Sideways Saturdays Speedway
Cal Expo - Sacramento, CA

2001 Track Championship
Sideways Saturdays Speedway
Cal Expo - Sacramento, CA
Saturday August 4, 2001

Certainly Cal Expo's finest hour! Sideways Saturdays held their 2001 Track Championship, and their last event for the season, and (the promoters assure us) their last event ever at Cal Expo.  The Track Championship was an exciting event, on the best track surface we have seen all season.  Winner was double event winner from the previous night, Bobby Hedden on his brand new GM.  Bobby has four straight wins and looked the favorite to take the title.  Bart Bast had lost a single point in his first four rides to Cal Expo track specialist Bob Hicks.    So when they lined up for their final ride, side by side, this was the decider.  A win for Bobby would give him the 15 point maximum.  A win for Bart with Bobby second would mean a run-off.  Just to add a further complication, also in the heat was Eric Carrillo, who beat Bart for the main event last week.  Bart got the gate and lead with Bobby close behind.  Eric went down in turn one.  Bart held the lead for almost 3 laps then stopped.  Apparently a nut had come off the end of his crankshaft.  So Bobby took the win, and the last Cal Expo Track Championship.   Bart was credited with third, which brought him level with Bob Hicks, forcing a run-off, which he won giving him second place.

Chad Felicio looked good until losing points to Bryan Yarrow and Tom Hedden in his last heat.  Up until then, Chad looked good for taking second place.  Eric Carrillo started well, but gave points to Bob Hicks and Bryan Yarrow in his fourth ride and fell in his fifth.

What could have been an extremely nasty accident took place in heat 18, when three riders plus bikes went into the crowd at the entrance to the pits.  Northern California tracks have very wide turns and run with an open pit gate.  A few people got hit and some fell over others, but all were lucky to get away with only bruises.  At Auburn strict rules apply to all riders and pit staff staying behind the white line drawn across, back from the pit entrance.  This event demonstrated the necessity for this safely measure.

Unofficial scores were as follows:

Sideways Saturdays 2001 Track Championship
Bobby Hedden 15
Bart Bast 12
Bob Hicks 12
Chad Felicio 11
Bryan Yarrow 10
Tom Hedden 10
Chris Kerr 9
Eric Carrillo 9
Ivan Sevart 7
Billy Hiles 6
JJ Martynse 5
Scott Olney 5
Jon Curry 4
Dave Booth 4
Tom Adams 1
Paul Orlandi 0

The track started off a bit patchy.  The most unfortunate victim of this was Paul Orlandi, who found traction coming out of turn 4 in his first ride and hit the wall hard.   He was covered in bruises and did not ride again.

Division 2 Track Championship
Mike Browne
Shawn Eldridge
Harlan Bast Snr.
Robert Mellor

The Division 2 Track Championship produced some of the best races of the night.  Many of us expected Matt Browne to win.  In the end, his father, Mike won it.  Matt had a great battle with Shawn Eldridge and Robert Mellor in his qualifying race, only to go wide on the last lap, which took him from first to third, losing his qualifying place.   Father Mike had an almighty battle with veteran Harlan Bast.  Every time he overtook him, Harlan would be back in front on the next corner.  These races alone were worth the price of the admission.

Division 3 Track Championship
Robert Gutzke
Bruce Baker
Brenton Bast
Dean Blankenbiller

The third division has been very competitive at Cal Expo all season.  On this small track speeds are low, resulting in plenty of tactical close combat.  In his first Speedway season, Rick Gutzke, ended a worthy winner,

Juniors Division 1 Track Championship
Greg Hooten 14
TJ Fowler 9
Mark Carrillo 9
Danny Easley 9
JT Mabry 7

This was a series of 3 all scratch races and the first that this group of Division 1 junior riders have had.  An indication of what is to come in the Junior National Championship perhaps? TJ Fowler won the run-off for the three riders on 9 points.

Juniors Division 2 Track Championship
Paul Johnson 17
Tom Fuhrman 12
Amanda English 12
Bruce Bast 9
Pete King 7
Jay Ricketts 6

Again, the division 2 juniors have been close all season.  This event did have all riders except Amanda English handicapped by 10 yards.

Juniors Division 3 Track Championship
Ricky Adams 18
Ricky Felicio 14
Hunter Morris 11
Ronny Woodsford 8
Mitchell Johnson 7
Tori Hubbert 5

In this event Mitchell Johnson and Ricky Felicio were handicapped.  Newcomer Ricky Adams started last week and has not been given a handicap yet.  This needs fixing! He won all three heats unchallenged.

I would like to emphasize that all results above are unofficial.

It's usually sad to see a Speedway track close down.  Not there case here.   After a rocky four year relationship between Sideways Saturdays and the Cal Expo facility management, it's over.  No more Speedway in Sacramento.  Sideways Saturdays is moving back to Dixon for the 2002 season, and although it means a further 20 minutes ride to get there, I personally am very happy.  I am pleased that I will no longer be getting reamed for $6 to park my car, paying exorbitant prices for low quality food and drink, with not one cent of it going back into our sport.  Next time any of us go to Cal Expo for an exhibition or for any other sporting event, let us not forget how they treated us.  Sideways Saturdays and Northern California Speedway fans have spent enough money at this facility.  It's time to move on.

Gary Roberts - groberts@iee.org

Alita Hartt "Alita Hartt" <ahartt@jps.net>

Cal Expo Track Championship Juniors

Some great racing was seen tonight from the Junior program and gave us a taste of the future champions. With the exception of Division one the Championship was run in a handicap racing format and not the standard AMA Championship scratch format.

Division 1
Greg Hooten Jr.
TJ Fowler
Mark Carrillo
Danny Easley
JT Mabry

First division has been very exciting all year with all the riders being of equal experience and talent. An exciting and well deserved win for Greg Jr. This is his last Junior year it will be great to see this competitive and talented junior in the big ranks next year. A fun run off between Danny, Mark and TJ for 2nd 3rd and 4th. Danny had a terrific wall banger in a previous heat and had to ride a borrowed motorcycle.

Division 2
Paul Johnson 10
Tom Fehrman 10
Amanda English 0
Bruce Bast 10
Pete King 10
Jay Ricketts 10

We had a run off for 2nd and 3rd between Amanda and Tom from a scratch start. This is Amanda's last year in the juniors and she's coming along real well third D better watch out next year.

Division 3
Ricky Adams 0
Ricky Felicio 40
Hunter Morris 0
Ronny Woodsford 0
Mitchell Johnson 30
Tori Hubbert 0

This was Ricky Adams 3rd time out and did a good job of holding off the veterans. Congratulations!

With the close of Cal Expo and the Championship done they are gearing up for what promises to be a spectacular Junior Championship at Fast Fridays August 31st. Hope to see you all there in support of these future World Champions.

Congratulations to all the Juniors they did a terrific job tonight.

Alita