Victorville Speedway
Wheel2Wheel Raceway
San Bernardino County Fairgrounds
Victorville, California

Spring Classic
April 4, 2009 - Victorville
By: Ryan Evans

Defending National Champion Billy “The Kid” Janniro captured the Spring Classic main event for the second consecutive meeting with another splendid performance at Wheel2Wheel Raceway in Victorville.

Janniro had the first choice of starting position for the main event and he decided to pick gate four. 2007 Victorville Track Champion Buck Blair picked gate three. “Fast” Eddie Castro chose gate one which left Jason Ramirez with gate two.

Janniro exploded off the line and immediately went to the outside in turn one while Ramirez stayed low and held onto second as they exited turn two. Blair tried to follow Janniro’s outside path on the back straight but Ramirez wisely pinched the line and Blair lost momentum entering turn three. Janniro had a big lead after one lap, but the battle for second was just heating up. Blair went to the outside again and remained there throughout the second lap. The Colorado native mustered enough speed at the end of lap two that he dropped down in front of the 2007 Youth National Champion with inches to spare as they entered turn one. Ramirez tried to get the position back but Blair held him at bay. Meanwhile, Janniro was long gone and cruised to the victory. Blair finished second, Ramirez was third, and Castro finished fourth.

The first heat required two restarts as the riders struggled with the tricky track conditions. Tyson Burmeister won the third attempt to complete race one ahead of Ramirez. John Marquez withdrew from the meeting due to lingering effects from a crash. Janniro began his evening with a runaway victory in the second heat. Blair closed out the first round with his first win.

The earned-handicap rounds began with Castro starting in the front and running away with a win. Perkins was leading the next heat with Janniro in pursuit when Ramirez went down in turn four. The red flag came out for the fallen rider with Perkins still leading. The referee declared the race to be complete and awarded the victory to Perkins, subsequently handing Janniro his first defeat of the season. Burmeister ended the round by coming from the back for his second win in a row.

Blair started the final round with his second victory of the evening. Ramirez led the next race from start to finish with Perkins getting second. Janniro had nobody starting in front of him in the final heat and scored a runaway win to close out the heats. Jon Stasiefski defeated Billy Lyons in a runoff for the final spot in the semis.

The first semi started with Janniro jumping into the lead ahead of Perkins. Janniro left little doubt as to the victor would be, but Castro made a fantastic outside pass on Perkins to take second and the transfer to the main. Blair and Ramirez ran one-two in the second semi to complete the main event field.

Josh Abbott won his heat, his semi, and completed his perfect evening with a victory in the Support Main Event. Abbott, whose father is a former First Division racer, led all four laps to win the main in his first ever meeting in Victorville. Drew Coates finished second, Bubba Vazanna was third, Rick Fehrman finished fourth, Brad Moreau was fifth, and Rick Fritch finished sixth.

Rocco Scopellite had a perfect evening with three wins, including a victory in the Youth Main Event. Maxwell Ruml finished second and Erika Lyons was third.

Erika Lyons came from the back to narrowly defeat Summer Fehrman in the Pee Wee Main Event. Sahara McGuire finished third and Dakota Shockley was fourth.

The next event at Wheel2Wheel Raceway is the Holeshot Challenge on Saturday, April 18.

RESULTS 

Pee Wee Main Event
 77 - Erika Lyons 
  8 - Summer Fehrman 
Sahara McGuire 
 34 - Dakota Shockley 

Youth Main Event 
  9 - Rocco Scopellite 
356 - Maxwell Ruml 
 77 - Erika Lyons 
 22 - Samuel Ramirez 		(non starter) 

Support Consolation 
157 - Tony DeAlmeida 		10 
266 - Jonni Jade 		30 
231 - Gene Stone 		10 
124 - Paul Thornton 		10 
223n - Michelle Fehrman		10 
186 - Tim McGrath 		20 	(non starter) 

Support Main Event 
141 - Josh Abbott 		10 
195 - Drew Coates 		30 
274 - Bubba Vazanna 		20 
240n - Rick Fehrman 		30 
153 - Brad Moreau 		30 
288 - Rick Fritch 		30 

First Division Scoring	1	2	3	T
  1 – Billy Janniro		3	2	3	8
 8j – Austin Novratil		2	2	1	5
 13 – Nate Perkins		1	3	2	6
 14 – Eddie Castro		1	3	2	6
 32 – Billy Lyons		2	1	1	4
 39 – Buck Blair		3	1	3	7
 41 – John Marquez		0	N	N	0
 66 – Jason Ramirez		2	F	3	5
110 – Jon Stasiefski		1	2	1	4
177 – Steve Bowen		0	1	0	1
184 – Tyson Burmeister		3	3	2	8

Race Results
 5: (restarted twice) Burmeister, Ramirez, Castro, Marquez (penalty line)
 6: Janniro, Lyons, Stasiefski
 7: Blair, Novratil, Perkins, Bowen
13: Castro [10], Novratil [20], Lyons [20], Marquez [0] (non starter)
14: (awarded) Perkins [10], Janniro [30], Bowen [0], Ramirez [20] (fell)
15: Burmeister [30], Stasiefski [10], Blair [30] (retired) 
20: Blair [10], Burmeister [30], Lyons [10]
21: Ramirez [0], Perkins [30], Stasiefski [20], Bowen [10]
22: Janniro [20], Castro [30], Novratil [20]

Runoff: Stasiefski, Lyons
Semi #1: Janniro, Castro, Perkins, Stasiefski
Semi #2: Blair, Ramirez, Novratil, Burmeister (retired)

First Division C Main 
 32 - Billy Lyons 
177 - Steve Bowen 

First Division Consolation 
 13 - Nate Perkins 
 8j - Austin Novratil 
110 - Jon Stasiefski 
184 - Tyson Burmeister 

First Division Main Event 
  1 - Billy Janniro 
 39 - Buck Blair 
 66 - Jason Ramirez 
 14 - Eddie Castro