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Events
Fast Fridays Speedway
Hedden
over "The
Edge"
ByM. Sober
Photo by Gen Moore
AUBURN, CA. AUG. 20
ha rl ie "The Edge- Ven egas' co nsecu ti ve Scra tch main w in s trea k
w as terminated at th ree, d espite
the fac t that he co mpleted the Scra tch
mai n event at the fro nt of the pack .
Ven eg as started th e mai n fro m gate
two - th e first tim e tha t he d id n't have
the inside po le po sitio n si nce his s treak
bega n. Occupying lan es three an d four
w e re Bobby Hed den a nd Ba rt Ba st.
Ryan Fishe r, IS, w on the blind draw and
rolled into starti ng grid o ne on the po le.
A ccord in g to Ven e ga s , th e problem
began righ t ther e; he claims Fisher was
lined u p too wide and was encroaching
on his starting area.
" I moti on ed to john (Grant, the referee) tha t the kid was too tight with me
before the s tart, but nothing was done
about it, so I just decid ed to race," Venegas explained lat er .
FISher, w ho had unsuccessfully tried
th e sa me tactic in his Sc ra tc h semi
agai ns t Ba st , w a s i nd e ed s ta tio ned
tow a rd the ou tside of his s ta rting bo x,
jus t as Ven ega s w as nea r the in s id e,
both loo king fo r th at extra edge going
into the ever-im po rtant firs t. tu m. When
sta rter/ flag ma n Mark joi ner tripped the
sta rti ng tapes, bo th Venegas and the former junior C hampion from Norco ma de
good s tarts a nd accelera ted d o wn th e
f ro n t straig h t in uni s on . As th e y
a p proached th e fi rs t turn, somethi n g
had to g iv e. To the u tt e r s hoc k o f th e
crow d, Ven egas remo ved his hand fro m
his hand lebar g rips a nd smac ked Fisher's helmet.
" It caught me by su rp rise," said Fisher. "I don't think he gra bbed me at all,
just kind of sla pped the side of my helmet and goggles ."
His concentration in terru p ted, Fish er
lo s t h is m omentum in to th e co rner,
s t rai g h ten e d u p a n d wen t s t raig h t
toward the outside, w here he narrow ly
a vo ided ta ng li ng w ith Bast , w ho w as
atte m pting to sweep arou nd th e ou tside
fro m his lan e-four starting spo t. Meanw hile, Bobb y H e d d e n h ad m ad e a
d ecen t start and mo ved u p in to second
place on the quicker inside groove. Once
Ven eg as had th e clea r lead, he drove his
jawa qu ickly to the chec ke red flag. Hed den tried bo th th e inside and o u ts ide
lines in his a ttempt to dislodge Ven egas
fro m th e fro nt but found no o penings
and was relega ted to the ru nn er-up spot
- or so it seemed at the time. After Venegas' checkered-flag lap was co m pleted a m id co nsi dera ble bo o in g fro m th e
, crowd - th e refer ee, w ho ad mi tted ly had
a poor visual ang le on the firs t-la p incident, co nsu lted with the ba ck-gat e official s a nd a co u p le of s id e li n e ca m co rd ers, and d et ermined tha t Ve negas
had indeed rem oved his hand from the
handlebars to stri ke his com petitor. In
th e s p e ed w a y rul e boo k, th is a ct is
defi ned as " fo ul rid ing" and carries wit h
i,t a penalty for exclusio n. Ven egas was
su bsequent ly d isqua lified an d d ropped
to fourth p lace. Hedden was a w a rd ed
the victory, Fis he r w as cred it ed with
second , and third we nt to .Bast.
C
Charl ie Venegas
lead s the Scratch
ma in at Fast
Fri days Speedway
in AUburn,
Cal ifornia, after
slapping Ry an
Fisher (6) - literally.
Bart Bast head s
around the outsid e
and Bobby Hedden
trails. Venegas was
di squalified
afterward and
Hedden was
awarded th e win.
Ven egas wa s candid a fte r th e race
a bo ut his unpopular behavior.
"I have no thing aga inst Ryan or any
o ther rid er, and [ would never intent iona lly tr y and hurt a ny body," he sta ted.
"But you gotta do certain things to w in;
these young rid ers will [ea rn tha t if they
go to the British League. Th at's where [
learned to sepa rate myself frtl m ot her
riders like that. [ was just trying to create some space between us."
Fish e r was more fortunate in the
Handicap main, where he took the win
from the 3O-yard line. ewcastle's Paul
O rla ndi led the first four laps of the race
fro m his 20 but succumbed to the inside
pressure of Fisher in the firs t tu m o n the
final la p . O rla ndi d ro p p ed to second
and then fell to last w hen he lost his
concentra tion - a nd his upright status in the tum-three dust. [an Ferris move
d
into second , Mike Faria was third and
Robert Curry grabbed fourth.
Crowd favori te Rachelle Kerr led the
second-division fea tu re from start to finish, deftly hold ing off fellow Aubumite
Don ny Powell, w ho in tum ba rely ma naged to maintain second ahea d of [va n
Seva rt,
Th e d ivi sion-three vic to ry w e nt to
jami e Hu g hes, who took advanta ge of
th e si ng le-file NASCA R-s tyl e res tart to
g ra b th e w in a way fro m ea rl y lead er
Robert Mellor.
Er ic Carrillo, j.T . Mabry a nd Mark
Ca rri llo finished in front of their respective junior mains.
Ven egas won the in te rmission race
over Bobb y Hedd en in a tw o-lap, w inncr -take-all race that pitted the five wi nners of t he C ha llenge Se ries tha t ra n
in termitten tly througho ut the sum mer.
Chad Felicio and Robert Curry replaced
o rigi nal qualifiers jimmy Sisemore, w ho
missed the n ig h t ' s ra ce due to his
a p pea ra nce in the Ll.S, Open Championship race in Owego, ew York, and
Billy [anniro, who is on the injured list.
Mike Faria won the first two single-lap
heats , w hi ch elimi na te d Felicio and
Cu rry, bu t fell to last in the sem ifina l
afte r a p oor sta rt from the outside.
Ve negas had the inside position over
Hedden in the fina l and pulled off th e
wi re - to -wi re victory. Bart Bas t didn't
qua lify for the finals d uring the season
and d eclined an offer to pa rticipa te as a
nonqu ali fy in g repla cement, so C had
Felicio was given th e spo t..
_
Fast Fridays Speedway
Au burn, California
Resu tts : August 20, 1999
SC R: 1. Bobby Hed den ijolW) ; 2. Ryan FNit--r U.lw );
3. Bart B.l:o;. t (j.1W); 4. Charlie Vt.'fK~ ijaw).
HDC P: 1. Rvan Fi..tw..,. (Jaw ); 2. Ian Ft.-rri'i (CM); 3.
Milo.t.· Fa ri.. (CM); 4. Robert Curry ijaw); S. To m my
Hed den (J.1W).
()..2: I. Rache lle Kerr Uaw); 2. Donny Powcll Uaw);
3. Iva n Sevart (Wes ).
0-3: 1. Ja mte Hu ghe (Jaw); 2. Ruh..11 Mdlor (JclW
s
'
);
T
3. R(ln W()odsfo rd (Jaw).
0 · 1 J R: 1. Eric C a rri llo (J.1W); 2. Bry.m Ya rrow
U.1W); 3. J
on Curry (J.)w).
0-2 JR: 1. J.T. Mabry (J.1W); 2. Ale x M .uCUC (Wt.'S);
c1
3. Crt,; Ifuulol) (Wt.'S).
0 -3 JR : 1. M.uk Ca rrillo eWes }; 2. l' ,lu l Jo hnso n
(Wt.S); J . Danny Easley rweo.
'
C"S H IP CH At: 1. C ha r li e V enl" g ,, ~ ; 2. Bobby
t-Iloddl"fl;3. Mikl" Faria; 4 . Rtlbt..'11 Curry; 5. C had M·licio .
Nielsen Kawasaki Pro Challenge series
Round 2: LakeG
enevaRaceway
Hofmaster
the
maestro
By Dave Deri nger
LAKE GENEVA, WI, JULY 30
o u n d two of t he t h ird ann ual
Nielsen Kaw asa ki Pro Cha lle nge
Se ries w as held a t Lake Geneva
Raceway. A handful of Pros made the ir
way to the tra ck, with more than $12,500
in cas h up for g ra bs th ro u gh o u t th e
three- race series.
Go ing into round tw o, Banza i Suzu ki/Xtreme /Pirel!i's To m Hofmaster had
th e le a d w ith 50 p o int s . Hofm a st er
exte nded his lea d even fu rthe r, by hav ing a perfect night, sweeping all fo u r
Pro motos and taking two overalls. His
bigges t rival; ielsen Enterprises ' junior
Jackson, ha d an ev entful nigh t. jackso n
rod e well ea rly o n, cha rgi ng to a third in
the first 12Sec moto a nd a second in the
first 250cc moto, but frustration se t in
during the second 125cc moto and jackso n's hope of a moto win, the overall.
and the series cha mpionship now loo ks
grim.
In the first 12Scc moto, H o fm as ter
grabbed a clea n"star t, with Ban zai /
Torque Cen te r's Ero n Ezerins , jackson
and Iowa's Austin Ra ubs in to w . Ho fmaster rode well up front, dista ncing
himself from the tigh t, du e li ng pack
behind him . jackson m oved by Ezerins
first , a nd then Raubs sli pped by . The
two got into thei r own ba ttle for several
laps, switchi ng lines and block-passing
in man y of the tig ht co mers. At the finish, it wa s .Hofrnaster with a co m fortable
m arg in o ver Ra ubs, w ho edg ed o u t
jackson to the line.
H o fma ste r absco n d e d w it h th e
holeshot once aga in in the second 12Scc
moto. ja ckso n he ld second while Rau bs
was in third . Midway through the race,
Rau bs put an ag gressive block-pas s o n
jackson, se nd ing hi m ove r a berm and
endi ng his chances for a win. The visib ly
upsetjackson circled the track " noncha->
R
lan tly," a nd when the Hofrnaster-a nd Raubs battl e came u p to lap hi m, things
go t ugly. jackson let Hofrnaster by, but
w hen it w as Ra u bs' turn, jackson took
him to the ed ge and Raubs went o ver
the be rm . Rau bs held his cool and tried
to ge t by jackson o ne mo re time, bu t it
ha p p e n ed once again . jackson was
immedia tely disqualified fro m the moto
and Raubs se t out again afte r Hofma ster
and pu t in a good rid e, co mi ng within
feet of Hofrnaster at the finis h. Hof rnaste r too k the overall a nd th e 25 points
tha t go wi th it, w hile Rau bs, Ezerins and
Bren nys/So-Cal / Smith-supported Greg
Bract rounded out the top four.
jackson grabbed the start of the first
250cc mo to, with Hofmas ter, Rau bs and
Ezeri ns fil ing in behind . Hofmaster
pu lled to jackson' s si de and d iced fo r
severa l comers befo re Hofmas ter got the
upper han d. Ra ubs went d o wn soo n
the reafter an d was at the rear of the 11m a n fie ld a nd had to s ta rt over. Hofmaster and jackso n rod e in ta nd em for
so me time w hile Ezerins and Brac t were
going at it for thi rd and fourth. At the
finis h, it was Hofmas ter w ith a two-seco n d lead o v e r j acks on , Ezer ins a nd
Braet. Raub s rod e like a madman aft er
his fall and salvaged fifth .
jackson ca me to the line for th e second 250cc moto and , beca use of the second 125cc mo to disqualifica tion, if a ny
rid er d id n ot wa nt h im to ra ce, h e
would no t be allowed . Need less to say,
jackson d id not rid e the moto. Hofrnas ter too k hi s fo u r t h m oto w in o f th e
n ight. Ezer ins crossed seco nd, with
Bra et and an upset Rau bs next. Banzai's
Rya n Bond a nd Bria n C la rk took fifth
a nd six th. Hofmaster too k h is second
overa ll of th e night, foll owed by Eze rins,
Braet and Rau bs.
Hofma st er no w hea ds in to the th ird
and fina l rou nd wit h a perfect 100
p o in ts and has his second Nielsen
Kawasa ki Pro Challenge Series cha mpionship in his sig hts. Ezerins holds do wn
second, wi th Raubs a nd Braet in thi rd
and fou rth . Th e fina l ro und sho u ld be
in teresting .
_
La ke Gene va Raceway
La ke Geneva, Wisconsin
Results: July 30, 1999 (Ro und 2 of 3)
PfW JR: 1. JO!'>hlLl Pa ris (C ob); 2. J.lee Moore (lem);
3. [ason Paris (Cu b); 4. Brandon Simes (Y.lm ); 5. Cod v
Lund (KTM).
•
PfW S R: 1. Tay lor W iIIi,lnlS (KTM); 2. Cod y Spt-nn