Events
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(Left) Bobby Hedden
leads Billy Janniro
(right) and Chad
Felicio (left) during
the Scratch main
event at Cal-Expo
Speedway.
(Right) Phil Libhart
(12) leads Ricky
Winsett (11) during
the Sportsman race
at Trail-Way
Speedway. Llbhart
went on to win the
race, as well as the
750cc A final. Winsett
won the 600cc A fin al
earl ier in the night.
Bast, Hedden share
Cal-Expo wins
By M. Sobe r
Photo by Gen Moore
SACRAMENTO. CA, JUNE 12
On a night whe n Sideways Sat urdays honored
one of its mos t popular speedway rid ers ever ,
a n o t he r v eteran fro m rece nt ca mpa igns
cro pped up from out of the weed s to claim the
ni gh t's busiest Divis ion O ne victory. In his first
on-track appearance of the yea r, Harlan Bast Jr.
led from start to finish to claim the win in the
Handicap main even t at the Ca l-Expo Arena's
Bob Pet er s Memorial race. ' Peters, w ho wo n a
num ber
Third Divisio n mains over the pa st
few years, was senselessly murder ed last fa ll in
Sacra me nto during w ha t should hav e been a
rou tine cab-fare pickup. Pet ers' leat hers were
on displa y a ll n ight, a n d a n ice p r e- ra ce
hom age was performed by Speedway announce r ex trao rdi na ire Mik e Rooney, on e of m an y
fri en d s that Peter s mad e in his for esh ort en ed
spee dway career.
Bob by He d d en mad e it two S~r at ch main
wins in a row as he follow ed up his Fast Fridays
d ou ble main victo ries wi th ano ther gr itty win
over Billy [anniro to take the Scra tch featu re at
the Cal-Expo Speed way facility.
Th e Div isi on Two and Three main-ev ent
wi ns we n t to Tom Ad am s a n d Iva n Severt,
respectively. Jon Curry got his first Jun ior Division One win of the year, Greg Hooto n was first
in Junior Division Two, and the Division Three
Junior winn er was Mark Carrillo.
In the Handicap main, rid ers w ere all st atinned two abreas t. Ian Ferri s a nd Sam my Bast
occupied the 20-yard line. Robert Cu rry and
David Faria were the 30- and 50-yard starters.
Bob Hicks and Billy Janniro rou nd ed out the
field . Bast got the star t ah ead of Ferris , Curry
outgated Dave Faria, and [a nn iro was the first to
m ove off o f the 50 . Bast, who wo n both h is
Handicap heat and sem i, did not let ·the inconsistent an d somewhat mountainou s racing surface bother him a t all, as he rode off from Ferris
in the ear ly sta ges.
Meanwhile, [anniro was systematically movingup the ladder from the back of the pack, passing another rid er with each pass ing lap. By the
time the white flag flew, Bast was the only rider
left that Janniro had not passed . In his overzea lous pu rsu it of the quickly fleeing Bast, Janniro
almost cost hi mself the ru nn er-u p spo t as he
swa pped. his Jawa jus t in front of Ferris coming
out of turn two on the final lap . Somehow the
highly talented and entertaining youngster managed to kee p th e tires o n firm gro u nd as he
regained control down the back straigh t. By that
time, Bast was one for one in 1999 Hand icap main
att em pt s. [ann lro someh ow held on to seco nd
place. 'Third wen t to Ferris, and rider/ emergency
track maintenance man Robert Curry was fourth.
Bobby Hedden d rew the pole for the Scra tch
main . Nex t to him in tw o was [a nn ir o . Dav e
Faria was in lane thr ee, and form er class-C flattracker Cha d Felicio occu pied the outs ide. The
risin g start ing tapes drew [anniro ou t of the box
first, with Hedden close behind as the tw o negotiated the first set of tu rns . Hedden beat [anniro
down th e ba ck straight to turn three, but bo th
rid ers entered the tum aimed toward the sa me
rou gh territory near the inside pip e and ended
up sp rawled across the du st.
On the restart, Jann iro lifted at the line and
Hedden made a clean getaway aboa rd his [awa.
Despite Janniro's poor start, he still had his eye
on the lead and mana ged to work himself in
front of Hedden midwa y thr ough th e second
lap . But just as he had in th e Handicap main,
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[a nniro ha d trou b le with th e tr ack's ea s tern
tu rn s and he ended up surre ndering the lead
bac k to Hed d en when he bobb led near ing the
white-flag lap . Once Hedd en regai ned the lead ,
he kep t it for good a nd had his seco nd Scratch
main win in as many nigh ts. [anniro held on to
second p lace, just as he had in th e Ha ndicap
main , an d ' took ove r the Northern Cali fornia
seasonal poin ts lead in the process. Dave Faria
ran third th e entire race until the fina l 40 feet ,
where he unexpec tedl y lau nched his bike forward a nd left him self crumpled on the frontstraightaway blue groove. Felicio took over the
thi rd-place poi nts, and Far ia hobbl ed off with
the wrap-up spot.
Results
SCR: 1. Bobby Hedden (Jaw); 2. Billy J,m niro (Ja w); 3. Chad
Ft-I io (Jaw); 4. Dave Fari.l (G Ml .
k
H OCP; 1. Sammy B3St (Cdn); 2. Billy Jilnn irp; 3. Ian Fe rris
(Jaw ); 4. Robert C urry (Js; 3. Dan n y
)
Easley (Wt>S).
Libhart only double winner
atTrail-Way ST .
By Len and Ben Breech
HANOVER, PA, JUNE 5
In a season of dou ble w inne rs a t just about every
rac e, Ph il Libha r t e me rged from Trail- Way
Speedway's Saturday nigh t program as the only
double winner, takin g the Sportsm an and 750cc
A finals on his Howell 's H-D /Triumph-spon sored machines. Other A-class winners inclu ded
Georgie Price in the 250cc A contest, Rick w insett Jr. in th e 600cc A cla ss, and Da ve Sm ith,
who topped the 500cc Two-Valve race.
As the season ap proaches the halfw ay mark ,
the usual double winners lost for the first time in
many moons a t Trai l-Way. John Lewi s lost by
less than a lengt h for th e first time in the 85cc
class , to Brian Phillips. Lewis aga in d estroyed
the 65cc class by half a lap , how ever. Anoth er
close loss was Shawn Baer' s in the 125cc contest,
to Brian Douglas. Baer put his Rotax in fron t of
the 250cc B class for a third straight win. Bobby
Weir jus t nipped Beer' s brother Evan a t the line
for the 55cc win, with Brett Pugh still way ahead
of the 55cc Oil-Injected-class rid ers. Ray Stillw ell
u sed a borrowed bik e to bea t a visiting hillclimbe r, Jeff Thom as, for the 600cc B win.
Libhart's success seemed to hinge on getting
his bike good and warmed up, as the Sportsman
fina l was the third straig ht race the bike ra n,
each time bettering the placing by one . It started
with a th ird beh in d Winsett and Price in the
600.cc A co n tes t, followe d im me diately b y
Tho mas ' 600cc B race. With the tires good and
warm, he ju mpe d in fro n t of Ken Yoder and
Rick Winsett , while Raun Wood and Jared Mees
ba ttled for fourth. Winsett ou tdi ved Yoder for
runner-up as th ey en te re d tu rn three on th e
third lap . With in two lap s, Winse tt was on libhart 's rear tire, lookin g for an ope ning. Knowin g
Win sett is the kin g of the low groove, Libh art
never ga ve h im the ope ning to stick it in for the
lead. Un like most of the pr eviou s 750cc races,
Libhart managed to lead the field out of th e second turn inst ead of having to fight John Winsett
Jr. for the lead for half of the race. He took the
lea d and kep t Win sett a few lengths back th e
entire wa y.
On e of the closest fina ls wa s from some of
the smallest riders. Bobby Weir , 5O
cc-mounted,
¥
and Evan Baer pulled sev eral len gt hs ove r Jeff
Haldeman and Megan James, as the two fought
for the lead . As they sta rted the fina l la p, Baer
had a better line around a lap per and took the
lead out of tum two . Enteri ng three, Weir tried
to get under, bu t Baer held his line. In the end ,
however, Weir's Cob ra had a .little be tter bit e
coming off the fina l turn and just edged Baer for
thewin.
Ken Yod er took t he 600 cc A le ad from
Georgie Price, Libhart and Winsett . Price stuffed
it un de r Yoder as they entered the third tum on
lap two for the lead , wh ile Winsett took second
on the fou rth lap and started pressuring Price
for the lead . He got by Price on the sixth lap, but
Price regained the lead . As they start ed. the next
lap, Winsett took the lead for good, with Price
right behind him.
After battling nose to tail for the entire 125cc
final, Shawn Beer and Bryan Douglas returned
later to do battl e in the 250cc B final. Chri s Klinefelter took the lead from Baer, Dou glas an d Greg
Sassa ma n. With Klin efelter keeping a ti ght
inside line, BaCT we nt to the outside a nd grad ua lly wo rked his way by, takin g the lead off the
second turn on the third lap .
. The 250cc A contest was even closer, as Jake
Joh nson grabbe d the lead fro m Ra u n Wood,
Price a nd Corey Harmes. Price got by Wood on
the th ird lap and started to pressure his pro tege
Joh nson . But Johnson he ld fas t an d resis te d
almost all of his atte mp ts. On the seve nth la p,
John son slipped slig htly off tu rn four, lett ing
Price slip by for the lead an d the win.
Results
55 O IL-IN' : I. Brett Pugh (Ya m ); 2. Dt-rek He rsh (Ya m) ; 3.
Mike Diffen d erfer (Ya m); 4. Eric Stum p (Ya m); 5. M itch Ha rva t
(Ya m).
50 (4-6); 1. Eric Stump (Yam).
50 (7· 8): 1. Bobby Weir (CoM; 2. Eva n Boler (Po ll; 3. Jt"ff
Haldeman (Lern); 4. Mo rgan James (Leml. 5. Mike Stand iford
(u rn ).
65: 1. Joh n Lew is V (Kaw); 2. Daniel Robinson (Ka w); 3. Je
ff
Ha lde n (Hon) ; 4. Ioey Parks (Ya m); 5. Megan james (Kaw).
ma
85: 1. Bria n Philli~ (Yam ); 2. Joh n Lewis V (Yam); 3. Travis
Sennett (Yam) ; 4. Jo na tha n Jordan (Kaw); 5. Bran don Robinso n
IHon).
.
125 B: 1. Brian Douglas (He n), 2. Shawn Beer (Ya m).
250 A: I. Geo rgie Price (Han); 2. Jake Johnson (Ho n); 3. Raun
Wood (Yam l; 4. Jared Mees (Suzl ; 5. ~orey Harmes (Honl .
250 B: 1. Sha w n Baer (Rtx); 2. Chris Kline felter (Hon ); 3.
Grq; Sassaman (Yam); 4. Doug Reinert (Ya m); 5. Brya n Do uglas
(H e n).
500 A 2·VAlVE: 1. Dave S mit h (Ya m) ; 2 . Jim C ha p ma n
(Ya m); 3. Ste ve Helser (Ya m); 4. Larry Ho ffma n Jr. (Yam ).
tlOO A: 1. Rick Winsett Jr. (Rh:); 2. Geo rg ie Price (Rtx); 3. l'h il
Ubhart (Rtx); 4. Ken Yode r (ATK); 5. Jake John.'IOn (Rtx).
hOt) B: 1. Ray Stillwell (Rt x); 2. Je ff Thomas (Rtx ); 3. [o hn
Riveiro (Yam); 4 . Jamel Ellis (Ya m).
750 A: i. Phil U bhart (Tri) ; 2. John Winsett Jr. (Tri); 3. John
Yure jdcic (Yam).
30+ : 1. Dall;l!' Baer (Rtx); 2. David Sm ith (Rtx); 3. Rick Price
(Tri) ; 4. [a mes Ellis (Yam); 5. BiUMenges (Kaw).
40 +: 1. Jim Ch a r m.1n (Rlx); 2. Jo hn YUn.'jdcic Jr . (Yam ); 3.
Mike Keane (I-Ib,.V 4. Bruce Miller (Ha n).
;
SPTS MN : 1. Phil Ubhart (Rbl.); 2. Rick Winsett Jr . (Rtx) ; 3.
Ken Yodl->t' (ATK): 4. Raun Wuod (Rtx): 5. Iared Ml"f"5 (Suz).
I
Price, Brown prevail at
Castle Rock IT
By Clay Light
CASfLE R
OCK, WA, JUNE12
Eli Pri ce, the w inner of th e 1998 Castle Rock
round of the AMA Na tiona l Hot Sh oe se ries ,
posted his seco nd win of the seaso n in the 600cc
Expert class at the Mount St. Helens Motor cycle
Club-s po nsored AMA Pro-Am IT a t th e Castle
Rock Race Park. Price grabbed the lead from vetera n Ron Wat ers early on the opening lap, then
br eezed to a w in at th e com pletio n of 20 lap s.
Beau Z. Brown scored what w as also a second
win of the seaso n here by posting a convincing
w in in the 600cc Pr o-Sp ort fina l at the race,
wh ich a lso d oubled as round six of th e No rthwest Dealers' Challenge Series.
The Rotax -mounted Pr ice' s winning wa ys
started off wi th his win in the first of the three
Exp er t preliminaries - the-fast est of the three,
earni ng the po le position for the final with a win
ahead of Eric Ric kma n and Jeff Hiat t. ATK mounted Christian Vernon contin ued his wi nning ways d uring qualifying, postin g his third
consecu tive hea t-race victory in heat two , ahead
of Waters and Troy Rose. Vetera n IT ride r Jeff
Anne n scored a win in the thir d hea t race, lead in!i Oregon 's Beau A. Bro wn and Chris Fitzhugh
across the finish line.
Pri ce, riding the Kell En terprises-backed
Ro tax, chose the outside position on the inve rted
po le at the staging of the 'l Zerider, 2Q-lap Expert
main eve nt, bu t Wa ters put his Rotax ahead of
Price at th e unleashing of the racer s. Wat ers '
lead, though, would be sh ort-lived, as Price,
Rickman and Brown all swept pas t Waters coming o ut o f the dogleg, relegati ng Waters to
fo urth, the sta r t of a gradual d escen t for th e
Longview, Washington, rider.
Right from th e sta rt, it was ev iden t th a t
Price would not be challenged for the lead posi tion , as he held a comfortable margin ahead of
a close skirmish for second betwee n Rickman
a n d Brown , b oth o f whom had su bs ta n tia l
g rou nd on th e fourth-pla ce co n fr o n tat io n
be tw een five rid er s - Fitzh ug h, Wat ers, Rose,
Ver non and Annen .
Price clicked off 20 flawles s laps to seal a victory over the tight Rickma n/ Brown battle, which
went in Rickman's favor. The confronta tion for
the fourth- place paycheck went Fitzhugh's way
after Fitzh ugh held off the fastest rider thro ug h
traffic, last yea r's class champio n, J.P. Simonsen.
Simonsen pos ted the fastest charge throu gh traffic after a row-three start, nabbing Waters, Rose,
Vernon a nd fin all y Ann en to se ttle int o fifth
place after his late-race rally.
Fast-starting Eric Beers go t the jump on the
600cc Pro-Sport field , bu t Beers' fine ride came
to a pre mat ure ha lt af ter a mid pa ck cr ash
brought the act ion to a n end . On the restart,
Beer s was mir ed mid pa ck, bu t Beau Z. Brown
found himself with the lead all to himself until
Kurt Hawk soared into contention after a po or
star t. Brown fended off all of Hawk's advances
to p ick up a wi n aboard h is Ca rroll Racin gba cked Rotax. Ha w k finished. a close second,
ahead of George Prindiville, former Expert Jim
Perry, Brian McGon igal a nd Ton y Fox.
ATK-mo un ted Scooter Vernon pu t an end to
this season's winningest rider here, Jeff Rister, in
the 250cc A main. Vernon 's wire-to-wire win
was ahead of Rister, Nick Sellers, Kyle Ragsdale
and Na than Wha rto n, w ho had ea rlier ou tridden the pr eviously unbeaten Rister to w in the
250cc DTX final.
Results
5OSR: I .J .D. Bt'ach; 2. Kevan Duncan; 3 . Jacob Lehman.
50 JR: 1. Tyler Ml'ad c; 2. Alex Bergman.
50 MOD ; I . J.D. Bt'ach; 2. Kevan Du nca n; 3. Jacob Leh ma n.
60 A: 1. Elliot Oqutst.
no DTX: 1. Elliot Oqui ~t.
80 OTX: 1. Ken Ha nsen (Ho n); 2. Nick O hge (Ho n); 3. Derric k
Oqui st (Hon ).
Ho
80 A: 1. Eric DeBoer(Yam); 2. Nick Oghe C n); 3. IJeni, ck
Oquise (Ho n).
125 A: 1. Ch ris Mead e (Ya m); 2. Je rry He nse n (Han); 3. D.J.
Powell (Kew) .
250 A: 1. Scooter Verno n (ATK); 2. JC£f Rister '
bOO EX: 1. Eli Price (W-R); 2. Eric Rickma n (Rtx); 3. ee ec A,
Brown (Rtx); ~. C hrill Fitzhugh (Rtx); 5. J.P. Simonsen (Han ).
