Victorville Speedway
Wheel2Wheel Raceway
Victorville, California

2008 New Year's Classic
February 2, 2008 - Victorville
By: Ryan Evans

The 2008 Southern California speedway season began the same way the 2007 season ended, with Billy "The Kid" Janniro winning the main event at Wheel2Wheel Raceway in Victorville.

Ricky Wells entered the main event undefeated and used first gate choice to select the outside. Chris Kerr, who will be racing for the Redcar Bears in the British Premier League, picked gate one. Janniro, who just re-signed with the Coventry Bees of the British Elite League, chose gate two, which left Buck Blair with gate three.

Janniro led the field in the New Year's Classic Main Event into turn one and he exited turn two with Kerr chasing him. Kerr was unable to mount a serious threat and Janniro was first to the checkered flag. Previously unbeaten Ricky Wells finished third and Buck Blair was fourth.

Wells led Janniro in the first heat before falling in turn three, then Janniro and Billy Lyons tangled in turn one on the restart. Janniro was leading the third attempt before experiencing mechanical problems which handed the win to Wells. Kerr handily won his first race of the day in the second heat. Wells defeated Blair for his second win. Kerr beat Janniro into turn one and held off all of Janniro's efforts to score an impressive second consecutive win. Tim Gomez held off the dual efforts of Blair and Shaun Harmatiuk for three laps and appeared to have held off a last-corner charge by Harmatiuk for the victory. However, the referee declared Harmatiuk to be the winner.

Janniro began the second half of the program with his first win of the day. Blair used a superb cutback move on Kerr in turn two to take the lead and kept him at bay for his first win. Wells scored an easy third victory in race 18. Blair narrowly led Janniro for three laps before the former SRA National Champion made a scintillating pass around the boards to take the lead and the win. Wells won the last heat over Kerr to finish the heats with a perfect score.

Bryan Buffington led the Second Division Main Event, but Steve Bowen tried to charge underneath the leader coming off the final corner. Bowen clipped Buffington and hit the wall hard. Buffington held on and crossed the line first and was followed by Russell Green. Bowen walked off the track, but eventually went to the hospital and may have broken his ribs.

J.C. Masters led the Third Division Main Event from start to finish to collect the victory. Brad Moreau was second, Danny Baker finished third, Mike Nutting was fourth, and Jonni Jade finished fifth.

The next scheduled event at Wheel2Wheel Raceway is Saturday, March 1.

RESULTS 

Third Division Last Chance 
266 - Jonni Jade
157 - Tony DeAlmeida
226 - Rick Huspek
124 - Paul Thornton 	(non starter)
300 - Jason Dupuy 	(non starter) 

Third Division Main Event (restarted)
202 - J.C. Masters
153 - Brad Moreau
126 - Danny Baker
218 - Mike Nutting
266 - Jonni Jade 	(penalty line) 

Second Division Last Chance 
321 - Russell Green
163 - Rohn Zellner
212 - Steve Dziadus 

Second Division Main Event 
77 - Bryan Buffington
321 - Russell Green
177 - Steve Bowen 	(fell)
388 - Donnie Robinson 	(non starter) 

First Division Scoring	1 2 3 4   T
 14 - Billy Janniro 		R 2 3 3   8
 27 - Chris Kerr 		3 3 2 2   10
 30 - Tim Gomez 		1 2 - -   3
 32 - Billy Lyons 		1 0 1 2   4
 39 - Buck Blair 		2 1 3 2   8
 41 - John Marquez 		1 0 2 1   4
 52 - Marvin Sonnier 		2 E - -   2
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 		2 3 1 1   7
142 - Ricky Wells 		3 3 3 3   12
182 - Rudy Laurer 		0 1 1 0   2 

Race Results 
 3: (restarted) Wells (penalty line), Sonnier, Lyons, Janniro (retired)
 4: Kerr, Harmatiuk, Gomez, Laurer
 7: Wells, Blair, Marquez, Lyons
10: Kerr, Janniro, Laurer, Sonnier (engine failure)
11: Harmatiuk, Gomez, Blair, Marquez
14: Janniro, Marquez, Lyons
15: Blair, Kerr, Laurer
18: Wells, Lyons, Harmatiuk (fell, remounted)
21: Janniro, Blair, Marquez, Laurer
22: Wells, Kerr, Harmatiuk 

First Division C Main 
32 - Billy Lyons
182 - Rudy Laurer 

First Division B Main 
 39 - Buck Blair
 41 - John Marquez
 32 - Billy Lyons
139 - Shaun Harmatiuk 	(fell) 

First Division Main Event 
 14 - Billy Janniro
 27 - Chris Kerr
142 - Ricky Wells
 39 - Buck Blair