Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Auburn, California

98 ROCKS
May 28, 2004 - Fast Fridays, Auburn
By Gary Roberts

Once again the weather looked questionable only 24 hours before with heavy rain falling most of Thursday night, but once again divine intervention took over and provided us with a perfect racetrack. All riders appreciated the good track condition. So it was another night of great Speedway racing.

Unofficial results:

Scratch Main
1. Mike Faria
2. Chris Manchester
3. Scott Brant
4. Charlie Venegas
Mike Faria made a great gate, along with Charlie Venegas on the outside. For the first couple of laps Charlie challenged Mike for the lead, but the outside line proved less effective, as both Manchester and Brant went by on the inside.

Scratch Consolation
1. Bart Bast
2. Bob Hicks
3. Bobby Hedden
4. Tommy Hedden
Bobby Hedden's semi final went down as the best race of the season. He and Scott Brant rode side by side for 4 laps, behind Mike Faria, and Bobby missed qualifying for the scratch main by inches. He got a terrible start in the Scratch Consi, and only managed to get by brother Tommy.

Handicap Main
1. Mike Faria (50)
2. Bart Bast (50)
3. Scott Brant (50)
4. Randy DiFrancesco (30)
5. Bobby Hedden (50)
6. Chris Manchester (50)
It was decided at the riders meeting that the division 1 handicap races would be six laps, rather than five, which has been the format for the last couple of years. Five riders starting from the 50 yard line made a competitive first turn. Randy DiFrancesco tried to outrun them, but Mike Faria did not need 6 laps, in fact on the third lap he got by, to complete his double main events win.

Handicap Consolation
1. Richard Christian (10)
2. Greg Hooten (10)
3. Chris Kerr (30)
4. Chad Felicio (40)
5. JT Mabry (10)
6. Matt Browne (10)
Richard Christian made a good gate ahead of the other 10 yard riders and rode a smooth race to the end. Chris Kerr had a lucky escape in his semifinal when he went through the turn three wall, after colliding with Bart Bast. Chris's bike took the brunt of the punishment; see www.speedwaybikes.com (later in the week) for picture

Division 2 Main
1. TJ Fowler
2. Shawn Eldridge
3. Bruce Bast
4. Greg Searle
5. Harlan Bast
6 John O'Neill
Recently promoted youth rider, TJ Fowler had his third division 2 main event win of the season, in great style, ahead of veteran Shawn Eldridge and former youth rider Bruce Bast.

Division 2 Consolation
1. Mike Browne
2. Greg Hooten Snr.
3. David Fonts
4. Bill Hermant

Division 3 Main
1. RC Becerra
2. Sean Billenstein
3. Norman Brooks
RJ Becerra's second win this season. John Deatherage, Greg Lovlien, Brian Ballard, Kell Kerrigan and Dave Quick were also in this race.

Division 3 Consolation
1.  Kenny Ingalls
2. Johnny Frank
3. Matt Pangburn
4. Scott Robinson
5. Greg Howell
6. Rich Mignano
7. Brian Leventon
8. Kim Stevens
Starting from the back of the field, third division main event winner for the past 2 weeks, Kenny Ingalls managed only 4th place in his qualifying heat, but won the Division 3 consi.

Youths Division 1
1.  Krystal Cramer (20)
2. Paul Johnson (10)
3. Jay Ricketts (20)
4. Alex Marcucci (30)
5. Mitchell Johnson (0)

Youths Division 2
1. Dillon Petersen (0)
2. Tori Hubbert (10)
3. Cody Ciciarelli (10)

Youths Division 3
1. Bryce Starks (0)
2. Jacob Bracy (0)
3. Troy Guisande (10)
4. Bryce Olney (20)

Tonight is the official opening of Sliding Sideways track at Chowchilla.

Gary Roberts - gary_rob@ix.netcom.com