Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Auburn, California

25 Lap Main
July 30, 2004 - Fast Fridays, Auburn
By Gary Roberts

A very pleasant evening at Auburn where the temperature has gone down a little this week, but its still in the eighties. The crowd looked a bit smaller than in recent weeks.

Unofficial results:

25 Lap Main
1. Chad Felicio
2. Scott Brant
3. Greg Hooten
Also in the race were John Houston, Bob Hicks, Tommy Hedden, Bryan Yarrow, Chris Kerr, Bart Bardecki and Bobby Hedden. Greg Hooten started with the smallest handicap and lead for about 15 laps, until Scott Brant took the lead. When Scott started to tire, Chad Felicio took over. For a rider the other side of 40, Chad must be in great shape! I always expect the young fit riders to do better, but for some reason these races at both Auburn and Costa Mesa are dominated by the older riders.
Chris Kerr was the first to pull off, after about 6 laps. This is an extremely difficult race to follow, with so many riders on the track. As soon as riders get lapped, its almost impossible to know what is going on. I always mean to count laps, but get lost with that too. My personal opinion is that a six lap race is more than enough.

Scratch Main
1. Bobby Hedden
2. Scott Brant  Mike Faria
3. Chris Kerr
4. Tommy Hedden
First out of the gate was Chris Kerr, but Bobby Hedden found his was past in the first corner. Scott Brant got by on the second lap.

Scratch Consolation

Handicap Main
1. Bobby Hedden  (50)
2. Tommy Hedden (40)
3. Mike Faria (50)
4. Bart Bast (50)
5. Chris Kerr (40)
6. Greg Hooten (10)

Division 2 Main
1. Kell Kerrigan (0)
2. Alex Marcucci (30)
3. Shawn Eldridge (30)
4. Kenny Ingalls (20)
5. Steve Lewotsky (20)
6. Brian Leventon (0)

Division 2 Consolation
1. Bill Warnock (10)
2. Vince Bertolucci (20)
3. Mike Browne (20)
4. Rachelle Kerr (10)
5. Mike Achilles (10)
6. Ricky Adams (10)

Division 3 Main
1. Norman Brooks
2. Danny Poli
3. Don Ballard
4. Cory Barringer
5. Dave Quick
6. Kjell Lovlien
7. Greg Lovlien
8. Matt Pangburn
Norman Brooks must have been the most consistent high finisher in division 3 this season to not win a main event. Tonight he put that right.

Division 3 Consolation
1. Sean Billenstein Jim Jensen
2. Steve Rowett
3. John Deatherage
4. Scott Robinson
5. Clark Caravella
6. Rich Mignano
7. Derek Sheppard
8. Greg Howell.

Youths Division 1
1. Paul Johnson (40)
2. Tom Fehrman (0)
3. Mitchell Johnson (10)
4. Ricky Felicio (20)
5. Bryce Starks (0).

Youths Division 2
1. Ben Essary (0)
2. Dillon Petersen (0)
3. Tori Hubbert (0)
4. Cody Ciciarelli (0)

Youths Division 3
1. Troy Guisande (10)
2. Amber Felicio (10)
3. John Randolph (0)

Sitting it out in the crowd this week was Division 2 rider, Bruce Bast, who broke a femur last Friday. Bruce had a titanium rod inserted into the bone last weekend and was released from hospital yesterday. He is still in quite a lot of pain and will be on crutches for 3 months. I look forward to seeing him racing again next May.

Next week is the first round of the AMA National Championship. Round 2 is the following night at Victorville, round 3 is September 24, again at Auburn.

If anyone's decision is hanging in the balance, whether to come to Speedway or not and is looking for a compelling reason, there now actually is one. Fast Fridays has Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on draught at the beer stand.

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com