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Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds - Costa Mesa, CA
2001 Costa Mesa
Costa Mesa Speedway
April 28, 2001
From Ryan Evans
Former National Champion Chris Manchester used the pole position to his advantage to win the Scratch Main in convincing fashion at Costa Mesa Saturday Night.
Manchester, who won last week's Handicap Main, got a great start and made it through turn one cleanly, but the rest of the field wasn't as lucky. Contact in turn one forced Gary Hicks and Eddie Castro wide and allowed Dukie Ermolenko to wrest control of second place and Josh Larsen to take third after starting 20 yards back for forcing a restart. Manchester extended his lead every lap and the places behind him never changed. At the checkered flag it was Manchester winning his first Scratch Main of 2001, Ermolenko was second, Larsen finished third, Castro was fourth, and Hicks was fifth.
Bobby Simons started the Handicap Main alone at the tapes while his nearest competitor was Jim Estes who was 30 yards back. Simons, who just returned to speedway last week after more than a decade away from the sport, led the field into turn one. Simons had it easy compared to Estes, who had to fight off six riders starting from either the 40 or 50 yard line. Bobby Schwartz was the first to launch an assault on Estes as he immediately went to the outside. Schwartz maintained his outside line, but Estes was up to the challenge and Schwartz began to drift back through the field. Larsen was the next challenger to Estes, and after fighting valiantly for two laps, Estes was passed by Larsen. With four laps complete and a nearly 40 yard lead, Simons' prospects of victory were looking bright, but Simons showed signs of fatigue and his riding line grew increasingly wider. As lap six concluded, Larsen went inside of Simons for the lead and never looked back as he took his first main event win of the year. Manchester finished second, Shawn McConnell finished third, Castro was fourth, Randy DiFrancesco was fifth, and Simons was sixth.
With the NASCAR Winston Cup Series in town (Fontana) this weekend, Support Rider David Lynch honored the late Dale Earnhardt by flying a black bike cover on his new Jawa with the familiar number three of "The Intimidator". Although Lynch didn't have to "trade paint" with anyone, he was able to copy Earnhardt by winning the Support Main Event. Paul Hitchcock finished second, just ahead of Mike Lupo, while Dave Delbridge was fourth, and Frank Pecce was fifth.
Jeff Blaydes took the lead right away in the Support B Main Event and led the field the entire race to earn the victory. Rod Lenz finished second, Shane Kump was third, and Mike Boyle was fourth.
The Juniors made their initial 2001 appearance at Costa Mesa and the first heat was dominated by Justin Boyle who took an easy win. In the second race, Skyler Greyson took the victory, Krystal Cramer was second, Ricky Wells was third, and Justin Boyle was fourth.
RESULTS
Junior Heat #1
3 - Justin Boyle
27 - Krystal Cramer
2 - Skyler Greyson
142 - Ricky Wells
Junior Heat #2
2 - Skyler Greyson
27 - Krystal Cramer
142 - Ricky Wells
3 - Justin Boyle
Support B Consolation
123 - Chad Newlee 10
178 - Eloy Medellin 20
118 - Scott Tidwell 20
199 - Steve Jugan 10
112 - Bryan Baichtal 10
269 - Ed Martinez 20
Support B Main Event
173 - Jeff Blaydes 10
196 - Rod Lenz 10
228 - Shane Kump 20
198 - Mike Boyle 20
148 - Chris Metoyer 10
135 - Kerry Connor 10
Support Consolation
177 - Mark Hitchcock
239 - Philip Williams
100 - Phil Harmatiuk
165 - Randy Kreps (fell, remounted)
182 - Rudy Laurer
121 - Mike Mosby
Support Main Event
131 - David Lynch
114 - Paul Hitchcock (penalty line)
162 - Mike Lupo
338 - Dave Delbridge
234 - Frank Pecce (fell)
Handicap Main Event
4 - Josh Larsen 50
130 - Chris Manchester 50
6 - Shawn McConnell 40
14 - Eddie Castro 40
12 - Randy DiFrancesco 40
253 - Bobby Simons 0
11 - Bobby Schwartz 40
56 - Jim Estes 30
Scratch Main Event
130 - Chris Manchester
15 - Dukie Ermolenko
4 - Josh Larsen (penalty line)
14 - Eddie Castro
3 - Gary Hicks
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