Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Auburn, California
Fast Fridays, Auburn, California USA - May 26, 2006
By Gary Roberts
Last week the probability odds finally caught up with Fast Fridays. After dozens of wet weeks with a nice dry Friday, last week was a dry week with a wet Friday, big time, hence no race. No problem this week though. Despite a cool overcast evening, racing took place, as it should, on a good smooth racetrack. The crowd looked a bit smaller than normal, maybe the temperature.
The scratch main event came down to 2 Northern Californians, Bart Bast and TJ Fowler and 2 Southern Californians, Charlie Venegas and Buck Blair. Blair got the gate, but Bast got past him and as the race went on so did the other two. Fowler stuck close to Bast, waiting for him to make a mistake, which didn’t happen.
 Unofficial results:
Scratch Main Event
1. Bart Bast
2. TJ Fowler
3. Charlie Venegas
4. Buck Blair
Scratch Consolation Event
1. Bryan Yarrow
2. Chad Felicio
3. Danny Easley
4. Matt Becker
Handicap Main Event
1. Mike Faria (40)
2. Bart Bast (40)
3. Greg Hooten (10)
4. Danny Easley (10)
5. JT Maybry (10)
6. Bryan Yarrow (40)
Mike Faria’s bike flooded on the line in his scratch heat with fuel leaking onto his exhaust. Flames appeared, so did a fire extinguisher. The fire was out, but so was Mike. No problem in the handicap section of the program, he qualified in third place from his heat, won his semifinal, then easily won the main.
Handicap Consolation Event
1. Tommy Hedden (40)
2. TJ Fowler (40)
3. Chad Felicio (40)
4. Alex Marcucci (0)
5. JJ Martynse (20)
6. Charlie Venegas (40)
Another Southern Californian visitor, Rick Valdez stole the victory in the closely fought Division 2 main from newly promoted Jim Lewis and Danny Turner. Bold moves by Josh West only brought him runner up position. Rick’s son, Ricky normally comes along and rides in the youth class. Unfortunately he is on the injured list with not one but two broken wrists, from BMX racing. Get well Ricky, and a speedy return to a safer sport!
Division 2 Main Event
1. Rick Valdez
2. Josh West
3. Jim Lewis
4. Danny Turner
5. Tyler Hansen
6. Robert Fiesler
Division 2 Consolation Event
1. Cory Barringer
2. Kell Kerrigan
3. Bryan Buffington
4. Bill Warnock
5. Harlan Bast Sr.
6. Brian Leventon
Division 3 Main Event
1. Tom Fehrman
2. Johnny Frank
3. Dennis Michel
4. Adrien Contrares
5. Glenn Scott
Despite 2 restarts, Tom Fehrman rode consistently to win the D3 main.
Division 3 Consolation Event
1. Jeff Irwin
2. Lenny Bouressa
3. Greg Lovlien
4. Rich Mignano
5. Tor Lovlien
Youth Main Division 1
1. Ben Essary
2. Bryce Starks
3. Cody Cicciarelli
4. Will Hilgenberg
Youth Main Division 2
1. Tom Reich
2. Amber Felicio
3. Steve Reese
Youth Main Division 3
1. Tyler Warren
2. Tanner Kane
3. Jameson Dilkey
4. Michelle Fehrman
Congratulations to Greg Hancock on his second place in Eskilstuna, Sweden last Saturday, behind Jason Crump. After 3 GPs this puts Greg in 3rd position overall.
Good luck to Team USA (Greg Hancock, Billy Hamill, Sam Ermolenko, Ronnie Correy, Billy Janniro, Brent Werner and Chris Kerr) who will be competing against Italy, Slovenia and Hungary in the first round of the Speedway World Cup in Miskolc, Hungary this Sunday.
Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com
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