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United Sta t es Vs. The World Speedway Championship Fast Fridays Speedway By M . S OBER PH OTO S BY G E N M O O RE AUBURN, CA, NOV. I a n the first two yea rs of the "Un ite d e:t Sta te s vs . Th e Wor ld" season-ending S p e e d wa y Championship , t h e World team s uffered sig nificantly lop side d losses , with the host Am e rican te a m prevailing, 88-59 in 200 1 and 91 -44 la st season . In both cases, th e race was ne a rly ove r, mathemati cal Iy, b y the time interm issi on roll ed around. In 2003 , the Wor ld team ca me o ut of th e gate sw inging and actually le d the event with just three races to go, and they ev entuall y fo rced a run -off when Austra lian ride r St eve Johnston he ld on to win the A main event, ove r Bobb y "The Bla ze" Hedd en a nd Br y an Yar row . Ha d Johnston 's te ammate Cha rlie Gjedd e , who wo n an im p re ss ive four h e ats t h ro ug h o u t th e eve n in g, fin is h ed h igher than la st p lace in that race , the th ird annua l Fast F ridays Un it e d States vs . The World trophy would be hea de d b a c k ac ro ss t he pond t o Eu rope or Australia. In th e cha m pions h ip-dec iding runo ff, Hed de n kept th e America ns' win strea k alive wit h a n ic e come fro m-behind , home- c ourse -a dva nta ge win over th e quick-gating J ohnst on. "Ma n, tha t wa s close! " said a trium p ha nt Hedde n afte r the race was over, as most of the half-frozen crowd m ad e a h ur r ied exit for wa rme r c limes. "The way J ohnston was gating , I figu red he 'd ge t the best start, a nd he did . I ju st dropped down coming out of tu rn two , a nd it worked perfectly . It's th e same move I use d on [Barte k] Bar de c ki earl ier." De s p it e th e ir lo s s , mos t of the World ride rs we re pleased with thei r e fforts and ha pp y to be in America , do ing what they do best - a lthough Dan ish ride r Gjedde s um m e d up most of his teammates' sent iments, as well as th ose of the nearly sold-out c rowd, when he sa id, "I reall y expect ed it to be a lot wa rmer here in Californ ia , but other wise , this pla ce is gre at. " Th e U.S. squ ad jumped o ut to a qu ic k 8 -4 le ad after He d de n a nd cines & £In Opertlme/ Ya rr o w wo n the first t wo heats . In heat th re e , the Wo rld tea m tied the score u p when Gjedde a nd J ohnson swept th e two top s pots . Th e score stayed deadlocked th ro ug h the ne xt three heats , with Yarrow , Armando "T he Godfathe r of Spe edway" Ca s t a gn a , and Gjedde claimi ng the three-point wins . In hea t seven, Eric Carrill o a n d John Co o k , who brought a 22 -inc h rear tire to th e match but put it away a fte r seeing t he poo l tab le -smoot h t rack s urface , put t he U.S. t eam up 23 - 19 with a convincing victory. In the n ext rid e , Bo b b y Hedd e n's win and Tomm y Hedden ' s thirdplace fin ish pushed t he U.S. to th e bigg est lea d it would e njoy all nigh t, at 27-2 1. Heat nine saw J ohn son a nd Gjedde displ a ying some im pr essive tea m rid ing tha t led to a 5 - 1 points sweep an d a 2 8-26 s c ore when Ya rrow 's sh ould er p opped ou t o f its socket, c a us in g h im t o drop fr om se co nd place into the turn -two dirt. In th e ne xt two he a ts , Bobby and Yarrow , who re ma rkably retu rned to a ction after ha ving h is s ho ulder repo s itioned , won and pu s h e d th e U.S . lea d ba ck to s ix, at 36 -30. Th e du o of Joh nston a nd Gje dd e struck agai n in the ne xt rou nd, and at intermission the U.S . h eld a sli m 37-35 m a rgin. During th e event, in their reg ular ly scheduled rides , Johnston a nd Gje dd e t eamed up to fi n ish firs t an d se cond an astou nding fo u r ou t of s ix tim e s! In he at 13, Yarrow got his fo u rth win , and , c o m b ine d with the "u nret ire d" Bob Hicks' s ingl e t h ird -pla c e p o int , th e U.S . ' s lead ex pa n de d, 4 1-3 7 . Castag na's trium ph kept the Wo r ld tea m eve n in h e at 14 , a n d when t he Jo h nsto n / Gjedde fr ei ght tra in struck ag ai n in heat 15 , th e s c ore was a ll evened up again , at 45 poin ts apiece. (A b ov e) In t he A main event , Steve J o h nston (6 ) takes the lead i n the f irst t u m , whi le Bobb y Hedden (1) tries to g o around the outside. Charl ie Gjedde (5) f a ded t o the rear, a nd Bryan . Yarrow (n ot s h ow n) came up t o take sec o n d , le aving the two teams ti ed at 66 p oints apiece. He d d e n would get a rou n d J ohnst o n in the runoff, and the U.S team took the championship by one point. (Left) " T he Godfather of Sp eedw ay ," A rma n d o Castagna (3 01), shows Bo b b y He d den h is back in heat 17 in Auburn, California. 32 D ECEMB ER 3 , 2003 ' cue I e n e vv s In he at 16 , Car rillo had a vicious encounter with the tu rn -two wall o n the las t lap while running in second place. Barde c ki got th e t hree po ints fo r t he win , Co ok took ove r seco nd a nd t allied two, bu t no th ird -pla c e point was awa rded be cause of Ca rrillo 's c ra s h and Bardecki's Poli s h teammate Da rius z Sledz's failure to finish four la ps . The Wo rld te a m took over the lead , 48-47. In th e fina l two heats , Casta g na and Johnston took the wins but could o nly brea k ev e n in po ints whe n the pesky Am e r ic a n s claime d all th e second- a nd th ird -p lac e poin ts . At the e nd of the heats, the Wo rld team was leading 54-53 . Castagna led th e first 3 1/2 la ps in t h e B ma in b e fore Tomm y Hedden m oved ins ide h im in th e fina l turns , en di ng his run of s ix stra igh t t hirdpla c e finis hes with an im p ressive victory th at pu t the U.S . ba ck into th e lead , 59-58. Jo hnston did his jo b in the A main, but when Ya rrow and Bobby Hed d e n took th e n e xt two spots, the event e nde d in a 66-66 tie. In the runoff, Northern Califo rnia 2003 season po ints c ha m pion Bobby Hedd en th en k ep t th e Wor ld team win less b y fi ni s hi n g in front of Johnston . eN Fast Fri days Speedw ay Auburn, California Results: November I , 2003 O / A : 1. T eam USA (66 ): Br yan Yarr ow (1 8). Bobby Hedd en (16 ) , T om m y Hedd en (1 0 ), Eric Carrillo (9 ), Bob Hick s (7), John Cook (6); 2. World Team (66 ): Stev e Johnston ( 18), Arm and o Castagna ,.... ( 18), Charlie Gje dd e ( 16 ), Bart ek Ba rd eckl (12 ), Dariu sz Sledz (2) , Michael Long (0) . TITLE RUNOFF: I . Bobby Hedden ( I): 2. Steve J ohnston.