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Perris Raceway
Perris, California
Gumball Rally
February 19, 2006 Perris Raceway
By: Ryan Evans
Defending Youth National Champion Ricky Wells won his third Gumball Rally trophy by turning in a flawless performance at Perris Raceway.
Wells and Ben Essary both entered the Final undefeated and were lined up next to each other at the tapes. Wells launched into the lead from gate two with Essary giving chase. Wells quickly opened up a comfortable lead leaving Essary to battle Jason Ramirez and Austin Novratil for second place. Wells increased his lead with each lap and ran away with the title while Essary held on for second, Ramirez finished third, and Novratil was fourth.
The first of three rounds of qualifying heats began with Wells defeating Novratil and Joey Holt. Essary overcame a tape penalty to pass Krystal Cramer and Dane Adams to win the next heat. Round one ended with Ramirez beating Cody Ciciarelli and Gino Manzares.
Cramer started round two with a win over Holt and Manzares. Essary made it two in a row by defeating Novratil and Ciciarelli. Wells closed out the second round with a victory over Ramirez and Adams.
The final round began with Essary winning his third straight race ahead of Ramirez and Holt. Novratil defeated Adams and Manzares for his first win of the day in the next race. Wells matched Essary's perfect score with a win over Cramer and Ciciarelli in the final heat race.
Blake Bowen capped a perfect day by winning the Second Division Final. Steven Reese finished second in his speedway debut, Phillip Harmatiuk was third, and Thomas Reich finished fourth.
Bowen began the day with a win over Dylan Black, Russell Green, and Chad Hoyt in the first heat. Reese was victorious over Harmatiuk and Reich in his first competitive speedway race.
Bowen scored his second win by defeating Reich and Black. Reese kept pace with Bowen with a win over Harmatiuk, Green, and Hoyt. Bowen made it three in a row by beating Harmatiuk, Green, and Hoyt. Reese matched Bowen's three wins with a victory in the final heat race over Reich and Black.
In addition to the traditional youth races, a special team racing event was added to the Gumball Rally this year. The 2006 Dream Team USA faced the World Aces, a group of riders from the United States and Sweden that was chosen to provide a challenge to the team that will be competing in Britain in April.
Dream Team member Nate Perkins won the first race, but World Aces teammates Ricky Wells, competing in two classes on the day, and Sweden's Simon Gustafsson, son of former Grand Prix rider Henka Gustafsson, held off Neil Facchini to get a drawn heat.
The second race ended in turn three with Tim Gomez going down and Dario Galvin hitting the fence at high speed while trying to take evasive action. Galvin was able to walk away after being down for several minutes, but was unable to compete for the rest of the day. Tommy Hedden was picked to replace Galvin in the restart and he was up to the task as he and Robin Törnqvist powered their way to a 5-1 race victory over Buck Blair.
Race three began with Under 21 National Champion Skyler Greyson trapping from the outside starting position. Greyson had a comfortable lead over Chris Kerr on the third lap when Kerr lifted in turn four and rode through the safety fence in a very scary looking crash. Fortunately, Kerr was up almost immediately but withdrew from the meeting. The restart was a carbon copy for Greyson as he trapped again and led the whole way and was followed by teammate Bryan Yarrow for another World Aces 5-1.
Hedden came back in the fourth race to score a victory, but the duo of Shaun Harmatiuk and Matt Browne were able to keep Jonas Messing at the back to salvage a drawn heat. After one round the World Aces held a 16-8 advantage.
Perkins began the second round with another win, this time ahead of Aces teammates Hedden and Messing. The Dream Team scored their first heat victory in the next race with Blair and Gomez collecting a 5-1 over Wells and Gustafsson. Törnqvist earned his first win in the next race, but Dale Facchini and Browne managed to force a drawn heat. Greyson ran away with his second win in the final race of round two, but Harmatiuk and Browne salvaged a drawn heat for the Dream Team to keep the score at 26-22 in favor of the World Aces.
Neil Facchini jumped to the lead to begin the third round, but Törnqvist chased him down and made a great outside pass as they entered turn three on the second lap. Törnqvist took the win, but the heat result was a third consecutive drawn heat. Greyson had a tape penalty in the next race and it made the task much easier for Blair and Gomez to score their second straight 5-1 and tie up the score at 30. The Dream Team followed with another heat win as Blair won the next race while Dale Facchini finished third to collect a 4-2 and give the Dream Team their first lead in the match. Harmatiuk was victorious in the final race of the round, but the World Aces forced a drawn heat to keep the deficit at four with one round to go.
Neil Facchini held off Greyson for his first win and Perkins was third to give the Dream Team a 4-2 to begin the final round. Blair and Gomez continued their dominance with their third 5-1 in a row to make the score 46-38. Wells won the penultimate race, but the drawn heat sealed the match for the Dream Team. Harmatiuk got the best start in the final race, but was immediately under attack from Törnqvist. After stalking his prey for over two laps, Törnqvist flew around the outside of Harmatiuk in turn three and ran away with his third victory and ended the day without being defeated by the opposing team. Törnqvist's efforts weren't matched by the team, however, as the final result was a 52-44 Dream Team victory.
RESULTS
DREAM TEAM USA 52 WORLD ACES 44
Dream Team USA 1 2 3 4 5 6 T
1 - Nate Perkins 3 3 2 1 9
2 - Neil Facchini 0 0 1* 3 4+1
3 - Buck Blair 1 3 3 3 3 13
4 - Tim Gomez Fx 2* 2* 2* 2 8+3
5 - Chris Kerr Fx (withdrew) 0
6 - Dale Facchini 1 2 1 1* 5+1
7 - Shaun Harmatiuk 2 2 3 2 9
8 - Matt Browne 1* 1* 1* 0 1* 4+4
World Aces 1 2 3 4 5 6 T
1 - Simon Gustafsson 1* 0 0 1* Fx 2+2
2 - Ricky Wells 2 1 2 3 8
3 - Robin Törnqvist 2* 3 3 3 11+1
4 - Dario Galvin inj. (withdrew) 0
5 - Bryan Yarrow 2 0 R 0 2+1
6 - Skyler Greyson 3 3 1 2 9
7 - Tommy Hedden 3 3 2 2 R 10
8 - Jonas Messing 0 1* 0 0 1 0 2+1
Race Results
1: Perkins, Wells, Gustafsson, N.Facchini 3-3, 3-3
2: (restarted) Hedden, Törnqvist, Blair, Gomez (fell, excluded), Galvin (inj.) 1-5, 4-8
3: (restarted) Greyson, Yarrow, D.Facchini, Kerr (fell, excluded) 1-5, 5-13
4: Hedden, Harmatiuk, Browne, Messing 3-3, 8-16
12: Perkins, Hedden, Messing, N.Facchini (fell, remounted) 3-3, 11-19
13: Blair, Gomez, Wells, Gustafsson 5-1, 16-20
14: Törnqvist, D.Facchini, Browne, Messing 3-3, 19-23
15: Greyson, Harmatiuk, Browne, Yarrow 3-3, 22-26
23: Törnqvist, Perkins, N.Facchini, Gustafsson 3-3, 25-29
24: Blair, Gomez, Greyson (tape penalty), Yarrow (retired) 5-1, 30-30
25: Blair, Hedden, D.Facchini, Messing 4-2, 34-32
26: Harmatiuk, Wells, Gustafsson, Browne 3-3, 37-35
34: N.Facchini, Greyson, Perkins, Yarrow 4-2, 41-37
35: Blair, Gomez, Messing, Hedden (retired) 5-1, 46-38
36: (restarted) Wells, Gomez, D.Facchini, Gustafsson (fell, excluded) 3-3, 49-41
37: Törnqvist, Harmatiuk, Browne, Messing 3-3, 52-44
Gumball Rally - Pee Wee Division 1 2 3 4 T
1 - Braydan Galvin 7 6 5 7 25
5 - Luke Becker 6 5 7 5 23
7 - Jordan Contreras 2 1 1 1 5
22 - Dean Carden 3 2 2 2 9
43 - River McDougall 1 7 6 8 22
104 - Kurtis Hamill 8 8 8 6 30
199 - Margi Hamill 4 3 3 3 13
999 - Samuel Ramirez 5 4 4 4 17
Gumball Rally - Second Division 1 2 3 T
7 - Dylan Black 2 1 1 4
12 - Thomas Reich 1 2 2 5
18 - Russell Green 1 1 1 3
69 - Blake Bowen 3 3 3 9
139 - Phillip Harmatiuk 2 2 2 6
154 - Chad Hoyt 0 0 0 0
301 - Steven Reese 3 3 3 9
Heat Results
7: Bowen, Black, Green, Hoyt
8: Reese, Harmatiuk, Reich
18: Bowen, Reich, Black (tape penalty)
19: Reese, Harmatiuk, Green, Hoyt
28: Bowen, Harmatiuk, Green, Hoyt
30: Reese, Reich, Black
Gumball Rally Second Division Consolation
7 - Dylan Black
18 - Russell Green
154 - Chad Hoyt
Gumball Rally Second Division Final (restarted)
69 - Blake Bowen
301 - Steven Reese
139 - Phillip Harmatiuk
12 - Thomas Reich
Gumball Rally - First Division 1 2 3 T
1 - Ricky Wells 3 3 3 9
8 - Austin Novratil 2 2 3 7
13 - Krystal Cramer 2 3 2 7
21 - Gino Manzares 1 1 1 3
23 - Dane Adams 1 1 2 4
24 - Ben Essary 3 3 3 9
66 - Jason Ramirez 3 2 2 7
70 - Cody Ciciarelli 2 1 1 4
114 - Joey Holt 1 2 1 4
Heat Results
9: (restarted) Wells, Novratil, Holt
10: Essary (tape penalty), Kramer, Adams
11: Ramirez, Ciciarelli, Manzares
20: Cramer, Holt, Manzares
21: Essary, Novratil, Cicarelli
22: Wells, Ramirez, Adams
31: Essary, Ramirez, Holt
32: Novratil,Adams, Manzares
33: Wells, Cramer, Ciciarelli
Runoff: Ramirez, Novratil, Cramer (retired)
Gumball Rally Consolation (restarted)
13 - Krystal Cramer
70 - Cody Ciciarelli
114 - Joey Holt
21 - Gino Manzares
23 - Dane Adams (fell)
Gumball Rally Final
1 - Ricky Wells
24 - Ben Essary
66 - Jason Ramirez
8 - Austin Novratil
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