Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California

Mike Faria's dominant performance helped him capture the Olympique for the second year in a row a Costa Mesa Saturday night.

Faria entered the main event with the most points, had the first choice of gate position, and wisely selected the pole. Shawn McConnell chose gate two, then Scott Brant took gate five, Dukie Ermolenko picked gate four, and Bobby Schwartz was left with gate three. When the tapes went up Faria and Brant were out together and battled in to turn one. Brant entered the corner slightly ahead but not far enough ahead to clamp down on the precious inside line. Faria had his back tire firmly planted on the groove and found enough traction to grab the lead on the back straight. Faria held the lead while Brant managed to get down to the inside line behind him. Brant remained close, but Faria went on to the victory. McConnell was third, Ermolenko finished fourth, and Schwartz was fifth.

The Olympique used a unique earned handicap format. There were 20 riders competing in three rounds of five-man heats. The first round was traditional scratch racing, however, the finishing order would determine where the rider started in the next round. A win meant a 40 yard handicap, second was 30 yards, third earned a 20 yard handicap, fourth meant starting on the 10, and fifth would put the rider at the tapes again. The same thing applied to the finishing order of the second round. After three rounds, the top ten scorers qualified for the semifinals which were scratch races.

Schwartz began the evening with a win over Harmatiuk and Hicks. Faria gave a preview of his evening by winning the second race ahead of Randy DiFrancesco. Brant beat Andy Northrup to win race three. Ermolenko defeated Eddie Castro to finish round one.

The first race of round two featured a spectacular performance by Bobby Krips who rode the outside for three laps to pass Justin Boyle for the win. Faria became the only rider to win from the 40 yard line as he used the outside to pass two riders and then squared off turn two beautifully the next lap to go under Mark Adams to take the lead. McConnell defeated Danny Perkins to win the next race. Paul Colston put together four solid laps to win the last race of round two in very impressive fashion.

Hicks began the final round by handing Faria his only defeat of the evening. Brant joined Faria as the only riders to win two heats by winning race 21. Shaun Harmatiuk started at the front and remained there to win the next race. Northrup closed out the preliminary heats with a victory.

In the first semi, Harmatiuk trapped the field from gate five, but slid past the groove in turn two and the field went by on the inside. McConnell took the win with Ermolenko in second as they went to the main event. The second semi was Faria from start to finish followed by Brant. In the Last Chance, Harmatiuk trapped again from the outside only to suffer the same fate as his semi by going wide in turn two, this time allowing Schwartz to take the lead. Schwartz took the win to book the final spot in the main event.

Rick Valdez continued his dominance of the Support Division with a flawless victory in the Support Main Event to win for the third consecutive time. Chris Metoyer finished second, Billy Braden was third, Scott Tidwell finished fourth, and Gerry Duttweiler was fifth.

Phil Harmatiuk, father of Shaun, rode four smooth laps for an easy win in the Support B Main Event. Tony Bracy was second, Monte McKeon finished third, DeWayne Stark was fourth, Mark Robertson finished fifth, Bryan Baichtal was sixth.

Dario Galvin got a great start to take the lead in the Youth Main Event. Galvin was closely pursued by Skyler Greyson for two laps before opening a comfortable lead and racing away with the win. Greyson was second, Tamara Krips finished third, Jason Ramirez was fourth, and Dylan Stark finished fifth. Krips showed her toughness by competing all night after having her arm caught in the back wheel of another bike during a crash in the first race. After a couple tense minutes, she was on her feet after several infield workers, her father, and former rider Gary Ackroyd gently untangled her from the bike.

Next week is the 14th annual 25 Lap Classic, the longest race in Southern California each year. The Support Division competes in a 12 lap main event as well. There will not be a repeat winner as defending 25 Lap Champion Josh Larsen, who also won in 2001, will be unable to defend his crown due to a shoulder injury suffered last month.

RESULTS
                
Support B Consolation (restarted)
188 - Nathan Smelser		10
176 - Carl Gazafy           	20
212 - Steve Dziadus        	20
169 - Dan Wensloff         	10
223 - Fred Schmitthammer        10
136 - Kim Stevens          	20

Support B Main Event
100 - Phil Harmatiuk       	10
194 - Tony Bracy            	10
107 - Monte McKeon            	20
244 - DeWayne Stark           	20
227 - Mark Robertson           	10
112 - Bryan Baichtal       	20

Support Consolation
161 - Hector Quevedo
165 - Randy Kreps
269 - Ed Martinez
185 - Keith Mullally

Support Last Chance
148 - Chris Metoyer
164 - Rusty Hall
332 - Brian Hunt
338 - Dave Delbridge

Support Main Event (restarted)
293 - Rick Valdez
148 - Chris Metoyer
117 - Billy Braden           	(fell, remounted)
118 - Scott Tidwell          	(fell, remounted)
200 - Gerry Duttweiler          (fell)

Youth Main Event
145 - Dario Galvin
  2 - Skyler Greyson
223 - Tamara Krips
 66 - Jason Ramirez
 19 - Dylan Stark

Olympique Heat Scoring       	1     2    3           	T
  3 - Gary Hicks        	2     1    4           	7
  6 - Shawn McConnell          	2     4    3           	9
  9 - Mike Faria         	4     4    3           11
 10 - Scott Brant             	4     1    4           	9
 11 - Bobby Schwartz           	4     2    3           	9
 12 - Randy DiFrancesco         3     2    1          	6
 14 - Eddie Castro          	3     3    2           	8
 15 - Dukie Ermolenko          	4     2    3           	9
 23 - Mark Adams           	2     3    2           	7
 24 - Bobby Krips           	0     4    0           	4
 29 - George Fox            	1     R    2          	3
 31n - Jonathan Curry           2     1    1           	4
 64 - Paul Colston           	R     4    1          	5
 89 - Danny Perkins        	1     3    0           	4
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk         	3     0    4           	7
166 - Andy Northrup        	3     3    4           10
182 - Rudy Laurer           	1     0    2           	3
197 - Justin Boyle           	0     2    1           	3
230 - Doug Greyson        	1     1    0           	2
249 - John Stunkard        	0     0    0           	0

Race Results
 1: Schwartz, Harmatiuk, Hicks, Greyson, Stunkard
 2:(restarted) Faria, DiFrancesco, McConnell, Fox, Colston (retired)
 3: Brant, Northrup, Curry, Laurer, Boyle (fell, remounted)
 4: Ermolenko, Castro, Adams, Perkins, Krips
12: Krips, Castro [30], Boyle, Hicks [20], Fox [10] (retired)
13: Faria [40], Adams [20], Schwartz [40], Curry [20], Stunkard
14: McConnell [20], Perkins [10], DiFrancesco [30], Brant [40], Harmatiuk [30]
15: Colston, Northrup [30], Greyson [10], Ermolenko [40], Laurer [10]
20: Hicks [10], Faria [40], Fox, Boyle [20], Krips [40]
21: Brant [10], Ermolenko [20], Adams [30], Curry [10], Stunkard
22: (restarted) Harmatiuk, Schwartz [20], Castro [30], DiFrancesco (penalty line), Perkins [30]
23: Northrup [30], McConnell [40], Laurer, Colston [40], Greyson [10]
Semi #1: McConnell, Ermolenko, Northrup, Harmatiuk, Castro
Semi #2: Faria, Brant, Schwartz, Hicks, Adams
Last Chance: Schwartz, Northrup, Harmatiuk, Hicks

Olympique Main Event
  9 - Mike Faria
 10 - Scott Brant
  6 - Shawn McConnell
 15 - Dukie Ermolenko
 11 - Bobby Schwartz