| By Gary Roberts
USA - Auburn Track
Championship - and - 2004 US Nationals Youth Championship
Another very pleasant evening at Fast Fridays
in Auburn California for the Auburn Track Championship. The
temperature during the day was in the high 80s, but the track seemed to suit
most riders. My observation was that there seemed to be less than the usual
amount of overtaking.
Unofficial results:
Division 1
Track Championship
Bobby Hedden 3 3 3 3 3 15
Bart Bast 3 3 2 3 3 14
Mike Faria 3 3 1 3 3 13
Chris Kerr 3 2 0 3 3 11
Bryan Yarrow
1 2 3 2 2
10
Chad
Felicio 2 3
3 1 1 10
Bob Hicks
2 2 2 2 0 8
Tommy Hedden 0 1 2 2 2 7
Billy Hiles
0 1 3 1 2 7
John Houston
1 0 2 1 2 6
Greg Hooten Jnr. 2 0 1 2 1
6
TJ Fowler 0 2
1 0 1 4
Matt Browne
0 1 1 1 1 4
Bart Bardecki 2 0 0 0 0 2
JT Mabry
1 1 0 0 0 2
Devin Defreece 0 0
0 0 0 0
Shawn Eldredge res 1
1
The whole event actually came down to heat 12 with Bobby Hedden, Bart
Bast, Mike Faria and Chris Kerr. These 4 were out in a class of their own
for much of the event, so this was the race that sorted out the result.
Division 2 Track Championship
Alex Marcucci
Shawn Eldredge
Mike Browne
Rachalle Kerr
Division 3 Track Championship
Kell Kerrigan
Dave Quick
Norman Brooks
Danny Poli
This is the end of Fast Fridays regular weekly program. The next event is
the third and final round of the AMA National which takes place on September
24
The United States 2004 Youth
National Championship
Fast Fridays in Auburn, CA hosted the US 2004 Youth National Championship
last night. The track was in good shape, the event went smoothly and at
the end of the night, Southern California riders walked away with the top
three places. The last Southern Californian to win the event was Ryan Fisher
in 1998. Since then, the event has been dominated by Northern California
riders.
The unbeaten winner was Southern Californian New Zealander, Ricky Wells.
From defeats during his last two visits to Auburn, to a blown number 1 motor
this week, things did put Ricky as the number 1 favorite, but when it came
down to the competition last night, he scored a 15 points maximum and was
not seriously challenged.
The event opened with Krystal Cramer being beaten by New York competitor
Mikey Buman in heat 1. Krystal has had a great season at Auburn and this win
gave the highly successful New Yorker the boost he needed. However his
campaign fell apart, with 3 second places and a fall and subsequent
disqualification in his final race. I sincerely hope he is able to return
next year, since he proved he has what it needs to win the event. Krystal
rode well and only gave away one other point to Ricky Wells, putting her in
second place. Third place went to Jason Ramirez, who raced in the Youth
National last year, and has come a long way. The first three finishers have
at least another two years in the youth class, so their long term prospects
look outstanding.
Unofficial results:
Ricky Wells
3 3 3 3 3 15
Krystal Cramer 2 3 3 2 3 13
Jason Ramirez 2 2 3 3 2 12
Jay Ricketts 2 3 3 2 1 11
Paul Johnson 3 2 2 1 3 11
Miles Calvin 0 3 2 3 2 10
Mikey Buman 3 2 2 2 0
9
Ricky Felicio 3 1 1 3 0 8
Ricky Valdez 1 2 1 2 2 8
Ben Essary 1 1 1 0 3
6
Tom Fehrman 2 1 1 0 2
5
Dillon Peterson 1 1 0 1 0 3
Bryce Starks 0 0 2 1 0 3
Tori Hubbert 1 0 0 0 1 2
Joey Holt 0 0 0 0 0
0
Mitchell Johnson 0 0 0 - - 0
Bryce Olney (res) 1 1 0 1 1 4 (5 rides)
What happened to the rest of them?
Paul Johnson and Jay Ricketts were Northern
California's top hopefuls. They rode well, but were unable to match the
southerners. Ricky Felicio put in 2 good wins, but is still not riding at
the level he was before his opening night crash, in which he sustained a
broken arm.
Ricky Valdez rode some good races for a rider who had only ridden once
before at Auburn. Ben Essary looked a sure winner in 2 races, but stopped in
one, because his fuel was not turned on. This was his first National and
having seen his progress this year, I expect him to become a serious
challenger next year.
Its always good to see Youth Speedway riders progress. Ricky Wells first
showed up at Auburn 3 years ago and won what was then the Division 3
National. He admits that his diversionary escapades in Sweden this year on a
80cc bike have not helped his style, but he was the best rider on the night,
and deserved to win.
At the end of the 2003 season, 7 of last year's 16 Youth National
competitors went to the adult class, making this year's field look very
different. Looking to new year, only Miles Calvin and Tori Hubbert will move
to the adult class. This leaves a solid group for next year.
So another year of Youth Speedway is over. We hope to run some practice
sessions during the off-season and will continue our search for a Northern
California practice track, which we recognize is essential if we are to grow
youth Speedway.
Gary Roberts - groberts@iee.org
|
