Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California
36th Season Opener
May 1, 2004 - Costa Mesa
By: Ryan Evans
Bobby "Boogaloo" Schwartz officially began his thirty-first season racing speedway by winning the Scratch Main in the 2004 Season Opener at Costa Mesa.
Schwartz started from gate five and exploded into the lead entering turn one and held a slight lead over National Champion Scott Brant down the back straight. Brant put the pressure on Schwartz for two laps before the forty-seven year old former World Pairs Champion was able to create a little breathing room and held on for the win. Brant had to settle for second, Shawn McConnell finished third, Chris Manchester was fourth, and Charlie Venegas was credited with fifth.
Buck Blair began the Handicap Main at the 10 yard line and led the eight-man field on the first lap. On lap two, second place rider Chris Kerr lifted exiting turn two and collided with the leader, which knocked both riders to the ground. Blair was down for several minutes before being helped off the track. Kerr would have to begin the restart from the penalty line.
Shaun Harmatiuk began the restart at the front with Andy Northrup in hot pursuit. Despite his best effort, Northrup couldn't close the gap between Harmatiuk and himself. After five laps Harmatiuk still held a comfortable advantage, but Kerr fell coming out of turn four and brought out the red flag. The race was declared over and Harmatiuk was credited with the victory. Northrup was second, Brant finished third, Manchester was fourth, and Randy DiFrancesco finished fifth.
Doug Benjamin jumped into the lead at the beginning of the Support Main Event and held a sizable lead for two laps. Steve Murray cut into the lead enough on the third lap to make the race interesting. Benjamin led into the final corner but went wide in turn four. Murray won the drag race to the checkered flag by inches to claim the victory. Last week's winner, Nate Perkins, was third, J.T. Mabry finished fourth, and Scott Tidwell was fifth.
The Support B Main Event had two restarts and was marred by a scary crash involving newcomer David Goyette. Goyette hit the wall in turn two very hard and had to be transported to the hospital. Goyette suffered a broken L2 vertebrae and will miss the rest of the season but has declared his intention to get back on a speedway bike again.
DeWayne Stark led the third try for a lap before Mark Baldwin passed him entering turn three. Baldwin lengthened his lead with each lap and was first to the checkered flag. Rohn Zellner finished second, Mike Boyle was third, Stark finished fourth, Goyette was fifth, and Sam Soltz was credited with sixth.
In youth racing, Ricky Wells powered his two-stroke to victory over Jason Ramirez and Skyler Greyson in First Division. In Second Division, Ricky Valdez was victorious over Nathan Galvin, Joey Holt, and Gino Manzares.
Saturday night was the official beginning of the 36th season of speedway at the world famous bullring oval at the Orange County Fairgrounds. The next meeting is Harley Night scheduled for May 22. In addition to speedway racing there will be street-legal Harley races.
RESULTS
PW 50s Race 1
7 - Rocco Scopellite
22 - Josh Melanson
99 - Nikki Neumann
9 - Allison Reames
7a - Sean McDonald
PW 50s Race 2
51 - Tyler Rosa
8 - Brayden Galvin
178 - Eloy Medellin
38 - Lauren Hammond
7 - Jaysen March
Support B Consolation (scratch)
181 - Michael Novratil
237 - Tommy Kistler
193 - Billy Swaim
223 - Fred Schmitthammer
Support B Consolation
176 - Carl Gazafy 20
102 - Jim Lavender 10
185 - Keith Mullally 20
213 - Mark Sincavage 10
144 - Tom Hamilton 20 (fell, remounted)
203 - Robert Avels 10 (non starter)
Support B Main Event (restarted twice)
115 - Mark Baldwin 20
163 - Rohn Zellner 20
198 - Mike Boyle 20
244 - DeWayne Stark 10
204 - David Goyette 10 (fell, injured)
222 - Sam Soltz 10 (fell, excluded)
Support Consolation
145 - Dario Galvin
106 - Robert Fiesler
178 - Eloy Medellin
100 - Phil Harmatiuk
Support Consolation
240 - Hideaki Ota
248 - Brian Starr
165 - Randy Kreps
228 - Shane Kump (fell)
Support Last Chance
389 - Nate Perkins
249 - John Stunkard
117 - Billy Braden
194 - Tony Bracy (non starter)
Support Main Event
214 - Steve Murray
128 - Doug Benjamin
389 - Nate Perkins
93n - J.T. Mabry
118 - Scott Tidwell
Youth Second Division Main Event
5 - Ricky Valdez
134 - Nathan Galvin
114 - Joey Holt
21 - Gino Manzares
Youth First Division Main Event
142 - Ricky Wells
66 - Jason Ramirez
2 - Skyler Greyson
Handicap Main Event (restarted)
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 20
166 - Andy Northrup 30
1 - Scott Brant 50
130 - Chris Manchester 50
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 30
24 - Bobby Krips 30
27n - Chris Kerr 20
39 - Buck Blair 10
Last Chance
6 - Shawn McConnell
14 - Eddie Castro
2n - Alan Christian
27n - Chris Kerr
Scratch Main Event
11 - Bobby Schwartz
1 - Scott Brant
6 - Shawn McConnell
130 - Chris Manchester (fell)
43 - Charlie Venegas (fell) | 