From Gary Roberts.
Tonight was the last regular Speedway event of the year at Auburn. Not the last event, but the future weeks will all be Championship events.
Tonight was the last points scoring night and this year Northern California has a new name as the Division One points Champion. Bobby Hedden won his first points championship. He has been in the lead most of the season, but it has been close. Out in front with him were Billy Janniro and multi points Championship winner, Bart Bast. So Bobby Hedden will wear number "1N" next year.
For the first time in a long time, there was a faint blue groove on the track at the end of the evening. But it proved not to be the only line. The outside had a very rideable smooth cushion of dirt.
Unofficial results Scratch Main 1. Billy Janniro 2. Mike Faria 3. Bobby Hedden 4. Bart Bast
Janniro, Faria and Bast left the gate in that order and stayed on the blue groove, by the pole, in that order for the entire race. Bobby Hedden got a pretty bad start but rode his own race, riding the outside cushion, oblivious to the others, moving back and forth sometimes ahead of Faria, other times behind Bast.
Scratch Consi 1. Chris Manchester 2. Ryan Fisher 3. Ian Ferris 4. Paul Orlandi Handicap Main 1. Chris Manchester 2. Mike Faria 3. Billy Janniro 4. Eric Carrillo 5. Tom Adams 6. Charlie Venegas
Another polished Manchester performance. After following early leader Eric Carrillo for a few laps, he moved Eric gently over, sending Eric wide, letting Faria and Janniro past.
Handicap Consi 1. Matt Becker 2. Bob Hicks 3. Bart Bast 4. Bobby Hedden 5. Dukie Ermolenko
Robert Curry fell earlier in the evening and was a non starter.
It was good to see Matt Becker back. It was the first appearance this season of the former Junior National Champion.
Div 2 Main 1. Ivan Sevart 2. Billy Hiles 3. Chris Kerr 4. Dave Booth 5. George Snodgrass 6. Chuck Lane Div 2 Consi 1. Vince Bertolucci 2. Robert Mellor 3. Marvin Sonnier 4. Harlan Bast Snr. 5. Shawn MacDonald 6. Craig Boone Div 3 Main 1. Greg Hooten 2. Dave Baker 3. Mike Achilles
Also in the race were Billy Hines, Eric Ryan, Dave Quick, Kevin Fereira and Ron Woodsford.
Div 3 Consi 1. Bruce Baker 2. Randy Krebs 3. Mike Hooten 4. John Stunkard 5. Devon Defreece 6. Les Veale 7. Richard Doster 8. Jeff Blades Junior Div 1 1. Bryan Yarrow 2. Greg Hooten Jnr.. 3. JJ Martynse 4. JT Mabry Junior Div 2. 1. Danny Easley 2. TJ Fowler 3. Josh Newby 4. Chris Olney 5. Brenton Bast 6. Alex Marcucci 7. Mark Carrillo Junior Div 3 1. Chris Smith 2. Jeff Butler 3. Jay Ricketts 4. Tom Fehrman 5. Bruce Bast 6. Ricky Felicio
Next week is the Auburn Track Championship and the Junior National Championship, rolled into one, and will comprise significantly more races than the usual 36 races. My recollection was that last year there were 54 races, all successfully completed in two and a half hours. A model of efficiency, by any standard.
The Junior National will be interesting. Division 1 should belong to
Bryan Yarrow. He fought season long last year with Eric Carrillo but
usually finished up #2. This year he has been ahead, but by a smaller
than expected margin. JJ Martynse, in particular has made significant
progress through the year. Division 2 is a much more difficult one to
pick a winner. Each week the field has been very evenly matched. Mark
Carrillo has been running consistently all year, Danny Easley is always
near the front and TJ Fowler has been fast, but too often fails to
finish. This will be the closest of the three divisions. Division 3
belonged to Paul Johnson early in the year, having the advantage of last
season's experience. The same applies to Jeff Butler. But some of this
year's newcomers have come a long way. Pete King, Tom Fehrman and Jay
Ricketts have all won main events. My pick would still be Paul Johnson.
Northern California has created some great new talent among the Junior
Speedway riders. The program has grown each year.
Gary Roberts - groberts@iee.org
