Placerville Grasstrack
El Dorado Fair Grounds
Placerville, California

2014 Grass Track Racing
March 15, 2014 - Presented by 'Big Time Speedway'
By Gary Roberts

The second annual grasstrack race took place last Saturday at Placerville Fairgrounds. The weather was kind, a dry sunny day, temperature in the 70s and a good rider turn out. While there was not a single grasstrack bike in attendance there was a small number of adult speedway riders on speedway bikes, a surprising number of youth speedway riders, a pair of sidecars and a diversified bunch of riders on 100cc minibikes, which provided some great racing. Several comments were made by speedway riders before the races about the unevenness of the racing surface. Clearly they had never seen a UK grasstrack field before a race.

Results

Adult Speedway
Division 1 Main Event
1. Ryan Bast
2. Billy Janniro
Division 2/3
1. Nick Dion
2. Michael Hunting

Youth Speedway
Division 1 Main Event
1. Landon Norton
2. Ty Freehill
3. Anthony Dion
4. Greg Moore
Division 2 Main Event
1. Kyle Cunningham
2. Logan Hedden
3. Cameron Krezman

100cc Mini Bike Race Main Event
1. Bobby Hedden
2. Ryan Bast
3. Kevin Keeran
4. Luke Becker

With around 20 riders in the race, keeping track of positions was no easy matter. Somewhere in the dust clouds, not far behind these four were Billy Janniro and veteran speedway rider Rick Shafer. Ryan Bast lead the race until the last corner, when Bobby Hedden got past him. The rider who impressed me the most was Luke Becker. The 15 year old Youth Speedway rider took the outside line for the entire race. The field was made up of a broad variety of Northern California motorcycle sports names, of which the only one I recognized was flattrack racer Kevin Keeran.

There was a great atmosphere, everyone had fun. The turn out was much bigger than last year. It is hoped that this annual event will be even bigger next year.

Here in Northern California there is now another wait until May, when Fast Fridays season starts.

- Gary Roberts