Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California

Harley Night
May 19, 2007 - Costa Mesa
By: Ryan Evans

Three-time National Champion "Flyin" Mike Faria returned from an injury to capture the Scratch Main Event in front of a large crowd on Harley Night at the world famous bullring oval in Costa Mesa. Faria, who missed last week with an injury suffered in Auburn, earned the right to pick his starting position first and he wisely chose the pole. When the tapes went up Charlie "The Edge" Venegas had a slight lead going into turn one but Faria's start was good enough to keep the current National Champion from trapping. Venegas tried to find enough traction on the outside exiting turn two but Faria used the groove to push into the lead on the back straight. Buck Blair and Shawn McConnell both went under Venegas who drifted back to fourth. The positions didn't change after that as Faria was first to the checkered flag, Blair was second, McConnell finished third, Venegas was fourth, and Bryan Yarrow finished fifth.

The evening began with Canadian Aaron Hesmer collecting a victory in his first race at Costa Mesa. Venegas led all the way for his first win ahead of Ricky Wells. Yarrow and Blair battled at close quarters with Yarrow scoring a hard-fought victory. Faria used the outside to power to a win over McConnell to close out round one.

Round two started Blair holding off McConnell for his first win of the evening. Venegas made it two in a row with a win over Nate Perkins. "Fast" Eddie Castro chased Yarrow for two laps before using the cushion to take the lead and the win. Faria won his second straight race by beating Bobby Schwartz to finish the second round.

The final round began with Manchester getting a much-needed victory to get into the semis and handed Venegas his first defeat in the process. Faria remained perfect with a win over Blair and Yarrow in race 17. McConnell defeated Perkins for his first win in the next race. Schwartz concluded the heats with a win over Castro.

McConnell got the best start in the semi and led Venegas the entire way as both transferred to the main. The second semi had to be resarted twice after Perkins fell and then Manchester shed a chain amid a shower of sparks. Blair won the third attempt with Faria finishing second. Yarrow won the Last Chance to earn the final spot in the main.

Sterling Cogar, who returned last week after over 20 years away from speedway, used his past experience and some patience to win the Support Main with a last-lap pass. Rudy Laurer finished second, Eloy Medellin was third, Randy Skinner finished fourth, and Bryan Buffington was fifth.

Tim Cochren was a runaway winner in a Support B Main Event that took three attempts to complete. Steve Bowen was second, Scott York finished third, Mark Lane was fourth, Yoshi Sato finished fifth, and Charlie Ousley was sixth.

The always-popular Harley Night produced another large and enthusiastic crowd. In addition to speedway racing, the crowd was entertained with four street-legal Harley races. Costa Mesa will be dark this Saturday due to the Memorial Day holiday. The next event will be Round 1 of the AMA/USA Speedway U.S. National Championship Series on Saturday, June 2, 2007.

RESULTS 

Support B Consolation (restarted)
187 - Blake Bowen 
212 - Steve Dziadus
308 - Hugh Randolph (penalty line)
172 - Jim Painter (fell, remounted) 

Support B Consolation 
313 - Robert Glamuzina 
102 - Jim Lavender 
169 - Dan Wensloff 
303 - Bill Carr 	(retired)

Support B Main Event (restarted twice)
210 - Tim Cochren 10
177 - Steve Bowen 20
155 - Scott York 20
326 - Mark Lane 20
170 - Yoshi Sato 10	(penalty line)
312 - Charlie Ousley 10 

Support Consolation 
161 - Hector Quevedo 
106 - Robert Fiesler 

Support Consolation 
293 - Rick Valdez 
241 - John Marquez 
118 - Scott Tidwell 
48 - Chris Metoyer 

Support Last Chance (restarted)
182 - Rudy Laurer 
117 - Billy Braden 
163 - Rohn Zellner (fell, remounted)
147 - Rick Farron (non starter) 

Support Main Event
27 - Sterling Cogar
182 - Rudy Laurer 
178 - Eloy Medellin 
383 - Randy Skinner 
77 - Bryan Buffington 

First Division Scoring	1 2 3 T 
1 - Charlie Venegas 4 4 3   11
6 - Shawn McConnell 3 3 4   10
8 - Bryan Yarrow  4 3 2   9
9 - Mike Faria 4 4 4   12
11 - Bobby Schwartz 2 3 4  9
12C - Aaron Hesmer	4 1 0   5
13 - Nate Perkins 2 3 3   8
14 - Eddie Castro 2 4 3   9
19 - Dale Facchini 0 0 0   0
22 - Mike Bloom 1 0 0   1
24 - Bobby Krips 3 1 0   4
25 - Jimmy Fishback 1 2 2   5
37 - Denny Scopellite N 1 1   2
39 - Buck Blair 3 4 3   10
48 - Chris Metoyer 0 R -  0
86 - Neil Facchini 1 2 1   4
130 - Chris Manchester 2 1 4   7
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 0 2 2   4
142 - Ricky Wells 3 2 2   7
248 - Brian Starr 1 0 1   2
249 - John Stunkard 0 N 1   1 

Race Results 
1: Hesmer, Krips, Manchester, Bloom, Stunkard
2: Venegas, Wells, Castro, Fishback, Harmatiuk
3: (restarted) Yarrow, Blair, Schwartz, N.Facchini, Metoyer, Scopellite (non starter)
4: (restarted) Faria, McConnell, Perkins, Starr (fell, remounted), D.Facchini (penalty line) (fell, remounted)
9: Blair, McConnell, Fishback, Manchester, Starr (fell, remounted)
10: (restarted) Venegas, Perkins, N.Facchini, Hesmer, Metoyer (retired), Stunkard (non starter)
11: Castro, Yarrow, Wells, Krips, D.Facchini
12: Faria, Schwartz, Harmatiuk, Scopellite, Bloom
16: Manchester, Venegas, Harmatiuk, Scopellite, D.Facchini
17: Faria, Blair, Yarrow, Starr, Bloom
18: McConnell, Perkins, Fishback, Stunkard, Hesmer
19: Schwartz, Castro, Wells, N.Facchini, Scopellite 

Semi #1: (restarted) McConnell, Venegas, Schwartz, Castro (fell, remounted), Wells (fell, remounted) 
Semi #2: (restarted) Blair, Faria, Yarrow, Perkins (penalty line), Manchester (penalty line) 

Last Chance (restarted)
8 - Bryan Yarrow 
11 - Bobby Schwartz 
14 - Eddie Castro 
13 - Nate Perkins (non starter) 

Scratch Main Event 
9 - Mike Faria 
39 - Buck Blair 
6 - Shawn McConnell 
1 - Charlie Venegas 
8 - Bryan Yarrow