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Perris Raceway
Burton Road
Perris, California

Team Racing - Round 1
Perris Raceway December 10, 2016
By: Steve Evans dreamteamspeedway@sbcglobal.net
Dorcey Wingo Photos

Results from Perris and are Continued Below...

  RC Jones Photos  
Perris Raceway Perris Raceway Perris Raceway
Luke Becker Tom Bryant Jake Isaac
  Perris Raceway  
  The Aces  

 

  Dorcey Wingo Photos  
Perris Raceway Perris Raceway Perris Raceway
Ricky Richards Dillon Ruml Doug Nicol and Chris Ackerman
Perris Raceway Perris Raceway Perris Raceway
Rohn Zellner chases Kenny Hansen Luke Becker Brad Moreau and Hayley Perrault
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Rick Valdez Dirt flying, Elf unscathed Gage Geist
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Eagles rider Chet Kohler Eagles riders Chet Kohler and Ron Davis Event 42 Team Heat 16 - Main Event
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Randy Moody Pee Wee riders Go Go Geist and Levi Leutz Support action
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Support Main Event Vikings rider Kurtis Hamill 250cc Main Event
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250cc Sebastian Palmese and Jake Isaac 250cc rider Sammy Tetrault 250cc Sara Cords
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Andrew Russell Jose Navarrete Steve Evans

EAGLES AND HEATHENS WIN TEAM SEASON OPENERS, BECKER ONCE MORE TAKES THE MAIN!

The 2016/17 Winter Team Racing League opened at Perris Raceway on Saturday December 10th with two very close matches eventually going the way of the Perris Eagles and Huntington Heathens. Luke Becker continued his domination with a fabulous 15 point maximum including the Main Event.

The race format mirrored the 2016 British Elite League format through 14 heats, with the final two heats being World Cup format involving one rider from all four teams. Heats 5-11 and 15 ran Handicaps. Both the Vikings and Aces only tracked five riders each due to injuries and withdrawals, so each was allowed to run 'guest riders' from other teams to fill a vacant team spot.

Perris Eagles 48 – Ventura Vikings 43.
The depleted defending champions pushed the home team close but eventually ran out of gas as the Eagles won by 5 points. The Eagles were led by an impressive 13 from Dillon Ruml and 12 from Gage Geist, and they had good support from Rick Valdez, Ron Davis and Chet Kohler. Harold Hartke won three heats on the way to a top 13 score for the Vikings, with Kurtis Hamill winning 2 on the way to a 9+1 haul. After an opening Eagles 5-1 the Vikings edged back to tie the event at 12 after 4 heats. Eagles then moved 6 ahead after 8 but the Vikings clawed a 39-39 tie after 13 heats. A heat 14 4-2 from Ruml and Kohler put the Eagles two up with just the nominated heats to go but a Ruml victory in heat 15 and a Geist second place in heat 16 sealed the Eagle first win after six straight losses.

Eagles 48 – D Ruml 13, Geist 12, Valdez 7+1, Davis 7, Kohler 5+1, R Sauer 3+3. Brown 1.
Vikings 43 – Hartke 13, Hamill 9+1, McNutt 6, Bryant 5, Armas 1, Guests 9+1 (Richards 5, Becker 3, Zellner 1+1).

Huntington Heathens 51 – Santa Maria Aces 40
The strongly favored Heathens recovered from a 6 point early deficit to rally to an eventual11 point win over the Aces. Luke Becker led the way for the Heathens with a 15 point maximum with solid support from the ultra impressive Rick Richards on 11, Steve Bowen on 9+2, Joey Donaldson on 7+2 and Rohn Zellner on 7. The Aces had veteran Rudy Laurer scoring a sublime 14+1 with Doug Nicol, guesting for son Broc who was recovering from surgery to remove metal from his 2015 broke leg, scoring 8+1 in solid support. Aces led by 6 after 6 heats but two straight 5-1s gave the Heathens the lead by heat 8. From thereon the Heathens sailed away, though a 7-1 in heat 14 from Hayley Perrault and Rudy Laurer (on a double point joker) for the Aces kept things closer. Becker was lights out all event with 5 wins. The Aces will have spearheads Broc Nicol and Max Ruml returning to the line up in February.

Heathens 51 – Becker 15, Richards 11, Bowen 9+2, Donaldson 7+2, Zellner 7, Barry 2, Osmer 0.
Aces 40 – Laurer 14+1, D Nicol 8+1, Perrault 6+1, Hansen 6, Moreau 4+1, Guest 2 (Sauer 2).

The final two events featured 1 rider from each team but points still counted within the matches. Heat 15 was Handicapped, Dillon Ruml gave chase to Rick Richards and eventually found his way by for the victory from the 50 yard line. Heat 16 (Main event) featured Becker, Hamill, Geist and Nicol. Becker was fast away though had to fend off a hard chasing Geist in turn 1 on his way to another Main event win at Perris. Hamill secured third ahead of Doug Nicol.

League Standings
Heathens – Won 1 (51-40)
Eagles – Won 1 (48-43)
Vikings – Lost 1 (43-48)
Aces – Lost 1 (40-51)

Other Divisions
Four other division partook in the event, each having two heats and a Main. The Support Class featured 5 riders. Heat 1 was won by Tom Bryant, with newcomer, former Sprint Car Champion Randy Moody winning heat 2. The Main event saw veteran Bryant win from flag to flag, his fourth in a row at the track! National 250cc Junior Champion Sebastian Palmese won both of his heats, the first being an epic dual where Jake Isaac made him work all the way. Palmese was leading the Main but dropped a chain, Isaac getting win over Sara Cords. Jose Navarrete won all 150cc Mini heats and the Main event. Gavin Geist, who cleaned up three weeks earlier made chase from the 40 yard line but couldn't quite make up the ground. The two rider Pee Wee Class provided three epic side by side races, Levi Leutz taking heat 1 and Gavin Geist taking heat 2 and the Main.

The event featured the annual Christmas gathering of the speedway family. Over 100 toys were donated for the Toys for Tots campaign, start marshal Tom Fox came dressed as Santa's elf with the rest of the staff wearing Santa Hats and a lit up Christmas tree on the infield. Jake Isaac won the prize for best decorated Christmas pit with Ron Davis winning the Ugly Christmas sweater contest.

After the Holiday Break racing resumes at Perris on Saturday 14 January with the 2nd Annual Winter Olympique featuring earned Handicap Racing. Team racing returns on February 4th and March 18th, with the season concluding on April 22nd with the qualifying round for the 2017 AMA National Championship Series.

Results
Division 1
22 Luke Becker
10 Gage Geist
41 Kurtis Hamill
98 Doug Nicol

Support
220 Tom Bryant
110 Randy Moody
274 Lawrence McNutt
109 Don Nemarnik
323 Stewart Armas (fell)
303 Dennis Osmer (non starter)

250 Junior
16 Jake Isaac
14 Sara Cords
42 Sammy Tetrault
28 Aidan McNutt
18 Sebastian Palmese (engine failure)

150 Mini
48 Jose Navarrete (0)
33 Gavin Geist (40)
96 Andrew Russell (20)
42 Czane Dunbar (0)

Pee Wee
6 Gavin Geist
3 Levi Leutz

Most Festive Pits – Jake Isaac

Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest (sound decibels of crowd)
Ron Davis 100.5
Stanford the Dog 96.1
Paul Flanders 93.4
Crazy Chris 93.1
Philip Harmatiuk 92.7
Steve Evans 88.6
Mike Reed 88.3

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