Victorville Speedway
San Bernardino County Fairgrounds
Victorville, California

Speedway Billy Night
September 29, 2012 - Victorville
By Steve Evans

Manzares marvels at Speedway Billy Night - Victorville 29 September.

Rising star Gino Manzares rounded off a memorable 7 days in his young speedway career by winning the 'Speedway Billy' Memorial Trophy at Victorville on 29th September. Manzares, who was 4th the night before in the AMA Nationals and 5th the week before at the US National in Costa Mesa won four of his five rides including the Main Event.

The Division One program was just 5 riders in size, but quality racing was served and a round robin format for the heats, with one rider sitting out each race, proved very entertaining. Manzares won the first heat from Aaron Fox whilst Jason Ramirez did a 'Castro' on Eddie Castro, blasting around the outside for third. Next time out Manzares led home Castro whilst Max Ruml, in his first heat, kept Fox at the back. Castro hit the tapes in heat 3 and did not make an impression - Manzares leading home Ramirez and Ruml. Heat 4 proved to be an epic one - Fox lead and won but was pushed all the way by 15 year old Ruml who was trying some breathtaking moves around the outside. Ramirez once more passed an off form Castro to eliminate the track's points leader from the rest of the night. Heat 5 was a preview of the Main - Ruml led home Manzares with Fox keeping Ramirez at the back.

The final saw Ruml make the gate but Manzares, who was out of 4, edged inside along the back straight into a position he never gave up. Fox battled hard with Ruml and also used good inside line riding to get into 2nd. Ruml finished third, Ramirez 4th.

The low rider turn out in D1 turned out to be a silver lining in some ways as the Sidecar program was expanded to 10 races. National Champions Joe Jones & Johnny Glover won all four of their heats with Dylan Beard and Crystal Beard winning two, with one each going to Kevin Brown and Nick Hertrick & Jeff Medberry and Josh Bennett, who won with a fabulous outside sweep. Jones and Glover were victorious in the final with the Beards, perhaps their biggest National contenders in 2nd.

Dillon Ruml once more dominated the support class and won all races, though Chris Jones, racing a speedway bike at VV for the first time, was very impressive in keeping pace. The juniors provided a great show and all three riders won a race - Courtney Crone and Sebastian Palmese took the heats, whilst Michael Wells took the Main.

Dakota Shockley won all races in a 7 bike Pee Wee Class. There were also Mini Bike races with Tom Cords winning a Main of about 10 entries.

Speedway Billy Night is held each year to pay tribute to Billy Huspek, a much loved speedway fan who passed away a few years ago. His mother Joyce and brother Rick were guests of honor and many riders wore 'Speedway Billy' bibs on the night in tribute.

The Victorville season has two more events to stage and both are sought after Championship nights. On October 20th it is the annual 'Mission Motorsport' Sidecar Nationals, which will also feature the 'Clubman Nationals' where titles will be on the line for Division 2, 3, 200cc Junior and Pee Wees.

Then on November 10th (at an earlier than usual start time of 4pm) it will be the 'Masters Track Championship' where an excellent rider count is expected including Team USA World Cup star Ricky Well

Results
Junior
214 Michael Wells
4 Courtney Crone
18 Sebastian Palmese

Support
111 Dillon Ruml
116 Chris Jones
163 Ron Davis
224 Bander Alexander

Pee Wee
419 Dakota Shockley
14 Sara Cords
87 Maxwell Tippetts
5 Christopher Newberry
44Wyatt Cameron
X Marilyn Tippets
S Bryan Frye

Sidecar
1 Joe Jones / Johnny Glover
5150 Dylan Beard / Crystal Beard
44 Jeff Medberry / Josh Bennett
16 Kevin Brown / Nick Hertrick

Division One
24 Gino Manzares
46 Aaron Fox
308 Max Ruml
66 Jason Ramirez

Mini Bikes
Tom Cords (winner)