Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Auburn, California

SIDECARS
May 21, 2004 - Fast Fridays, Auburn
By Gary Roberts

Noisy thunderstorms all afternoon just 20 miles up the hill made me wonder if this event would take place at all, but the weather in Auburn was sunny and dry, however the temperature did go down as the evening went on. For some reason the crowd looked a bit thinner than I expected, but week number 3 of the season provided more great racing, on a very well prepared race track.

Unofficial results:

Scratch Main
1. Scott Brant
2. Charlie Venegas
3. Bobby Hedden
4. Tommy Hedden
While last week’s winner, Bobby Hedden was last out of turn one Charlie Venegas was on great form and made a superb gate. However persistent Scott Brant eroded away until he got past. Bobby got past brother Tommy to take third.

Scratch Consolation
1. Mike Faria
2. Bart Bast
3. Chris Manchester
4. Bob Hicks
Two races in one. Mike Faria held off Bart Bast for first place, while behind them Chris Manchester and Bob Hicks held a two valve Jawa race. Last minute preparation, at the starting line, included zip-tying the fuel tank on Manchester’s machine.

Handicap Main
1. JT Mabry (0)
2. Matt Browne (10)
3. Richard Christian (10)
4. Scott Brant (50)
5. Shaun Harmatuik (30)
6. Mike Faria (50)
Since JT Mabry moved onto a 500 only this season he has taken every opportunity to race at Auburn, Chowchilla and Costa Mesa. It is encouraging to a graduate from the youth program succeed.

Handicap Consolation
1. Chris Kerr (30)
2. Greg Hooten (10)
3. Bart Bast (50)
4. Chad Felicio (40)
5. Robert Mellor (0)
6. JJ Martynse (0)

Division 2 Main
1. TJ Fowler
2. Shawn Eldridge
3. Greg Hooten Snr.
4. Bruce Bast
5. David Fonts
6. Bill Warnock
In the first attempt to run this race, Bill Warnock incurred a broken collarbone after a turn three collision with TJ Fowler. TJ was penalized back to the 30 yard line, but still managed to win the re-run of the race.

Division 2 Consolation
1. Greg Searle
2. John O’Neill
3. Vince Bertolucci
4. Mike Achilles
5. Harlan Bast
6. Randy Martin

Division 3 Main
1. Kenny Ingalls
2. Sean Billenstein
3. Johnny Frank
4. Dennis Chandler
5. Greg Chacon
6. Derek Sheppard Brian Deland
7. Greg Howell
8. RJ Becerra
Second appearance for Kenny Ingalls and his second third division main win.

Division 3 Consolation
1. John Deatherage
2. Steve Rowett
3. Brian Leventon
4. Brian Ballard
5. Ronnie Woodsford
6. Treggan Mullenix
7. Kjell Lovlien
8. Matt Pangburn

Youths Division 1
1. Jay Ricketts
2. Alex Marcucci
3. Paul Johnson
4. Mitchell Johnson

Youths Division 2
1. Tom Fehrman
2. Dillon Petersen
3. Tori Hubbert
4. Cody Ciciarelli

Youths Division 3
1. Troy Guisande
2. Bryce Olney

Next week will be a two Speedway event weekend as Chowchilla has its opening night on May 29. It is vitally important that we have a second regular track in Northern California and I would like to encourage all riders to support this track. It is a brand new track and is less than 2 hours from Sacramento, less than 2 hours from Bakersfield.

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com