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Victorville Speedway
Wheel2Wheel Raceway
Victorville, California
Independence Day
July 4, 2006 - Victorville
By: Ryan Evans
An Independence Day evening filled with exciting racing that was witnessed by a large crowd came to a tragic conclusion at Wheel2Wheel Raceway in Victorville.
Mike Faria was leading the main event on lap two while Skyler Greyson and Buck Blair were battling for second. Greyson and Blair came together in turn one on the second lap which resulted in Blair going down hard and Greyson hitting the wall at a high rate of speed.
Both riders were transported to Loma Linda Medical Center, Blair by ambulance and Greyson via helicopter. Blair was released early the next morning while Greyson remains hospitalized as a result of the head injuries suffered in the crash.
The long-awaited first 2006 speedway meeting at Wheel2Wheel Raceway was greeted by the facility's largest crowd since the AMA National Round in 2004. The evening featured a four-team tournament between the Victorville "Schlamans Service" Vikings, the Orange County "BBB Raingutters" Bees, the Industry Hills Aces, and the Woodland Eagles. In addition, there was a Support Division, Youth Division, and Sidecars.
Woodland, led by Faria's 12-point maximum and Eddie Castro's ten point haul scored 48 points to win the four-team tournament. Faria was never headed the entire evening and his only serious challenge came from Greyson in heat 23. Mark Adams contributed eight points and Travis Henderson added seven.
Victorville, suffering their first team defeat, had very balanced scoring in tallying 35 points for second. Rohn Zellner, winner of two races, scored eight points to lead the Vikings. Neil Facchini and Ricky Wells each scored seven.
Orange County scored 33 points to get third. Blair scored 12 points from five rides and Greyson chipped in with ten points and two race victories.
Industry Hills scored 15 points to garner fourth. Their leading scorer was Michael Hull with eight points which included the Aces' only race victory.
Henderson jumped into the front of the Club Main Event and was never seriously challenged en route to his first main event victory. Zellner finished second, Tony Bracy was third, and Kim Stevens finished fourth.
Wells was first off the line in the Consolation and led all four laps for the win. Dale Facchini was second, Adams finished third, and Neil Facchini was fourth.
The Support Main Event ended up being a match race as attrition and riders being promoted into the team event whittled the field down. Allen Doss got the start and held the lead the entire way to score the victory over Steve Bowen.
Krystal Cramer won both Youth heats and maintained her perfect evening with a runaway victory in the Youth Main Event. Russell Green finished second, Joey Holt was third, and Dylan Black finished fourth.
The sidecars made their first appearance at Wheel2Wheel in several years and it was the team of Jeff Medberry and Chris Levitt taking the victory. Kirk Williams and uMatt Davis finished second, with Mark Adams and Ashley Thill coming in third.
The next speedway meeting at Wheel2Wheel Raceway will be Saturday, July 22 and will feature a two-team match, support divisions, youth speedway, and sidecars.
RESULTS
Sidecar Main Event
11 - Jeff Medberry and Chris Levitt
12 - Kirk Williams and uMatt Davis
23 - Mark Adams and Ashley Thill
Youth Main Event
13 - Krystal Cramer
18 - Russell Green
114 - Joey Holt
7 - Dylan Black
Support Main Event
232 - Allen Doss
177 - Steve Bowen
Woodland Eagles 1 2 3 4 5 T
1 - Eddie Castro 3 3 2 2 10
2 - Mike Faria 3 3 3 3 12
3 - Mark Adams 2 1 2 3 8
4 - Jon Stasiefski 0 2 2 1 5
5 - Travis Henderson 3 2 2 7
6 - Kim Stevens 1 2 3 6
Victorville "Schlamans Service" Vikings
1 - Neil Facchini 2 1 3 1 7
2 - Dale Facchini 1 1 3 1 6
3 - Ricky Wells 2 2 0 3 7
4 - Billy Lyons 2 0 1 1 4
5 - Rohn Zellner 2 3 3 7
6 - Billy Braden 2 - - - 2
7 - Steve Bowen 0 1 - - 1
Orange County "BBB Raingutters" Bees
1 - Buck Blair 3 3 2 2 2 12
2 - Skyler Greyson 1 1 3 3 2 10
3 - (Rider Replacement)
4 - Bryan Buffington 1 0 0 2 0 3
5 - Eddie Martinez 0 0 0 0
6 - Tony Bracy 3 3 1 F 7
Industry Hills Aces
1 - (Rider Replacement)
2 - Robbie Sauer 0 1 1 F 0 2
3 - Michael Hull F 3 2 1 2 8
4 - Steve Dziadus Jr. M 0 0 0 0 0
5 - Johnny Lupo 0 1 0 1 2
6 - Steve Dziadus Sr. 1 1 2 4
Race Results
1: Faria, Lyons, Buffington, Hull (fell)
2: Castro, Wells, Greyson (tape penalty), Sauer
3: Blair, Adams, D.Facchini, Dziadus Jr. (two-minute exclusion)
4: Hull, N.Facchini, Greyson, Stasiefski (tape penalty)
5: Henderson, Braden, Dziadus Sr., Martinez
6: Bracy, Zellner, Stevens, Lupo
10: Blair, Stasiefski, Sauer, Lyons (fell, remounted)
11: Greyson, Wells, Adams, Dziadus Jr.
13: Castro, Hull, D.Facchini, Buffington
14: Faria, Blair, N.Facchini, Dziadus Jr. (fell, remounted)
16: Zellner, Stevens, Dziadus Sr., Martinez (fell, remounted)
17: Bracy, Henderson, Lupo, Bowen (fell, remounted)
22: Greyson, Castro, Lyons, Dziadus Jr.
23: Faria, Blair, Hull, Wells (fell, remounted)
24: D.Facchini, Stasiefski, Bracy, Lupo
25: N.Facchini, Adams, Sauer, Buffington
26: (restarted) Zellner, Henderson, Lupo, Martinez
27: Stevens, Dziadus Sr., Bowen, Bracy (fell)
29: Wells, Buffington, Stasiefski (tape penalty), Dziadus Jr.
30: (restarted) Adams, Hull, Lyons, Buffington
31: Faria, Greyson, D.Facchini, Sauer
32: Blair, Castro, N.Facchini, Sauer
Club Main
Travis Henderson
Rohn Zellner
Tony Bracy
Kim Stevens
Speedway Consolation
Ricky Wells
Dale Facchini
Mark Adams
Neil Facchini
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