By: Ryan Evans
Bobby "Boogaloo" Schwartz officially began his thirty-first season racing speedway by winning the Scratch Main in the 2004 Season Opener at Costa Mesa.
Schwartz started from gate five and exploded into the lead entering turn one and held a slight lead over National Champion Scott Brant down the back straight. Brant put the pressure on Schwartz for two laps before the forty-seven year old former World Pairs Champion was able to create a little breathing room and held on for the win. Brant had to settle for second, Shawn McConnell finished third, Chris Manchester was fourth, and Charlie Venegas was credited with fifth.
Buck Blair began the Handicap Main at the 10 yard line and led the eight-man field on the first lap. On lap two, second place rider Chris Kerr lifted exiting turn two and collided with the leader, which knocked both riders to the ground. Blair was down for several minutes before being helped off the track. Kerr would have to begin the restart from the penalty line.
Shaun Harmatiuk began the restart at the front with Andy Northrup in hot pursuit. Despite his best effort, Northrup couldn't close the gap between Harmatiuk and himself. After five laps Harmatiuk still held a comfortable advantage, but Kerr fell coming out of turn four and brought out the red flag. The race was declared over and Harmatiuk was credited with the victory. Northrup was second, Brant finished third, Manchester was fourth, and Randy DiFrancesco finished fifth.
Doug Benjamin jumped into the lead at the beginning of the Support Main Event and held a sizable lead for two laps. Steve Murray cut into the lead enough on the third lap to make the race interesting. Benjamin led into the final corner but went wide in turn four. Murray won the drag race to the checkered flag by inches to claim the victory. Last week's winner, Nate Perkins, was third, J.T. Mabry finished fourth, and Scott Tidwell was fifth.
The Support B Main Event had two restarts and was marred by a scary crash involving newcomer David Goyette. Goyette hit the wall in turn two very hard and had to be transported to the hospital. Goyette suffered a broken L2 vertebrae and will miss the rest of the season but has declared his intention to get back on a speedway bike again.
DeWayne Stark led the third try for a lap before Mark Baldwin passed him entering turn three. Baldwin lengthened his lead with each lap and was first to the checkered flag. Rohn Zellner finished second, Mike Boyle was third, Stark finished fourth, Goyette was fifth, and Sam Soltz was credited with sixth.
In youth racing, Ricky Wells powered his two-stroke to victory over Jason Ramirez and Skyler Greyson in First Division. In Second Division, Ricky Valdez was victorious over Nathan Galvin, Joey Holt, and Gino Manzares.
Saturday night was the official beginning of the 36th season of speedway at the world famous bullring oval at the Orange County Fairgrounds. The next meeting is Harley Night scheduled for May 22. In addition to speedway racing there will be street-legal Harley races.
RESULTS PW 50s Race 1 7 - Rocco Scopellite 22 - Josh Melanson 99 - Nikki Neumann 9 - Allison Reames 7a - Sean McDonald PW 50s Race 2 51 - Tyler Rosa 8 - Brayden Galvin 178 - Eloy Medellin 38 - Lauren Hammond 7 - Jaysen March Support B Consolation (scratch) 181 - Michael Novratil 237 - Tommy Kistler 193 - Billy Swaim 223 - Fred Schmitthammer Support B Consolation 176 - Carl Gazafy 20 102 - Jim Lavender 10 185 - Keith Mullally 20 213 - Mark Sincavage 10 144 - Tom Hamilton 20 (fell, remounted) 203 - Robert Avels 10 (non starter) Support B Main Event (restarted twice) 115 - Mark Baldwin 20 163 - Rohn Zellner 20 198 - Mike Boyle 20 244 - DeWayne Stark 10 204 - David Goyette 10 (fell, injured) 222 - Sam Soltz 10 (fell, excluded) Support Consolation 145 - Dario Galvin 106 - Robert Fiesler 178 - Eloy Medellin 100 - Phil Harmatiuk Support Consolation 240 - Hideaki Ota 248 - Brian Starr 165 - Randy Kreps 228 - Shane Kump (fell) Support Last Chance 389 - Nate Perkins 249 - John Stunkard 117 - Billy Braden 194 - Tony Bracy (non starter) Support Main Event 214 - Steve Murray 128 - Doug Benjamin 389 - Nate Perkins 93n - J.T. Mabry 118 - Scott Tidwell Youth Second Division Main Event 5 - Ricky Valdez 134 - Nathan Galvin 114 - Joey Holt 21 - Gino Manzares Youth First Division Main Event 142 - Ricky Wells 66 - Jason Ramirez 2 - Skyler Greyson Handicap Main Event (restarted) 139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 20 166 - Andy Northrup 30 1 - Scott Brant 50 130 - Chris Manchester 50 12 - Randy DiFrancesco 30 24 - Bobby Krips 30 27n - Chris Kerr 20 39 - Buck Blair 10 Last Chance 6 - Shawn McConnell 14 - Eddie Castro 2n - Alan Christian 27n - Chris Kerr Scratch Main Event 11 - Bobby Schwartz 1 - Scott Brant 6 - Shawn McConnell 130 - Chris Manchester (fell) 43 - Charlie Venegas (fell)
