Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
1273 High Street
Auburn, California
AMA Extreme Sidecars National Championship and AMA Youth National 150CC/250CC Championship
Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
AMA Championships at Fast Friday’s
AUBURN, CALIFORNIA, September 3, 2022
by Michael Kirby
Charlie Trana takes the 250 Championship
Saturday night championship racing continued at Fast Fridays Motorcycle Speedway in Auburn Ca. with a very ambitious program September 3rd. Three divisions of AMA National Championships were up for grabs with 12 Extreme Sidecar teams, ten Youth 150 riders and seven Youth 250 riders all turning out to grab a place in the AMA championships in their divisions.
In the sidecar national championship, the 12 teams rode in a championship program of 20 heat races scoring 3 points for a win, 2 points for second place, one point for third and no points for a fourth-place finish. At the end of the 20 heats races the top three teams transferred to the winner take all main event and the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh teams ran one more last chance heat race with the winner of that race filling the last spot in the main event.
High points in the heat races went to the team of Robert Curry and Laurie Curry with 14 points as they earned a spot, the teams of Joe Jones and Tom Summers and Smylie Kinne and Chuck Heider, each earned a spot with 12 points and the team of Dillon Osborne and Jamie Morabito won the last chance heat race taking the fourth spot in the main.
There is a saying around race tracks of all types that “rubbing is racing” and if that is true there was a lot of racing going on in the Extreme Sidecar AMA National Championships, these teams came to win and bumping here and there was just part of the fast paced action. Out of the gate the Curry team and the Jones/Summers team were at it neck and neck, with the Curry's grabbing the inside lane in turn one. From there it was bump and grind for the four laps for the two teams as they raced inches from each other on their 1000cc machines. In the end the Curry team held on to a slim lead to beat Jones and Summers for the 2022 AMA National Extreme Sidecar Championship. Jones/Summers slipped into second, the team of Kinne/Heider team was third and the Osborne/Morabito team was fourth. It was the first national championship for the Curry team.
In the Youth 250 AMA National Championship Charlie Trana 15, who has had an excellent season at Fast Fridays topped his season with a perfect night. The Youth 250 championship was similar to the sidecars with six heat races scoring for finishing place and the top two riders going directly to the main event. Two other riders would fill the 3rd and 4th places finishing first and second in the last chance race. Trana with a perfect score of nine took the first spot and Darren Armbruster with eight heat race points took the second spot. Running off in the last chance race Levi Leutz and Chase Kangas filled the 3rd and 4th spots.
Armbruster got an excellent gate and had the jump on everyone as Trana worked hard to catch Armbruster. It was a tight race between Armbruster and Trana until the third lap when Armbruster went down and Trana took the lead. At that point with the white flag out referee Steve Lucero called the race with Trana the winner, Leutz second and Kangas third.
Eleven-year-old Kensei Matsudaira of Los Angeles can add a Youth 150 AMA National Championship to list of championships. Matsudaira lists championships in road racing, flat track and super moto racing. Saturday night he traveled from LA to Auburn and also turned in a perfect night in heat points and transferred to the Youth 150 main event along with Brady Landon who finished with the second highest points to transfer to the first two spots in the winner take all main event. Last chance heat first and second place finishers Ryder Schultz and Jameson Hutchinson took the final two spots. Out of lane two Matsudaira got a good gate and as he did all night rode a flawless race taking the championship. Landon was second and Hutchinson third.
It was a fine night of racing with a hats off to all the sidecars and the youth riders who put it all on the line with a great effort leaving it all on the track.
Next week Fast Friday's will go dark because of the Gold Country Fair but racing will be back Saturday September 17 with the AMA National Speedway Championship. Sixteen top riders in the nation will compete for the 2022 national championship.
Fast Fridays Results for 9-3-22
AMA National Sidecar Championships
Extreme Sidecars
1-Robert Curry/Laurie Curry, 2- Joe Jones/Tom Summers, 3-Smylie Kinne/Chuck Heider, 4-Dillon Osborne/Jamie Morabito
Youth 250 Championship
1-Charlie Trana, 2-Levi Leutz, 3-Chase Kangas
Youth 150 Championship
1-Kensei Matsudaira, 2-Brady Landon, 3-Jameson Hutchinson
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