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Victorville Speedway
San Bernardino County Fairgrounds
Victorville, California
Bruce Penhall / Billy Hamill Under 21 Invitational & California Youth Championship
Victorville Speedway
November 23, 2003
From Ryan Evans
Eric Carrillo won a dramatic three-rider runoff to capture the first Bruce Penhall/Billy Hamill Under 21 Invitational.
After five rounds of racing Ryan Fisher, Bryan Yarrow, and Carrillo were tied with 14 points each. The draw for position gave Carrillo the pole, Yarrow gate two, and Fisher had the outside. Carrillo was away first with Yarrow right behind while Fisher tried to sweep around both on the outside. Fisher found too much traction as he exited turn two and lifted badly which forced him to dismount his machine. Despite hitting the wall, both rider and machine were fine, however, Fisher was excluded for causing the restart.
On the restart, Carrillo was first to turn one again with Yarrow giving chase. Carrillo had a little breathing room for two laps, but Yarrow pulled to Carrillo's back wheel on lap three. Yarrow gave a valiant effort, but Carrillo calmly held him at bay to win the title. Carrillo won the title on a bike borrowed from Dario Galvin after having an engine problem prior to the meeting.
12 riders were seeded into the event, which left seven riders to compete in two rounds of elimination heats to determine the final four riders in the field. That number was reduced to six when Galvin was injured during the practice session before the meeting.
In the first elimination heat it was Mark Carrillo defeating Tim Gomez and J.T. Mabry. Devin Defreece had a big lead in elimination heat two before falling and allowing Neil Facchini to take the win. Defreece remounted and took second after Michael Hernandez fell. Gomez beat Defreece and Hernandez to earn a place in the field. Defreece's four points were good enough to place him in the field as well. Carrillo won the final elimination heat to qualify into the field. Facchini's second place was enough for him to make the field. Hernandez defeated Mabry in a runoff to determine first and second reserve.
The first round began with Chris Kerr defeating Greg Hooten Jr. for his first victory of the day. Matt Browne held back Justin Boyle in the next race to get the victory. The next race was an epic inside-outside battle between Eric Carrillo and Yarrow. Carrillo held a slight lead on the inside for three laps, but Yarrow's outside line was enough for him to move ahead the final time down the back straight and held on for the win. Round one concluded with Fisher getting a dominant win over J.J. Martynse.
Shaun Harmatiuk began round two with his first win. Fisher made it two in a row with a win over Facchini in race 14. Eric Carrillo found his winning stride by defeating Kerr in race 15. Yarrow closed out round two with his second victory, which left he and Fisher as the only undefeated riders.
Eric Carrillo won his second straight race to open the third round while Hooten finished second for the third consecutive time. Yarrow remained perfect by defeating Mark Carrillo.
Race 23 brought Fisher to the tapes trying to keep pace with Yarrow's perfect score. Entering turn one there was contact between Fisher and Kerr, with Fisher going down. Referee Steve Lucero ruled that it was turn one bunching and called for a full restart. On the restart, Kerr hit the turn three fence to bring out the red flag again. Again, a full restart was the call. On the third attempt Fisher motored around the outside of turn two and took the lead. He pulled away from Boyle for the victory. Round three ended with Harmatiuk winning his second straight race.
Round four began with the only undefeated riders meeting head-to-head. Fisher got the jump on Yarrow at the start and opened a comfortable lead on his way to his fourth win. Harmatiuk jumped into the lead in race 30, but was chased by Eric Carrillo. Harmatiuk held the lead until the third lap when Carrillo went around him on the outside coming off turn two. Carrillo led the rest of the way and was tied with Yarrow with 11 points. Kerr defeated Mark Carrillo in the next race for his second win of the day. New York's Brian Hollenbeck finished round four with an impressive victory over Browne.
Boyle began the final round with a win to bring his point total to 10. Hollenbeck made it two in a row by beating fellow New York resident Chris Strong and Colorado's Aaron Laird. Yarrow defeated Harmatiuk and Kerr to bring his total to 14. He would then have to watch the final race to see if what his fate was. Fisher and Eric Carrillo came to the tapes for the final race with a lot at stake. A Fisher victory would give him the title and Yarrow second overall. If Carrillo won and Fisher was second, a three-rider runoff would be needed to determine the champion. Carrillo was first from the tapes and planted himself on the inside line. Fisher tried every line on the track in an attempt for the lead, but none of them worked as Carrillo was victorious and forced the runoff for the title.
In addition to the Under 21 Invitational, the California Youth Championship featured three divisions of youth racing. Tamara Krips defeated Ricky Valdez in three of four races to win the 200cc division.
Dylan Stark won the first race in the 80cc division ahead of Ricky Wells and Connor Penhall. In the second round, it was Wells holding off Tyler Odom for the victory. Stark defeated Wells to win the third race. Wells won the final race to bring his total to 10 points and capture 80cc title.
Wells won the opening 250cc race ahead of Stark. Jason Ramirez won the second race by defeating Dale Facchini and Miles Calvin. Calvin suffered an engine failure which reduced the seven-rider field to six.
In round two Dale Facchini defeated Krystal Cramer and Ramirez beat Wells for his second straight win. In round three Wells turned the tables on Ramirez by handing him his first loss and Cramer beat Stark for her first win.
The final round began with Dale Facchini leading Ramirez when contact brought Ramirez down. Ramirez was determined to be the cause of the stoppage and Facchini was declared the winner. The 10 point total for Ramirez meant that Wells needed a victory to win the 250cc title. Wells was up to the task with a fast start and a comfortable victory to finish with 11 points and the 250cc title.
One of the most anticipated events was the best of three match race. Unfortunately, Billy Hamill was unable to make it to Victorville, so current SRA U.S. National Champion Scott Brant filled in as the opponent for two-time World Champion Bruce Penhall.
In the first race Brant and Penhall were battling side-by-side for two laps when Penhall found too much grip on the back straight and tumbled down in turn three allowing Brant to get the win. The former champ was able to get to his feet and despite most in attendance thinking he would call it a day, he elected to restart much to the delight of those in attendance.
In race two, the rider battled alongside each other again for two laps with Penhall earning the narrow victory. The final race was another close battle with Brant taking a slight lead on the last lap. Penhall fought back in the final corner and was able to inch ahead for a narrow win to take the best-of-three battle.
The meeting was promoted by former first division rider Donny Odom. Odom is hoping that he success of this year's event will lead to it becoming a permanent and important fixture on the American speedway calendar in the future. He hopes that the event will help to develop they younger American riders and prepare them to compete in international competition.
RESULTS
Youth 80cc 1 2 3 4 T
19 - Dylan Stark 3 1 3 1 8
81 - Connor Penhall 1 0 0 F 1
142 - Ricky Wells 2 3 2 3 10
146 - Tyler Odom 0 2 1 2 5
Race Results
3: Stark, Wells, Penhall, Odom
17: Wells, Odom, Stark, Penhall
25: Stark, Wells, Odom, Penhall
33: Wells, Odom, Stark (fell), Penhall (fell)
Youth 200cc 1 2 3 4 T
5 - Ricky Valdez 2 3 2 2 9
223 - Tamara Krips 3 2 3 3 11
Youth 250cc 1 2 3 4 T
19 - Dylan Stark 2 1 2 N 5
27 - Krystal Cramer 1 2 3 2 8
66 - Jason Ramirez 3 3 2 2 10
99 - Miles Calvin 1 N N N 1
142 - Ricky Wells 3 2 3 3 11
301 - Dale Facchini 2 3 1 3 9
Race Results
11: Wells, Stark, Cramer (retired)
12: Ramirez, Facchini, Calvin
19: Facchini, Cramer, Calvin (non starter)
20: Ramirez, Wells, Stark
27: Wells, Ramirez, Facchini
28: Cramer, Stark, Calvin (non starter)
35: Facchini, Ramirez, Stark (non starter)
36: Wells, Cramer, Calvin (non starter)
Under 21 Invitational 1 2 3 4 5 T
6 - Ryan Fisher 3 3 3 3 2 14
7 - Eric Carrillo 2 3 3 3 3 14
8 - Bryan Yarrow 3 3 3 2 3 14
12 - Greg Hooten Jr. 2 2 2 F 2 8
18 - Justin Boyle 2 2 2 1 3 10
27 - Chris Kerr 3 2 1 3 1 10
29 - Matt Browne 3 1 F 2 F 6
36 - Tim Gomez F F 1 0 F 1
87 - Aaron Laird R R 1 1 1 3
93e - Chris Strong 1 1 2 1 2 7
112 - Devin Defreece 1 1 1 1 0 4
115 - J.J. Martynse 2 0 F 0 1 3
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 1 3 3 2 2 11
169 - Mark Carrillo 0 0 2 2 1 5
171 - Brian Hollenbeck 0 1 0 3 3 7
201 - Neil Facchini 1 2 0 F Fx 3
105 - Michael Hernandez (R) did not ride
93 - J.T. Mabry (R) did not ride
Race Results
1(Elimination Heat): M.Carrillo, Gomez, Mabry
2(Elimination Heat): Facchini, Defreece, Hernandez
5(Elimination Heat): Gomez, Defreece, Hernandez
6(Elimination Heat): M.Carrillo, Facchini, Mabry
7: Kerr, Hooten, Defreece, Gomez (fell)
8: Browne, Boyle, Strong, M.Carrillo
9: Yarrow, E.Carrillo, Facchini, Hollenbeck
10: Fisher, Martynse, Harmatiuk, Laird (retired)
13: Harmatiuk, Hooten, Hollenbeck, M.Carrillo
14: Fisher, Facchini, Browne, Gomez (fell)
15: E.Carrillo, Kerr, Strong, Martynse
16: Yarrow, Boyle, Defreece, Laird (retired)
21: E.Carrillo, Hooten, Laird, Browne (fell)
22: Yarrow, M.Carrillo, Gomez, Martynse (fell)
23: (restarted twice) Fisher, Boyle, Kerr, Hollenbeck
24: Harmatiuk, Strong, Defreece, Facchini
29: Fisher, Yarrow, Strong, Hooten (fell)
30: E.Carrillo, Harmatiuk, Boyle, Gomez
31: (restarted) Kerr, M.Carrillo, Laird, Facchini (fell)
32: Hollenbeck, Browne, Defreece, Martynse
37: (restarted) Boyle, Hooten, Martynse, Facchini (fell, excluded)
38: Hollenbeck, Strong, Laird, Gomez (fell)
39: Yarrow, Harmatiuk, Kerr (fell, remounted), Browne (fell)
40: E.Carrillo, Fisher, M.Carrillo, Defreece
Runoff for 1st Place (restarted)
7 - Eric Carrillo
8 - Bryan Yarrow
6 - Ryan Fisher (fell, excluded)
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