Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California

Freestyle Jumpers
August 14, 2004 - Costa Mesa
By: Ryan Evans

Former National Champions Charlie Venegas and Chris Manchester took home the gold in front of a large crowd at Costa Mesa on Saturday.

The field for the Scratch Main walked out for introductions minus Manchester who remained in the pits. When the other four riders started their bikes, Manchester emerged from the pits wearing a clear plastic suit which drew wild cheers mixed with howls of laughter from the crowd as well as the pits.

When the tapes went up Venegas exploded into the lead with Manchester trying to make a run around the outside. Venegas planted his machine on the inside and found traction while Manchester hopelessly searched for grip on the outside and slowly lost positions. Venegas cruised to the victory followed by Shawn McConnell. Bobby Schwartz finished third, Bryan Yarrow was fourth, and Manchester finished fifth after sliding off in the final corner.

Dario Galvin beat fellow 10 yard riders J.T. Mabry and George Fox into turn one in the Handicap Main and led the first lap. Fox and Randy DiFrancesco made contact on lap two which left Fox on the ground. The referee halted the race and banished DiFrancesco to the penalty line as the cause for the stoppage.

Galvin grabbed the lead again on the restart, but Manchester, now wearing his customary black suit, found himself in second place on the second lap. On lap four he went under Galvin entering turn three and cruised the final half of the race without being pressured. McConnell finished second, Venegas was third, DiFrancesco finished fourth, and Galvin was fifth.

Nate Perkins dominated the Support racing with runaway wins in his heat, his semi, and in the Support Main Event. Hideaki Ota was second in the main, Bill Green finished third, Mike McCarthy was fourth, and Steve Murray was credited with fifth.

Racing for the first time since 1975 at Irwindale, Lee Crecelius was an easy winner in both his heat and the Support B Main Event. Carl Gazafy finished second in the main, 16 year old Skyler Greyson finished third on his first night on a 500, Mike Boyle was fourth, Steve Dziadus finished fifth, and Damon Barry was sixth.

Another story in Support B was Crecelius's dad, Hugh Randolph, who made his speedway debut at 72 years old. Randolph went down in the Support B Consolation, but was able to walk off the track.

RESULTS
          
Support B Consolation
185 - Keith Mullally         	20   
102 - Jim Lavender          	20
193 - Billy Swaim           	20
339 - Sam Stavros          	10   (fell, remounted)
308 - Hugh Randolph            	30   (fell)

Support B Main Event     (restarted)
388 - Lee Crecelius         	 0
176 - Carl Gazafy           	20
120 - Skyler Greyson            10   (penalty line)
198 - Mike Boyle            	20
212 - Steve Dziadus        	20
150 - Damon Barry         	10

Support Consolation (restarted)
178 - Eloy Medellin
163 - Rohn Zellner
164 - Rusty Hall
144 - Tom Hamilton  	(fell, remounted)

Support Last Chance
214 - Steve Murray
118 - Scott Tidwell
106 - Robert Fiesler
248 - Brian Starr       (fell, remounted)

Support Main Event
389 - Nate Perkins
240 - Hideaki Ota
336 - Bill Green
113 - Mike McCarthy
214 - Steve Murray         (non starter)

Handicap Main Event (restarted)
130 - Chris Manchester         	50
  6 - Shawn McConnell          	40
 43 - Charlie Venegas          	40
 12 - Randy DiFrancesco         30  (penalty line)
145 - Dario Galvin           	10
 11 - Bobby Schwartz           	40
 93n - J.T. Mabry            	10
 29 - George Fox            	10

Last Chance
  8n - Bryan Yarrow
  1 - Scott Brant       	(tape penalty)
 14 - Eddie Castro
 39 - Buck Blair

Scratch Main Event
 43 - Charlie Venegas
  6 - Shawn McConnell
 11 - Bobby Schwartz
  8n - Bryan Yarrow
130 - Chris Manchester   (fell, remounted)