Ridgecrest Speedway

520 S. Richmond Road
Ridgecrest, CA 93555

2017 Ridgecrest Speedway
May 20, 2017 - Duel in the Desert
Results by Steve Evans
Dorcey Wingo Photos

Results from Ridgecrest Speedway - and are Continued below.

	Dorcey Wingo Photos
150cc winner Justin Almon	150cc Justin Almon	150cc Main Event
250cc Sara Cords and Michael Wells	250cc Sara Cords	250cc Main Event
250cc Sammy Tetrault and Aidan McNutt	250cc winner Michael Wells and Dad	Announcer Chris Ackerman
Eddie Castro	Eddie Castro	Sara Cords
Steve Evans	Geist and Geist	Geist and Geist
Gage Geist	Glenn Geist	Go Go Geist and Justin Almon
Go Go Geist	Hooligans and Run What You Brung Main Event action	Hooligans and Run what you Brung Main Event
Manzares and Novratil	Gino Manzares saluting the crowd	River McDougall
Sean McDougall	Lawrence McNutt	Novratil and Geist
Pro Main Event winner Gino Manzares	Race 2 Heat 2	Race 27 Heat 13 - top 2 scorers from each team
Race 27 Heat 13 Eagles winner Rick Valdez	Race 28 Heat 14 Pro Main Event	Ridgecrest Stadium
Johnny Sauter - Gene the Machine	Sammy Tetrault	Rick Valdez
Michael Wells	Sidecar Duckett, Adam and Adrian	Sidecar Main Event
Sidecar Medberry and Davis	Sidecar winners Osborne and Kronkite	Sidecars Medberry and Davis vs Duckett and Adrian

Duel in the Desert - May 20, 2017 - Ridgecrest Speedway

Geist And Manzares Star at Duel in the Desert As Vikings Defeat Eagles!

After a 7 year absence Speedway Motorcycle racing returned to the Desert Empire Fairgrounds at Ridgecrest, California, in front of packed grandstands of enthusiastic fans, many of whom were seeing speedway for the first time.

On a temporarily laid track in the rodeo arena that brought rave reviews from the riders in attendance, the Ventura Vikings defeated the Perris Eagles in the 14 heat team event by 46-38. Gage Geist of the Eagles continued his hot streak of late, rattling of 4 heat wins and top scoring on the night with 16 points. Rick Valdez supported Geist with 9, but in the end, it was bike attrition to Austin Novratil and Cameron Beck that gave the Eagles an impossible task to secure the win. Gino Manzares, fresh off of his win at Costa Mesa the week before, top scored with 12 for the Vikings. His team mates all contributed vital points with River McDougall scoring 11 including two wins, whilst father Sean added 8+1. A heat 3 4-2 put the Vikings 10-8 up after 3 races. From thereon they slowly extended their lead to win by 8 points on the night with the Eagles keeping at as tight as they could but never being quite close enough to threaten. Rick Valdez completed an impressive night by winning Heat 13, which was also the Support Main whilst Manzares won heat 14 to wrap up the event.

Michael Wells was the star of the 250cc Junior class, rattling off two heat wins and the Main Event. In heat 3 Wells crashed hard but remounted for the rerun which he led until falling again on the last lap, his only blemish on a great night. Sara Cords duly took the heat 3 win. 150cc Mini Class was combined with 65cc and under Pee Wee due to rider entries. Glenn Geist won all three heats but a mechanical failure in the Main meant Justin Almon, very impressive in just his second event, scored the win. The Sidecar class saw Dillon Osborne and Blake Kronkite win two of the heats and the Main, the other heat going to Jeff Medberry and Niki Davis. The combined class of Hooligan and Run What You Brung had both heat and main won by local rider Michael Cornell.

The event was promoted heavily around the desert town, known for its US Naval Base, with several dozen local businesses supporting the show and a combination of radio, newspaper and posters attracting a large and loud audience. The real winner on the night was American Speedway, with new fans gained who enthusiastically lined up to meet their new heroes after racing concluded. Ecstatic Fair manager Chip Holloway has already announced the 2018 date for 'Duel in the Desert' for Saturday May19th.

Results

Team Racing
Ventura Vikings 46 - Gino Manzares 12 (5), Eddie Castro 5+1 (5), River McDougall 11 (5), Sean McDougall 8+1 (4), Lawrence McNutt 7+1 (5), Greg Willis 5+1 (4)

Perris Eagles 38 – Gage Geist 16 (6), Austin Novratil 5+1 (3), Rick Valdez 9 (5), Chet Kohler 5 (5), Kenny Hansen 1 (4), Cameron Beck 2 (1)

Heat 1: Geist, Manzares, Novratil, Castro (2-4)
Heat 2: R McDougall, Valdez, S McDougall, Kohler (6-6)
Heat 3: McNutt, Beck, Willis, Hansen fell (10-8)
Heat 4: Geist, Castro, S McDougall, Valdez fell (13-11)
Heat 5: Manzares, Novratil, R McDougall, Kohler (17-14)
Heat 6: McNutt, Willis, Hansen (fell, rem) (22-14)
Heat 7: Geist, Novratil, Manzares, Castro (23-19)
Heat 8: Valdez, R McDougall, McNutt, Hansen (26-22)
Heat 9: S McDougall, Kohler, Wills (30-24)
Heat 10: Manzares, Geist, R McDougall, Hansen (34-26)
Heat 11: Geist, Castro, Valdez, McNutt. (36-30)
Heat 12: S McDougall, Kohler, Willis (40-32)

Heat 13 Support Main
Rick Valdez,
River McDougall
Chet Kohler
Lawrence McNutt
(42-36)

Heat 14 Division 1 Main
Gino Manzares
Gage Geist
Eddie Castro
Austin Novratil (non starter)
(46-38)

Sidecar Main
64 Dillon Osborne / Blake Kronite
44 Jeff Medberry / Niki Davis
33 Adam Duckett / Adrian Vargas

250 Junior Main
214 Michael Wells
14 Sara Cords
28 Aidan McNutt
42 Sammy Tetrault

150 Mini / Pee Wees
7 Justin Almon
6 Gavin Geist
33 Glenn Geist

Run What You Brung / Hooligan
112 Michael Cornel
57 Masato Lester
x378 Robert Duncan
929 Jimi Garcia