Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
1273 High Street
Auburn, California
Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Charlie Venegas takes another scratch main win
By Michael Kirby (Story & Photos)
AUBURN, CALIFORNIA,August 13, 2021
Vladimir Kruk Photo
Never count this guy out. Charlie Venegas, a veteran speedway racer who first threw his leg over a speedway bike 33 years ago has stepped up his game and is now one of the men to beat at Fast Fridays Motorcycle Speedway this season. Friday night in Auburn Ca. at the Gold Country Fairgrounds Venegas was perfect in the scratch program winning his heat and semi-final races then picked up his third scratch main event win of the season. Only he and Bart Bast are three time scratch main event winners so far this season.
In lane one which has launched every scratch main event winner except one this season, Venegas line up against ten time AMA National Speedway Champion Billy Janniro in lane two, Tyler Warren in three and in four was Rheten Todd. Right from the gate in a familiar play Venegas got inside in turn one to take the lead. Working the outside Janniro tried everything he had to get around Venegas without success. Venegas just increased his lead as the race progressed until he was out of reach. Looking back as he tends to do, Venegas kept an eye on Janniro and the others to make sure no one tried to pass until he took the checkered flag. Janniro finished second Warren was third and Todd fourth.
Timmy Dion put it all together for a win in the handicap main event, his second for the season. Dion fought his way to the main with a third place finish in his heat race and then a first place finish in his semi-final to get to the main. Handicapped on the ten yard line the cagey Dion got out front and held his own not allowing anyone to pass. Louie Mersaroli did his best to pester the 17 year old but Dion held on for the win. Mersaroli took second, Tyler Warren was third.
In Division II Derik Denzin repeated with his second main event win in a row. Last week off the 30 yard line Denzin took the trophy and this week from ten yards further back on the 40 yard line Denzin took the main event win again. Look for him on the 50 yard line next week. John Peters was second and Dylan Wagner was third. Dean Newnham in Division III picked up his first main event win of the season. Off the 20 yard line Newnham was third in his heat and transferred to the main for the win. Tim Rott was second and Sebe Denniston was third.
In the Youth 250 Division Charlie Trana came back in the main event for the win. Alex Martin seemed to have Trana’s number all night finishing ahead of him in all their heat races until the main. In the main Trana got a great gate out of lane four and rocketed to the lead he held until the checkered flag. Martin fell in behind him unable to pass and finished second, Levi Leutz was third and Catherine Moore was fourth. “I hooked up out of (lane) four and closed the door in the first turn and then held my line the whole race,” Trana said. Trana now has five Youth 250 main event wins this season.
Nick Hohlbein showed why he sports the number one plate on his bike winning the Youth 150 division main event and all his heat races. Hohlbein is the 2020 AMA Youth 150 National Champion. Second was Darren Armbruster and third was Wesley Rearick.
In fifth round of the Team SOS Challenge, Team SOS extended their lead over Team CHP to 51-40. Being down ten points coming in the round five, Team CHP was allowed the one-time use of the Joker which doubles the score of that rider in his race. Team CHP captain Billy Janniro designated teammate Charlie Venegas the Joker in the first race. Unfortunately Venegas was only able to pull off a third place finish but added two points for his efforts. Janniro added three in his race and Dylan Wagner and Rees Todd added four points in their race for a team total of nine points for the round.
Team SOS though picked up five in the first race behind the superb riding of Rheten Todd and Dan Faria with first and second place finishes. Bart Bast and Louie Mersaroli added three for their race and Will McCloskey brought two more points in his race for a team total of ten points. For round five Team SOS scored 10 points and Team CHP scored 9 points. The series wraps up next week with the final heats leaving Team CHP to come up with a strategy to keep Team SOS from becoming the Team SOS Challenge Series champions.
Fast Fridays Results for 08-13-21
Scratch Main Event
1-Charlie Venegas, 2-Billy Janniro, 3-Tyler Warren, 4-Rheten Todd
Scratch Consolation
1-Bart Bast, 2-Louie Mersaroli, 3-Anthony Dion
Handicap Main Event
1-Timmy Dion, 2-Louie Mersaroli, 3-Tyler Warren, 4-Billy Janniro, 5-Rheten Todd
Handicap Consolation
1-Bart Bast, 2-Anthony Dion, 3-Will McCloskey
Division II Main Event
1-Derik Denzin, 2-John Peters, 3-Dylan Wagner, 4-Shawn Eldredge, 5-Richard Perkins
Division II Consolation
1-Rees Todd, 2-Gregory Moore, 3-Lawrence McNutt, 4-Will McCloskey
Division III Main Event
1-Dean Newnham, 2-Tim Rott, 3-Sebe Denniston, 4-Marc Denniston, 5-Jeff Powell
Division III Consolation
1-Mike Newnham, 2-Ray Holt Jr., 3-Sam Richardson, 4-Brian Leventon, 5-Les Veale, 6-Randy Carney
Youth 250 Main Event
1-Charlie Trana, 2-Alex Martin, 3-Levi Leutz
Youth 150 Main Event
1-Nick Hohlbein, 2-Darren Armbruster, 3-Wesley Rearick
SOS Team Challenge Round Five
Team SOS 10 Team CHP 9
Total Series Score
Team SOS 51 Team CHP 40
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