Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Civil War of Speedway Fast Fridays Gold Country Fairgrounds S T O RY P HO T O S Gary Hicks (3) moves i n front of Bart Bast as Dukie Ennolenko keeps Billy Jann iro (1 4) wide i n the first turns in the A main at the Civil War of Speedway in Auburn, California. By M . S O BE R By G E N M O O RE AUBURN, CA JULY 21 , GjfV h e S outh e rn Ca liforn ia SpeeddJ, way ri de rs put an e n d to t he four- y e ar re ig n of th eir No rt he rn coun t e rp arts w ith a ro u s ing 70 -65 victory before a sellout c rowd at th e Fa st Frida ys Gold C oun t r y F a irground s ova l. Sou thern Cal iforn ia Speedway vet eran Gary Hicks was at th e t op of th e list o f North /South main- ev ent winn ers , winning the indi vidual title for a re cord th ird time. In the o pen ing ride of th e meetin g , local speed way sta r Ba rt B a s t go t th e b e st sta rt , a hea d of pol esitter Ch arlie was seco nd. Ca stro co llected third , ahea d of Bob Hic k s . Th e S ou t h in cr e a s e d its lead to 25 -17 . Everyth ing seemed to be fa llin g a part for the North as th e second ro und came to a close. Bast had the pole but was disqualified for allegedly touching the starting ta pes , wh ich left Janniro, who was a tactica l reserve racer riding for Curry , alone to fa ce Hic ks and Ermolenko , who aga in demonstrated superior team -rid ing tactics that left Janniro in third . The South had a sig nificant 30- 18 overall ma rg in. Th e Northern s quad got it se lf go ing in t he rig ht d ire c t io n in th e opening ride of ro und th ree . Hedden a nd Hicks im me dia tely got to t h e fro nt , but Vene g a s p a s s e d Hic ks o n th e ba c k straight to take over the run ner-up s pot. Howe ver , he cou ld n't get ar ound Hedden , who scored his only win of th e event. Th e Sout h st ill led , 32- 22. Th e North cont inue d to utilize the tactica l-reserve mane uve r in he at 10, repla c ing Curry with Fa ria , who took th e start-to-fi nis h win. Ba st was rig ht b e h in d F a r ia fro m t he o utset and e a s ily outdistanced Schwartz an d Manc hester. After the So ut h 's poore s t pe rforma nce o f t h e n ight , the North cut into the ir lead , which was now 33-27. In race 11 , He dd e n replaced the flound e ring Fe rris . J a nn iro , d esp ite another med iocre gate, m an aged to move un der the fast -starting Larsen , who dr ifted a bit too wide in th e first turns and dropped to s econd. Once in front , J ann iro im media tely went into tea m -ri d ing mod e in an attempt to slow d own Lar s en and giv e Hedden the opportunity to move up , but Hed den brought out th e red flag when he a u g u re d his eng in e c ase int o th e heavy turn -thr ee furrows on lap thr e e . Janniro we nt on to win , b ut Larsen a nd Castro co mb ined fo r t he other th ree poi nts , a nd th e tea ms broke even at thre e api ec e . F aria cl osed out t h e th ird ro u nd wit h another wire -to -wire sh o win g , Venegas, who had trouble negotiating the heavy track but managed to stay ahead of Robert Curry, who finished third, ah ead of Randy DiFrancesco. With Bast's win and Curry's third , the North took a modest lead, 4-2. In th e second heat, Bobb y "Booga10 0 " S c h wa rtz ma de sho rt wo rk of North ern e rs Bo b Hic k s and Bobb y Hedden , who too k second a nd third. Chri s Manch e ster 's bik e let him down in the first tu rn a nd he wa tc he d t he rem a ind er fr om th e infi eld . E a c h team s cored thr e e po ints, a n d th e North's lead stood at 7 -5 . In th e thi rd e ve nt , Northern er s Mike Fa ria and Ryan Fisher both got g ood starts bu t cou ld n 't man age to avoid each othe r in th e first turns and went from first a nd second to th ird a nd fourth bef ore eventu a lly getting back under way we ll b eh ind th e So uth ern ta ndem of Josh Larsen a nd Edd ie Ca s t ro . Th e Sou t h now took the lea d , 10-8. In th e final h e a t of the open ing ro u nd, t he South g a in e d a seco nd consecutive 5 -1 sweep when Ga ry Hicks and Dukie Ermolenko ran away fro m Billy Janniro , who fell, and Ian Fe rris , who we nt out with mechanical ills. At the end of round one, the So uth held a 15-9 advantage . J a nn iro got back on track with a nice win , ahead of Venegas , in ev e nt fiv e . F erris ran fo u rt h, behind DiFranc esco , wh o sc ored hi s o n ly po int of th e evening . Three p oints api e ce left the North 's le ad at 18-12 . In the next heat, S chwa rtz outgate d Faria a nd Fi sher , who fin ish e d seco nd and third , ahea d of a strug g ling Man ch e ste r. The Sout h's ma rgin remain ed at six , 2 1-15. In th e ne xt s t art , La rs en g ot th e jump a n d led a ll t he way t o th e checkers for his second win. Hedden 58 S EPTEMBER 6 , 2000' cue I e neVlls but Fishe r c ould not get b y Gary Hic ks a n d had to settl e fo r third, a hea d of Ermolen ko . The North had moved to within four points , 38-34 . Heat 13 was a wash. Venegas outgated and then o u t ra n Faria and Fish er. In event 14, the South made a tact ica l move of t he ir o wn , inserti ng reserve rider J im Es te s into Manchester's spot. Schwartz wo n for the thi rd t ime in fou r trie s , leav ing second to J a nniro a nd th ird to Este s , who easily out ra n Ferris . Th e North ca ug ht a b re a k wh e n Cast ro got o vera nxio us at th e s ta rt a nd, m uc h t o th e crow d 's d el ight , s nap ped th e sta rti ng-gate tapes a nd wa s d isqu alified. Castro ' s dep a rture le ft Lars en alone to b a tt le Ba st a nd J an niro . Bast ma de the best start a nd cleverly b lo c ke d Lars en 's a dva nces, a llowing J anniro to ta ke over second. Bast's ploy left Lars en clearly off the pace and playing catch-u p. The North moved to within two points , 46 -44 . Next, Erm o le nko and Hicks posted their third 5 - 1 sweep in four tries, wh ich left the South with a six -p oint marg in, 51-45. In the B main , th e North c hose to enter Faria - the team 's second lead ing sco re r - into the B rather than the A ma in , a somewhat qu est ionable mov e t ha t d id pa y immedi ate d ivi d end s wh en F ari a and Hedd en wor ked brill iantly tog eth er to th wart th e frantic a dva nces of Venega s , wh o e ve nt ua lly dr opped to fourth on the fin al lap . Larsen m oved in to th ird . Faria 's win a nd He d de n ' s runner-up finish netted the tea m 10 poi nts and gave them back the lea d for the first time since the meeting 's second heat, 55-54. Th e Sou th made their ow n surpris ing m ove in the night 's m ost irn por- tant race , the A ma in. Schwartz and Hicks were th e ir lea di ng s corers with 10 apiece , but th e t e am opted to k eep the smo oth-working team o f Hicks and E rm o le n ko tog eth e r and pla ce them in th e rac e tha t would ultimately decided th e outcome of the e ntire night. Hic ks drew the po le an d Bast decided on lane two , which left Er molenko in three and Ja nniro o n the outs ide . Th e winner of th e nigh t's fina le woul d ga rner 12 po int s , with eig ht points aw a rded for second , four for third , a n d two for fourt h . Th e North needed a first a nd second or a first a nd third pl a c e to wrap up th e eve n t. A fi rst a n d a fourth wo u ld lea ve th em as one-point lo sers . Hic ks got h is be st gate of the race whe n he neede d it a nd led the qu artet into the first turns . Ba st was out next a nd im med iately fo un d him self tra iling Hic ks . The No rth's c ha nce to ex te n d it s winning stre ak d wind le d rapidly as the la ps ticked off. Try as he might, Ba st could not find a way aro un d the smooth -running Hicks, a nd Janniro trailed Ermolenko after a poor start. After the four riders settled into their spots on the first lap, there were no more changes, and the South had the victory , 70 -65 . CN Fast Fridays Speedway Auburn, California Resutts :Ju ~21 ,2DDD SO UTH (7 0): 1. Gary Hic k s. 10 pIS (GM) ; 2. Bobb y Schw artz, 10 (GM); 3. J osh Larsen. 9 (GM) : 4 . Cha rlie Venegas, 9 (Jaw); 5: Dukie Erm ol enk o. 7 ( GM ): 6 . Ed d i e Ca st ro , 4 (J a w): 7 . Ra ndy DiFra nces co , 1 (Jaw) ; 8 . J im Estes. 1 (Ja w); 9 . Chris Ma nches ter. O. NORTH (65) ; 1. Billy .Jar miro. 12 pIS (Ja w) ; 2. Mike Faria , 10 (J aw); 3 . Ba rt Bast. 8 (dew): 4 . Bobby Hedd en, 6 (Ja w) ; 5. Ryan Fisher , 4 (J aw) ; 6. Bob Hic k s. 4 (J a w) ; 7 . Robe rt Cur ry . 1 (J a w); 8 . Ia n Ferris. 0 (GM). B MAIN: 1. Mik e Faria, 6 ; 2 . Bobb y Hedden, 4; 3 . Josh Larsen. 2; 4. Charlie v eneqes. 1. A MAIN; 1. Gary Hick s. 12: 2. Bart Bast. 8: 3 . Dukie Erm olenko. 4 : 4. Billy J anniro, 2. 0 -1 JR MAIN: I . Bryan Yarrow (JlIW); 2. Greg Hoot on Jr. (J aw) ; 3 . J .J . MlIrtyn se ( Wes) ; 4 . J .T. Mabry (Jaw).

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