Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

w a: § z w co iii ~ 0. Fast Fridays Speedway: Ryan Fisher and Billy Janniro (on tailga te), and (from left to right) Gary Hicks, Jim Estes, Bobby Schwartz, Chad Felic io, Paul Orland i and John Cook all particip ated In the AMAIFIM North Amer ican World Championship qualifier in Aubu rn , Calif ornia. Josh Larsen won the event with a perfect 15-poi nt score. A MAIF IMNorth A merican World Championship Qualifier F F ast ridays Speedway Larsen Visits the Far Side By M . S OB E R AUBURN, CA, JUNE 1 wo -ti m e Junior Speedway Champion Josh Larsen ach ieved one of the biggest m il estones of his illustri ous career when he swept to victory in the A ~ A / F I M North American Wo rld Champ ionsh ip qualifi er at Fast Fridays Speedway . " Eve r sin c e I started ridi ng the 50 Os back in 19 8 8 , I've wanted to win the American Final," said Larsen. "The best A m eri c an ri ders were always in it , and you 'd really have to have a go od night to win." Larsen p osted a flawless five -ride maximum sco re o f 15 points ! The runner -up , w ith 13 points, was Billy Janniro . Ryan Fisher fin i shed th ird , just on e po int beh ind Janniro. Bobby " T h e B laze " Hedden won a ru n -off with Ba rt "Sim pson" Bast for fou rth. I n the op en ing h eat , f o r me r Auburn track ch am pion Lou is Ko ssuth wen t down in the firs t turns, and reserve ri d er J im Estes flound er ed nea r the pit entrance . Mysteriously , no red flag wa s wav ed, and race lead ers Bas t and Hedden circled the track for a couple .of lap s. The race was rerun, and Hedden got out in fro nt to take the three -point w in ahead o f Bast, Kossuth and Estes. In heat two , John Cook t ook th e early lead , ahead of Ch ris Manchester and Larsen . A ft er swapp ing the lead b ack and fo rt h , La rsen f inally p re vailed for hi s first win of the event. T 74 JUL Y 11, 2 0 0 1 • cue • e Hea t three op ened w ith J an niro taki ng the early lead , only to go wide in turn two , allowin g Gary Hi cks t o ta ke over . In turns three and four , Hicks drifted off th e in side line and Janniro reclaimed the lead, which he ma intained to the end . In the f inal heat of t h e opening round , Bob by "Boogaloo " Schwartz performed flawlessly over Ryan Fisher , D u ki e Erm ol en ko and To mmy Hedd en . Bast opened the next round with a brill iant gate from lane two , ta king the three-point win ahead of Eric Carrillo and Schwartz. The next heat found Fisher, Bobby Hedden and Manchester down in the f irst turns , re q uiring a full restart , wh ich Fish er won ahead of Hicks and Hedden. Kossuth lost a go lden opp ortunity to grab a win in th e next heat when his attempt t o swe ep around th e outside of Ermolenk o and Janniro land ed him in the turn -t wo du st. On t h e re run , Janniro got aw ay clean off the pole for the wi n ahead of Ermolenko, Cook and Kossuth. Larsen finished off the rou nd with a yawner over Tommy Hedden and Chad Fel icio. Jann iro kept his perf ect sc o r e ali ve, ope ning the middle round wi th an impressive gate from lane four and outdistancing Bast and Manchester. Erm olenk o got off the line first in the next heat and he ld off Feli ci o and Bobby Hed den, who netted th ird after n e _ 50 reserv e ride r Paul O rlan di went do wn a second tim e on the final lap. Like Janniro, Larsen k ept h is perfect score ali ve , despite h av ing to come from behind. After an uneven start that left Ko ssuth odd m an out in the turn -two dirt, Larsen was trailing F isher until the final turn, where he deftl y swept ins ide the tee nag er to nip him at the line. Cook closed out the round with a spo t -o n gate from lane four that left Hicks with his thi rd consecuti ve sec ond -p lace fin ish. After three rounds, J anniro and La rsen w ere ti ed with nine points apiece; Fish er was third with seven tot al po ints. Fi she r o pened rou nd four w ith a win ahead of Bast and F elic io . Cook was in th e hu nt until an ignition box ended hi s night. In the next hea t, La rsen and Ja nn ir o m et f o r t h e only t i me o f the nig ht . Larse n took the ini ti al lead off t he li n e fro m st art i n g gat e thre e . Sch w artz got a n i ce ga te fr om t w o that left Janniro scrambli ng to find a wa y ar o un d . Sc hwa rtz soo n fad ed , allowing Bob by Hedd en to n ose up n ear t h e f ro nt, fu r t h er decre as in g J anniro 's chanc es of tak ing the lead. Larsen sta y ed stron g and ke pt th e lead , and Hedden took the two sec on d -place points, ahead of Janniro . In th e next heat , Hic ks an d Tommy Hedden fell in the fi rst turns . On the reru n , Ko ssuth ma tc hed his pre vio us start and left th e others to fight over second , wh ich for the fou rth ti me in four tries went to Hic ks . Erm olen k o drew the next hea t to a close with a nice start from lane four after Carr ill o was d i sq u al ifi e d fo r to uching the t ap es. Manchester was second , and Estes was third . After four rou nds, Larsen was alone at the top with a p erf ect 12 -point sc o re. Janniro and Fisher wer e ti ed fo r second with 10 points ap iec e. Larsen was in the open ing ride of the final round , pitted against Bast, Hicks and Ermolenko, but Larsen got the start and sai led t o a maximum score . Hedden took the three-point win in the next heat, aft er which Ko ssuth got h is sec ond win in a row when ear ly he at leader Sc hw art z bobbled. J annir o cl osed ou t th e fi nal h eat with a win over Fisher tha t guaranteed hi m second pl ace . CN Fast Fridays Speedway Aubum, Califomia Results: Ju ne 1, ZO l O O /A : 1. J osh Lars en (J a w) ; 2 . Billy Janniro (J aw); 3 . Ryan F ish er (J aw ) ; 4 . Bob by Hed de n (Ja w ); 5 . Bart Ba st (J aw ) ; 6 . Du k i e Erm o lenk o (Jaw) ; 7. Gary Hicks (JllIW); 8. Louis Kossuth (Ja w) ; 9. Bobby Schwartz (J aw); 10. Jo hn Cook (Ja w); 11. Chad Felici a (Jaw); 12. To mmy Hedden (J8W) ; 13. Eric Carrillo (Jaw); 13. Chris Manchester (Ja w); 15. J im Es tes (OM); 16. Paul Orlandi (J aw). AHRMA Classic MotorcycleD Track S irt eries Round 6: Trail-Way Speedway Poirier: Richer by Three B y BILL ALLEN HANOVER, PA, MAY 20 T h e glory d ays of dirt t rack returned as the AH RM A Clas sic Motorcycle D irt T rack Series paid a visit to T rail Way Speedway outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The idyllic Am ish countryside echoed with the r u m bl e of vintage machine s . The in augural event at th e banked 3/8 m ile track featured close raci ng in all cla sses. B ooker Po ir ier logg ed his f irst of three cl ass wi ns with a 10 -bi k e lead at th e flag ov er Georg e W ills in the Dinosaur Division . New husb and and new number-one rider Mik e Connell wa s awarded the win , ove r a pe rsistent John Bova , in Classic 250 cc comp etition w hen a "canine racer " (i.e., a dog) joined in the race on the last lap, causing a red flag . In Sportsman 250cc racing , a th ree -row start came down to a threerider dogfight between Poir ier, Dave Sheffer and an improving Da vid Wills. T hey fi ni shed in that order for Poiri er's second win . Poirier m ade it a triple p lay by win ning the Classic 500/ 750cc cl ass. A good three-rider batt le was short-lived whe n Harley rider George Wills went down on lap three , gi ving the win to Poir ier. Triumph riders Mike Metz ler an d Scott Fl uck earned second and third. Th e Veterans class featured a tight conte st between the Yamaha -mounted former National number 70 , Mike Sco tt, and the Triumph of T rail Way bac k ed v e t er an Le w W o o d s , w i th Brian Eckhart com ing home in third. Sport sman 600 cc acti on was hot and h ea v y , w ith M ai co man G ig Hamilton holding the po int position until Mike Connell 's Harley Sprint got by. As the leaders came up on lapped traffic , Connell got by, but Hamilton and a backmarker were not so lucky. The crash also consume d third -p lace rider Cla y Pickern , but the race was called complete and scored fr om th e previous lap , putting Connell , Hamil ton and Pickern on the box. Super Senio r honors went to Melvin Brown, who led by a straightaway at the flag , w ith Charles Pickern and Wayne Coleman finishing two-three.

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