Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds - Auburn, CA

2000 Fast Fridays
Fast Fridays
July 14, 2000
From Gary Roberts

Another hot evening at Auburn that turned into a pleasantly warm night. More good racing.

Scratch Main
1. Charlie Venegas
2. Mike Faria
3. Billy Janniro
4. Bart Bast

Charlie got one of his super gates and lead the whole race. Behind him, positions changed for the first lap, until Mike Faria and Billy Janniro settled into a side by side routine, with Mike, unusually on the inside. They even crossed the line at the flag side by side, with Mike being given second place.

Scratch Consi
1. Bobby Hedden
2. Bob Hicks
3. Robert Curry
4. Ryan Fisher

Handicap Main
1. Billy Janniro
2. Charlie Venegas
3. Bobby Hedden
4. Bart Bast
5. Robert Curry
6. Ryan Fisher

Billy Janniro wasted no time in fighting his way to the front and lead Ryan Fisher for a couple of laps until Charlie Venegas bumped him out of the way.

Handicap Consi
1. Mike Faria
2. Bob Hicks
3. Don Webster
4. Chad Felicio
5. Paul Orlandi
6. Steve Martynse

Division 2 Main
1. Chris Kerr
2. Eric Carrillo
3. Marvin Sonnier
4. Dave Booth
5. George Snodgrass
6. Scott Olney

This race proved interesting. Chris Kerr started on the 10 yard line and Eric Carrillo on the 20, with the other four on the 30. The red light had not been functioning all evening, causing a number of false starts and in this race Eric Carrillo was guilty of doing same, so was moved back to the 40 yard line. It only took him a lap to get past the four 30 yard men, but he was unable in the next 4 laps to get past Chris Kerr. In the past month Chris has been riding a 500 much more consistently than he ever did a junior bike. Eric proved he will have no difficulty getting past traffic, when he gets moved back. I will be surprised if he is not in Division One soon.

Division 2 Consi
1. Ivan Sevart
2. Matt King
3. Mark Thomas
4. Vince Bertolucci
5. Mike Browne
6. Harlan Bast Snr.

Division 3 Main
1. Mike Hooten
2. Mike Achilles
3. Kelly McBane
4. Richard Doster
5. Dave Baker
6. Bruce Baker
7. Kevin Fereira
8. Eric Ryan

Division 3 Consi
1. Ron Woodsford
2. Greg Hooten
3. Geno Bellino
4. John Knapp
5. Les Veale
6. Bill Warnock
7. Brian Leventon
8. Kimi Valentine

Junior Division 1
1. Bryan Yarrow
2. JJ Martynse
3. JT Mabry
4. Greg Hooten Jnr.

Junior Division 2
1. Chris Olney
2. Danny Easley
3. Alex Marcucci
4. TJ Fowler
5. Josh Newby
6. Brenton Bast
7. Mark Carrillo

Junior Division 3
1. Tom Fehrman
2. Mitchell Johnson
3. Bruce Bast
4. Jeff Butler
5. Pete King
6. Amanda English
7. Jay Ricketts

Next week is the annual Civil War, the North verses South. With Charlie Venegas riding at Auburn every week and Josh Larsen, Chris Manchester, Randy DiFrancesco and Dukie Ermolenko having ridden here this year and put on a good performance, the South look in a stronger position than has been the case in recent years.

Hey Gang(s)!!
Still in California and just starting to wind down some after two weekends of races.
It was totally fantastic!! The riders are getting so fast it's unbelievable!
Robert Curry was really doing well Friday night until the main event. Looked like mechanical trouble. He is consistently up there. Bast, Faria and Venegas are always so smooth. Janniro is fearless and very fast and can ride any part of the track.

Friday night (14th) was a challenge night. I noticed this on the schedule but had no clue what it was. For those of you that still don't know, I'll try to explain.

5 of the top riders line up on the gate. They do one lap and the last guy is out. Then it goes 4, last gut out until there are two riders left. I think the last two left do more than one lap but I was to excited get the details totally clear. The five riders that night were:
Bast, Curry, Faria, Fisher, Janniro

I can't exactly recall the order but the two left for the final were Fisher and Curry. Fisher took the checkered. It was really cool!! A bonus for the fans! ;o)
I finally got to meet Dave Joiner. What a super nice guy! I also met Alita Hartt and her family. Alita's grandson's are the Johnson brothers. Fireball Paul, and Mighty Mitch. I met the Yarrow family. Both families are very down to earth people that help out a lot behind the scenes with speedway.
I even made a new friend after the races Friday night. She was so nice she even gave me a beer. Since I don't drink, she let me have it in the face! lol (yes, this really happened!) I apologize to anyone who witnessed this spectacle! It came as quite a shock to me as well. Saturday night had to be the highlight of my race nights. Cher and Dane invited me to watch the Scratch Main Event from the infield!!!!!! I can't tell you how totally different things look from that close. These guys are so unbelievably fast that I was getting dizzing spinning around trying to keep up with them! It was soooooo awesome being that close!! Thanks again you guys for that special treat!

Mike Rooney is the best! ;o) He is so hysterical! I don't think you could find a more dynamic announcer. And as far as flaggers go....Mark Joiner takes the cake!!! I got a whole new respect for the people that work the infield. From the stands the racing seems fast...from down there, it is much faster and very hard to keep up with.
Anyway, enough for now. I've put on over 2,200 miles since I left and still have to make the drive home. Leaving this Thurs. morning. Jeff D., have a great time at the Civil War!!! Sorry I will miss it! I'm forgetting a lot but I"m very tired! chat to y'all soon.
Thanks again everyone for the great time!!!!! xoxo Mouse