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Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California
Spring Classic
April 30, 2005 - Costa Mesa
By: Ryan Evans
Former National Champion "Flyin" Mike Faria began his season in midseason form by sweeping the program en route to winning the Costa Mesa Spring Classic in front of a large crowd on Saturday.
The lineup for the main event had Faria on the pole, Chris Manchester in gate two, Bryan Yarrow in gate three, Bobby Schwartz in gate four, and Ryan Fisher on the outside. When the tapes went up Faria was away first and immediately planted himself on the pole. Manchester emerged from the pack of riders in second and set out after Faria, but he never got close enough to pose a serious threat. Faria was first to the checkered flag, Manchester maintained second, Yarrow was third, Schwartz finished fourth, and Fisher was fifth.
The first of three qualifying rounds began with Fisher, back racing in the U.S. this year, getting and easy win. Schwartz was fast out of the gate and won race two. Faria cruised to his first win of the night in race three and Manchester ran away with the final race of the first round.
McConnell started round two by using the outside line to pass Randy DiFrancesco and take the victory. Fisher scored his second win in race 10 which needed two restarts to complete. Faria and Yarrow battled during race 11 with the wily veteran Faria making the outside work and earning his second win. Manchester made it two for two with a victory over Northern California's Chris Kerr to finish the second round.
The final round began with Kerr, who will compete at Costa Mesa every week in 2005, beating McConnell to open the final round. Tommy Hedden, another Northern California rider who plans to be a weekly Costa Mesa competitor, beat Eddie Castro and Schwartz to win race 16. Faria remained perfect while handing Fisher his first defeat in race 17. Manchester defeated Yarrow to also stay perfect in the final qualifying race.
Manchester got the jump in the first semi and was followed by Bobby Krips who was chased by Fisher. Exiting turn four Fisher and Krips came together and both riders went down hard against the wall. After several minutes, both were up and able to restart. Manchester was away first again with Fisher in tow. Turn four spelled disaster again as Fisher spun around and Krips slammed into him. Fisher was sent to the penalty line on the restart. Manchester was an easy winner in the restart with Yarrow taking second. The other semi had far less drama with Faria and Schwartz finishing one-two and transferring to the main. Fisher won the Last Chance to complete the field for the main event.
The Second Division Main required three starts to complete and the final attempt ended on the back straight when Steve Murray lifted coming out of turn two and brought Billy Braden down with him. The race was declared complete with Neil Facchini credited with the win, Rudy Laurer was second, Brian Starr was third, Murray was given fourth, and Braden was fifth.
Both attempts to run the Third Division Main were dominated by Troy McConnell. The second try ended prematurely and was declared a complete race with McConnell named the winner. Steve Dziadus Jr. finished second, Damon Barry was third, Mark Sincavage finished fourth, Mike Boyle was fifth, and Keith Mullally finished sixth.
Next week is the official start of Costa Mesa's 2005 season with the 37th annual Season Opener at the world famous bullring oval.
RESULTS
Support B Consolation
181 - Michael Novratil 20
212 - Steve Dziadus Sr. 20
343n - Jeff Irwin 10
102 - Jim Lavender 20
313 - Robert Glamuzina 20
308 - Hugh Randolph 10
Support B Main Event (restarted) (awarded)
131 - Troy McConnell 10
272 - Steve Dziadus Jr. 10
150 - Damon Barry 10
213 - Mark Sincavage 20
198 - Mike Boyle 20
185 - Keith Mullally 20 (fell)
Support Consolation (restarted)
338 - Dave Delbridge
106 - Robert Fiesler
176 - Carl Gazafy
163 - Rohn Zellner (non starter)
Support Last Chance (restarted)
201 - Neil Facchini
301 - Dale Facchini
115 - Mark Baldwin (non starter)
321 - Billy Lyons (non starter)
Support Main Event (restarted twice) (awarded)
201 - Neil Facchini
182 - Rudy Laurer
248 - Brian Starr (penalty line)
214 - Steve Murray (fell)
117 - Billy Braden (fell)
First Division Scoring 1 2 3 T
6 - Shawn McConnell 3 4 3 10
8n - Bryan Yarrow 2 3 3 8
9 - Mike Faria 4 4 4 12
11 - Bobby Schwartz 4 1 2 7
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 2 3 1 6
14 - Eddie Castro 1 1 3 5
18 - Justin Boyle 1 2 2 5
24 - Bobby Krips 3 3 2 8
27n - Chris Kerr 3 3 4 10
29 - George Fox 1 2 X 3
36 - Ryan Fisher 4 4 3 11
37 - Denny Scopellite 2 0 N 2
40n - Tommy Hedden 2 2 4 8
45 - Dario Galvin 1 F 1 2
89 - Danny Perkins 0 2 1 3
120 - Skyler Greyson 0 0 2 2
130 - Chris Manchester 4 4 4 12
249 - John Stunkard 0 1 0 1
389 - Nate Perkins 3 1 1 5
Race Results
1: Fisher, McConnell, Scopellite, Boyle, Greyson
2: Schwartz, N.Perkins, Yarrow, Galvin, Stunkard
3: Faria, Kerr, DiFrancesco, Fox, D.Perkins
4: Manchester, Krips, Hedden, Castro (tape penalty)
9: McConnell, DiFrancesco, Hedden, Castro (fell, remounted), Galvin (fell)
10 (restarted twice): Fisher, Krips, D.Perkins, Schwartz (penalty line), Greyson
11 (restarted): Faria, Yarrow, Boyle (penalty line), Stunkard
12 (restarted): Manchester, Kerr, Fox, N.Perkins (penalty line), Scopellite
15 (restarted): Kerr, McConnell, Boyle, D.Perkins, Fox (excluded)
16: Hedden, Castro, Schwartz, N.Perkins (fell, remounted)
17: Faria, Fisher, Greyson, DiFrancesco (fell)
18: Manchester, Yarrow, Krips, Galvin, Stunkard
Semi #1: (restarted twice) Manchester, Yarrow, Fisher, Krips, DiFrancesco
Semi #2: Faria, Schwartz, Kerr, McConnell
Last Chance: Fisher, Kerr, McConnell, Krips (engine failure)
Scratch Main Event
9 - Mike Faria
130 - Chris Manchester
8n - Bryan Yarrow
11 - Bobby Schwartz
36 - Ryan Fisher
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