Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AlfAlFast Fridays season opener AUBURN, CA, MAY 8 he sound of thunder ebbed and flowed from the Gold Country Fairgrounds, and when it was over, neither rain nor a crash nor threetime U.S. National Speedway Champion "Flyin'" Mike Faria could stop Auburn Toyota-backed Bart Bast from scoring convincing wins in both First Division main events at the Fast Fridays season opener in Auburn. Bast, the eight-time and reigning Northern California Speedway Champion who spent a season with the British League's Swindon Robins in 1989, handled everything that was throwll at him, whether it .was the changing track conditions that for a time huddled the capacity crowd under the roof of the main grandstand, or the flying bike of competitor Louis Kossuth, or the relentless attack from American speedway's best boy Faria. The 30-year-old Auburn homey thrilled the fans as he used perfect starts and effective pole-)mgging to walk away with the lion's share of the $1375 First Division purse. "It was a good start to the season," Bast said after claiming both first-place plaques on the podium. "The weather wasn't all that great, but it didn't really affect the track. I thought that the track was great for the first night. They couldn't have done any better with it." In other racing action, Bill "Metal Kid" ewby used patience and took advantage of a late-race mishap suffered by leader Tom Adams to win the Second Division main event; David "The General' Lee rollerballed his way to victory in the Third Division main, leading from start to finish; and Ryan Fisher, A.J. Jones and Josh Newby topped the First, Second and Third Division Junior mains, respectively. T HANDICAP The Handicap side of the First Division program opened the show, with Faria displaying his ability for his new hometown fans. Th'e 41-year-old National Champion rocketed away from his post on the 5O-yard line. and calmly and coolly used the outside to work his way around 40-yard man Randy DiFrancesco and fellow 50-yard-liner Charlie "The Edge" Venegas, taking the win and leading both riders into the semis. Second-generation speedway racer Ian Ferris came off the 20 and held former orthern California high-point man Robert Curry at bay, with John Grant coming home third for the last transfer spot to the semis. The third Handicap heat resembled something more on the order of the Third Division wars, as Chad Felicio wadded up coming off turn two and collected Auburn favorite Bobby "The Blaze" Hedden in the process. Before flagman Mark Joiner could throw the red, First Division rookie Rick Shafer tagged the wall off turn four and cartwheeled down the front straightaway. All riders rejoined the fray. On the restart, former Junior stud Billy Janniro grabbed the lead from the 30-yard line and never looked back, leading Jim "The Jammer" Sisemore and Hedden into the transfer spots. Despite the best efforts of the Fast Fridays crew, turns one and two quickly began to look more like a mine field than a race track, and that may have been the contributing factor in a brutallooking crash involving Bast and Kossuth as they came off turn two. The two locked 'bars after Kossuth wheelied while underneath Bast in the corner, and both went down in a tangle of equipment. "Louie railed me," Bast said afterward. "My bike was bent up so bad that the wheel was hitting the cylinder head on the engine." Kossuth was indifferent after the incident. "Oh, well," Kossuth said, "I guess that's why we take all the pretty pictures before the race starts." Bast borrowed a GM from Third Division rider Dick Vargas and went on to transfer behind winner Kelly Bennett and Tommy Hedden. Kossuth failed to make it through. The semis were, if anything, predictabl! enough. Faria, Venegas and DiFrancesco repeated their act from the opening heat, taking the top three spots to guarantee their places in the main events. Bast returned to his now heavily hammered-on Jawa and sliced and diced his way through traffic for the win in the second semi. Sisemore also got through after a race-long battle with Hedden, who appeared to be held up when the pair ran across Janniro. Hedden was denied the transfer spot by the youngster, and he was visibly frustrated as evidenced by his comments to Janniro on the cool-down lap. After several aborted attempts due to a start-jumping Venegas, the six-rider field fired off the line for the Handicap main, with Janniro taking the lead from DiFrancesco early and holding it for two laps. Faria and Bast were locked together as they diced from off the back yardage, with Bast running inside and Faria on the dirt line as they charged past a fading DiFrancesco. As the pair rolled up on Janniro in turns three and four on lap four, Bast remained low and took the lead. Faria chose to go around the outside of the youngster, and a slight hesitation was all it took for Bast to gain the advantage that he eeded to take the win. Janniro held off Faria for second. Sisemore outran Venegas for fifth, with DiFrancesco bringing op the rear. • . SCRATCH Faria opened up the round of Scratch heats by nailing the start and putting three lengths on Venegas as they slid (Above) Bart Bast was the fastest man at the Gold Country Fairgrounds during the Fast Fridays Speedway season opener in Auburn. Bast bagged wins in both the Handicap and Scratch mains. (Right) David "The General" Lee appears ready to make his mark in Auburn's Third Division ranks. Lee rocked and rollerballed his way to the win in the main event, leading s~rt to finish. around the tight-cornered eighth-mile. Venegas went on to pick up the transfer over Pat Linn and Matt Becker. Bast did the same in heat two, pulling cleanly away from the start from the second gate and taking the point over Chad Felicio. The pair left Curry and Rick Pearce behind them as they advanced to the semis. Tommy Hedden was fast out of the gate in heat three, but breaking tapes caused the race to be restarted. Hedden duplicated his start on the second go, but the starting gate malfunctioned again, leaving the younger of the t1:Y2 Hedden brothers visibly frustrated. "I've only got a couple of starts li)

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