Fast Fridays Speedway

Gold Country Fairgrounds
1273 High Street
Auburn, California

Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Venegas Wins Fourth Scratch Main Event
By Michael Kirby (Story & Photos)
AUBURN, CALIFORNIA, August 20, 2021

Podium (left-right) Rees Todd, Charlie Venegas and Nick Hohlbein celebrate their wins Friday night.

Charlie Venegas is just on fire at Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway. Friday night at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn Ca., as Fast Fridays finished their regular season before moving to Saturday nights and the championship portion of their season, Venegas won his fourth scratch main event of the season. Since mid-July Venegas has poured it on winning four of the last five scratch main events. The only other rider close to Venegas is Bart Bast another veteran rider who has won three scratch main events.

In the scratch main event Venegas out of lane one faced Bart Bast in lane two, Louie Mersaroli in lane three and Blake Borello in lane four. All scratch main events this season but one have been won out of lane one and Venegas continued this statistic getting to the inside and leading to the finish line. Bast rode right behind him but was unable to pass as Venegas increased his lead and finished second. Mersaroli was third and Borello fourth. Venegas was perfect in the program working into the main event winning his heat and semi-final races. “Along in July it starts kicking in, a lot of it is experience and strategy, but also all the people that have helped me get here,” said Venegas.

Also on fire Friday night was Rees Todd. Relatively new to speedway, riding for a season or two, Todd and his brother Rheten have made an impact at Fast Fridays. Rees Todd won the handicap main event and also the Division II main event doubling it up.

In the handicap main event Todd had quite a battle with his brother Rheten. Rees starts on the zero line and brother Rheten on the 20 yard line. Neck and neck for the entire race it looked like it would be a photo finish for the brothers until Rheten took a fall in the fifth lap. This opened the door for Tyler Warren and a last ditch effort at the finish line fell short for Warren and Todd took the checkered flag by inches. “I have been making some bike adjustments but the track at Fast Fridays is sticky and inconsistent so it’s all about adapting to it,” said Todd. Warren was second, Bart Bast third.

In the Division II main event Todd had a little easier go at it. Off the 40 yard line Todd won his fifth Division II main event this year. Dean Newnham was excluded after a mix-up with Derik Denzin making a restart necessary. This time Todd got out ahead again and stayed for the remaining laps. Denzin was second and Shawn Eldredge was third.

Newcomer Luke Warren won the Division III main event in his first time out. Warren dabbled in speedway racing trying it out years ago but never pursued more than a race or two. Friday night Warren getting used to the action finished third in his heat race to transfer to the main which he won. “It was my first night of racing, I planned on just putting out here tonight but things went well, better than I thought it would,” said Warren. Mike Newnham was second and Tim Rott third.

Up from Southern California and more than likely checking out the Fast Fridays track for next week’s AMA Youth National Championships, Slater Lightcap took the Youth 250 main event. Lightcap won the main event after finishing third and first in his heat races. Charlie Trana was second and Chase Kangas was third. Current AMA 150 Youth National Champion Nick Hohlbein won the Youth 150 main event. Hohlbein making it look easy won all his heat races before winning the main event. Darren Armbruster was second and Wesley Rearick was third. All of the youth riders will square off next Saturday at Fast Fridays in the AMA Youth National Speedway Championships.

Team SOS won the Team Challenge series. The series consists of six rounds of team racing with each team scoring points racing against each other. Friday night Team SOS came into the final round with a commanding 51-40 lead over Team CHP. Team CHP would not go down easy though. Behind the great efforts of Charlie Venegas, Billy Janniro and Rees Todd each winning their races and two third place finishes by Anthony Dion and Timmy Dion Team CHP added 11 points to their score. It was not enough though as Team SOS added seven points to their score winning the series 58-51. Venegas led all riders in the series with 16 points.

Just a reminder that Fast Friday’s will now run on Saturday nights for the remainder of the 2021season beginning with the AMA National Extreme Sidecar Championships and the AMA Youth National Speedway Championships next Saturday August 28. Schedule information is available at www.fastfridays.com.

Fast Fridays Results for 08-20-21

Scratch Main Event
1-Charlie Venegas, 2-Bart Bast, 3-Louie Mersaroli, 4-Blake Borello

Handicap Main Event
1-Rees Todd, 2-Tyler Warren, 3-Bart Bast, 4-Billy Janniro, 5-Blake Borello, 6-Rheten Todd

Handicap Consolation
1-Timmy Dion, 2-Louie Mersaroli, 3-Russell Green, 4-Derik Denzin, 5-Gregory Moore

Division II Main Event
1-Rees Todd, 2-Derik Denzin, 3-Shawn Eldredge, 4-John Peters, 5-Gregory Moore

Division II Consolation
1-Will McCloskey, 2-Jeff Powell, 3-Richard Perkins, 4-Marc Denniston

Division III Main Event
1-Luke Warren, 2-Mike Newnham, 3-Tim Rott, 4-Marc Denniston, 5-Sam Richardson, 6-Richard Perkins

Division III Consolation
1-Sebe Denniston, 2-Randy Carney, 3-Ray Holt Jr., 4-Brian Leventon

Youth 250 Main Event
1-Slater Lightcap, 2-Charlie Trana, 3-Chase Kangas

Youth 150 Main Event
1-Nick Hohlbein, 2-Darren Armbruster, 3-Wesley Rearick

SOS Team Challenge Round Six
Team SOS 7 Team CHP 11

Total Series Score (Final)
Team SOS 58 Team CHP 51

Michael Kirby Photos
	Nick Hohlbein won the Youth 150 main event. Hohlbein, current Youth 150 national champion, will be putting his number one plate on the line next Saturday at the AMA Youth National Championships at Fast Fridays.
	Luke Warren in his first time out won the Division III main event.
	Handicap Main Event Winner Rees Todd
	Rees Todd leads Shawn Eldredge in the Division II main event. Todd won both the Division II main event and also the handicap main event.
	Charlie Venegas won his fourth scratch main event of the season.
	Up from Southern California Slater Lightcap won the Youth 250 main event.
	Louie Mersaroli leads Blake Borello in a team challenge race. The Team Challenge ended Friday night with Team SOS over Team CHP 58-51.
	The start of the Youth 150 main event, Nick Hohlbein (second from right) won the event.