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Victorville Speedway
Wheel2Wheel Raceway
Victorville, California
Team Racing
August 2, 2008 - Victorville
By: Ryan Evans
Buck Blair won the individual battle in the Scratch Main Event, but the Victorville Vikings destroyed the Perris Eagles 40 to 26 in the team war at Wheel2Wheel Raceway in Victorville.
The team event began with a drawn heat as “Fast” Eddie Castro of the Vikings won the race, but was followed by Eagles teammates Jimmy Fishback and Marvin Sonnier.
Race two was being led by veteran teammates Shawn McConnell and Tony Bienert ahead of the Eagles’ pair of 16 year olds, Jason Ramirez and Russell Green when Ramirez went over backward coming out of turn two. Ramirez was penalized and Green was unable to restart due to mechanical issues. Bienert and McConnell controlled the restart with a 5-1.
Dale Facchini and Tim Gomez followed that with another Vikings 5-1 before Blair and Rohn Zellner cut into the deficit with an Eagles 4-2 heat to make the score 15-9 for the Vikings after the first round.
Castro led a 4-2 Vikings heat to start round two and that was followed by Dale Facchini and Gomez pairing for another 4-2. The next race was a drawn heat, but Bienert and Neil Facchini scored the third Vikings 5-1 of the match to increase their lead to 31-17 at the end of the second round.
The final round of team racing began with Castro making an outside pass on Greg Ayers for the lead and the win, but Ayers and Robbie Sauer managed a drawn heat. Ramirez and Bienert battled side-by-side before Ramirez took the lead and the win. Gomez and Fishback fought for the lead before Fishback surged ahead and took the win. Blair won the final heat, but it didn’t do enough to help the Eagles’ cause. The final score was a 40 to 26 Vikings victory.
A runoff was necessary to fill the last spot in the Rider of the Night Semis. Fishback defeated Sauer and Neil Facchini to get into the semis. Castro handily won the first semi for his fourth straight win with Fishback getting second to also transfer to the main. Blair led McConnell all the way in the second semi and the two booked their place in the main event.
Bienert made the best start in the Consolation, but Ramirez used the outside to come from the back and was next to Bienert when they entered turn three the second time. Ramirez stayed high on the banking, pulled ahead on the front straight, and made an assertive dive to the inside just in front of Bienert. Ramirez led the rest of the way for the victory.
In the Main, Blair used the outside gate to lead into turn one, but McConnell used the inside line to pull alongside the Colorado native on the back straight. The two remained in lockstep for two laps with McConnell creeping ahead in the corners while Blair would use the banking to lead on the straights. At the end of lap two Blair finally had enough momentum to drop down to the inside and secure the lead entering turn one. Blair remained low and protected his lead all the way to the checkered flag. McConnell settled for second, Fishback was third, and Castro finished fourth.
A new race meeting brought a new event to Wheel2Wheel Raceway in the form of the Holeshot Challenge. It was contested similar to the last-man-out races, except the object was to not be last exiting turn two. The purpose was to see who the evening’s best starter is. The first edition featured what would turn out to be the Scratch Main field: McConnell, Castro, Fishback, and Blair. Fishback was narrowly eliminated on the first start and he was followed out the exit door by Blair. Castro got the jump in the final start, but McConnell was brilliant in turn one and closed the gap only to be defeated by inches.
Bruce Marteney led the Third Division Main Event before Chris Thomas charged up the inside on the second lap to take the lead. Thomas made no mistakes from there and was victorious. Marteney was second, Jonni Jade finished third, Brad Moreau was fourth, Tim McGrath finished fifth, and Tony DeAlmeida was sixth.
Rocco Scopellite won both his heats and ran away with the Youth Main Event. Samuel Ramirez finished second, Major Davis was third, and Nicky Reimer finished fourth.
Reimer made a bold outside pass in the first corner and never looked back en route to victory in the Pee Wee Main Event. Nick Varner was second, Brandt Fletcher finished third, Kylie Ayers finished fourth, and Gino Scopellite was fifth.
RESULTS
Pee Wee Main Event (restarted)
41 - Nicky Reimer
3 - Nick Varner
7 - Brandt Fletcher
17 - Kylie Ayers
7 - Gino Scopellite
Youth Main Event
9 - Rocco Scopellite
22 - Samuel Ramirez
999 - Major Davis
41 - Nicky Reimer
Third Division Last Chance
186 - Tim McGrath 20
157 - Tony DeAlmeida 10
226 - Rick Huspek 10
292 - Mike Schultz 20
124 - Paul Thornton 10 (non starter)
Third Division Main Event
189 - Chris Thomas 20
242 - Bruce Marteney 10
266 - Jonni Jade 20
153 - Brad Moreau 30
186 - Tim McGrath 20
157 - Tony DeAlmeida 10 (non starter)
Holeshot Challenge
14 - Eddie Castro
6 - Shawn McConnell
39 - Buck Blair
25 - Jimmy Fishback
Victorville Vikings Scoring 1 2 3 4 5 T
1 - Eddie Castro 3 3 3 9
2 - Jon Stasiefski 0 1 0 0 1 2
3 - Shawn McConnell 2' 3 2 7+1
4 - Billy Lyons (rider replacement)
5 - Tim Gomez 2' 1 2 5+1
6 - Dale Facchini 3 3 1' 7+1
7 - Neil Facchini 0 2' 1' 3+2
8 - Tony Bienert 3 2 3 2 10
Perris Eagles Scoring 1 2 3 4 5 T
1 - Buck Blair 3 2 3 8
2 - Rohn Zellner 1 0 1
3 - Jimmy Fishback 2 0 3 5
4 - Marvin Sonnier 1' 1 0 2+1
5 - Jason Ramirez 1 2 3 6
6 - Russell Green M 0 0 0
7 - Greg Ayers F 1' 2 3+1
8 - Robbie Sauer 1 2 1' 4+1
Race Results
4: Castro, Fishback, Sonnier, Stasiefski (3-3) (3-3)
5: (restarted) Bienert, McConnell, Ramirez (penalty line), Green (two-minute exclusion) (5-1) (8-4)
6: D.Facchini, Gomez, Sauer, Ayers (fell) (5-1) (13-5)
7: Blair, Bienert, Zellner, N.Facchini (fell, remounted) (2-4) (15-9)
13: Castro, Blair, Stasiefski, Zellner (4-2) (19-11)
14: D.Facchini, Ramirez, Gomez, Green (4-2) (23-13)
15: McConnell, Sauer, Ayers, Stasiefski (3-3) (26-16)
16: Bienert, N.Facchini, Sonnier, Fishback (fell, remounted) (5-1) (31-17)
21: Castro, Ayers, Sauer, Stasiefski (3-3) (34-20)
22: Ramirez, Bienert, N.Facchini, Green (3-3) (37-23)
23: Fishback, Gomez, D.Facchini, Sonnier (3-3) (40-26)
24: Blair, McConnell, Stasiefski, Zellner (3-3) (43-29)
Rider of the Night Runoff: Fishback, Sauer, N.Facchini
Rider of the Night Semi #1: Castro, Fishback, Bienert, D.Facchini
Rider of the Night Semi #2: Blair, McConnell, Ramirez, Gomez
Rider of the Night Consolation
66 - Jason Ramirez
103 - Tony Bienert
19 - Dale Facchini
30 - Tim Gomez
Rider of the Night Main Event
39 - Buck Blair
6 - Shawn McConnell
25 - Jimmy Fishback
14 - Eddie Castro
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