Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds - Auburn, CA

2000 Fast Fridays
Fast Fridays
June 2, 2000
From Gary Roberts

Following last week's World Championship Qualifier it was back to the regular program at Fast Fridays Speedway in Auburn, CA, with 3 divisions of Speedway and 3 divisions of Junior Speedway. It was a good evening of racing, with some very close finishes. The track as always was well prepared, but with less dirt on it than last week. Nobody seemed to want to use the outside. The weather was hot. I got so thirsty I had to drink a Budweiser. Not a pleasant experience!

Scratch Main
1. Billy Janniro
2. Tommy Hedden
3. Bobby Hedden
4. Charlie Venegas

Really not the race that anyone was expecting. Charlie Venegas did not get one of his lightning starts. Tommy Hedden took the lead, with Billy Janniro in second. Bobby Hedden and Charlie were both working on getting past Billy, while he was focusing on closing the gap between himself and leader Tommy Hedden. On the last lap, Billy moved up closer and pulled along side on the race to the flag. It was very close, with the referee giving the race to Billy. Although he has won a number of handicap mains at Auburn and Scratch Mains at Livermore and Chico, this was Billy Janniro's first Auburn Scratch Main Win. Full credit to him, because the field was not lacking in any way. A returning rider this week, after a four year absence, was Dustin Schroeder.

Scratch Consi
1. Mike Faria
2. Bart Bast
3. John Cook
4. Bob Hicks

Handicap Main
1. Mike Faria
2. Ryan Fisher
3. Bart Bast
4. Bobby Hedden
5. Tommy Hedden
6. Robert Curry

Another good close race. Early leader, Robert Curry was moved over by a surprising shove from Ryan Fisher. Whether intentional or not, it looked a bit heavy handed. Mike Faria managed to get past Ryan to take the win.

Handicap Consi
1. Paul Orlandi
2. Bob Hicks
3. Billy Janniro
4. Chad Felicio
5. John Cook

Charlie Venegas also qualified but was a non starter.

Veteran Paul Orlandi made his first appearance of the season and his first appearance on a Laydown. John Cook from the 50 yard lane had worked his way up to third and was battling for second, but mistook the white flag for the checkered. His excuse was a busy week, having traveled from Auburn last Friday to Poland for Sunday, Sweden for Tuesday and back to the US on Thursday.

Division 2 Main
1. Jon Curry
2. Ivan Sevart
3. George Snodgrass
4. Rachalle Kerr
5. Tom Adams
6. Derek Silva

Jon Curry started his first week racing a 500 by demonstrating the value of several years in the Junior program. The lead he built up in his heat was sufficient to allow him to maintain the lead, despite making a few mistakes. He was more confident in the main. Ivan Sevart worked his way up to second but could not catch Jon.

Division 2 Consi
1. Mark Thomas
2. Matt Browne
3. Scott Olney
4. Shawn Eldridge
5. Mike Browne
6. Don Chipman

Division 3 Main
1. Bruce Baker

Sorry, I didn't get the rest of the results. By my account, the other riders in this race were Robert Mellor, Les Veale, Geno Bellino, Vince Bertolucci, Din Blankenbiller, and David Quick. Dino Blankenbiller lead the race until the last turn on the last lap when he ceremoniously fell down in the middle of the turn.

Division 3 Consi
1. Ron Woodsford
2. Mike Douglass
3. Dave Baker
4. Bill Warnock
5. Mike Achilles
Also in the race were Mark Woodward, Devin Devreece, and Mark Blassey

Junior Division 1
1. Greg Hooten Jnr.
2. Eric Carrillo
3. JJ Martynse
4. Bryan Yarrow
5. JT Mabry
6. Chris Kerr

Greg Hooten took the Division 1 Junior Main event despite hard pressure from Junior National Champion Eric Carrillo. Greg has come along way in the past 12 months.

Junior Division 2.
1. Chris Olney
2. Mark Carrillo
3. Danny Easley
4. Josh Newby
5. Alex Marcucci

Junior Division 3
1. TJ Fowler
2. Amanda English
3. Tom Fehrman

Also in this race were Paul and Mitchell Johnson, Jay Rickets, Jeff Butler and Bruce Bast. Even the Junior Division 3 race had a close finish with TJ Fowler working his way up as the only 20 yard handicap rider and leaving it to the final straight to pass Amanda English.

Next week there is again Speedway at Auburn on Friday, then Saturday June10 is Sideways Saturdays opening night at Cal Expo in Sacramento.