Fairgrounds Raceway
Santa Maria, California

October 18, 1997 - Fairgrounds Raceway
From: Gary Roberts

The last meeting of the season took place at Fairgrounds Raceway, Santa Maria, last Saturday. There was a Harley Davidson get-together going on locally and thanks to Speedway enthusiasts/Harley riders Sonny Nutter (1969 California State Speedway Champion) and Dave Jenkins (sponsor of Mark Maynard and Jimmy Collins) for spreading the word, we ended up with quite a good crowd.

Racing was good, as ever, with quite a lot of overtaking. The track remained so good all evening, that I was privileged to be one of several lucky ones to go out and get a few practice laps in afterwards. We are incredibly lucky to have such a great track. I am told that during the off season turns 1 and 2 will be reshaped to be made more pointed like 3 and 4. Currently its a bit egg shaped, not that any rider has complained. (One or two spectators have commented).

This last couple of weeks have provided a full program since both Costa Mesa and Auburn are well and truly closed for the year. Winner this week was Tim Tucker, a Costa Mesa regular. Local man Kitt Nay looked good all evening, making some spectacular moves in a couple of races to come up from behind. Matt King, from Northern California also rode very well. Marvin Sonnier, last week's winner had a good evening too. Frank Pecce, who rode at Santa Maria only once before had a good evening and lead the B main for three and a half laps before going wide out of turn 2 and hitting the wall.

Results:
Matt King         14
Tim Tucker        13
Kitt Nay           13
Marvin Sonnier    12
Frank Pecce       11
John VanderMuelen  9
Mark Maynard       9
Paul Herman        8
Rudy Maresca       6
Dave Booth         6
Mark Adams         6
Sean Larned        5
Gerry Duttweiler   4
Tim Reilly         2
Paul Baldwin       2
Don Johnson        0 reserve 3 rides
Jeff Smith         0 2 rides

A final
Tucker, Sonnier, Nay, King, Maynard

B final
Maynard, Herman, VanderMuelen, Pecce, Larned

C final 
Larned, Booth, Adams, Duttweiler, Maresca (n/s)

D final
Duttweiler, Baldwin, Reilly, Johnson

We all hope that Santa Maria will pick up next year. The promoter has invested a lot of money this year to just keep it running. It is a great track. We have all the necessary facilities and an extremely capable and enthusiastic track staff. If only we had a consistent, reliable and sufficient supply of riders, it would be worth advertising the events and trying to get a crowd. Several times this year we have had a program printed on Friday nights showing 18 riders and 24 hours later, only 8 show up. With a show like this, we don't have a product. It is pointless advertising it. I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to all interested potential riders to contact John VanderMuelen (805) 937 8584 as soon as possible and let him know that you want to ride next year. We plan a couple of practice sessions during the winter, more if demand requires it. We would like as much support as possible, to convince our promoter to continue investing in us.

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com