Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California

Scott Brant's Scratch Main Event victory ended Mike Faria's winning streak at six in front of a large crowd on Harley Night at Costa Mesa Saturday.

Faria's streak ended in the Last Chance Race when he finished second to Brant and failed to qualify for the main. This occurred after a turn one pileup on the first attempt caused Faria to slide into the turn three wall and left the former National Champion feeling dazed.

Brant, who was the last rider to win a Scratch Main before Faria's streak began, made a great start from gate four in the main event and held the lead on the first lap. Gary Hicks gave chase but Brant stretched his lead each lap and won his second Scratch Main of the year. Hicks was second, Dukie Ermolenko finished third, Bobby Schwartz was fourth, and Shawn McConnell finished fifth.

Although one streak came to an end, another continued as Shaun Harmatiuk won his fourth consecutive Handicap Main in an action-packed race that required three starts.

Danny Perkins led the eight-man field for two laps before Justin Boyle went down and brought out the red flag. When the riders lined up again Perkins was caught rolling and was penalized. When the tapes went up again Harmatiuk was at the head of the field with McConnell in hot pursuit. After two laps McConnell made his move for the lead going into turn one. The two rides collided and left Harmatiuk on the ground and Perkins with nowhere to go but into the prone rider and the red flag came out again. The referee ruled that McConnell was at fault. Predictably, McConnell disagreed and made his opinion known before taking his place on the penalty line. The third attempt was all Harmatiuk as the 20 year old cruised the final four laps for his fourth straight victory. Andy Northrup finished second, Eddie Castro was third, McConnell finished fourth, and Brant was fifth.

Rick Valdez jumped into the lead from gate three in the Support Main with Steve Murray hunting him down. Murray patiently waited for his opportunity and found it on the back straight when the wily veteran passed Valdez on the inside. Murray then held off Valdez the rest of the way to get his first victory of 2003. Robert Fiesler was third, John Stunkard finished fourth, and Rich Brock was credited with fifth.

Troy McConnell, Shawn's son, made an auspicious debut by winning both is heat and the Support B Main Event. The second-generation rider led every lap with a smooth style and his proud father and Schwartz were the first to congratulate the 16 year old after his main event victory. Mike McCarthy finished second, Monte McKeon was third, Jim Lavender finished fourth, Mark Baldwin was fifth, and Carl Gazafy finished sixth.

The evening was marred by several crashes, the worst involving the sidecar team of Mike Fontaine and Scott McElroy. The duo hit the pit gate at high speed in a scary-looking accident. Both were down for an extended amount of time and were taken to the hospital.

Next week will busy as many of the riders will be making the trip to Las Vegas on Friday for the Great American Motorcycle Experience at Las Vegas Speedway. The all-scratch event will be held on a 250 yard track inside the 1/2-mile oval. The rider then travel back to Costa Mesa for Saturday's event which will have the Freestyle Motorcycle Jumpers and should bring a large crowd to the world famous bullring oval.

RESULTS

Support B Consolation
244 - DeWayne Stark 		10
100 - Phil Harmatiuk       	20
212 - Steve Dziadus        	20
136 - Kim Stevens          	10
185 - Keith Mullally         	20
198 - Mike Boyle            	10  (non starter)

Support B Consolation 
194 - Tony Bracy            	20
193 - Billy Swaim           	10
223 - Fred Schmitthammer    	10
227 - Mark Robertson            10
169 - Dan Wensloff         	10
217 - Jeff Scott                20  (engine failure)

Support B Main Event
131 - Troy McConnell            10
113 - Mike McCarthy            	20
107 - Monte McKeon            	20
102 - Jim Lavender          	10  (fell, remounted)
115 - Mark Baldwin         	20  (fell)
176 - Carl Gazafy           	20  (fell)

Support Consolation
200 - Gerry Duttweiler
180 - Malcolm Roe
164 - Rusty Hall
269 - Ed Martinez

Suppport Consolation
165 - Randy Kreps
118 - Scott Tidwell
389 - Nate Perkins   (fell, remounted)
148 - Chris Metoyer  (non starter)

Support Last Chance
138 - Rich Brock
117 - Billy Braden
178 - Eloy Medellin
228 - Shane Kump

Support Main Event
214 - Steve Murray
293 - Rick Valdez
106 - Robert Fiesler
249 - John Stunkard
138 - Rich Brock      (tape exclusion)

Handicap Main Event (restarted twice)
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk         	30
166 - Andy Northrup        	40
 14 - Eddie Castro          	50
  6 - Shawn McConnell          	40  (penalty line)
 10 - Scott Brant             	50
197 - Justin Boyle           	20  (penalty line)
 89 - Danny Perkins        	20  (20 yard penalty)
  9 - Mike Faria                50  (non starter)

Last Chance (restarted)
 10 - Scott Brant
  9 - Mike Faria
166 - Andy Northrup
 14 - Eddie Castro

Scratch Main Event
 10 - Scott Brant
  3 - Gary Hicks
 15 - Dukie Ermolenko
 11 - Bobby Schwartz
  6 - Shawn McConnell