Manchester’s Start Leads to Speedway Victory

Chris Manchester needed a perfect start to end a perfect night Saturday and he got it to hold off Bobby Schwartz and win the four-lap Championship Speedway motorcycle race at the Orange County Fairgrounds at Costa Mesa.

“The race was won in the first six seconds,” said Schwartz, who started from Gate 2, just right of Manchester heading into the left-hand turn. “We both got there at the same time.”

But it was Reno’s Manchester, unbeaten in three heats and a semifinal, who won the handlebar-to-handlebar battle through Turn 1.

Schwartz, of Costa Mesa, finished second, ahead of Monrovia’s Josh Larsen, Norco’s Ryan Fisher and Ojai’s Eddie Castro.

Manchester also tightened the season points battle with first-place rider Gary Hicks. Hicks, injured in a race at San Bernardino last week, did not compete.