Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Auburn, California

Elimination Challenge Series Round 4
July 11, 2003 - Fast Fridays, Auburn
By Gary Roberts

It is difficult to believe that we are already half way through the Northern California Speedway season. This must be the height of the vacation season because there were a lot of riders missing. None of the normal half dozen strong Nevada contingent was present.

The crowd size was also a bit smaller than I would have expected. Something I can never understand is people leaving before the racing is over. The American Speedway format is structured with the Division one main events at the end of the evening. Why would someone sit through all the Division 3 restarts, only to walk out before Bobby Hedden and Bart Bast put on the best races of the night?

The track looked a bit heavy to start with but quickly flattened down to an even consistent surface. There was no sign of the dust problem from the previous week. The quality of the surface was proven in the handicap main, with all riders finding different lines, staying together and producing one of the best races so far this season.

Scratch Main
1. Bobby Hedden
2. Bart Bast
3. Bryan Yarrow
4. Chris Kerr
Bobby Hedden took lead from the gate and never looked back. Bryan Yarrow made a great start, ahead of Bart Bast and it took Bart three laps to get past him. Chris Kerr’s race lasted less than half a lap, when he found traction coming out of turn two and hit the wall. This was the second time in the evening he had done this, in exactly the same spot. The previous time he caught it and even managed to move up a place on the following lap.

Handicap Main
1. Bart Bast (50)
2. Bryan Yarrow (40)
3. Bobby Hedden (50)
4. Mark Carrillo (0)
5. Matt Browne (10)
6. Billy Hiles (10)
This was truly one of the best races this year. Former Youth Speedway rider, 16 year old Mark Carrillo is having a great first season on a 500. He took the lead from the zero yard line ahead of Billy Hiles. The heavy duty competition behind Billy put the pressure on and it turned into a serious race, with the order was changing every turn. Matt Browne, another former Youth Speedway rider rode a good race and was unlucky to have not finished higher.

Handicap Consolation
1. Tommy Hedden
2. Rick Shafer (10)
3. JJ Martynse
4. Ivan Sevart (10)
5. Bart Bardecki (40)
6. Devin DeFreece (0)

Division 2 Main
1. Mark Thomas
2. Vince Bertolucci
3. Mike Browne
4. Ron Woodsford
5. David Fonts
6. Randy Martin

Division 2 Consolation
1. Dean Blankenbiller
2. Glenn Scott
3. Harlan Bast
4. Les Veale
5. Brian Leventon
6. Shawn Eldridge

Division 3 Main
1. Bruce Bast
2. Steve Lewotsky
3. John Deathrage
4. Danny Poli
5. Les Veale
6. Kerr Kerrigan
7. Matt Petersen
8. Derek Shepherd

Division 3 Consolation
1. Greg Lovlien
2. Dennis Chandler
3. Greg Chacon
4. Clark Caravella
5. Matt Pangburn
6. Rich Mignano
7. Rick Gutzke
8. Brian Deland

Youths Division 1
1. TJ Fowler
2. Alex Marcucci
3. JT Mabry
4. Paul Johnson

Youths Division 2
1. Jay Ricketts
2. Ricky Felicio
3. Ronnie Woodsford
4. Mitchell Johnson

Youths Division 3
1. Tori Hubbert
2. Dillon Peterson
3. Cody Ciciarelli
4. Bryce Olney

Next week will be the Civil War, the North verses South (8 man) team event.

There will also be a Youth North verses South 6 person (girls included) as part of the same event.

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com