Victorville Speedway
San Bernardino County Fair
14800 Seventh Street
Victorville, California
Firecracker Derby
Victorville Speedway
July 4, 2016
Dorcey Wingo Photos
Firecracker Derby Results:
150cc Main:
419 Dakota Shockley
25 Travis Horn
33 Gavin Geist
96 Andrew Russell
Support Main:
170 Hayley Perrault
90 Niall Strudwick
150 Will McCloskey
299 Cameron Beck
500cc Main:
5 Max Ruml
111 Dillon Ruml
48 Tyson Talkington
10 Gage Geist
The Firecracker Derby at Wheel2Wheel Raceway, July 4th, 2016
In the days of old, Speedway and fireworks used to be the going thing. But for years now, Independence Day has gone mostly unobserved at SoCal venues. So nothing got my attention like the opportunity to photograph Wheel2Wheel’s 4th of July Speedway event, AND finish it up with a night of fireworks. Such was the invitation offered up by Promoters Gary Gomez, John Aden and his gracious wife, Crystal. How could any real Speedway fan resist?
Gary Gomez produced a decent 1st Division lineup for Monday’s event, with hot shoes like Max and Dillon Ruml, Broc Nicol, Austin Novratil and Gage Geist, going head-to-head with Tyson Talkington, Robbie Sauer, and Dalton Leedy. The Support class was also well represented, including visiting British rider, #90 Niall Strudwick. The kids were riding everything from Pit Bikes to 150cc Speedway bikes, and they were going fast around the 1/8 mile, banked-dirt oval. The stands were mostly full for the sunny event, and although the southwest wind was constant at 15 knots or so, no one complained of blowing dust or control problems.
Wheel2Wheel promotes Speedway Sprint karts in between Speedway bike races, so the crowd got to see almost forty races before fireworks were due to start at the County Fair complex.
Although there were many spills and thrills, the only injury of note was to young stud #7 Austin Novratil, who threw a chain at speed in turn two, dumping him rudely on the hard surface. Novratil’s bike was toast, but Austin was able to walk off the track, nursing a right shoulder injury.
#419 Dakota Shockley won the 150cc event in good time, showing a lot of track skills. #170 Hayley Perrault was victorious in the Support Class, with nary a bobble in her aggressive riding style. Brothers Max and Dillon Ruml ruled the evening’s 1st Division Scratch Main Event, with Max taking 1st and Dillon a close 2nd.
The races were over before I knew what happened, spectacular fireworks started taking over the desert evening’s sky. It was good to be back in Victorville, appreciating all the upgrades that have been made at one of my favorite Speedway tracks. From a photographer’s viewpoint, the light is just a little different here. I’m certainly looking forward to the next event, coming up this fall.
Cheers,
dw
All of us at Wheel2Wheel Raceway hope you and your family had a fabulous 4th of July! I know we did and we want to thank all you who came out and celebrated our great county with us for a fun night of racing, food and fireworks.
A special thank you to our guests for the night the Speedway Bikes & AlarmCo, the fantastic sponsor for the Firecracker Derby. We enjoyed having you guys there and look forward to welcoming you back to the other 3 races this year! Hope you enjoyed the track! Extra love to Gary Gomez for arraigning it all with us, Gina Horn for always designing our lovely program and the extra help today, Tori for live streaming it, and all the other Speedway workers that made it possible.
Thank you as always to our own staff of track hands, flaggers, referee, score keeper, announcers including our intern, ticket takers, and concession sellers. Literally - Dwayne, Dena, Jen, Ron, Scott, Charlie, Sam, Jeff, Ashley, Erin, Noah, Tree, Gilbert and crew - without you all, tonight would not have been such a success. THANK YOU, you all are cherished and so appreciated. Charlie, we are so saddened to see you go but happy for your new ventures, and look forward to your upcoming visits back to W2W. XOXO
Without further ado, we want to congratulate all our winners for the night and post finishing order we have available. W2W drivers, this was a double points race so be sure to check out those newly listed point standings that should be posted by tomorrow evening. Thank you to each of you for being part of our racing family!
July 4th, 2016 Winners:
Intermediate Class:
1st Place Corben Sabers #9
2nd Place Lyla Bonham #4
3rd Place Braden Streuter #10
Restrictor Class:
1st Place Kevin Oshins #78
2nd Place Austin Brundage #3A
3rd Place Randy Oshins #77
500 Class:
1st Place John Alonso #1
2nd Place Daniel Bennett #29
3rd Place Eric Englert #35
Dirt Karts Seniors:
1st Place Bill Martin #M-1
2nd Place Rick Beeson #44
3rd Place Timothy Lucero #39
Dirt Karts Juniors:
1st Place Lyla Bonham #4
2nd Place Chris Gregory Jr #40
3rd Place Cash Culp $
Pit Bikes:
1st Place Jayden Manchester #23
2nd Place Go-Go Geist #6
3rd Drake Connor #5
Speedway Bikes Jr 150:
1st Place Dakota Shockley #419
2nd Place Travis Horn #25
3rd Place Glenn Geist #33
4th Place Andrew Russell #96
Speedway Bikes Support:
1st Place Hayley Perrault #170
2nd Place Niall Strudwick #90
3rd Place Will McCloskey #150
4th Place Cameron Beck #299
Speedway Bikes 500 D1:
1st Place Max Ruml #5
2nd Place Dillion Ruml #111
3rd Place Tyson Talkington #48
4th Place Gage Geist #10
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