Fairgrounds Raceway
Santa Maria, California

1997 California Junior State Championship
September 22, 1997 - Fairgrounds Raceway
From: Gary Roberts

Coincidentally, on the same night as ex- California Junior rider, Greg Hancock wound up his World Championship win, the 1997 California Junior State Championships were held at Santa Maria on Saturday, along with a regular speedway program. In addition, there were go carts and flattrack.

The Junior State Championship produced some good racing, particularly in the Division 1 class. One of America's possible future world champions, Ryan Fisher won this with a maximum score. It is easy to underestimate the importance of this event. The competitors for this event 13 years ago would have included Billy Hamill and Greg Hancock. I wonder how many future world champions are among the following list?

Division 1
Ryan Fisher    15
Bryan Yarrow    7
Eric Carrillo    4
Donny Robinson  3

Division 2
Jonathan Curry 15
Justin Boyle   10

Division 3 
Josh Newby     12
Tim Gomez      12
Alex Marcucci   6

The run-off for the division 3 championship went to Josh Newby after Tim Gomez fell, bruising his arm. He was unable to come back for the re-start.

Eric Carrillo rode a newly put together machine, which was still suffering teething troubles. In his fourth heat he put on a good race, leading Ryan for nearly three laps.

The regular Speedway program is still short of riders. Like last week we were fortunate to have a number of riders who made the 250+ mile trip from up north. Unlucky Kevin Cullen damaged his leading link forks in his first heat and was unable to compete again. A long drive for 3 laps.

Matt King got his first main event win, after a second and a third earlier in the season. Matt is has competed more Santa Maria events than any other northern California rider.

Paul Herman rode his first ever Speedway event, and scored 2 points. He then won the C and B mains and ended up in the A main. THis is the first time a rider has transfered from the C to the A and the best performance ever for a first night rider. Paul has a number of year flat track experience.

Results:

Kit Nay          14
Matt King         13.5
Bill Newby       13
Mark Maynard     11.5
Mike Boyle        8
John VanderMeulen 7 (reserve 4 rides)
Bill Thomas       6
Gerry Duttweiler  5
Terry McCurdy     4
Jimmy Collins     4
Paul Herman       2
Jason Chabot      0

A main: King, Nay, Newby, Maynard, Herman
B main: Herman, Thomas, Duttweiler, VanderMeulen, Boyle
C main: Herman, McCurdy, Collins, Chabot

There are still two more events at Santa Maria, on October 11 and October 18. No racing next weekend because the Fairgrounds has some monster track pull, or similar and the following week is the Costa Mesa National.

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com