Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds - Auburn, CA

2000 25 Lap Race
Fast Fridays
August 18, 2000
From Gary Roberts

Ryan Fisher takes the 25 Lap Main, and the Scratch Main!

Since last week the track was torn up and relayed, making an excellent track all evening. The racing was good, the only thing that was missing was a whole bunch of riders. On the injured list were Charlie Venegas, Tommy Hedden, Vance and Chad Felicio. The broken machinery list comprised Bart Bast and Rich Marcucci. Missing for other reasons were Rick Shafer and Bob Hicks. Taking a night off, but sitting in the stands was Billy Janniro. Bikes for sale in the pits belonged to Don Webster. Looking back to last year, we have lost Jim Sisemore, Pat Lin, Matt Becker and Dave Faria. No wonder Division 1 seemed a bit empty. On the plus side, a couple of the new Division 1 riders look very promising. Eric Carrillo has been a great addition, and Ivan Sevart looks better every week. Chris Kerr shows great promise, but frequently fails to finish races. The quality of racing is good. The quantity of riders is getting thin.

This week was the annual 25 lap race. This usually proves to be a heavy duty test on both men and machines, with multiple restarts, but all ran smoothly with zero restarts this week. Early leaders Steve Martynse and Ivan Sevart lasted four laps before Ryan Fisher stormed past. Ryan rode on effortlessly and won by over half a lap. Behind him was a slightly more tired looking Mike Faria followed by Eric Carrillo, - riding a 250 cc Jawa. At the other end of the field, Paul Orlandi dropped an exhaust at the end of the first lap, and Steve Martynse fell down and remounted.

Rick Janniro (Billy's dad), the referee stated at the riders' meeting that riders who were lapped by the leader were out of the race. Some left the track, some kept going, but by my calculations, the only ones that Fisher did not lap were Faria, Carrillo and Curry.

Unlike the 25 lap events I have watched at Costa Mesa, all riders kept going well, with nobody actually stopping with exhaustion. I believe this is because of Auburn's longer straights, which allow a bit of a rest, before the next corner.

Unofficial results:

25 lap Main Event.
1. Ryan Fisher
2. Mike Faria
3. Eric Carrillo
4. Robert Curry
5. Ian Ferris
6. Ivan Sevart
7. Matt King
8. Scott McNeil
9. Steve Martynse
10. Paul Orlandi

Scratch Main
1.  Ryan Fisher
2. Mike Faria
3. Robert Curry
4. Paul Orlandi

Ryan Fisher forced everyone wide at the first turn and it paid off for him. Mike Faria ended the turn in fourth place but fought back to second. But despite best efforts, he could not pass Ryan.

Scratch Consi
1. Ian Ferris
2. Eric Carrillo
3. Matt King
4. Ian Essary

Division 2 Main
1. Jon Curry
2. Billy Hiles
3. Vince Bertolucci
4. Marvin Sonnier
5. Mike Browne
6. Craig Boone

Jon Curry won this race from the 20 yard line. On his first night in second division, Billy Hiles took a credible second.

Division 2 Consi
1. George Snodgrass
2. Chris Kerr
3. Derek Silva

The race for first place was so good, it shadowed the rest of the race. The first two had a close battle until the final straight, when Chris closed the gap on George Snodgrass but was not quite there. In a similar battle in their heat, Chris took the place from George. The other competitors in this race were Rachalle Kerr, Harlan Bast Snr. and Chuck Lane.

Division 3 Main
1. Kelly McBane
2. Greg Hooten  Snr..
3. Richard Doster
4. Gary Hubbert
5. Mike Achilles 

Junior Division 1
1. Greg Hooten  Jnr..
2. JJ Martynse
3. Bryan Yarrow
4. JT Mabry

Junior Division 2.
1. Danny Easley
2. TJ Fowler
3. Alex Marcucci
4. Mark Carrillo
5. Josh Newby
6. Brenton Bast

Junior Division 3
1. Pete King
2. Jeff Butler
3. Jay Ricketts
4. Bruce Bast
5. Mitchell Johnson