Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Auburn, California

Challenge Elimination Series - Round 2
June 4, 2004 - Fast Fridays, Auburn
By Gary Roberts

It looks like it has now consistent turned into summer weather in Northern California. The track was smooth and flat, but must have been dry because some last minute water was added which made the first few heats a bit messy. The track however quickly turned into an excellent racing surface. The bumper crowd the previous week was not matched this week, it was, nevertheless a healthy size. The pits seemed a bit empty too, presumably because of people choosing to go to graduation parties instead of Speedway. Strange choice, they missed some good racing.

Unofficial results:

Scratch Main
1. Charlie Venegas
2. Scott Brant
3. Mike Faria
4. Bobby Hedden
Charlie and Scott made the best gates and Bobby Hedden's race ended in turn one, where he fell, remounted and proceeded half a lap behind. Out front it was Scott Brant, with Charlie pulling alongside on the outside. It looked like Scott's race, until Charlie found an outside path from turn 4 to the tapes. A close race throughout, Charlie has definitely rediscovered the form he had before his leg injury over a year ago. Charlie's outside move was pretty much a repeat of what Mike Faria achieved in the semi-final, to depose Bart Bardecki from the qualifying second place.

Scratch Consolation
1. Bart Bast
2. Tommy Hedden
3. Bob Hicks
4. Bart Bardecki

Handicap Main
1. TJ Fowler (0)
2. Chris Kerr (30)
3. Bobby Hedden (50)
4. Scott Brant (50)
5. Tommy Hedden (40)
6. Mike Faria (50)
After 4 weeks in Division 2, TJ Fowler finally moved to division 1 and rode well to hold off a heavy duty field, to take the handicap main win.

Handicap Consolation
1. Bart Bast (50)
2. Greg Hooten (10)
3. Matt Browne (10)
4. JJ Martynse (20)
Bart Bardecki and Charlie Venegas also qualified for this heat, but did not race.

Division 2 Main
1. Bruce Bast
2. Greg Hooten Snr.
3. RJ Becerra
4. Shawn Eldridge
5. David Fonts
6. Harlan Bast
Former youth rider Bruce Bast looks like a completely different rider this year. His move to second division has enabled him to ride faster, smoother, less defensively. His grandfather took sixth place. Just a TJ Fowler moved out of division 2, another former youth rider, RJ Becerra moved up from Division 3, won his heat and took third in the main.

Division 2 Consolation
1. Greg Searle
2. Mike Achilles
3. Vince Bertolucci
4. John O'Neill
5. Mike Browne
6. Rick Gutzke

Division 3 Main
1. Sean Billenstein
2. Norman Brooks
3. Steve Rowett
4. John Deatherage
5. Dennis Chandler
6. Kim Stevens
7. Cory Barringer
8. Matt Pangburn

Division 3 Consolation
1. Dave Quick
2. Kenny Ingalls
3. Derek Sheppard
4. Treggan Mullenix
5. Brian Leventon
6. Rich Mignano
7. Danny Poli
8. Kjell Lovlien

Youths Division 1
1. Alex Marcucci
2. Jay Ricketts

Youths Division 2
1. Cody Ciciarelli (10)
2. Tom Fehrman (20)
3. Tori Hubbert (10)

Youths Division 3
1. Bryce Starks (10)
2. Troy Guisande (10)
3. Bryce Olney (20)

Again, Sliding Sideways is running at Chowchilla tonight.

I am off to Cardiff for the GP this week, so please can someone else email me Fast Fridays results for next week and I will post them to the distributions and to www.speedwaybikes.com.

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com