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Mike Faria added yet another title to his collection. After twenty five years at the top of American Speedway one wonders whether any future rider will be able to compete with Mike's ability to consistently win top events for so many years. He made the first four rides look easy, but the whole event really came down to heat 18. Lining up for their fifth ride were Mike Faria and Bart Bast with 12 points, and Alan Christian and Bobby Hedden with 11 points. Bart promptly touched the tapes, and then there were three. Faria got the gate, leaving Alan and Bobby to battle for the other two places. That also was the placing order for the championship. Behind those four was a big gap. Scott Brant pulled out of his first ride after a mid corner contact injury. He then went out and took 2 wins, but in his next ride his engine made an expensive noise and his evening was over. Chris Kerr took on the role of the annihilator. In his second ride he forced Greg Hooten to take avoiding action which took Greg so far across the infield that he looked like a hazard to the leading riders coming the other way! In his next ride Chris put Paul Orlandi into the wall, which ended his evening. In his other races Chris rode well. Bryan Yarrow was lucky to compete at all. Still in pain from last week's dislocated shoulder Bryan had a good evening. Visiting Polishman Bart Bartecki had a busy evening. As was the case last year, there were an unusually high number of tape disqualification's and exclusions, that the reserve had to cover. Division 2 Track Championship Division 3 Track Championship
TJ Fowler was for the second year running, the worthy winner. Five perfect rides and a maximum 15 points. TJ's title really did not look in danger at any stage. Second place was a different story, being wide open all evening. Throughout the evening most favorites lost major points due to falls or engine failures. Not JT Mabry, who started the evening with 2 easy heats, which built the confidence to carry it through, without making any mistakes. He lost his points to Boyle, Fowler and Carrillo. On equal points was Mark Carrillo, and Mark won the run-off tie breaker to take second place. Mark lost his points when his engine stopped mid corner, while holding second place behind Fowler. Fourth and fifth place were taken by 2 Los Angeles lads, Justin Boyle and Tim Gomez. Justin Boyle, who finished third last year fell in his first race and lost his other point to Fowler. This was his first race for a month, after a major engine blow up, and he completed the rebuild 2 hours before the race. Tim Gomez did well to finish sixth, considering it was the first time he had ridden the Auburn track in 3 years. Ricky Adams rode well and has come a long way since this time last year when he took third place in division 3. The other noteworthy rider was Hunter Morris. Hunter started the season bouncing off the walls in division 3, and scraped into the National after a run off. But what a great performance he put on last night. On the other end of the spectrum, rostrum favorite Danny Easley had a night I am sure he would prefer to forget. One fall, one engine failure and in the races he finished he lost points to Fowler, Gomez and Carrillo. Danny has another chance next year, since he is still 14. Another rider I expect to do better was Paul Johnson, whose night was plagued by falls. Unlucky Bruce Bast broke his wrist in a skate-boarding accident 6 weeks ago. This prevented him from competing in the qualifier run-off, so he got reduced to reserve. Despite his injuries and disappointment he showed good sportsmanship. He rode well in his 2 reserve rides. Next year the Youth program loses Mark Carrillo who turns
16. Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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