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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127961
looked back. By doi ng so:
Ha"'-;';'sco~ed the first
national wi n of her career! Wood again finished
. third. extendi ng her points lea d to 22 po ints.
Reed and Pray bat tled lo r lourth and, unlortunately , both riders lell victim to the track. Reed
cras hed twice in the closing laps, finishing 15th
for the m ote , while Pray crashed in the whoops
with two laps remaining a nd flooded he r bike ,
which she pushed across the line lor 20th. Ultimately, fou rt h went to Losey, who wa s followed
by Keuntjes .
"It feels great to be on the podium," Harri s
sa id, "especially he re a t m y ho me track - we
cou ld hear your cheers . Thanks.
'This is the first Na tional win of my career, "
Ha rris con tinued . "I' m d efini tely fired u p. I can't
wait lor the final a t Bingha mt on . I fina lly pu t
two good motus together and I could n't be happier,"
Results
0 / A: 1. Nikki Harri s <
Hon); z. Tra ci Heming (Yam ); 3. Dee
Wood (K.1W); 4. St.-d,
lnl\il Losey(Ho nl; 5. Angie Kl·t mtjl'l' (Y.l. ).
m
Faria flies again at
Auburn Speedway
By M. Sober
P hoto by Gen Mo o re
46
AUBURN, CA. AUG. 28
C u rre n t U.S. N a tio na l Spee d way Champ ion
"F lyin" M ike Fa ria mad e an im p ress ive a nd
awe-i nspi ring return to Fast Frida ys Speedwa y
racing a t th e Aub urn Gold Co u n try Fai rgroun ds . Faria man aged to come ou t on top of
the Scr at ch ma in progra m d espite contesting
wi th a bod y heavily taped Irom d am age tha t
occ u rred in a Handicap main-event crash in
July. Faria, who called the cracked ribs and collarbone "the worst and most painful injuri es I've
had in my racing career," was leading the 199B
Northern Ca lifornia poin ts race at the time.
"Flyin'" Mike d id hav e a bit 01 luck on this
night , as he d rew the pole lor the Scratch main.
Charlie 'The Edge" Venegas lined up in two . In
lane three was the "Jamm er," Jimm y Sisemore,
w hile the ou tside was occu pied by Bar t Bast .
Alter one lalse stagin g and an ad monis hme nt by
referee John Grant, the ma in got under wa y wi th
Faria barely edging ou t Venegas lo r the lead as
the pack negotia ted the first se t of tu rns . As
Faria and Venega s ar gued over the righ ts to the
prim e real esta te of tum tw o, Sisemo re became
the odd man ou t and was releg ated to sp inning
wide on the ou tsid e dust. This allowed Bast to '
assu me the th ird -place running position. Fari a
ran Iow a n the hea vily blu e-grooved an d slick
in sid e lin e, not so much lead ing th e way as
.
hold ing 011 the Ireight train.
"In the last couple 01 la ps, my shoulde r was
ge tting real tired and I was having troubl e keeping the bike on the pole," Faria explained alter
the race. "I kn e w the re was no outside a nd I
could win if th ey didn't cra sh into me a nd I
could keep it tight on the pole."
Venega s, Bast a nd Sisemor e stayed close
throu ghout the race but were unable to get by,
a n d t h e y li n ished b ehind Faria ' s Phil
Reome / Arai / Oll Beat production GM, in tha t
order.
Bart Bast bad a lairl y d ecent evening 01 his
own, despite his third-place finish in the Scratch
ma in . When Ba rt ca me to the track, he was
already the 1998 points cha mp ion. having mathe matica lly clinched that spo t ea rl y the week
before when Faria was una ble to make the call.
Bast won all 01 his prelimina ry Scratch races and
had, as the announ cer said, "a 5200 grin in his
helm et alter the race." Bast also swept to victory
in th e fina ls 01 th e Ch a m p ions hi p Chall en ge,
wi n ni ng four strai gh t one -ri der eli mina tio n
races over Sisemore, Chad Felicia, Pat Unn and
Bobby Hedden.
In Handica p raci ng, Placervill e' s Ian Ferris
wh eeled to h is secon d main -event w in in as
many weeks. Ferris was bumped back to the 20yard line alt er his win a week ago. He ran second to Rich Marucci un til lap three, wh en he
supplanted the front-runner and led the procession the res t 01 the way to the lap-five checkered
flag. Auburn's Tommy Hedden d rove hard on
the dusty single-track but came up half a bike
sho rt . Faria was thi rd , Ba st wa s fourth a n d
Venegas, who wa s typically pena lized to the 60yard line lo r roll ing the star t, linis hed in the
sixth spo t. Early leader Marcucci lell to the sixthplace basement.
Gary Maranville won the Division Two main
event going aw ay aboa rd his Redltn e Concrete
pump/Ncr-Cal Fleetcare Jawa . But even bigger
Di visi on Tw o new s wa s created by another
Auburn resident, Harlan Bast, who captu red the
1998 points battle for the seco nd con secuti ve
year, wit h a th ird -place finish. In the Division
Three final, Tom Odekirk held 011 "Big Daddy"
Ch ipman and Harry Bradwell to take his second
win of the seaso n.
Fremont's Carillo bro the rs d om ina ted the
Juni or racing pr ogram. Eric wo n the First Divisia n main ahead of Bryan Yarrow and J.J. Martynse, wh ile his little brother Mark led the way
in the Third Division over Ray Linn, Alex Marcucci a nd Amanda English . Matt Brown e wo n
the Second Division Junior main .
Resul ts
SCR: I. Mike Faria (e M ); 2. Charlie V~as (e M ); 3. Bart
Bout(jaw ); 01 . 'imm y ~ (CM ).
UOCr: l. ten FenU leM); 2. Tommy Heddt.-n (Jaw); 3. Mi.....
F. ri.l IGM); 01 . Bart B.tst(jaw ); S. Charl ie Venega s (GM).
[)"2; 1. Colry Moranville (Jaw ); 2. Shawn Eldridge (Jaw) ; 3.
tLu w n B.tst (Wes ); 01. Geo~ SnooJ,.r-IWe:'Il.
[)..3: I. Tom Odekirk (jaw); 2. Dadd y Ch ipman (W e~); 3.
Ha ny Bradwell (jaw) .
0- 1 JR: 1. Eric Ca rillo (jaw); 2. Bryan Yarrow (Wes ); 3. ,.J.
M.11'tyne1e (W~); 4. Dun nie RoblrNm (ja w).
0 -2 JR: 1. M.atl Bro wne (Wes) ; 2. J.T. Mabry (Wes ); 3 . J.ay
Heidt (We'tl; 4. Anthony Martinez. (Wes).
0-3 JR: 1. M. rk Ca n llo (Wes); 2. Ray Linn (Wes); 3. Alex Mar·
a
cucci (Wl."5); 4 . Amanda English (Hon ).
Carpenter finishes fine at
.Frozen Ocean
By Melissa Th readg ill
AUBURN, NY, AUG. 15
Paul Carpenter won bo th the heat and the main
even t in the 250cc Expert class at Frozen Ocean
Arena cross. The heat race, wh ich was for gate
posi tion only, started 011 wi th Carpenter nailing
the holeshot. Anthony Pocorobba, David Burger
and Rand y Barker were in hot pu rsuit.
Pocorobba im med iately mad e a bid lor the
lead, which proved unsu ccessful. He and Carpen te r ba ttled lor a le w laps, but Ca rpen ter
finally managed to break awa y. Runn ing abou t
three second s laster than Pocorobba, he bega n to
bu ild up a lead . Burger re mained consta nt in
third , while Barker received some hea t in fourth
fro m Casey Higgins. The position s remained
basically unchan ged lor the res t 01 the heat , with
Carpenter takin g the win. lollowed by Poco robba, Burger and Barker .
The 250cc main proved to be one of the most
exciting 01 the evening. Eric Case pulled 011 the
ho les hot, lollowed by Pocorobba and Carpenter.
Ca se dropped back almost immediately, with
Carpenter taking the lead and Pocorob ba in sec ond . Pocorobba mad e a wild pass in the whoops
ove r Carpente r to take the lead , bu t Carpenter
d idn't let 011. Unlortuna tely for the two, they
ended up crashing off the track aiter overs hoo ting a berm . This ga ve Burger, who had mad e the
pass on Case, the cha nce to take the lead , 101
lowed by Case, Barker, Higgins and Bart Lucas.
Ca rpenter and Pocorobba were able to ge t up
a nd started quickly, but they end ed up in the
very back o f the pack. Carpenter im me dia tely
began to work at picking 011 the com petition ,
passing them two and even th ree at a time. By
the end 01 that lap , Carpenter had worked his
way into third and was putting the pressure on
Case. At th at poin t, Pocorobba had mad e his
way up through a couple 01 rid ers into seven th,
but he was still notlar at all from the lead . Burger took this opportunity to open up a lead , while
Carpenter mad e the pass on Case. Case dropped
011 the pace, lalling back into about sixth, wh ile
Pocorobba con tinued his trek to the front , a nd
alter a lap or so he was into third . It became a
breakaway three- bike ba ttle lor the lead between
Burger, Carpenter a nd Poco rob ba . In the middle
01 this 'exciting figh t lor the lead , Bur ge r had
bike problems and had to pull 011. This lelt Carpen ter in the lead , and he immediately began to
pull away fro m Pocorobba and the rest 01 the
pac k. Mean while, Hig g in s mov ed into thi rd
alter passing Barker, and Michael Wilcox bega n
to move up in the pack, passing Case and Lucas
to move int o fifth . The battle became a threeway race lor th ird , lourth and filth, whil e Ca rpe n te r and Poco robba d is ta nced themselves
lrom the rest 01 the pack. Wilcox made the pass
on Barker and tried. unsuccessfull y, to ma ke a
move on Higgins as they reached the halfway
point 01 the 12-lap race. For the next six laps, the
positions remai ned rela tively the same. Cerpenter took the wi n, lollowed by Pocorobba, Higgins, Wilcox an d Barker.
In the 80cc clas s, Gene N igh ma n took the
holesh ot an d never loo ked back, lea d ing a nd
winnin g in both the heat and the main. Zack
Eastman finish ed up second , while Matt Eastman had thir d and Don Taylor lou rth.
Resul ts
bO: 1. Cody Dunni ng (K..t.wl; 2. Chdd Dunning (Kaw); 3. Brando n Meiers (K,aw) ; 4. Fra nk Bum!! (K.1W) ; S. Colin Carmt' n ( Ka w).
80: 1. Gene Nig lun.. " (Ka w ); 2. Zlch Ealilmlln (K.Jw); 3. Ma tt
'
Eastma n ( I