VENTURA RACEWAY

10 West Harbor Blvd.
Ventura, CA 93001

Ventura 'Return to the Ocean'
August 21, 2021 - Ventura Raceway
Steve Evans

JANNIRO WINS VENTURA FOR THE 7TH TIME IN THE ‘RETURN TO THE OCEAN’

Billy Janniro once more was the victor for the 7th time in 8 headline events since Speedway returned to Ventura Raceway for its annual race. The ‘Return to the Ocean’ was the latest such race on 21 August 2021.

After staging 7 AMA National Rounds between 2013 and 2019, a new direction was determined for 2021 which proved to be a winning format. A packed out crowd enjoyed a double feature of speedway and flat track racing with it being the best attended speedway event at the venue in decades.

After early evening Flat Track heats promoter Jim Naylor reset the track for the 7pm show featuring Speedway racing and Flat Track classes Main events. There were three speedway divisions and a total of 21 heats in that part of the program.

Division 1 featured 12 entrants with 3 rounds of heats, semi finals and a grand final. Heat 1 saw Janniro comfortably lead home local fan favorite ‘Fast’ Eddie Castro and Rheten Todd. Man in form Max Ruml took heat two ahead of the impressive Michael Wells and Blake Borello. Heat three saw Gino Manzares excluded for a tapes infraction. Rees Todd on his first race on a track of this size had a stunning win over of David Clark. Clark was passed by and then re-passed Wilbur Hancock in an entertaining battle for second.

Round 2 saw the big guns of Ruml and Janniro meet in what looked like a mouthwatering clash. Incredibly, though Ruml gated, Janniro found himself at the back exiting turn 2. After a pass on Mark Fillebrown Janniro seemed destined for third place until a late mistake from Rees Todd reduced the damage. Next up Manzares got his campaign off to a good start with a win over a pacing Borello and Rheten Todd. Veteran Castro brought the fans to their feet with a heat 6 victory over Wells and Hancock.

Janniro made no mistake in heat 7, defeating Rees Todd and Fillebrown. Ruml won again and stayed unbeaten after a close battle with Manzares in heat 8, Hancock coming home third. Borello once more impressed winning heat 9 with Rheten Todd’s second place bumping Hancock out of the semifinals.

Semi final one had Ruml with another fast start. As he went away, the brothers Todd were battling closed for second, Rheten sliding off chasing brother Rees, whose second place finish earned a deserved Main Event slot. Castro, promoted to third, was also eliminated. Semi 2 saw Manzares lift and go down hard going into the first turn. After initial concerns, he got up and was able to walk to the pits on his own steam, but the impact of the crash ended his night with an injury precaution. Janniro gated in the re run and led Borello home with Wells third.

The main attention in final was the Ruml V Janniro blockbuster rematch. This time Janniro got the best start but Ruml chased hard and was initially on his back wheel. After two laps Janniro eased away and the victory was secured. Behind the big two Borello in third and Rees Todd in fourth ended respective fine evenings in their rising careers.

8 entrants competed in the Support Class with two heats setting grids for A and B Finals. Mike Miller was the only unbeaten man in the heats, with Mike Lane and Harold Hartke taking the other two heats. The Main was a fantastic race, Hayley Gudgel getting the start and doing her best to hold off a double challenge inside and out. However, Hartke and then Miller got by with Hartke charging to the victory. The B Main was also an entertaining affair with Richard Perkins holding off David Newsham.

The Vintage / Upright class had local veteran Dan Waller taking all three races in some thrilling battles with rival Chris Mistretta. Waller passed Mistretta on the line to win heat 2 and held off his fierce challenge to take the final.

Like many other venues Ventura Raceway lost it’s entire 2020 season to Covid restrictions but has bounced back in 2021. The Sprint Car track was adapted for motorcycles with a very loud and enthusiastic crowd on hand. The event will likely continue in 2022.

Results

Main
1 Billy Janniro
5 Max Ruml
27 Blake Borello
173 Rees Todd

Division 1 – Heat Points: Max Ruml 9, Billy Janniro 8, Rees Todd 6, Blake Borello 6, Eddie Castro 5, Gino Manzares 5, Michael Wells 5, Rheten Todd 4, Wilbur Hancock 3, David Clark 2, Mark Fillebrown 1, Mike Miller 0.

Semi 1: Ruml, Rees Todd, Castro, Rheten Todd fell.
Semi 2: Janniro, Borello, Wells, Manzares fell injured

Support Main
290 Harold Hartke
71 Mike Miller
170 Hayley Gudgel
141 Mike Lane fell, remounted

B Main
151 Richard Perkins
111 David Newsham
103 Brent Smith
909 Manah Todd

Vintage / Upright Main
240 Dan Waller
254 Chris Mistretta
290 Harold Hartke
27 Bob Waller
138 Jim Sanders non starter