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Eighth annual Fast Fridays Civil War of Speedway (Left to ri ght) Ji m Sisemore, Josh Larsen, Bobby Schwartz and Billy Jann iro charg e into turn one at Aubu rn 's Fast Frida ys Speedw ay dur ing the eighth annual Civ il War of Speedway team event. The North won the contest, 56-40. Th~N a.ls. . By M. Sober Pho to by Ge n Moore AUBlJRJ\I, CA, JULY24 n the eighth running of the Ci\; 1War of Speedway, the North team mad e it a "3-peat," tak ing a decisive 56-40 victory before an overflow sell out crowd a t the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn, California. Jim my Sisemore an d Bart Bast, who each had 10 points, led a v er y b a lan ced -sc orin g No rt h squad that sco red ma ximum 5-1 sco res in four of the six final heat s to take the win. In addition to the conv incing win in th e 16-heat-rac e forma t, th e N or th also completely swept asid e the South in the A and B mains, tak ing the first and se cond s po ts in eac h . Winn ing the night's last two point-rich races ran the Northern team's tall y up to a sco re of 86-49. " Yo u re all y ha ve to g iv e th e se (So uthe rn) g uys cred it for co m ing in here an d doing as well as they do on a track that is bigger than what they rid e every week ," Sisemore sa id in the p its once the race victory had been secured. In the opening heat , Southern team ca p ta in an d two-lime U .S. Na tional Speedway Cha mpio n Bobby "Boogaloo" Sch w artz cut a p erfect gate fro m th e ins id e s ta r ting p osition. Current Ll .S, Spe edw a y Cha m pion "Flyi rr'" M ik e Faria, w ho was rid ing for the No rth for th e fi rs t time, qui ckl y fell in b ehind Schwartz, wh o is also a form er tw o-time World Best Pairs Cha m pio n, lookin g first high and then low in an attempt to take over the lead. Fari a finall y saw the d aylight h e was looking for a nd cu t under Schwartz in the final tum before the checkered .flag, w hich he took ah ead of Schwartz by mere in ch es. Pat Linn held the third spo t over Joe Winston, and the North had its first lead of the night, 4-2. In the seco nd heat, Charlie Venegas led from start to finish. Bobby Hedden trailed th e fo r m e r California State Ch ampion in second place, but the third s po t a n d s in g le point went to th e South's Eddie Castro. The South had a I 4-2 point heat and the overall score saw a 6-6 tie. Then 1992 Ll.S, Nati on al Speedway Champion Chris Man chester ga ve the South its second consecutive wi n in the third heat, gating su premely off the pole and drivin g unh ara ssed to th e thr ee-point win. Sisem ore took second , but Andy N orthrup' s third place insured th e South an other 4-2 margin and a 10-8 lead ove rall. The South's lead would be s hortlived, however, as the team of Bob Hicks and Bart Bast (the team that ev entually wo und u p as the high est-scoring d uo in t he e ve n t) left fo r me r U.S. Juni or N ati on a l Champion Josh Larsen and Rand y Di Frances co to sort ou t third pl ace. Th e five p oints put th e N orth back in the lead , 13-11. Sch wa rtz, who is und oubtedly th e most kn owled geable s peedway teamriding s pecia lis t on th e pl anet tod ay , opened the second round jus t as he had the first: with a smart ga te and an early lead. Th is time it was Bast who reeled him in , taking th e lead a nd the three p oin ts awa y on la p tw o. Hic ks easily b e st ed Jo e Wi nsto n, and t he o rt h incr eased its lead to 17-13. Sisemore led the way in the nex t heat, w hile the seco n d s po t w a s occu pied initiall y b y Venegas, and then by Billy Janniro after his move in tum two, and the n eve ntually by Castro, as Venegas and [anniro both fell by the wayside. Janniro pu lled off, and Venegas limped across the line to collect the sing le poin t for third , givin g th e Sou th a 3-3 tie in the hea t. In heat sev en, Tommv Hed d en was th e first out of the box from ga te three, but he fell prey to Man che ster, wh o drove und erneath him in th e back straight. Bobby Hedden ran last and cou ld n' t ge t around .Northrup, who had an apparent real-estate dispute with Tommy on the cool-down lap. Tommy barely ed ged A ndy for second a nd th e South prevailed 4-2, cutting their overall deficit to 22-20. Josh Lar sen, wh o has spent a lot of hi s racing career riding in th e British Leagu e, mad e a go od p a yo ff w ith a three-point win ove r Faria. "We had to have those po ints right th er e," Larsen sa id. "We felt tha t we needed to put up so me good numbers before this thing got out of hand ." The Sou th tied up the ov erall score, 24-24, when th ird place was stolen by DiFrancesco at the line from a napping ' Pat Linn . Schwartz opened up the third round of heats just as he had the fi rs t tw o, bursting into the early lead on ly to have a orthern rider - this time Bobbv Hedden - take the lead from him in the ensuing laps . Tommy Hedd en g ave th e No rth the 4-2 ad va ntage w he n he finished thi rd ahead of Southern su rp rise rese rve r ider Robert Curry, w ho was s u bbi ng for the s tr u gg li n g Wins ton . Venegas tied up the score again in the following race, holding off Fari a, whil e Castro claimed the third spot ahead of Chad Felicio, who replaced Linn after he was d isqualified for crashi ng nea r th e turn-four wall. After 10 total heat rid es, no progress had bee n made by either side, and the sco re was knotted a t 30. Th e team of Hicks and Bast came through again, however, in hea t 11. Hicks go t the start and led all the way, as Bast worked his way to second despite a poor gat e. The No rth, mat ching its bigg est lead of the event, was up 35-31. La rsen tried to w res tle the points back in heat 12, getting out in front at the start but then giving the le a d b a ck to Sise mo re, who pushed hard on th e ins ide aboard his Ro se Ra cing GM . Larsen th en lo st ano ther p o siti on to [anniro , wh o bro ug ht the crowd to its feet as he came fro m the ba ck to split Lars en and Difran cesco. driving into second place in the process. Another 5-1 heat ad vantage extended the No rth's lead to 40-32 at the end of three full rounds. After the first attempt to get heat 13 under way ended up wit h Sisemore and Larsen (who wa s a tactical replaceme nt .for Winsto n) in the turn-two di rt, th e final round opened up w ith - yo u guessed ' it - Schwartz leading the pack into the first tu rns . "I jus t wanted to show ou r gu ys that we weren't out of it yet, but I couldn't hold the lead," Schwartz said . "These guys up here sure know how to ride this track. Jann iro ca m e fr om o ut of nowhere. We were up ag a ins t it a fter that." Janniro was the second rider off the blocks in th e restart a nd he qu ickl y passed Schwartz when the leader slid wi de in turn two . Sisemore lived up to his nickname on lap three, as he jammed in to secon d place, splittin g between Larsen a nd Schwartz to fall in be hind Jan ni ro . With th r ee he a ts to go , the North had ope ne d up a co mmanding 45-33 ad va ntage . Bast's and Hicks' second- and third -pla ce finishes in heat 14 offset Venegas' win, as d id Faria 's and Linn 's two-three behind Ma nchester in th e se co nd -to-last hea t of the even t. Venegas entered the final heat as a tactica l replacemen t for DiF ra ncesco, but saw that strat egy bac kfire. Tommy Hedden too k the wire-to-wi re win , with his bro ther Bobby right behind him, and the North had another 5-1 heat and the 5640 win: All t h a t was left were the bonus rounds, in which the night's best riders were p laced according to thei r points and team choice. In the B mai n, which was worth twice the points of a heat race, t h e South entered Lars en and Schwartz . The North countered with ยท Bobby Hedden and Faria. Hedden go t the gate from the pole, and wh en Faria passed 'Schw artz on lap two , the North had ano ther sweep. In the A main, Venegas got ou t first bu t we nt too hot into the first turn and fe ll in th e a pex , ca u s in g Ba st to lay down his new [awa to avo id going over Venegas. O n the restart, Venegas also got ou t front but went wide in turn two, allowing Sisem ore and then Bast to both move ahead of. him on the quick inside groove. O nce Sisemore and Bast got to the front, there was no stopping them, and they rod e flaw les sly to the checkered flag. "T h is is just g re a t - e xa ctly like I knew we would do," Sisemore sa id after the ma in eve nt. "Go North! The Southern gu ys were getting the gates half the tim e but cou ldn't hold it inside . We all knew how to ge t around a littl e better; this ain't Cost a Mesa ." After five straight years of fru stration at the hands of the Sou th, the North has now taken over the to p spo t in the Unit ed States' longest-running s peed way team-racing event. . In the Junior main even t, U.s . Junior at ional Speed w a y Champi on Ryan Fisher had his hands full with both Eric Carillo and Bry an Yarrow. Aft er three restarts, Fisher finally go t ahead of the North's youngsters to claim the win in an accident-marred finale. Despite twisting his ankle in one of the crashes, Carillo got ba ck aboard his [awa for the res tart and went on to finish in second place. Yarro w was third, and A.J. Jones was fourth. l~ Gold Coun try Fairgrounds Auburn, California Results: Ju ly 24, 1998 eVI L WAR: 1. No rt h. 56 (JimmySisc mo re. l0 ; Bart Bast, 10; Mike Faria. 9; Bobby Hedd en , 7; Bob Hicks. 7; Tommy Hedd en . 6; Billy Ianniro, 5; Pat lin n, 2); 2. So ut h. 40 (C harlie Vt>-neg .ls, lO; C h ris Manchester. 9; Bobby Sch wa rtz, 6; Josh Larsen . 6; Eddie Castro, 4; Andy Nort hrup, 3; Randy DiFra ncesco , 2). A MAIN: 1. Jim my Sisemo re (GM); 2. Bart Bast Uaw); 3. C harlie Vt.>'tegas (GM); 4. Chris Man chest er IGMl. . 8 MAIN: 1. Bobby Hedden Uaw); 2. Mike Far ia y IGMI; 3. Josh Larsc'" IGM); 4. Bobb Sch wartz IGMl.