B
illy Janniro came home fro m
his job in the British League in
England to California and
scored the biggest speedway
t itle of his career when he
won the U.S. National Championship at
the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa
Mesa, California.
Costa Mesa is the cradle of American
Speedway, and Inte mational Speedway Inc.
holds the record as the longest running
wee kly Speedway promotion in the country. A lot of riders have cut their teeth on
the infamous bullring and have gone on to
some great things overseas. WhileJanniro's
career path actually led to England through
Fast Fridays Speedway in Northern
California, he has bumed enough laps at
Costa Mesa to be familiar with the facility,
and along with Southern California-based
Ryan Fisher, he was certainly one of the
favorites to win the U.S. National.
After the Prec ision Skydiving Team
made its traditional entrance to the track
from high overhead in the night sky and
surf-rock guitar legend Dick Dale and his
12-year-old son, Jimmy, played the national
anthem by on their go lden Fender
Stratocasters, it was time to go racing.
The event used its normal championship format: five rounds of scratch racing, with points awarded three-two-onezero for first through fourth . The top
three in po ints would seed directly to the
all-important championship main event,
with fourth through seventh moving to a
B main. The winner of the B main would
then transfer to become the final rider in
the championship main.
RO U ND O NE
Dukie Ermolenko made the statement
before the night started that he thought he
could "win this thing," and he apparently
was up to the task as he opened up the first
race of the night with a win. It was a shaky
start as Chris Manchester went down two
laps in and the red flag came out.
Manchester was unable to restart, so
reserve rider Justin Boylegot the call. They
lined up again, and then Charlie Venegas
got into the tapes and was sent to the
penalty line.After that it was all Ermolenko.
