Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
1273 High Street
Auburn, California
AMA Sidecar National Championship
AMA Speedway Youth 250 and 150 National Championship
Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway
AUBURN, CALIFORNIA, August 31, 2024
Michael Kirby Story and Photos
What a fantastic night of speedway racing at Fast Fridays Motorcycle Speedway on the tricky dirt oval in Auburn Ca. at the Gold Country Fairgrounds. If you showed up and expected a great night of racing you got your money's worth and then some. The program was action packed with three AMA National Championships awarded at night's end. At stake was the AMA Extreme Sidecar National Championship, the AMA Youth 250 National Championship and the AMA Youth 150 National Championship. It was a very aggressive program that the Fast Friday's staff seemed to present effortlessly and enjoyed by a near capacity crowd of speedway fans.
The way the championship national sidecar program went was that twelve sidecar teams raced in twelve heat races scoring points for finishing positions. These were tallied after the twelve heats and the top three teams were seeded in the national final race. The next four riders in the points tally raced in a B main event with the winner of that race filling the final fourth spot in the final championship race. The winner of the final race was crowned the AMA Extreme Sidecar National Champion.
Current national champions Joe Jones and Tom Summers had made it known that they were out for a repeat early in the season during their four visits to Fast Friday's and they made it clear Saturday night that they were the best sidecar duo in America winning the 2024 AMA Extreme Sidecar National Sidecar Championship again this season. Having a perfect night winning all of their heat races and then winning the final championship race by a convincing margin the pair never fell to any other sidecar team and carded a perfect 15 points.
Three other teams with near perfect nights also rolled to the start line along with Jones and Summers, each could easily earn the championship with a great race. Past 2022 AMA National Sidecar Champion Robert Curry and Michael McGovern finished the heats with nine points, Wade Boyd and Eric Lindauer finished with heats with nine points. Filling the last spot was the team of the team of brothers Emil Ovrid and Ed Ovrid who finished with eight points in the heats and worked their way into final championship race by winning the last chance B main event for the final spot in the big show.
Jones and Summers with the best record chose the inside lane for the final and as the tapes went up it was work as usual for the longtime team of seasoned sidecar riders. Tight in the first corner Jones and Summers shot to the lead and just increased their lead to sizable by the fourth and final lap for the championship. The Ovrid brothers challenged early on nipping at their heels, but the skills honed by years of sidecar racing proved too hard to overcome. The Ovrid team finished second, Boyd and Lindauer were third and Curry and McGovern were excluded by referee Steve Lucero for coming into the infield in a corner.
The Youth 250 and Youth 150 riders put on a great show racing for their respective championships. These young riders went out there with the best they had and left it all on the track. Their ability and determination were recognized by the crowd with applause and enthusiastic cheers each time they entered the track.
Riding with a target on his back all-season current AMA Youth 250 National Champion Darren Armbruster was able to keep his number one plate AMA number plate finishing off his youth career with a win and continued as the 2024 AMA Youth National Champion. All Youth 250 riders were gunning to knock off the current champ all season long but unfazed, Armbruster stayed the course and picked up the championship. There were five youth 250 riders in the hunt along with Armbruster who won two of his heat races to get to the final championship race. Brady Landon gave Armbruster the most challenges all evening as he has all season, winning three of his heat races on his way to the final championship race. In the heats Armbruster and Landon split wins with each rider beating the other once.
In the final Armbruster and Landon were joined by Jamison Hutchinson and Caden Cavrikas. Out of turn one the riders were bunched up but, in a crowd, stirring move Armbruster cut inside and shot to the lead in a bold move passing Landon and sealing the championship win for him. From there Armbruster just kept gaining ground on Landon who trailed in second unable to catch him. Landon finished second, Hutchinson was third and Cavrikas.
Riley Rearick who has had a stellar season in the Youth 150 division this season at Fast Fridays was able to hold off Southern California ace racer Ryder Schultz who was the 2023 AMA Youth 150 National Champion to cap his season by winning the 2024 Youth 150 National Championship. Rearick finished the heats with 10 points and Schultz finished with nine points. The pair never in the 12 heat races so the first time they faced each other was for championship final race. Also, in the final was young Hudson Jones, son of sidecar champion Joe Jones, who had a great night finishing the heat races with 11 points. Macoley Saunders, coming all the way from New York to race for the championship fought his way into the final winning the last chance heat race filling the last spot in the final championship race.
For the first laps it was touch and go between Rearick, Schultz and Jones each gunning for the lead. Again, in a gutsy move that is what most riders bring out when everything is on the line for a championship and in front of his hometown crowd Rearick passed Schultz on the last lap for the win. The entire Fast Friday's crowd was on their feet cheering this young man on to winning the 2024 AMA Youth 150 Championship a goal he has had since the beginning of the season. Schultz was second, Jones was third and Saunders was fourth.
These youth riders could not have had this opportunity to race at this level if not for the dedication of their parents, and the speedway racing community that put in time and money to support these future Division I riders. Dad's and Mom's each week along with their families bringing their young racers to the track in the pits, working on bikes, and traveling many miles sometimes for them to race. You are to be commended for your dedication.
No racing next week September 7 because of the Gold Country Fair but racing will continue on Saturday September 14 with the Flat Track Stars and the Fast Friday's Best Pairs Championship. See you then for more first-class speedway racing.
Fast Fridays Results for 8-31-24
2024 AMA Extreme National Sidecar Championship
Extreme Sidecars Fina
1-Joe Jones/Tom Summers
2-Emil Ovrid/Ed Ovrid
3-Wade Boyd/Eric Lindauer
4-Robert Curry/Michael McGovern
Extreme Sidecars B Main
1-Emil Ovrid/Ed Ovrid
2-Symlie Kinne/Josh Bustos
3-Peter Konrad/Ava Arguello
4-Billy Janniro//Eric Hernandez
Extreme Sidecars Points
1-Joe Jones/Tom Summers 3 3 3 3 3 -15
2-Emil Ovrid/Ed Ovrid 3 2 3 DQ 2 -10
3-Wade Boyd/Eric Lindauer 2 2 2 3 2 -11
4-Robert Curry/Michael McGovern 3 3 3 DQ 3 -12
5-Symlie Kinne/Josh Bustos 2 3 2 2 2 -11
6-Billy Janniro//Eric Hernandez 2 0 1 3 0 -6
7-Peter Konrad/Ava Arguello 1 0 2 2 1 -6
8-Jason Fritze/Tiffiny Lappien 1 1 1 2 -5
9-Rees Todd/Brandson Hendrickson 0 0 1 1 -2
10-Kevin Kale/Johnny Glover 1 2 0 DNS -3
11-Ace Kale/Brent Smith 0 1 0 DNS -1
Youth 250 Championship Final
1-Darren Armbruster
2-Brady Landon
3-Jameson Hutchinson
4-Caden Cavrikas
Youth 250 Championship Points
1 - Darren Armbruster 3 1 3 2 -9
13 - Jameson Hutchinson 1 2 2 2 -7
21 - Brady Landon 2 3 3 3 3 -11
50 - Wesley Rearick 0 0 0 0 -0
119 - Caden Cavrikas 0 1 1 1 -3
Youth 150 Championship Final
1-Riley Rearick
2-Ryder Schultz
3-Hudson Jones
4-Macoley Saunders
Youth 150 Championship Points
05 - Riley Rearick 2 3 3 2 3 -13
5 - Brandon Soto 0 1 0 0 -1
8 - Gavin Evans Seeley 1 0 2 1 -4
17 - Zander Schroeder 2 2 1 1 2 -8
22 - Ryder Schultz 3 3 3 2 2 -13
15 - Hudson Jones 3 2 3 3 2 -12
33e - Macoley Saunders 1 2 2 3 3 0 -11
34e - Kabriel Howard 0 0 1 0 -1
44 - Brandon Kemmerly 3 0 0 2 -5
77 - William Bruce 0 1 1 0 -2
98 - Zaal Farhand 2 3 0 3 0 -8
123 - Leeann Emerson 1 1 2 1 1 -6
R - 89 Liam Falcon
R - 22 Brady Willis
| 
