By: Ryan Evans
Speedway returned to the San Gabriel Valley for the first time in 27 years and it was Scott Brant who won the first Scratch Main Event at The Grand in Industry Hills.
Brant's perfect score in the heats allowed him to choose the pole. Charlie Venegas then selected gate two. Eddie Castro picked gate three which left Randy DiFrancesco with the outside. Brant was first out of the blocks followed by Venegas who tried to get under the SRA National Champion on the inside. Brant was up to that challenge and then pulled away for the victory. Venegas remained in second, Castro was third, and DiFrancesco finished fourth.
Justin Boyle opened up the first round of heats with a win over John DeFries. Castro beat Northern California's J.T. Mabry in race two. Venegas took his first win ahead of Robbie Sauer in the third race and Brant defeated Randy DiFrancesco to finish round one.
Brant made it two in a row by beating Castro to start round two. Bobby Krips was victorious over Brad Sauer in race 17. Venegas kept pace with Brant by defeating Boyle in race 18. Round two ended with DeFries beating DiFrancesco.
Round three began with DiFrancesco handing Venegas his first loss with a last corner pass. Boyle won his second race ahead of Castro in race 25. Dario Galvin beat Robbie Sauer in race 26 and Brant remained perfect by winning the final heat.
Dario Galvin and Robbie Sauer finished one-two in a four-rider runoff to determine the final two places in the semis. Brant was an easy victor ahead of Castro in the first semi. Venegas won the second semi handily, but a battle between DiFrancesco and Boyle ended at the checkered flag with DiFrancesco claiming second by inches.
The first attempt to run the Second Division Main Event ended in a heap in turn four. Neil Facchini jumped into the lead on the restart and held off Tim Gomez for two and a half laps before the 15 year old's persistence forced a mistake by Facchini and allowed Gomez to go by in turn four. Facchini then fell on his own in turn one and Gomez took the win. John Stunkard was second and Dale Facchini finished third.
Rohn Zellner won the Third Division Main Event easily ahead of Tony Bracy, who came from the penalty line to finish second. Steve Dziadus was third and Nathan Smelser finished fourth.
Jason Ramirez rode four solid laps to win the Youth First Division Main Event. Ricky Wells was second, Krystal Cramer finished third, and Jay Ricketts was fourth. The Youth Second Division Main Event ended abruptly in turn four with Gino Manzares suffering a leg injury that required an ambulance trip to the hospital. Only two riders made the restart and it was Joey Holt beating Nathan Galvin to the checkered flag.
The event was the first of four scheduled events at the state-of-the-art facility with a roof and four-sided scoreboard/jumbotron among its many amenities. It marked the first time speedway was held in the San Gabriel Valley since Irwindale closed its doors in 1977. Promoter Freddie Orosco is hopeful that the facility will become a permanent facility for speedway in Southern California.
RESULTS PeeWee Main Event 8 - Brayden Galvin 6 - Dakota Workman 99 - Samuel Ramirez 7 - Rocco Scopellite Youth Second Division Main Event (restarted) 114 - Joey Holt 134 - Nathan Galvin (fell, remounted) 135 - Eddie Conner (non starter) 21 - Gino Manzares (non starter) Youth First Division Main Event 66 - Jason Ramirez 142 - Ricky Wells 13 - Krystal Cramer 29n - Jay Ricketts (fell) Third Division Main Event (restarted) 163 - Rohn Zellner 194 - Tony Bracy (penalty line) 212 - Steve Dziadus 188 - Nathan Smelser (fell) Second Division Main Event 136 - Tim Gomez 249 - John Stunkard 301 - Dale Facchini 201 - Neil Facchini (fell, remounted) First Division Scoring 1 2 3 T 1 - Scott Brant 3 3 3 9 12 - Randy DiFrancesco 2 2 3 7 14 - Eddie Castro 3 2 2 7 16 - John DeFries 2 3 2 7 17 - Robbie Sauer 2 0 2 4 18 - Justin Boyle 3 2 3 8 21 - Brad Sauer 1 2 F 3 24 - Bobby Krips 1 3 X 4 37 - Denny Scopellite R 1 R 1 43 - Charlie Venegas 3 3 2 8 89 - Danny Perkins 0 1 1 2 93n - J.T. Mabry 2 1 1 4 145 - Dario Galvin 1 0 3 4 214 - Steve Murray 1 0 0 1 230 - Doug Greyson 0 1 1 2 389 - Nate Perkins 0 1 1 2 Race Results 1: Boyle, DeFries, Galvin, N.Perkins (fell, remounted) 2: Castro, Mabry, Murray, Scopellite (retired) 3: Venegas, R.Sauer, Krips, Greyson 4: Brant, DiFrancesco, B.Sauer, Perkins 16: Brant, Castro, N.Perkins, R.Sauer 17: Krips, B.Sauer, Scopellite, Galvin 18: Venegas, Boyle, Mabry, D.Perkins 19: DeFries, DiFrancesco, Greyson, Murray 24: DiFrancesco, Venegas, N.Perkins, Scopellite (retired) 25: Boyle, Castro, Greyson, B.Sauer (fell) 26: Galvin, R.Sauer, D.Perkins, Murray (fell, remounted) 27: Brant, DeFries, Mabry, Krips (excluded) Runoff: Galvin, R.Sauer, Mabry, Krips (fell) Semi #1: Brant, Castro, DeFries, R.Sauer Semi #2: Venegas, DiFrancesco, Boyle, Galvin Scratch Consolation 16 - John DeFries 145 - Dario Galvin 17 - Robbie Sauer 18 - Justin Boyle (non starter) Scratch Main Event 1 - Scott Brant 43 - Charlie Venegas 14 - Eddie Castro 12 - Randy DiFrancesco (retired)
