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Lake Elsinore Speedway
Lake Elsinore, California
USA U21 Team Match #1
November 13, 2004 - Lake Elsinore Speedway
By: Ryan Evans
A team of young riders who are scheduled to tour in England next year scored an impressive victory in their first exhibition test match at Lake Elsinore.
The team dubbed the "Winchester Wolves" defeated the "Elsinore Eagles" 65-36 in a one-sided match in which the outcome was decided early in the meeting. Winchester was spearheaded by Chris Kerr's paid 15 points and 14 each from T.J. Fowler, Neil Facchini, and Dario Galvin. Winchester was led by overall top-scorer "Cowboy" Bobby Krips who scored 17 points.
The first race had to be restarted after Tim Gomez went down, but Krips gave a glimpse of his afternoon with a win over Shaun Harmatiuk, while John Stunkard's third place gave Elsinore its only lead of the afternoon.
The Facchini brothers, Neil and Dale, finished first and third, respectively, to even the score at six. Race three was an impressive 5-1 for Winchester as Galvin trapped at the start for the lead and Fowler made a beautiful outside pass around Nate Perkins on the second lap to secure second place and run the score to 11-7 in favor of Winchester.
Kerr used the outside to pass John DeFries and win race four in what turned out to be a drawn heat. Harmatiuk and Gomez displayed excellent team riding to earn a 5-1 in race five, Krips ran away with his second win in race six, but another Galvin and Fowler 5-1 in race seven opened a 12-point margin on their opponents.
Races eight through eleven resulted in three drawn heats and a 5-1 scored by Kerr and Neil Facchini in race nine. Neil Facchini and Fowler teamed up for a 5-1 in race twelve to run the score to 46-26. Krips was handed his only defeat in race thirteen by Kerr in the day's fastest time, 60 seconds flat. Race fourteen was another 5-1 for Winchester, bringing the score to 54-30.
The format varied slightly from the British League format in that there were two nominated heats, with the final race being scored 6,4,2,0. Neil Facchini and Fowler had a virtual walkover 5-0 when Perkins and Skyler Greyson both fell. Krips completed his near-perfect day by winning the final race ahead of Kerr and Galvin.
The event was the first of a series of practice sessions/test matches for "Dream Team USA 2005". The team will be touring England in 2005 with a series of test matches against Conference League teams. All of the riders on the team are 21 and younger and are hoping to embark on a speedway career in Europe.
Elsinore was chosen for these training sessions because the track's size is similar to those in England and will help the riders acclimate themselves to riding the bigger tracks. The next session will be held in December.
RESULTS
Elsinore Eagles 1 2 3 4 5 T
24 - Bobby Krips 3 3 3 2 6 17
249 - John Stunkard 1 0 0 1
93 - J.T. Mabry 0 0 0 1 1
389 - Nate Perkins 1 1 1 F 3
16 - John DeFries 1* 1 2 1* 5+2
248 - Brian Starr 2 0 1* 1 4+1
105 - Michael Hernandez R 3 0 3
120 - Skyler Greyson 2 0 Fx F 2
Winchester Wolves 1 2 3 4 5 T
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 2 3 R 0 5
36 - Tim Gomez Fx 2* 1* 3 6+2
3 - T.J. Fowler 2* 2* 1* 2* 2* 9+5
145 - Dario Galvin 3 3 2 3 2* 13+1
27 - Chris Kerr 3 2 2* 3 4 14+1
201 - Neil Facchini 3 1* 3 3 3 13+1
301 - Dale Facchini 1 0 2 2* 5+1
Race Results
1: (restarted) Krips, Harmatiuk, Stunkard, Gomez (fell, excluded), 62.20 (4-2)
2: N.Facchini, Starr, D.Facchini, Hernandez (fell), 63.16 (6-6)
3: Galvin, Fowler, Perkins, Mabry, 62.22 (7-11)
4: Kerr, Greyson, DeFries, D.Facchini, 62.28 (10-14)
5: Harmatiuk, Gomez, Perkins, Mabry, 62.20 (11-19)
6: Krips, Kerr, N.Facchini, Stunkard, 61.25 (14-22)
7: Galvin, Fowler, DeFries, Starr, 62.13 (15-27)
8: Hernandez, D.Facchini, Gomez, Stunkard, 62.21 (18-30)
9: N.Facchini, Kerr, Perkins, Mabry, 61.91 (19-35)
10: Krips, Galvin, Fowler, Greyson, 61.06 (22-38)
11: Gomez, DeFries, Starr, Harmatiuk (retired), 62.55(25-41)
12: N.Facchini, Fowler, Mabry, Hernandez, 62.22 (26-46)
13: Kerr, Krips, DeFries, Harmatiuk, 60.00 (29-49)
14: (restarted) Galvin, D.Facchini, Starr, Greyson (fell, excluded), 62.22 (30-54)
15: N.Facchini, Fowler, Greyson (fell), Perkins (fell), 63.31 (30-59)
16: Krips, Kerr, Galvin, Starr, 61.16 (36-65)
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