Sideways Saturdays Speedway
Cal Expo - Sacramento, California

Week 6
Saturday July 25, 1998 - Cal Expo
By: Gary Roberts

Another hot evening in Sacramento. The temperature again was up in the 90 - 100 range all day and how anyone could think of getting dressed up in a set of heavy leathers to go out and ride a Speedway bike in this conditions quite exhausts me to think about it. It was hard (and thirsty) work just watching. The track was not as good as it had been the previous week and at the end of the evening, even the top riders were getting bounced around. The pole got moved out over some of the ruts, only for more to form. Having said that, there were some good close races, and a lot of overtaking.

Scratch Main
1. Charlie Venegas
2. Bart Bast
3. Mike Faria
4. Robert Curry

Scratch Consolation
1. Billy Janniro
2. Jim Sisemore
3. Pat Linn
Bobby "Boogaloo" Schwartz also qualified for the race but was a non-starter.

Handicap Main
1. Jim Sisemore
2. Billy Janniro
3. Randy DiFrancesco
4. Mike Faria
5. Bart Bast
6. Robert Curry

Handicap Consolation
1. Joe Winston
2. Kitt Nay
3. Chad Felicio
4. Pat Linn
Bobby "Boogaloo" Schwartz and Charlie Venegas qualified for this race but were
non-starters

Division 2 Main
1. Steve Arena
2. Mike Gildersleeve
3. Scott Olney
4. Dave Booth
5. John O'Connell
6. Bill Newby

Division 2 Consolation
1. Dennis Cassidy
2. Harlan Bast Snr.
3. Bill Thomas
4. Mike Browne
5. Shawn Eldridge
6. Greg Howell

Division 3 Main
Troy Burton won this race. I missed the end of the race because I was watching Richard Powell who was trapped under a bike after falling at the entrance of turn one, on the penultimate lap. Fortunately all 7 other riders missed him and the flagman who was standing over him, when they finished the race. Also in the race were: Corey Call, Geno Bellino, Bobby Chipman, Bill Warnock, and Derek Silva.

Division 3 Consolation
1. Dave Munna
2. David Lee
3. Kevin Fereira
Also in this race were Tom Castagnola Snr., Gary Moranville, Brian Leventon, Donny Powell, and Rudy Becerra.

Juniors Division 1
1. Donny Robinson
2. Eric Carrillo
3. AJ Jones
4. Ryan Fisher
5. Bryan Yarrow
6. JJ Martynse
In all fairness it should be stated that Ryan Fisher had a half lap handicap, while Eric Carrillo and Bryan Yarrow had 50 yards. It was good to see young Donny Robinson win and get some reward for the 500 mile journey up north to come and compete. Since there is no Junior Speedway racing any more in Southern California, Cal Expo is the nearest track for him and Ryan Fisher.

Juniors Division 2
1. Matt Browne
2. Scott Hawley
3. Jonathan Curry
4. JT Mabry

Juniors Division 3
1. Alex Marcucci
2. Ray Linn
3. Mark Carrillo
4. Chris Smith
5. Amanda English

This looked like probably the biggest crowd of the season. Maybe it was Bobby Schwartz's name on the program, maybe the word is starting to get around that Cal Expo has re-opened. Next week the track championship will be the last meeting the short Cal Expo season. Latest news is that Livermore plans to open up on August 15 and run every Saturday, riders and spectators permitting, until it cold.

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com