Costa Mesa Speedway

Orange County Fairgrounds - Costa Mesa, CA

2001 Stanley Exhaust Tech Motorcycle Demo Derby
Costa Mesa Speedway
August 4, 2001
From Ryan Evans

"Gorgeous" Gary Hicks ran away with his third Scratch Main victory of the year Saturday Night as speedway returned to Costa Mesa following the annual break for the Orange County Fair.

Hicks drew the number two gate position and was the first to turn one. Hicks led exiting turn two with Josh Larsen, who had won the 25 Lap Classic and the Fair Derby the two consecutive weeks prior to the break, right behind him. This was the same scenario that occured at the Fair Derby, with Larsen eventually passing Hicks for the victory. Larsen tried to get under Hicks in turn three, but Hicks wasn't about to let lightning strike twice and held Larsen at bay. That would prove to be Larsen's only legitimate shot at the lead as Hicks pulled away for a comfortable victory, his third at Costa Mesa in 2001. Larsen finished second, Shawn McConnell finished third, "Fast" Eddie Castro was fourth, and Randy DiFrancesco finished fifth after suffering an engine failure.

18 year old Shaun Harmatiuk started alone on the 10 yard line with Bryan Thompson behind him on the 20 in the Handicap Main. At the start, Harmatiuk quickly began to open up ground on Thompson, who had to contend with the back-yardage contingent behind him. Harmatiuk was riding smoothly at the front as the rest of the field began to get past Thompson. McConnell was the first one through and he set his sights on Harmatiuk. McConnell caught Harmatiuk at the conclusion of lap four and they were next to each other as they exited turn two when Harmatiuk found traction and lifted going down the back straight. Harmatiuk got the front tire down but brushed the back straight wall before riding straight into the wall in turn three. Harmatiuk was down for a bit, but was able to walk away and participate in the restart. Unfortunately, his bike would not make the restart as the front end was destroyed from the impact. Although Harmatiuk was allowed to restart, he would do so from the penalty line.

McConnell started at the tapes as the field was handicaped according to its running order prior to the red flag and there would be four laps remaining. McConnell took advantage of his starting position and ran away from the field to take his first main event victory of 2001. DiFrancesco finished second, Eddie Castro finished third, Bobby Schwartz finished fourth, and Larsen finished fifth.

Michael Mattocks launched to the front from his gate two starting position in the Support Main Event and opened up a big lead on the first lap. Mattocks continued to stretch his lead all the way to the checkered flag for his first main event victory of the season. Rudy Laurer finished second, Dave Delbridge finished third, Gerry Duttweiler finished fourth, and Rick Valdez finished fifth.

The Support B Main Event took three attempts to complete after crashes ended the first two attempts prematurely. On the first attempt, Rod Lenz went down on the back straight and was placed on the penalty line for causing the restart. On the second try, Jeremiah LeBlanc went down in turn two and Rohn Zellnerwas collected in the process. LeBlanc was hit hard in the back and was down for a bit before rising to his feet on his own. LeBlanc and Zellner were unable to participate in the restart. The third try had Brent Smith getting to the front quickly and holding the lead for the first three laps. Lenz was in second and closing fast on Smith as they entered the last corner. Smith went wide and Lenz made him pay as he beat him to the line to take the victory. A dejected Smith finished second, Mike Boyle finished third, Kim Stevens was fourth, with Zellner credited with fifth, and LeBlanc credited with sixth.

RESULTS

Support B Consolation
269 - Ed Martinez           20
181 - Michael Novratil        10
107 - Monte McKeon          20
310 - K.G. Fairbarn        20
227 - Mark Robertson          10
169 - Dan Wensloff           10

Support B Main Event
196 - Rod Lenz              20  (penalty line)
103 - Brent Smith           20
198 - Mike Boyle            20
197 - Kim Stevens             10
163 - Rohn Zellner         20  (fell)
137 - Jeremiah LeBlanc        10  (fell, excluded)

Support Consolation
239 - Philip Williams         10
336 - Bill Green              10
177 - Mark Hitchcock        20
106 - Robert Fiesler        20
147 - Winston Williams      20
112 - Bryan Baichtal          10

Support Consolation
148 - Chris Metoyer           10
165 - Randy Kreps           20
174 - Tomasz Hampel         20
178 - Eloy Medellin         20
161 - Hector Quevedo          10
100 - Phil Harmatiuk          10

Support Main Event
122 - Michael Mattocks         
182 - Rudy Laurer
338 - Dave Delbridge
200 - Gerry Duttweiler
293 - Rick Valdez

Handicap Main Event
  6 - Shawn McConnell         40
 12 - Randy DiFrancesco       40
 14 - Eddie Castro            40
 11 - Bobby Schwartz          50
  4 - Josh Larsen             50
 15 - Dukie Ermolenko         40
 57 - Bryan Thompson        20
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk         10   (penalty line)

Scratch Main Event
  3 - Gary Hicks
  4 - Josh Larsen
  6 - Shawn McConnell
 14 - Eddie Castro
 12 - Randy DiFrancesco       (engine failure)