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Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California
Fall Classic
October 15 2005 - Costa Mesa
By: Ryan Evans
Bobby "Boogaloo" Schwartz brought a perfect end to Costa Mesa's 2005 season by winning all five of his races including the Scratch Main at the annual Fall Classic.
Schwartz and Bryan Yarrow both entered the main event without a defeat. Schwartz won the coin toss for first gate choice and wisely chose the pole. Yarrow settled for gate two. When the tapes went up the riders left the line together, but Schwartz held a slight edge entering turn one and his inside position paid off as he gained control of the lead on the exit of turn two. Yarrow went wide but didn't find traction while Randy DiFrancesco cut under him and into second. Schwartz was comfortably ahead at the end of the first lap while Yarrow suffered the consequences of riding the outside and steadily drifted back. DiFrancesco chased the 49 year old former National Champion the rest of the way, but Schwartz never bobbled and was first to the checkered flag. DiFrancesco was second, Chris Manchester finished third, Ryan Fisher was fourth, and Yarrow finished fifth.
The first of three rounds of heats began with Manchester, the newly crowned National Champion, taking the win ahead of Eddie Castro. Schwartz collected his first win of the evening in race two by defeating Shawn McConnell. Fisher beat Gary Hicks, who was returning from a two-year layoff, to win race three. Yarrow made a beautiful trap from the outside and ran away with his first win to conclude round one.
Yarrow started the second round by defeating Manchester for his second win. Schwartz matched Yarrow's effort by scoring his second win in race ten after executing a great move on the outside to secure the lead on the first lap. DiFrancesco impressively held off Fisher to win the next race. Charlie Venegas completed round two by defeating Hicks.
Round three began with a pair of restarts in the first race that relegated Chris Kerr and Manchester to the penalty line. Schwartz scored a relatively easy third victory ahead of Jimmy Fishback on the third attempt. Fisher defeated Tommy Hedden to win race 16. Yarrow made it three for three with a win over Castro in the next race. McConnell completed the heats by defeating DiFrancesco. Buck Blair won a three-rider runoff to complete the ten-rider field for the semis.
Schwartz won the first semi with Fisher finishing second to follow him into the main. The second semi saw Castro and Venegas receive simultaneous tape penalties, but Venegas chose to withdraw rather than start from 20 yards back. Yarrow easily won the restart with DiFrancesco finishing second. Manchester won the Last Chance to complete the five-rider main event field.
The first attempt to run the Support Main ended in turn one when Tim Gomez and Neil Facchini came together and went down. A full restart was ordered by the referee. On the second try Gomez was first to turn one but Facchini didn't give up there and passed Gomez at the end of lap one. His lead was short-lived as Gomez retaliated with a pass of his own as they entered turn three the second time. Facchini was unable to answer and his wide line allowed John Stunkard to take second from him. Gomez was unchallenged from there and was first to the checkered flag. Stunkard held on for second, Facchini finished third, Bryan Buffington was fourth, and Billy Braden finished fifth.
Matt McBride started from the 20 yard line and patiently worked through the traffic and scored the victory in the Support B Main Event. John Zuber was second, Mike Boyle finished third, Allen Doss was fourth, Troy Robinson was fifth, and Adrian Contreras was sixth.
The Fall Classic concluded the 37th season of speedway at the world famous bullring oval at the Orange County Fairgrounds. International Speedway Inc. will kick off it's 2006 season on May 6.
RESULTS
Support B Consolation
209 - Greg Vandemore 10
151 - Mark Skeels 20
225 - Robert Fiesler, Jr. 20
326 - Mark Lane 20 (fell)
141 - Mike Lane 10 (fell)
154 - Steve Truman 0 (fell)
Support B Main Event (restarted)
140 - Matt McBride 20
286 - John Zuber 10
198 - Mike Boyle 20
232 - Allen Doss 0 (fell)
390 - Troy Robinson 0 (fell)
388n - Adrian Contreras 0 (non starter - restart)
Support Last Chance
177 - Bryan Buffington
113 - Mike McCarthy
391 - Mike Bershee
228 - Shane Kump (fell)
Support Main Event (restarted)
256 - Tim Gomez
249 - John Stunkard
201 - Neil Facchini
177 - Bryan Buffington
117 - Billy Braden (tape penalty)
First Division Scoring 1 2 3 T
1 - Chris Manchester 4 3 0 7
3 - Gary Hicks 3 3 2 8
6 - Shawn McConnell 3 1 4 8
8n - Bryan Yarrow 4 4 4 12
11 - Bobby Schwartz 4 4 4 12
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 2 4 3 9
14 - Eddie Castro 3 3 3 9
20 - Skyler Greyson 0 1 0 1
24 - Bobby Krips 2 0 0 2
25 - Jimmy Fishback 1 2 3 6
27n - Chris Kerr 3 1 1 5
36 - Ryan Fisher 4 3 4 11
37 - Denny Scopellite 1 0 1 2
39 - Buck Blair 2 2 2 6
40n - Tommy Hedden 1 2 3 6
43 - Charlie Venegas 2 4 2 8
89 - Danny Perkins R 0 0 0
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 0 2 2 4
248 - Brian Starr 1 1 1 3
301 - Dale Facchini 0 F 1 1
Race Results
1: (restarted) Manchester, Castro, DiFrancesco, Hedden (penalty line), Facchini (penalty line)
2: Schwartz, McConnell, Blair, Starr, Greyson
3: Fisher, Hicks, Krips, Scopellite (fell, remounted), Perkins (retired)
4: Yarrow, Kerr, Venegas, Fishback, Harmatiuk
9: Yarrow, Manchester, Hedden, Greyson, Krips
10: Schwartz, Castro, Harmatiuk, Starr, Scopellite
11: (restarted) DiFrancesco, Fisher, Fishback, McConnell (tape penalty), Perkins
12: Venegas, Hicks, Blair, Kerr (fell, remounted), Facchini (fell)
15: (restarted twice) Schwartz, Fishback, Blair, Kerr (penalty line), Manchester (penalty line)
16: Fisher, Hedden, Venegas, Facchini, Krips (fell, remounted)
17: Yarrow, Castro, Harmatiuk, Starr, Greyson
18: McConnell, DiFrancesco, Hicks, Scopellite, Perkins
Runoff: Blair, Hedden, Fishback
Semi #1: Schwartz, Fisher, McConnell, Hicks, Blair
Semi #2: Yarrow, DiFrancesco, Manchester, Castro (tape penalty), Venegas (tape penalty - withdrew)
Last Chance
1 - Chris Manchester
6 - Shawn McConnell
3 - Gary Hicks
14 - Eddie Castro
Scratch Main Event
11 - Bobby Schwartz
12 - Randy DiFrancesco
1 - Chris Manchester
36 - Ryan Fisher
8n - Bryan Yarrow
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