Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California

Orange County Harley Motorcycle Blowout!
May 21, 2005 - Costa Mesa
By: Ryan Evans

Former National Champion Chris Manchester and "Fast" Eddie Castro took home main event wins in front of a large crowd on Harley Night at Costa Mesa on Saturday night.

In the Scratch Main Event, Manchester launched out of gate three so fast that he was thrown to the outside, but he used the dirt to ride around the outside of Mike Faria and Bobby Schwartz and into the lead entering turn three. Faria first tried the inside and then the outside in an effort to get the lead, but it was to no avail as Manchester held on for his second Scratch Main victory of the year. Schwartz was third, Castro finished fourth, and McConnell was fifth.

Neil Facchini, who made the Handicap Main in his first night in First Division at Costa Mesa, led the eight-rider field at the start. He was immediately pressured by Castro who went by on the inside at the end of lap two. From there, Castro ran away from the field on his way to an easy victory. Faria came through the pack to finish second, Manchester was third, McConnell finished fourth, and Facchini ended up fifth.

The first attempt to run the Support Main ended about 10 feet from the tapes when Steve Murray flipped over backward and brought out the red flag. Rudy Laurer touched the tapes and was penalized on the second try. The third staging had Billy Lyons jump into the lead and hold off Mark Baldwin for his first main event of the season. Laurer finished third, Billy Braden was fourth, and Murray finished fifth.

Mark Sincavage was leading the Support B Main Event when he fell in turn four and brought out the red flag. Steve Dziadus, Sr. was leading the restart when he found trouble in the same spot and fell. The race continued, though, and it was Steve Dziadus, Jr. taking advantage of his father's misfortune by grabbing the lead and cruising to the victory. Mark Sincavage finished second, Dan Wensloff was third, Jim Lavender finished fourth, Mark Skeels was fifth, and Dziadus, Sr. was credited with sixth.

The evening was marred by a couple nasty crashes, one with George Fox and the other with Troy McConnell. Fox was leading his semi when he came off hard exiting turn four and brushed the wall. He was able to walk off the track and eventually raced his scratch heat. McConnell had a rider fall in front of him and, with nowhere to go, clipped the rider and ended up sliding into the wall in turn one. He was down for several minutes with back pain and a thumb injury before being carried off. He was very sore and nursed his injuries with ice while lying on the counter in the racing office.

Costa Mesa is dark next Saturday due to the Memorial Day holiday, but the action returns on June 4 with Fan Appreciation Night featuring speedway, youth speedway, pee wees, and sidecars.

RESULTS

Sidecar Main Event
  9 - Joe Jones/Brandi McElroy
16 - John DeFries/Jimmy Olsen
23 - Mark Adams/Jackie Bennett
  4 - Brian Motis/Chris Coniglio

Support B Consolation
150 - Damon Barry
136 - Kim Stevens (fell, remounted)
111 - Joe Schultz
308 - Hugh Randolph

Support B Main Event     (restarted)
272 - Steve Dziadus, Jr.        20
213 - Mark Sincavage           10 (penalty line)
169 - Dan Wensloff                20
102 - Jim Lavender                 10
151 - Mark Skeels                 20  (fell, remounted)
212 - Steve Dziadus, Sr.       20   (fell)

Support Consolation
113 - Mike McCarthy
148 - Chris Metoyer
178 - Eloy Medellin
106 - Robert Fiesler

Support Last Chance      (restarted)
117 - Billy Braden
338 - Dave Delbridge
177 - Bryan Buffington     (penalty line) (fell, remounted)
131 - Troy McConnell      (non starter)

Support Main Event  (restarted)
321 - Billy Lyons
115 - Mark Baldwin
182 - Rudy Laurer           (tape penalty)
117 - Billy Braden
214 - Steve Murray         (penalty line) (fell)

Handicap Main Event
14 - Eddie Castro          30
  9 - Mike Faria                50
130 - Chris Manchester         50
  6 - Shawn McConnell          50
201 - Neil Facchini          10
37 - Denny Scopellite           20
11 - Bobby Schwartz           40
24 - Bobby Krips           30   (fell)

Last Chance
14 - Eddie Castro
24 - Bobby Krips
389 - Nate Perkins
37 - Denny Scopellite

Scratch Main Event
130 - Chris Manchester
  9 - Mike Faria
11 - Bobby Schwartz
14 - Eddie Castro
6 - Shawn McConnell