Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Auburn, CA

Challenge #5
Fast Fridays
August 2, 2002
From Gary Roberts

The summer started early in Auburn and is continuing with another hot night, a track that again started off chunky, but after half a dozen heats produced a good racing surface. This week there were a few surprise wins for youngsters finishing ahead of very experienced riders. These positive results from graduates of our Youth program promise a great future for Northern California speedway for many years to come.

Scratch Main
1. Mike Faria
2. Bart Bast
3. Bobby Hedden
4. Chris Manchester
The same four riders as last week, first and third swapped places. Bobby Hedden could not find the same traction on the outside this week.

Scratch Consolation
1. Bryan Yarrow
2. Scott Brant
3. Chris Kerr
4. Bart Bardecki
Polish visitor Bart Bardecki made a welcome return this week and wasted no time finding the same form he showed last season. Bryan Yarrow ran a good race with Scott Brant breathing down his neck for 4 laps. In his qualifying heat Chris Kerr made a convincing win over Bart Bast. Both youngsters are having a great season.

Handicap Main
1. Eric Carrillo
2. Greg Hooten
3. Bobby Hedden
4. Mike Faria
5. Chris Manchester
6. JJ Martynse
Another pair of youngsters showing good form, Eric Carrillo passed 16 year old Greg Hooten in the latter stages, to take the Handicap Main.

Handicap Consolation
1. Bart Bast
2. Scott Brant
3. Bryan Yarrow
4. Tom Adams
5. Bart Bardecki
6. Tommy Hedden

Division 2 Main
1. Richard Christian
2. Devon Defreece
3. Mike Achilles
4. Mike Browne
5. Rachalle Kerr
6. Chris Olney
Richard Christian, son of former National Champion Alan Christian, took his second Division 2 main. He will be on a 20 yard handicap next week.

Division 2 Consolation
1. John O'Connell
2. David Baker
3. Harlan Bast
4. Brian Leventon
5. Bill Warnock
Lee Sharp qualified, but was a non-starter, following a horrendous accident earlier, in which he demolished the wall.

Division 3 Main
1. Matt Pangburn
2. John Deatherage
3. Rick Gutzke
4. Greg Chacon
5. Treggan Mullenix
6. Dino Blankenbiller
7. Jason Botsford
8. Brian Ballard

Division 3 Consolation
1. David Lee
2. Kelly McBane
3. Kim Stevenson
4. Les Veale
5. Matt Peterson
6. Kimmy Valentine
7. Dennis Chandler
8. Kjell Lovlien

Youths Division 1
1. Mark Carrillo
2. JT Mabry
3. Danny Easley
4. Alex Marcucci
5. TJ Fowler

Youths Division 2
1. Ricky Felicio
2. Tom Fuhrman
3. Ricky Adams
4. Hunter Morris
5. Jay Ricketts

Youths Division 3
1. Tori Hubbert
2. Ronnie Woodsford
3. Bryce Olney

Bobby Hedden narrowly leads Bart Bast in the points race, then a big gap before the next close bunch of Scott Brant, Chad Felicio and Mike Faria. This was the 13th event of the season, with only 6 more to go. Where has the summer gone?

I am half way through reading an excellent new book. "The Moran Brothers" written by Brian Burford. It reminded me of how many outstanding American Speedway riders there were in the early 80s. Will our current pool of Youth Speedway riders enable America to repeat history?

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com