went around the outside of Larsen in the same fashion. Schwartz held off Larsen the entire way to earn his place in the main event. In the Last Chance, Northrup got the gate and ran away with an easy victory and the final spot in the main.
John DeFries got the start and ran away with the Support Main Event in very impressive fashion. It was the second Support Main victory for DeFries and both times he has shown that he doesn't belong in the Support Division as he has dominated the main on each occasion. Rick Valdez was second, John Stunkard was third, David Lynch finished fourth, and Dave Delbridge was fifth.
The Support B Main Event was no contest as Craig Collier took the lead at the start and put together four impressive laps for the victory. Michael Novratil finished second, DeWayne Stark was third, Kim Stevens was fourth, Shane Kump finished fifth, and Rusty Hall was sixth.
RESULTS
Support B Consolation
176 - Carl Gazafy 0
212 - Steve Dziadus 0
107 - Monte McKeon 10
102 - Jim Lavender 10 (penalty line)
169 - Dan Wensloff 10
227 - Mark Robertson 0 (penalty line) (fell)
Support B Main Event
133 - Craig Collier 0
181 - Michael Novratil 10
244 - DeWayne Stark 0
197 - Kim Stevens 10
228 - Shane Kump 0
164 - Rusty Hall 10
Support Consolation
165 - Randy Kreps
112 - Bryan Baichtal
148 - Chris Metoyer
180 - Malcolm Roe
Support Main Event
316 - John DeFries
293 - Rick Valdez
249 - John Stunkard
131 - David Lynch
338 - Dave Delbridge
First Division Scoring 1 2 3 T
1 - Chris Manchester 2 3 2 7
2 - Josh Larsen 3 3 3 9
8n - Bryan Yarrow 0 2 1 3
10 - Scott Brant 3 3 3 9
11 - Bobby Schwartz 3 0 3 6
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 2 2 2 6
13 - Kitt Nay 3 1 2 6
14 - Eddie Castro 1 3 3 7
17 - Robbie Sauer 2 1 R 3
19 - Richard Jones 0 F 1 1
23 - Mark Adams 1 0 0 1
24 - Bobby Krips 1 R R 1
89 - Danny Perkins 0 1 0 1
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 1 2 1 4
166 - Andy Northrup 2 2 2 6
173 - Jeff Blaydes F Fx N 0
269 - Ed Martinez 0 0 - 0
Race Results
1: Larsen, DiFrancesco, Castro, Yarrow
2: Nay, Sauer, Harmatiuk, Blaydes
3: Brant, Manchester, Adams, Jones
4: Schwartz, Northrup, Krips, Perkins
12: Larsen, Northrup, Sauer, Adams
13: Castro, Harmatiuk, Krips (retired), Jones (fell)
14: Manchester, DiFrancesco, Perkins, Martinez, Blaydes (fell, excluded)
15: Brant, Yarrow, Nay, Schwartz
20: Larsen, Nay, Harmatiuk, Perkins
21: Schwartz, Manchester, Yarrow, Adams (fell, remounted)
22: Castro, Northrup, Krips (retired), Sauer (retired)
23: Brant, DiFrancesco, Jones, Martinez, Blaydes (non starter)
Semi #1: Manchester, DiFrancesco, Yarrow, Nay, Sauer, Brant (non starter)
Semi #2: Schwartz, Larsen, Northrup, Harmatiuk, Castro
Last Chance: Northrup, Yarrow, Harmatiuk, Nay (fell)
Scratch Main Event
11 - Bobby Schwartz
2 - Josh Larsen
1 - Chris Manchester
166 - Andy Northrup
12 - Randy DiFrancesco
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