IN
THE
WIND
P42
PALMESE, MARTIN CLAIM YOUTH
TITLES AT FAST FRIDAY SPEEDWAY
F
ast Friday Motorcycle Speed-
way in Auburn, California,
worked in 40 AMA National
Youth Championship races and
22 adult division races in an
exciting night of speedway racing
at the Gold Country Fairgrounds,
July 29. When the dust finally
settled two AMA Youth National
Speedway Champions were
awarded their trophies.
In the AMA 250cc Youth Na-
tional Speedway Championship
program, defending
champion Colton
Hicks, 14, knew
he had his hands
full with Southern
California's Sebas-
tian Palmese, 13,
who finished second
last year, losing to
Hicks in the final.
The championship
would be decided by
overall points for the
evening.
The riders all raced against
each other once during the
evening with Hicks and Palmese
meeting in heat 17 tied with 12
points each. Also in this heat,
making things even more inter-
esting, was Michael Wells who
was no easy mark, coming into
this important heat with 11 points.
Dylan Wagner also brought
seven points to the hot heat.
This race boiled down to the
championship. Out of the gate
Hicks and Palmese hooked up
and both riders went down in
turn one. A restart put both rid-
ers right back in the same start-
ing blocks, only this time Hicks
went down in turn one and was
excluded, handing Palmese the
championship with a win on the
restart. On the third start of this
race, Palmese still had to deal
with Wells, no easy task. Off
the line, though, Palmese put
his experience to work relax-
ing a little without Hicks in the
race and cruised to the win and
championship podium.
Palmese finished the night
with a perfect score winning all
his races. Wells finished second
with 13 points, just two points off
perfect, and Hicks finished third
with 12 points.
In the AMA 150cc Youth Na-
tional Speedway Championship,
11-year-old Sterling Martin came
into the night defending his
current national championship.
Martin scored perfectly in all of
his races with 15 points.
Michael Kirby
(Above) Colton Hicks (left) and
Sebastian Palmese start the all-
important heat 17 in the 250cc Youth
race. (Left) Sterling Martin (center),
Slater Lightcap (left) and Enzo
Sarani (right) celebrate on the 150cc
Youth podium.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
MICHAEL
KIRBY
