Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California

1999 Motocross Jumpers
Costa Mesa Speedway
September 11, 1999
From Ryan Evans

"Flyin'" Mike Faria returned to Southern California and won the Scratch Main on an evening that was completely sold out at Costa Mesa. The overflow crowd was treated to some fantastic racing and one of the best intermission shows ever brought to speedway, the Freestyle Motocross Jumpers, who thrilled the crowd with their variety of jumps for the second year in a row. Faria came from the pole and gated with Charlie "The Edge" Venegas, who was coming from gate four. As they came off turn two Faria was on the inside and Venegas was on the outside. They stayed side-by-side for a lap until Faria was able to pull away when they exited turn two the second time. Faria raced away with his second Costa Mesa Main Event win this season, Venegas settled for second, Shawn McConnell was third, Andy Northrup fourth, and Gary Hicks fifth.

Venegas came back to win his second consecutive Handicap Main in convincing fashion. Venegas got a good start from the 50 yard line and had Robbie Sauer, Dukie Ermolenko, and Chris Manchester ahead of him. Venegas made his way to second very quickly. At the end of lap three, Venegas blasted underneath Sauer and cruised to an easy victory. McConnell was set for second place when he suffered an engine failure on the seventh lap. That left second to Castro, who was followed by John Aden, Ermolenko was fourth, and Sauer fifth.

Randy Skinner made a great trap from gate four and raced away with the Support Main event. The race was restarted twice after two ugly first turn pileups. Everyone escaped each crash unhurt. Mark Adams finished second after a good battle with Kitt Nay which ended when Nay lifted coming out of turn four and brushed the wall down the front straight and finally bailed off the back of the bike. The race was red flagged and the victory was awarded to Skinner.

Malcolm Roe was a very fortunate winner of the Support B Main Event. Joey Mariscal led the race until the final corner when he crashed and left the door open for Roe to take his first main event of the season. 16-year old Shawn Harmatiuk was second and Brent Smith was third.

For those who don't know who the freestyle jumpers are, they are same riders who perform on the "Crusty Demons of Dirt" videos and also competed at the X-Games in San Francisco this year. A dirt ramp was constructed inside turn two and a landing ramp inside turn four. The riders start in the pits and come out of the pit tunnel and jump across the infield. The jumpers performed for about 15 minutes during intermission and about 10 minutes more before the Support Main. Last year, there was a great crowd, but nothing like this year. Last night was completely sold out and there were people being turned away at the gate. Capacity at Costa Mesa is listed as 8700, but all promoters sell more than capacity. The stands were completely full and every concession stand had long lines and the front and back straights were completely packed with people. This was the most successful intermission show of the season.

RESULTS

Support B Main
180 - Malcolm Roe 10
139 - Shawn Harmatiuk20
103 - Brent Smith 20
269 - Ed Martinez 10
198 - Mike Boyle 20
257 - Joey Mariscal10(fell)

Support Main
383 - Randy Skinner
223 - Mark Adams
47 - Johnny Walker
216 - Kitt Nay (fell)
120 - Bill McCarley (non-starter)

Scratch Main
9 - Mike Faria
43 - Charlie Venegas
6 - Shawn McConnell
166 - Andy Northrup
3 - Gary Hicks

Handicap Main
43 - Charlie Venegas 50
14 - Eddie Castro 40(penalized to 70 for rolling)
7 - John Aden 50
15 - Dukie Ermolenko 40
117 - Robbie Sauer 10
56 - Jim Estes 30
130 - Chris Manchester 40
6 - Shawn McConnell 60(engine failure)