Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Auburn, California

Free Style MX
July 9, 2004 - Fast Fridays, Auburn
By Gary Roberts

With the temperature still up in the 80s and low 90s this week, track preparation was again a challenge. The surface faired better than last week, but despite a lot of pre-watering all week, it still dried towards the end. This did not prevent some excellent racing taking place.

Unofficial results:

Scratch Main
1. Scott Brant
2. Bobby Hedden
3. Tommy Hedden
4. John Houston Jr.
Brant on the inside, Hedden on the outside, neither giving way, they rode within a foot of one another, side by side for four laps. A truly memorable race.
After an 8 year break from Speedway, this year has seen the return of John Houston Jr. After spending a month sorting out his bike's set up, he is returning to prior form.

Scratch Consolation
1. Bart Bast
2. Bob Hicks
3. Chris Kerr
4. Bryan Yarrow

Handicap Main
1. Greg Hooten (10)
2. Bobby Hedden (50)
3. Tommy Hedden (40)
4. Bart Bast (50)
5. Chad Felicio (50)
6. JJ Martynse (50)
Another good win for ex 2 time youth National Champion TJ Fowler.

Handicap Consolation
1. Scott Brant (50)
2. John Houston Jr. (30)
3. Chris Kerr (40)
4. Bob Hicks (40)
5. Bryan Yarrow (40)

Division 2 Main
1. Kenny Ingalls (0)
2. Rachelle Kerr (0)
3. Bruce Bast (10)
4. Alex Marcucci (10)
5. Ricky Adams (0)
6. Brian Leventon (0)
It is hard to believe that 17 year old Kenny Ingalls only started racing Speedway 3 months ago. Behind him were 4 former youth riders with combined experience totaling nearly 2 decades.

Division 2 Consolation
1. Greg Hooten Snr. (10)
2. Shawn Eldridge (30)
3. Vince Bertolucci (20)
4. David Fonts
5. Les Veale (0)
6. Harlan Bast (30)

Division 3 Main
1. Kell Kerrigan
2. Norman Brooks
3. Don Ballard
4. Jim Jensen
5. Sean Billenstein
6. Kjell Lovlien
7. John Deatherage
8. Scott Robinson

Division 3 Consolation
1. Danny Poli
2. Dave Quick
3. Greg Howell
4. Clark Caravella
5. Steve Rowett
6. Tor Lovlien
7. Greg Lovlien
8. Cory Barringer

Youths Division 1
1. Jay Ricketts (20)
2. Paul Johnson (30)
3. Krystal Cramer (40)
4. Ricky Felicio (0)
5. Mitchell Johnson (0)

Youths Division 2
1.Tom Fehrman (30)
2. Cody Ciciarelli (20)
3. Dillon Petersen (20)
4. Bryce Starks (30)
5. Tori Hubbert (20)

Youths Division 3
1. Ben Essary (30)
2. Jacob Bracy (10)
3. Amber Felicio (0)
4. Troy Guisande (10)
5. John Randolph (0)

Next week will be the annual Civil War of Speedway with the North verses South, the one opportunity in the year to watch team racing.

In addition to the adult North vs. South, there will be a Youth Speedway NvS. Last year was an easy win for the North. With the loss of Alex Marcucci, TJ Fowler, JT Mabry and Danny Easley from the North's team, the South may get their revenge.

In answer to the question on the speedwaybikes.com distribution, yes, the North and South is alive and well and will take place next week.

In addition to the adult North vs. South, there is also a youth North vs. South, an idea introduced last year, by Gary Gomez.

The Youth North team is:

1. Paul Johnson
2. Bryce Starks
3. Jay Ricketts
4. Tom Fehrman
5. Ricky Felicio
6. Mitchell Johnson
7. (res) Dillon Petersen

I will leave it for Gary Gomez to confirm the South's team.

I believe this will be a very competitive event. Both teams have a number of new members, compared with the teams fielded last year. The North have lost Fowler, Mabry, Marcucci and Easley. The South have lost Gomez, Galvin and Fachini, and Ricky Well is in Sweden.

It will be an opportunity for those South team kids who have not ridden at Auburn to get some practice in for the September 3 Youth National Championship.

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com