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Victorville Speedway
Wheel2Wheel Raceway
Victorville, California
2008 Team Speedway Championship
November 8, 2008 - Victorville
By: Ryan Evans
National Champion Billy "The Kid" Janniro won the First Division Main Event, the Last of the Mohicans Last Man Out Challenge, and helped the Perris Eagles clinch the 2008 Team Speedway Championship in the final speedway race of 2008 in Southern California at Wheel2Wheel Raceway in Victorville.
The Eagles entered the evening with the series lead after winning the first round held at Perris Raceway the previous weekend. They battled the Victorville Vikings the entire evening in an effort to win both rounds of the Team Championship. The teams featured contrasting strengths with the Eagles led by a powerful top of the lineup that featured Janniro, Ricky Wells, and Charlie Venegas. The trio scored 25 of a possible 27 points and thoroughly dominated the First Division races. The Vikings’ strength was with Second and Third Division riders Austin Novratil, Rohn Zellner, Tim McGrath, and Drew Coates who won six of the eight races that they were in.
The two teams entered the final team race tied at 31. The deciding race would feature Third Division riders. Jonni Jade of the Ridgecrest Aces led with Michael Novratil of the Industry Heathens in second. That left Vikings member Coates and Bubba Vazzana of the Eagles battling for third and, more importantly, the match victory. Jade fell while leading and brought out the red flag. The race victory was awarded to Michael Novratil with Coates getting second, thus clinching the match for the Vikings.
The Vikings won the match; however, the Eagles’ second place in the match, coupled with their match victory in round one, gave them the overall Team Championship.
The first two starts of the Last of the Mohicans Last Man Out Challenge eliminated Buck Blair and Wells. Venegas led the third start and was followed by Janniro and McConnell. Janniro, who could’ve settled for second to advance to the final start, went up along the boards in turn three and made a scintillating pass on Venegas to get to the line first and drew a raucous ovation from the crowd. On the final start, Janniro took Venegas deep in to turn one, killing all of Venegas’s momentum, and ran away with the victory.
In the first semi, Wells and Blair finished one-two to move on to the main event. Venegas got the better of Janniro in the second semi and handed him his only defeat of the evening. Janniro’s second place was still good enough to transfer to the main event.
Blair got the best start in the First Division Main Event but was under attack by Wells from the inside and Janniro out in the cushion. Janniro made a daring move exiting turn two by splitting Blair and Wells and taking the lead on the back straight. Wells was able to secure second from Blair in turn three and turned his attention to the leader. Janniro was not going to be caught, though, and pulled away to the victory. Wells was second, Blair finished third, and Venegas was fourth.
Zellner capped his perfect night with a solid start-to-finish victory in the Second Division Main Event. “Rattlesnake” Steve Bowen finished second, Billy Lyons was third, Rick Fehrman finished fourth, and Steve Dziadus was fifth.
Coates led the Third Division Main Event for a lap before a derailed chain ended his victory bid. McGrath grabbed the lead, but was pursued by Michael Novratil. McGrath kept his poise and held on for the victory. Michael Novratil settled for second, Mike Schultz was third, Vazzana finished fourth, and Coates was credited with fifth.
Rocco Scopellite led all four laps to capture the Youth Main Event. Nicky Reimer finished second, and Erika Lyons was third.
Troy Bienert was victorious in the Pee Wee Main Event. Reimer finished second, Daniel Rottman was third, Gino Scopellite finished fourth, Lyons was fifth, and Summer Fehrman finished sixth.
This marked the final event on both the Wheel2Wheel Raceway and Southern California speedway calendars for 2008. Promoter Steve Evans has 13 events in Victorville on his tentative 2009 schedule with the first event taking place on Saturday, March 21.
RESULTS
Victorville Vikings 1 2 3 T (33)
1 – Shawn McConnell 2 2 2 6
2 – Dale Facchini 0 0 1 1
3 – Neil Facchini 1 2 1 4
4 – Austin Novratil 3 3 6
5 – Rohn Zellner 3 3 6
6 – Tim McGrath 2 3 5
7 – Drew Coates 3 2 5
Industry Hills Heathens 1 2 3 T (15)
1 – Jason Ramirez 0 2 0 2
2 – Russell Green 0 1 R 1
3 – Tony Bienert 1 F 2 3
4 – Steve Bowen 1 E 1
5 – Brad Moreau 0 1 1
6 – Mike Schultz 1 2 3
7 – Mike Novratil 1 3 4
Perris Eagles 1 2 3 T (32)
1 – Billy Janniro 3 3 3 9
2 – Ricky Wells 3 3 3 9
3 – Charlie Venegas 3 1 3 7
4 – Joey Holt 1 1 2
5 – Rick Fehrman 2 0 2
6 – Michelle Fehrman 0 0 0
7 – Bubba Vazzana 2 1 3
Ridgecrest Aces 1 2 3 T (22)
1 – Buck Blair 2 3 2 7
2 – John Marquez 1 1 0 2
3 – Tyson Burmeister 2 0 1 3
4 – Steve Dziadus 0 2 2
5 – Billy Lyons 2 2 4
6 – Tony DeAlmeida 0 1 1
7 – Jonni Jade 3 F 3
Race Results
4: Venegas, McConnell, Marquez, Green (2-0-3-1)
5: A.Novratil, Lyons, Holt, Moreau (5-0-4-3)
6: Janniro, Burmeister, Bienert, D.Facchini (5-1-7-5)
8: Wells, Blair, N.Facchini, Ramirez (tape penalty) (6-1-10-7)
9: Jade, McGrath, M.Novratil, M.Fehrman (8-2-10-10)
10: Zellner, R.Fehrman, Bowen, Dziadus (11-3-12-10)
11: Wells, McConnell, Marquez, Bienert (fell) (13-3-15-11)
13: Blair, Ramirez, Venegas (tape penalty), D.Facchini (13-5-16-14)
14: Coates, Vazzana, Schultz, DeAlmeida (16-6-18-14)
15: Janniro, N.Facchini, Green, Burmeister (18-7-21-14)
19: Wells, McConnell, Burmeister, Ramirez (20-7-24-15)
20: A.Novratil, Dziadus, Holt, Bowen (23-7-25-17)
21: McGrath, Schultz, DeAlmeida, M.Fehrman (26-9-25-18)
23: Venegas, Blair, D.Facchini, Green (retired) (27-9-28-20)
24: Zellner, Lyons, Moreau, R.Fehrman (30-10-28-22)
25: Janniro, Bienert, N.Facchini, Marquez (31-12-31-22)
26: (restarted) (awarded) M.Novratil, Coates, Vazzana, Jade (penalty line)
Team Speedway Final Standings MP TP
1. Perris Eagles 10 82
2. Victorville Vikings 8 62
3. Ridgecrest Aces 6 52
4. Industry Hills Heathens 0 37
Pee Wee Main Event
800 – Troy Bienert
41 – Nicky Reimer
4 – Daniel Rottman
7 – Gino Scopellite
77 – Erika Lyons
8 – Summer Fehrman
Youth Main Event
9 – Rocco Scopellite
41 – Nicky Reimer
77 – Erika Lyons
Second/Third Division Consolation
8j – Austin Novratil
157 – Tony DeAlmeida
223n – Michelle Fehrman
153 – Brad Moreau (fell)
266 – Jonni Jade (non starter)
Third Division Main Event
186 – Tim McGrath
181 – Michael Novratil
292 – Mike Schultz
274 – Bubba Vazzana
333 – Drew Coates
Second Division Main Event
163 – Rohn Zellner
177 – Steve Bowen
32 – Billy Lyons
240n – Rick Fehrman
212 – Steve Dziadus (fell, remounted)
Last of the Mohicans Last Man Out Challenge
1 – Billy Janniro
43 – Charlie Venegas
6 – Shawn McConnell
142 – Ricky Wells
39 – Buck Blair
First Division Semi #1: Wells, Blair, McConnell, Bienert
First Division Semi #2: (restarted) Venegas, Janniro, N.Facchini, Burmeister
First Division Consolation
6 – Shawn McConnell
103 – Tony Bienert
86 – Neil Facchini
184 – Tyson Burmeister
First Division Main Event
1 – Billy Janniro
142 – Ricky Wells
39 – Buck Blair
43 – Charlie Venegas
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