Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California
Costa Mesa Speedway
May 20, 2023 - Costa Mesa
Top photo, story and results by Ryan Evans
The Costa Mesa Scratch Main Event at the tapes (inside - outside):
Broc Nicol, Austin “All Throttle” Novratil, Slater Lightcap, and Billy “The Kid” Janniro.
The finishing order was Janniro, Novratil. Nicol, and Lightcap and there was some extra fireworks on the cool down lap.
Costa Mesa Speedway, CA, USA - May 21, 2023
Billy “The Kid” Janniro persevered through an injury incurred during a heat race and turned in a valiant performance by winning the Scratch Main Event and a post race dust up by two of his competitors brought a wild ending to Speedway and Hooligan Night at the world famous Costa Mesa Speedway.
While his competitors walked out unassisted to the starting gate to choose their main event starting positions, Janniro’s soreness forced him to sit on his bike while being pushed by his team. Former National Champion Broc Nicol, who was undefeated throughout the evening, quickly selected gate one. Janniro’s team rolled him to gate four, making it obvious from which gate that he would start. Austin “All Throttle” Novratil picked gate two which left Under 21 National Champion Slater Lightcap with gate three.
Nicol and Janniro, from opposite ends of the gate, were first off the line and into turn one. Nicol remained on the low line while Janniro chose the wide line. The ample cushion on the outside of turn two propelled Janniro alongside Nicol then he bounced his back tire against the back straight wall so the decomposed granite gathered there could push him into the lead. He dropped in on Nicol entering turn three and led through lap one. Meanwhile, Novratil, who was last exiting turn two, charged under Lightcap for third then turned his attention toward second. Nicol went wide and Novratil made his move on the front straight. They remained shoulder-to-shoulder until Novratil secured second at the end of the second lap. Nicol didn’t give up and chased the former Under 21 National Champion down the back straight. He ran it in close to Novratil in turn three but Novratil didn’t flinch and Nicol had to park it to miss him and it took all of his skill to not end up on the infield. His hopes for improving his position were over but he and Novratil weren’t through with each other yet. Even though Novratil was chasing the leader, his and Nicol’s last time on the back straight included an exchange of unflattering hand gestures (Each one showing the other they were #1 with the wrong finger). Janniro was first to the checkered flag and collected his second Scratch Main Event victory of the season and complete his gallant performance while Novratil finished second, Nicol was third, and Lightcap finished fourth.
Janniro’s gutsy performance will be overshadowed by the post-race shenanigans of Novratil and Nicol. Their in-race sign language didn’t end their ire for each other. Nicol raced past the checkered flag and slid close to Novratil on the back straight to throw dirt on him and Novratil returned the favor in turn four. He then spun his bike down and it was obvious he was throwing down the gauntlet as well. Nicol obliged the challenge and they ended up wrestling and exchanging punches while people rushed to intervene and others tried to separate them. They walked off the track while a palpable buzz was felt throughout the arena. They did make peace in the pits shortly thereafter and prior to videos of their sparring match started going viral.
Janniro began the evening with a victory over Shawn “Mad Dog” McConnell in event one. Nicol beat Dillon Ruml in the second heat. Novratil finished round one with a win ahead of Lightcap.
The start of round two is where Janniro’s evening nearly ended. Lightcap made the start from the inside gate with Janniro trying to go around him on the back straight. They touched entering turn three which sent Janniro straight toward the wall. He laid his bike down but he slid into the plywood feet-first much like a baseball player. He was down for several minutes but was got up with obvious soreness. He made the restart but starting from the penalty line gave Lightcap and “Fast” Eddie Castro, who finished first and second, respectively, too large of a head start to overcome. Janniro spent the majority of his time in the pits lying on his back because it was too painful to sit down.
Ruml beat McConnell in the next heat. Nicol defeated Novratil to end the second round in a race with far less drama than how they ended the entire evening.
Nicol maintained his perfect score by defeating Janniro to open the third round. Ruml held off Lightcap to earn his second straight win. Novratil closed out the heats with a victory over McConnell.
Michael Wells defeated Mark Fillebrown and Bobby “Boogaloo” Schwartz in a runoff to fill the final spot in the semifinals.
Janniro started in gate four in the first semi, and much like he would do later in the main, swept around the boards in turns one and two to take the lead on the back straight. Ruml held down second while Novratil found himself on the outside of the main event looking in. He pressured Ruml and hoped for a mistake. His pressure caused contact in turn one and Novratil took over second and Ruml doing all he could to stay upright. The race continued with Janniro winning and Novratil holding on to second to join him in the main. Nicol made it four wins in four races by winning the second semi with Lightcap finishing second.
The Scratch Consolation featured three racers who had also competed on Hooligans. This would be the ninth race of the evening for McConnell and Castro and the tenth for Wells. Ruml, only competing in speedway, ran away with the victory with Wells coming in second, McConnell in third, and Castro getting fourth.
John Wilder won both of his heats and claimed victory in the Second Division Main Event for the second time this season. Tyler Moszer was second, Joey Donaldson finished third, and Eloy Medellin was credited with fourth.
Ayrton Sieja made an auspicious Costa Mesa Speedway debut by winning two of his heats and putting together four smooth laps to win the Third Division Main Event. Tony Rutledge finished second, Brad Langston was third, and Ryan Bacarella finished fourth.
There’s no racing at Costa Mesa Speedway Calendar Memorial Day Weekend or the two weeks following. There will be racing in Southern California, though, as Industry Hills Speedway will be holding two big events on Saturday, June 3 and Saturday, June 10. The next event at Costa Mesa Speedway will be Saturday, June 17. It will be second Harley Night of the 2023 season. Speedway and sidecars are on the program and street-legal Harleys was take to the track as well.
Scratch Main Event
14n - Billy Janniro
7 - Austin Novratil
98 - Broc Nicol
28 - Slater Lightcap
Scratch Consolation
3 - Dillon Ruml
214 - Michael Wells
6 - Shawn McConnell
14 - Eddie Castro
Second Division Main Event
249 - John Wilder
327 - Tyler Moszer
37 - Joey Donaldson
178 - Eloy Medellin (retired)
Second Division Consolation
159 - Kevin Fiore
373 - Bob Peet
299 - Rayson Normandin (fell)
147 - Rick Farron (non starter)
Third Division Main Event
241 - Ayrton Sieja
113 - Tony Rutledge
124 - Brad Langston
197 - Ryan Bacarella
First Division Heat Scoring 1 2 3 T
3 – Dillon Ruml 2 3 3 8
6 – Shawn McConnell 2 2 2 6
7 – Austin Novratil 3 2 3 8
11 – Bobby Schwartz 1 0 1 2
14 – Eddie Castro 1 2 1 4
14n – Billy Janniro 3 1 2 6
15 – Charles Ermolenko 0 0 0 0
28 – Slater Lightcap 2 3 2 7
98 – Broc Nicol 3 3 3 9
168 – Mark Fillebrown 1 1 0 2
182 – Rudy Laurer 0 0 0 0
214 – Michael Wells 0 1 1 2
Race Results
1: Janniro, McConnell, Fillebrown, Wells (fell, remounted)
2: Nicol, Ruml, Castro, Ermolenko
3: Novratil, Lightcap, Schwartz, Laurer
8: (restarted) Lightcap, Castro, Janniro (penalty line), Laurer
9: Ruml, McConnell, Fillebrown, Schwartz
10: Nicol, Novratil, Wells, Ermolenko
15: Nicol, Janniro, Schwartz, Laurer
16: Ruml, Lightcap, Wells, Fillebrown
17: Novratil, McConnell, Castro, Ermolenko
Runoff: Wells, Fillebrown, Schwartz
Semi #1: Janniro, Novratil, Castro, Ruml (fell)
Semi #2: Nicol, Lightcap, Wells, McConnell (retired)
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