Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California

Orange County Harley Davidson Night
May 31, 2008 - Costa Mesa
By: Ryan Evans

Jimmy Fishback won the first Scratch Main Event of his career in front of an overflow crowd on Orange County Harley Davidson Night at the world famous Costa Mesa Speedway.

National Champion Billy “The Bullet” Hamill entered the main event undefeated and had first gate choice. Hamill surprisingly took gate two. Faria quickly selected gate one. Ricky Wells picked gate three, Buck Blair chose gate five, which left Fishback with gate four.

The first attempt to run the Scratch Main ended with a thud in the first turn. Hamill led into turn one, but Faria got into the side of him. Hamill’s bike made a quick right turn and he bailed off the side before his bike tumbled into the turn two wall. Hamill was down for several minutes, but was able to restart despite some damage to his bike. Faria would restart from the penalty line.
When the tapes went up the second time Fishback launched from the line and led into turn one with Hamill and the field giving chase. Fishback led through lap one before Hamill began to close ground. Fishback maintained his composure, but Hamill was right on his back tire. Hamill kept the pressure on the leader over the final two laps, but couldn’t force a mistake and Fishback exited the final corner with a confident nod to the crowd and took the checkered flag underneath a thunderous ovation from the fans. Hamill settled for second, Ricky Wells was third, Faria finished fourth, and Buck Blair was fifth.

Shawn McConnell began the evening by defeating Blair in the first heat. Bobby Schwartz scored his first win ahead of J.T Mabry. Hamill defeated Faria in the next heat. Bryan Yarrow, making his first appearance at Costa Mesa since being injured in a crash last year, held off Wells to win the last race of the opening round.

The second round began with Neil Facchini getting the best start, but Wells used the outside to go around him and into the lead. Wells romped to his first victory. Schwartz made it two straight wins by beating Blair. Faria defeated Fishback for his first win. Hamill ended round two with his second consecutive win.

Hamill started the final round by blazing to his third straight victory. Schwartz led race 18 into turn one, but Wells went to the dirt and powered into the lead on the back straight and went on to his second win. Faria made it two straight wins in the penultimate heat. Fishback beat Yarrow in the final heat of the evening.

Faria led the first semi from start to finish and Blair followed him into the main after holding off an outside challenge from Schwartz. Hamill won the second semi with Wells finishing second to transfer to the main. Fishback trapped from the outside and led all four laps of the Last Chance to take the final spot in the main.

Fishback also won the Harley Main Event which featured 12 riders on street-legal Harley Davidsons. That win, coupled with his Scratch Main win, gave the former Junior National Champion a very unique double main event conquest.

Jason Ramirez showed the large crowd why he won last year’s Youth National Championship by winning the Support Main Event on his first night at Costa Mesa on a 500. Bryan Buffington finished second, Billy Braden finished third, Allen Doss was fourth, and Ryan Tovatt was fifth.

Scott York scored an impressive victory in the Support B Main Event. Mark Sincavage was second, J.C. Masters finished third, Brad Moreau was fourth, and Mike Boyle finished fifth.

The next event at Costa Mesa is Round 1 of the AMA/USA Speedway National Championship Series. The program will include all of the top riders who have been competing weekly in 2008 as well as two-time National Champion Charlie “The Edge” Venegas, 1998 National Champion Bart Bast, and Billy “The Kid” Janniro, making his first appearance at Costa Mesa since winning the 2004 National Championship there.

RESULTS 

Support B Consolation 
308 - Hugh Randolph 
303 - Bill Carr 
226 - Rick Huspek
252 - Jeff Remington (non starter) 

Support B Consolation 
169 – Dan Wensloff 
292 – Mike Schultz		(fell)
399 – Jeff Shaffer		(fell)
312 – Charlie Ousley		(non starter) 

Support B Consolation (awarded)
189 – Chris Thomas
124 – Paul Thornton
266 – Jonni Jade
102 – Jim Lavender (fell)

Support B Semi
198 – Mike Boyle 
288 – Rick Fritch 
273 – Matt Monkress
357 – Aimiris Santana (fell, remounted) 

Support B Main Event
155 – Scott York 
213 – Mike Sincavage
202 – J.C. Masters
153 – Brad Moreau
198 – Mike Boyle 

Support Last Chance 
77 – Bryan Buffington 
178 – Eloy Medellin 
147 – Rick Farron 
106 – Robert Fiesler 

Support Main Event 
166 – Jason Ramirez 
77 – Bryan Buffington 
117 – Billy Braden 
232 – Allen Doss (fell)
389 – Ryan Tovatt (fell) 

First Division Scoring	1	2	3	T 
1 – Billy Hamill 4	4	4	12
  6 – Shawn McConnell 4	2	3	9
  8 – Bryan Yarrow 4	3	3	10
  9 – Mike Faria 3	4	4	11
 11 – Bobby Schwartz 4	4	3	11
 18 – Justin Boyle 1	1	1	3
 22 – Mike Bloom 2	2	1	5
 25 – Jimmy Fishback 1	3	4	8
 32 – Billy Lyons 0	0	F	0
 39 – Buck Blair 3	3	3	9
 41 – John Marquez 1	1	2	4
 52 – Marvin Sonnier 0	0	1	1
 55 – Travis Henderson 0	2	0	2
 86 – Neil Facchini 2	3	2	7
 93 – J.T. Mabry 3	2	F	5
120 – Doug Greyson 1	0	F	1
142 – Ricky Wells 3	4	4	11
182 – Rudy Laurer 0	1	1	2
249 – John Stunkard 2	0	2	4
321 – Russell Green 2	1	2	5 

Race Results 
1: McConnell, Blair, Bloom (tape penalty), Boyle, Henderson (fell, remounted)
 2: Schwartz, Mabry, Green, Fishback (fell, remounted), Sonnier, (fell, remounted)
 3: Hamill, Faria, Facchini, Marquez, Lyons
 4: Yarrow, Wells, Stunkard, Greyson, Laurer (tape penalty)
 9: Wells, Facchini, McConnell, Green, Stunkard
10: Schwartz, Blair, Henderson, Marquez, Greyson
11: Faria, Fishback, Bloom, Laurer, Sonnier
12: Hamill, Yarrow, Mabry, Boyle, Lyons (fell, remounted)
17: Hamill, McConnell, Marquez, Bloom, Lyons (fell)
18: Wells, Schwartz, Stunkard, Laurer, Mabry (fell)
19: Faria, Blair, Facchini, Boyle, Henderson (tape penalty)
20: Fishback, Yarrow, Green, Sonnier (fell, remounted), Greyson (fell) 

Runoff: Green, Mabry, Bloom 
Semi #1: Faria, Blair, Schwartz, McConnell, Green 
Semi #2: Hamill, Wells, Facchini, Fishback, Yarrow 

Last Chance 
25 – Jimmy Fishback 
11 – Bobby Schwartz
6 – Shawn McConnell 
86 – Neil Facchini 

Scratch Main Event (restarted)
 25 – Jimmy Fishback 
 1 – Billy Hamill 
 142 – Ricky Wells
 9 – Mike Faria (penalty line)
 39 – Buck Blair