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North American World Championship Qualifier Fast Fridays Speedway By PH OTO M. S O B ER By G E N M O ORE A(JB(JRN, CA, fIlAY 26 T hree-time National S peedway tY; V ' lChampion "F ly in ' " Mike Faria will be trave ling ' to Eng land to co m pet e in a no the r Overse a s Fina l after a ve ry im p re ssive n igh t' s work in the North America n World Ch ampionsh ip Qua lifie r at Fa st Fr ida ys S peedway. Fa ria fin ished the heat ra ces tied with J o sh La rse n at 13 points and th e n pu lle d a way in the runoff to capture th e win in Am e rica' s most pre stigious spe edwa y event. Despite his second p lace finish in the night' s final race, Larse n will also be headed to Poo le , En g la nd , to pa rtici pa te in th e Overseas Fina l. Finish ing third overall in the fina l with 12 poi nts was 1992 U.S . Natio nal Champio n Chris Ma nch ester, follo wed b y Ba rt Bas t and "S u d d e n " Sa m Erm olenko , who tied for fourth with 1 1 po ints apiece . Due to the new AMA rule that requ ires a m inimum of two Europ e -b a s ed Am er icans to transfe r to t he Ov e rs ea s F inal , E rm ol e n k o and John C ook will re ce ive the oth er two transfers . T h e Am eri can Final ( a s it was k nown prior to 1999 ) util izes th e s t a n d a rd all - s crat ch Spe edwa y Ch a m p ions hip format: 16 riders; five rou nds of four-r ider hea ts; a win is wo rth three, second pla c e tallies two , and third gets a sing le point. In th e open ing race of the n ight; Fa ria led th e entire four laps. Multi t ime Junior Champ ion Ryan F is h e r was second. and "Duk ie" Ermolenko took the fina l point away from Tom Se phton. Heat t wo w as ini ti a lly delay ed when "Fa st" Eddi e Castro jumped the tapes and wa s disqua lified . Castro 's replacement, reserve rider Cha d Feli c io , fin ished s e c o n d, behind Billy Janniro , who cru ised to the win. In heat thr ee, La rse n beat the field to th e first turn and t h e n held off Bo bb y Hedd e n. Sam Ermolenko took third . Ma n c h e s t er close d o u t t he first ro und with a very im p res sive victory a head of Cha rlie Venegas and Bart Bast. Cook ended up fourth. How e ve r, Coo k opened up round two with a de c is ive off-t he-po le win, a head of fellow British Le ag ue regular Sa m E rm o le n k o . Re s e rve rider Ia n 64 JULY 5 . 2000' c ue I e Josh Larsen pushed It In down l ow against Mike Faria, but Faria maintained the lead and won the runoff race to determine the winner of the North American World Championship Qualifier at Fast Fridays Speedway i n Auburn, California. Ferr is , who was inserted into no -sh ow Rand y DiFran cesco 's spot for the e n ti r e e vening , had hi s s e c ond st ra ight third -place finish . In the seco nd ride of th e se cond round, La rsen made the best gate out of two , and Ve negas was hot o n his tail on the ins ide . Faria was awa y th ird but quickly took second a wa y from Venegas. Larsen rode flawlessly to his second th ree -point win , Faria h e ld second , and Venegas w a s a close th ird . Man ch ester kept pa ce with Larsen in th e next heat with another picture perfe ct sta rt and four flaw less laps . Du ki e Ermolenko fin is h ed a close second. Castro was third , and Hedd en un characteristically b ro ught up th e rear. In th e last second -round heat, Bast got a g reat sta rt and le d the field through the first lap , but the red flag cam e out when Canadian John Kehoe fell . On the resta rt, Bast led again, bu t another red flag came out whe n Felicio a lso h it the dus t. On the th ird attempt. a clearly irritated Bast go t the second -best gate; Fisher took the lea d . Ho we ver. Ba st displaced Fisher on la p two . Bast had his first win of th e night, Fishe r wa s second, and Felici o ga rnered third. neuvs In t h e m idd le ro und , J a n n iro jumped the sta rt an d was rep laced by Fe licio . Ba st was a ga in q uick off the line and led Hedden a nd Felicio to the finish line. Hedd en mainta ined second . In the ne xt he a t, Fari a too k first. Manchester finish ed se cond , ahead of Ro be rt Curr y . In th e b attle o f the Erm o len kos , Sam c a me away with a three -po int pa yda y. Du k ie wa s t he seco nd off the line but had his ha nds full with th e ha rd- c hargi ng Venegas , but "The Edge " ended up in the d irt. Keho e took thi rd . In the last heat of th e middle round , Cook cut a great gate , bu t Larsen stole the race, s liding outside of Cook on the first lap. Cook he ld on to second, and third was awar d ed to F ish e r. who was knocked down by Castro on th e final lap. Ve n e g a s opened up th e fo u rt h ro und by ou tgating and outdistancing Ca stro . Sephton and Cu rry. Castro too k second (hi s best fin ish of t he night) and Sephton wa s third . Faria kept th e pressure on Larsen and Manchester in the th ird heat of round four , ta king the win over Hed den . Cook settled for third , ahead of Keh oe . In the next ride, Bast put an e nd to Larsen 's pe rfect night with a very p recise st art fro m the po le. Larsen lifted the front en d a bit as he exited lan e th ree. and t ha t's a ll th e se pa ratio n Bast needed a s he ro de un molested to his th ir d s t r a igh t win . Du k ie Ermo le nko fell and didn 't finish , leav ing third p la ce to Fe rris . In the final ra c e o f ro u n d four , Sam Ermo lenko lost the lead to F isher when he had trouble neg otiat ing turn fou r on th e opening lap. Ma n c h e s t er t ra iled t he f ie ld u ntil J an n ir o ' s imp ressive b ut fatef u l 3 6 0 - d e gr e e s p in gave h im back the thir d- pla ce s pot. U p fro nt , F ish e r he ld off Ermolenko for his o nly win of the contest. Manchester opened up t he final round wi th a stellar start. Know ing he needed the wi n to st a y on top of the lea derb o a r d , Larsen looke d high and low but failed to find a way past Ma nch este r. La rs e n 's second -place finis h le ft him wit h 13 poi nts . Ma nc hester en ded up with a dozen poi nts . With o nly th re e hea ts to go , F a ria k new a ll he h ad t o d o was win h is final ra c e a nd the overa ll victory was h is. Th e p rob lem wa s t h a t Sam Ermolenko had th e po le , a nd despite Faria 's q u ick jump out of th e starting bo x, Ermo len ko blo c ke d Faria 's ev e ry attempt to disl o dg e him . Afte r several atta cks o n Ermol enko , Faria had to settle for s ec o nd place and a tie with Larsen. Erm o le nko 's win and Bast's third -pl ace finish left th e two ve terans t ied for fourth place with 11 po ints apiece . Du kie Erm olen ko and Hedden finished off the night's scoring with wins in the last two heats. In the runoff, Faria got the best start and pulled away from Larsen on his way to th e North Am e rican World Championsh ip Qua lifie r checkered flag. "T h is is w h a t speedway is all about: great c row d and gre at ra cing , " Faria said after the race. " I plan to go to Poole again , but I sure could use some sponsors. The trav eling ex penses a re , shall we say, extensive." CN FIst Fridays SpeedwIY Aubum , Califoml. Results : Moy 26, 2000 O/A: I. Mike Faria (OM); 2. Jos h Larsen (OM); 3. Chri s Ma nc heste r (O M) : 4 . (T IE) Bart Bast (Ja w) /S am Erm ol enk o (OM) ; 6 . Bobb y Hedd en (Ja w) ; 7. (TIE) Dukie Erm olenko (Ja w) /Rya n Fisher (Jaw) ; 9 . (TI E) J oh n Cook (Ja w) /C ha d Feli ci o (Ja w) / Ch arlie Venega s (JlIW) ; 12 . Billy J ann ir o (Jaw); 13. Ian Ferris (OM); 14. Edd ie Castro (Ja w); 15. (TI E) Robert Curry (Ja w)/Tom Sephtc n (J aw); 17. Joh n Kehoe (OM) .