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Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California
32nd Fair Derby
July 9 2004 - Costa Mesa
By: Ryan Evans
Mike Faria took home the Fair Derby trophy for the third consecutive year and a record seventh time overall on Friday at Costa Mesa.
Bobby "Boogaloo" Schwartz, a five-time winner of the Fair Derby, lined up on the pole, Faria was in gate two, two-time Fair Derby winner Shawn McConnell was in gate three, and Chris Manchester was on the outside.
When the tapes went up Faria and Manchester left the line even and battled into turn one. Manchester held a slight lead, but couldn't find any traction on the outside and Faria seized control on the back straight. Manchester faded back and Schwartz assumed second behind Faria. Faria never allowed Schwartz to get close and the three-time National Champion was first to the checkered flag. Schwartz settled for second, McConnell was third, and Manchester finished fourth.
The evening was marred by a pair of crashes in the same Support heat. Billy Braden hit the turn four wall and was taken off the track on a stretcher, but was on his feet within minutes. On the restart, Sam Soltz hit the wall in almost the identical spot and suffered a broken femur. The two crashes resulted in a delay of approximately 45 minutes. The 10:00 curfew forced the cancellation of the remaining Support races as well as the First Division Last Chance.
The Olympique format with three rounds of four man races was used for the evening. The first round is scratch racing, but the riders are handicapped in the remaining two rounds based on their finish in the previous round. The rider is handicapped ten yards for every point he earned in the previous round.
Schwartz began the evening by trapping the field from the outside and going on to win ahead of Eddie Castro. 2000 Fair Derby Champion Charlie Venegas defeated Shawn McConnell in race two. Faria was an easy winner in race three ahead of 1979 Fair Derby Champion Alan Christian. Manchester ended the first round by beating Randy DiFrancesco.
Round two began with 16 year old Dario Galvin beating 17 year old Justin Boyle for his first win in First Division. George Fox held off the hard-charging Castro to win race 9. Faria made it two-for-two with a win over Denny Scopellite. Buck Blair completed the second round with a victory ahead of Christian.
Schwartz took an easy win over Christian to begin the final round. McConnell beat DiFrancesco to win race 14. Castro handed Faria his only defeat in race 15 and Manchester finished the preliminary rounds by passing Venegas for his second victory of the night.
Faria, Schwartz, Christian, and Venegas came to the tapes in the first semi in a race in which each rider was a former Fair Derby and National Champion. Christian was penalized 20 yards for touching the tapes on the first attempt. Venegas and Schwartz battled for a lap before Schwartz settled into the lead. The top two spots seemed settled before Faria went to the outside on lap three and first passed Venegas and then went around Schwartz in turn four to take the lead at the white flag. Faria's effort earned him the victory and a rousing ovation from the crowd. Manchester scored an easy win in the second semi with McConnell's second place giving him the other transfer to the main.
The 32nd Fair Derby was held in conjunction with the opening night of the Orange County Fair and is one of the premier events on the American speedway calendar. There won't be any speedway racing at Costa Mesa until August 14 due to the fair.
RESULTS
Scoring 1 2 3 T
2n - Alan Christian 2 2 2 6
6 - Shawn McConnell 2 0 3 5
9 - Mike Faria 3 3 2 8
11 - Bobby Schwartz 3 0 3 6
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 2 1 2 5
14 - Eddie Castro 2 2 3 7
18 - Justin Boyle 1 2 1 4
24 - Bobby Krips 1 0 1 2
29 - George Fox 0 3 0 3
37 - Denny Scopellite 0 2 0 2
39 - Buck Blair 1 3 0 4
43 - Charlie Venegas 3 0 2 5
130 - Chris Manchester 3 1 3 7
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk F 1 1 2
145 - Dario Galvin 0 3 0 3
166 - Andy Northrup 1 1 1 3
Race Results
1: Schwartz, Castro, Blair, Harmatiuk (fell)
2: Venegas, McConnell, Krips, Galvin
3: (restarted) Faria, Christian, Boyle, Fox (penalty line) (fell, remounted)
4: Manchester, DiFrancesco, Northrup, Scopellite
8: Galvin [0], Boyle [10], DiFrancesco [20], Schwartz [30]
9: Fox [0], Castro [20], Northrup [10], McConnell [20]
10: Faria [30], Scopellite [0], Harmatiuk [0], Venegas [30]
11: Blair [10], Christian [20], Manchester [30], Krips [10]
13: Schwartz [0], Christian [20], Harmatiuk [10], Fox [30]
14: McConnell [0], DiFrancesco [10], Krips [0], Scopellite [20]
15: Castro [20], Faria [30], Boyle [20], Blair [30]
16: Manchester [10], Venegas [20], Northrup [10], Galvin [30]
Semi #1: Faria, Schwartz, Venegas, Christian (tape penalty)
Semi #2: Manchester, McConnell, DiFrancesco, Castro
Fair Derby Main Event
9 - Mike Faria
11 - Bobby Schwartz
6 - Shawn McConnell
130 - Chris Manchester
FORMER WINNERS
1970 - Bill Cody
1971 - Sonny Nutter
1972 - Rick Woods
1973 - not contested
1974 - not contested
1975 - Mike Curoso
1976 - Bruce Penhall
1977 - not contested
1978 - Bobby Schwartz
1979 - Alan Christian
1980 - Mike Muntean (handicap race)
1981 - Lance King
1982 - Mike Bast
1983 - Kelly Moran
1984 - John Sandona
1985 - Robert Pfetzing
1986 - Mike Faria
1987 - Mike Faria
1988 - Shawn McConnell
1989 - Steve Lucero
1990 - Bobby Schwartz
1991 - Phil Collins
1992 - Mike Faria
1993 - Bobby Schwartz
1994 - Bobby Schwartz
1995 - Steve Lucero
1996 - Robert Pfetzing
1997 - Shawn McConnell
1998 - Bobby Schwartz
1999 - Mike Faria
2000 - Charlie Venegas
2001 - Josh Larsen
2002 - Mike Faria
2003 - Mike Faria
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