Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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w ~ z w o >CD ~ :I: c, Fast Fridays Speedway: Char lie " The Edge" Venegas leads Billy Jann iro in the Scratc h main in Auburn, Californ ia. Fast Friday s Speedw ay Venegas B ack o n the Ed g e By M. SOBER AUBU RN, CA , JULY 14 Former British League regular Cha rlie "The Ed ge" Ve negas wo n his thi rd Scrat ch m ain eve nt of the seaso n, and " Bronco" Bill y Janni ro ca me from th e very bac k of th e pack to record his fir st Handi cap main win of t he yea r at th e Au burn Go ld Co un try Fairg rounds ova l. Chris Kerr led th e enti re Division T wo ma in from hi s 10-yard start ing po siti on ; Eri c Ca rrill o wa s sec ond. Betw een Kerr and Carrillo, th ey hav e won every Division Tw o m ain at Auburn and Cal -Expo since moving up on June 30 . Th e third-d ivi sion final went to first -time winner Michae l Hooton. Bryan Yarrow continued his domination of the fir st-div ision Junior ran k s, despite being moved back 10 yards to the 50 ya rd stripe . In th e second- and th ird -d iv ision Juni or fi na ls, Chris O lney and Tom Feh rman eac h took thei r seco nd wins of th e seaso n. Four riders lined up on the 50 for th e Handica p m ai n. Venegas had th e insid e post. and fanned out closely to his right were Scratch consi winner Bobby "Th e Blaze" Hedden, Billy Ja nniro an d Ba rt Bas t . Sta rti ng fr o m th e 30 , Robe rt Curry natu rally assumed the early lead, followed closely by Ryan Fisher, who started on the 40 . Venegas was the first back-yardage rider off th e line, and he m oved up behind Fisher on th e first Jap, but Janniro took the best line coming off the back , som eho w finding th e needed tract ion to m ove around Venegas. Fisher and then Curry by the co m pletion of th e second lap . O nce Ja nniro got in front , for all intents and purpo ses the con- test became a race for seco nd. Curry ended up fifth . Venega s took the runn er-up spot away from Fisher in the last tum before the white flag flew wi th an agg re ssive in sid e m ov e that le ft th e teenager headed for a sixth -place fini sh. Hedden ran an even wider outside line than J anniro and too k th ird. Bast ended up fourth . Mi k e Fa ria sta rted the Scra tch ma in fro m the pol e. Venegas drew lane two afte r st art ing his fir st two rides out of lane fo ur. Bast cla imed gri d three, and Janniro was aga inst the retain ing wall in four. Venegas m ade a dream start afte r so me t ypi c al prestagi ng lin g eri ng th at bro ug ht so me wild arm - wav ing c o m p lai nts fro m Bast but no partic ular reacti on from referee John Grant. Venegas' roll ing start pu t him cle ar of any possibl e firs t -turn bun chi ng, and he proc eeded to set a blistering pace th at neither Fa ria nor Ja nniro co uld m at ch . Venegas glance d back on each lap com ing out of tu m tw o but alwa ys saw the same sce ne: Faria and B ast cl os e on th e inside li ne , an d Ja nni ro wo rk ing his bu tt off, try ing to get aro und Faria on t he o uts ide. Ven egas br eezed t o h is fir st Sc ratc h m a in w in at A u bu rn since M ay 19 aboard his tru sty A ffo rda ble RV/ Bo rge / Mo tio n Pro/ A re! Jawa. A ccord ing to the referee, J anniro eventually did pass Far ia , j ust nipping him in a close call at the chec ke red nag to tak e the sec ond- place money . Far ia wa s pushed back Donate today For information call 714-751-7433 3S0S-M Cadillac Avenue, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 cue I e n eVIl's A UGUST 23 . 2000 67