Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Auburn, California

Fast Friday's Motorcycle Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Venegas picks up first scratch win of season
By Michael Kirby (Story & Photos)
AUBURN, CALIFORNIA, June 7, 2013

Veteran speedway rider Charlie Venegas picked up his first scratch main event win of the season at Fast Fridays Motorcycle Speedway in Auburn at the Gold Country Fairgrounds Friday night. Venegas worked his way to the night's finale and proved to be the fastest man of the evening with a win and second place finish in his scratch heat and semi-final races. On the start line in lane two Venegas faced a very fast field. Bryce Starks who was having a stellar evening drew lane one. Billy Janniro was in three and Bryan Yarrow was outside in lane four. A start malfunction caused a restart, and Venegas, on a borrowed bike for the second week in a row, got a great gate. "We replaced a cam in the bike this week and it felt like I came out of the gate on concrete," said Venegas of his excellent start. Janniro tried to catch Venegas but he held the inside and Janniro was unable to take Venegas on the outside. Janniro had to settle for second place after double Division I main event wins last week. Starks finished third and Yarrow fourth.

Starks seems to have put it all together this week grabbing the win in round three of the Challenge Elimination Series and appearances in the handicap and scratch main events. Starks outlasted Janniro, Venegas, Daniel Faria, and held on to beat Bob Hicks in the final two lap race of round three in the series. Starks joins round one and round two winners Tommy Hedden and Bryan Yarrow in the August 23 championship.

It looks like Ryan Bast will gain a little ground when he lines up in the handicap program next week. Bast rode an excellent race and won the Division I handicap main event Friday night. Bast started on the 10-yard line this week and will likely start on the 20-yard line next week. Bast held off Bob Hicks, Janniro and his cousin Bart Bast who caught Janniro at the finish line by a half of bike length for a thrilling third place finish. Hicks was second.

In Division II Chris Popanz won the main event. Popanz kept ahead of Kyle Marsalla and Michael Achilles who finished second and third. This was the first main event win of the 2013 season for Popanz. In Division III the Mersaroli brothers seem to be trading main event wins week to week. This week it was David Mersaroli who made his way to the winner's podium. Louie Mersaroli won the main event last week and finished third this week. Kurt Kornchuk was second. Back on top in the Youth 250cc division, Luke Becker picked up his fourth main event win of season. His one loss was last week to Colton Hicks. Gage Geist was second. Alex Martin took a well earned victory lap with the checkered flag after winning the Youth 150cc main event.

Fast Fridays fans can look forward to next week when the ever popular Extreme Sidecar Series returns for their third of six appearances this season along with more exciting racing action.

Results from Fast Friday's for 6-7-13

Division 1 Scratch Main Event
1-Charlie Venegas, 2-Billy Janniro, 3-Bryce Starks, 4-Bryan Yarrow

Division I Handicap Main Event
1-Ryan Bast, 2-Bob Hicks, 3-Bart Bast

Division II Main Event
1-Chris Popanz, 2-Kyle Marsalla, Michael Achilles

Division III Main Event
1-David Mersaroli, 2-Kurt Kornchuk, 3-Louie Mersaroli

Youth 250cc Division Main
1-Luke Becker

Youth 150cc Division
1-Alex Martin 2-Sterling Martin 3-Landon Norton

Run What U Brung
1-Kevin Smith

Challenge Elimination Series (Round Three)
1-Bryce Starks, 2-Bob Hicks, 3-Billy Janniro, 4-Charlie Venegas, 5-Daniel Faria

Photos By Michael Kirby

	Ryan Bast (far) works to get around Tommy Hedden (front) in the Division I handicap main event Friday night at Fast Fridays. Bast went on to win his first main event of the season.
	Charlie Venegas (right) won the Division I scratch main event. Venegas was able to get a good gate and beat a very talented field. Pictured Venegas races against Billy Janniro (left) in a handicap semi-final race earlier in the evening.
	Bryce Starks (right) and Tommy Hedden (left) ride hard in a scratch semi-final race. Starks a had a good night finishing second in this race and working his way into both Division I main events. Starks also won the third round of the Challenge Elimination Series.
	Eight-year old Alex Martin won the Youth 150cc main event.
	Charlie Venegas won the Division I scratch main event Friday night at Fast Fridays. Venegas made adjustments to his borrowed bike to improve his performance and beat everyone off the line for the win.