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Fast Fridays SpeedwayGold Country Fairgrounds 2018 Fast Fridays Track Championship YouTube Video - by Anthony Bernardi Speedway racing continues to heat up at Auburn’s Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway as championship speedway racing got underway last Friday September 22 at the Gold Country Fairgrounds. Championship programs in Division I, Division II and Division III were hosted. Along with the division championships the final round of the very popular Team SOS-Team Challenge wrapped up with the challenge championship. All season long current AMA USA Speedway National Champion Billy Janniro has led Division I in the points standings and finished the regular season with the most points, ahead of Bart Bast by 99 points. The top 16 Division I points riders during the season qualified for the championship. Riders squared off in 20 scratch races keeping score with 3 points for a win, 2 points for a second place finish, 1 point for a third place finish and zero points for a fourth place finish. Winner with the most points at the end of the evening would become the 2018 Fast Fridays Track Championship. Janniro, who will riding for a record setting ninth AMA USA Speedway National Championship Saturday night at Fast Fridays, proved to be unbeatable winning his five races and carding a perfect 15 points. Using the evening to tune up for the national championship Janniro was unmatched on the track and awarded the 2018 Fast Fridays Track Champion.”I came into the night not really caring so much, next week is really important I just did not want to get injured,” Janniro said. “I just went out there and rode, it was a good night.” Riding in one of his best nights of racing Russell Green had a fantastic night dropping just two points off Janniro’s perfect night for second place. Green placed second to Janniro in round three and in arguable one the best races of the night finished second in round five to Danny Faria. Bart Bast finished the evening with 12 points dropping one point to Janniro, Charlie Venegas and Green and finishing third. Will McCloskey, who also finished as the top Division II season point’s leader by just four points over Shawn Eldredge, won the Division II track championship. The championship format was a little different for Division II & III. Riders rode in one of two scratch heat races with the first and second place finishers transferring to the main. The winner of the main would be the track champion. McCloskey faced Shawn Eldredge, Matt King and Aaron Sorani in the main. McCloskey won his heat and then the main for the championship. “It’s been a real good year, consistent. I can’t thank my Dad enough for his help and all my sponsors,” said McCloskey. Eldredge was second, King third and Sorani was fourth. Jake Estes won the Division III championship. Estes finished second in his heat race, transferred to the D III main event and faced Casey Cornilsen, LC Veale and Tim Dion. Estes finished third in season points, but put all together when it counted most. Estes got a good gate, got out front and riding smoothly kept ahead of Cornilsen for the win. Cornilsen was second, Veale third and Dion fourth. “This is my first track championship, and only the second time racing a scratch race so it was interesting,” said Estes. “I knew once I got out of the first turn, if I rode smoothly I was going to keep it going, it was a blast.” In the sixth and final round of the Team SOS-Team Challenge Rocklin Harley Davidson held onto their lead from round five to win the inaugural team challenge event over Team SOS. Rocklin Harley Davidson led Team SOS 51-42 after round five. Janniro and Venegas scored win for Rocklin HD and Bast scored a win and three points for Team SOS. The final score was 62-49. The series ran through the season as teams rode three heats each round picking up points for their finishing order. The teams competed for a total purse of $4,000. Saturday night Fast Fridays will host the fifth and final round of the AMA USA Speedway National Championship. Janniro is the heavy favorite and should he win he will become the only American speedway rider to win nine national championships. This is racing though and anything can happen and Janniro will have to be riding his best to make history. Fast Fridays Speedway Track Championship Fast Fridays Track Championship Fast Fridays Track Championship Team SOS-Team Challenge
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