Fast Fridays Speedway

Gold Country Fairgrounds
1273 High Street
Auburn, California

29th Annual North vs. South Challenge
Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
South Triumphs in North vs. South Challenge
By Michael Kirby (Story & Photos)
AUBURN, CALIFORNIA, July 23, 2021

In a grudge match that dates back thirty years and the longest running annual speedway racing event, the North vs. South Challenge pits the best riders from Southern California against the best Northern California riders. It is also one of the most popular speedway events at Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway each season packing fans into the Gold Country Fairgrounds stadium. The South took control from the very first race and never let up winning the 30th annual North vs. South Challenge 78-58.

The South team brought Max Ruml, Kyle Cunningham, Gino Manzares, Russell Green, Aaron Fox and Bryan Yarrow the show. Waiting for them was Bart Bast, Louie Mersaroli, Billy Janniro, Danny Faria, Charlie Venegas and Blake Borello on the North team. The stage was set as the good natured opening ceremony took place.

The way it works is a scratch format with two riders from each team race each other through six rounds then two riders from each team compete in a B main and an A main event where points increase. In the heat rounds the scoring is three points for a win, two points for second place, one point for a third place finish and zero for a fourth place finish. In the B main scoring increases by one point and in the A main the scoring is doubled.

From the first gate the South took the lead and never looked back being in the driver’s seat for the entire race never falling behind. Right off the bat in the first race Ruml and Cunningham hooked up for five points for the South with a first and third place finish. For the South again in the second race they added four points behind the scoring of Green and Manzares with combined first and third place finishes. At the end of the first round the score was 12 points for the South to the North’s six points behind a great effort by Venegas for the North in a convincing win and three points in race three.

Round two was much of the same but in race five the North showed signs of brilliance scoring five points with Borello winning and Venegas in second bringing the score after two rounds to South 22 and the North 14. Ruml who rode nearly flawlessly all night pulled off a last second finish dash to overtake Venegas at the finish line for three points in race seven in the third round. Score after three rounds South 32-North 22. Round four stayed fairly even with wins for Ruml, Manzares and Fox for the South. The North stayed strong with second place finishes and two points each for Mersaroli, Faria and Borello. At the end of four rounds the score still really weighted in favor of the South 42-30.

Round five, in race 14 the South scored big again with first-second finishes for Green and Manzares for five points, but in race 15 the North responded with a first place finish for Mersaroli and third place finish for Bast and four points for the North leaving the score at 52-38 still with a strong lead for the South going into the final regular round. Round six was a near toss-up with the South adding ten points to their score and the North adding eight points leaving the score going into the bonus main event rounds at 62-46 South.

Going into the bonus mains and if you did the math the North could not win but that did not stop them from going all out. In the B Main for the South Manzares scored a win and Fox a third place finish combining for six points and the North combined for four points behind a second place finish for Mersaroli and a four place finish for Borello and four points. Score after the B Main sat at 68-50 with the South firmly in the lead.

In the A main the South sent out Ruml and Yarrow and the North sent out Venegas and Janniro. Yarrow took this one for six points and teammate Ruml finished third for four points for the South combining for 10 points. Not going down easily Janniro finished second for five points and Venegas three points for a fourth place finish combining for eight points. Final score and bragging for another year had the South at 78 to the North’s 58. This leaves the overall total tally with the North still leading the series 19-11 over the south. “Nor Cal who? Just kidding, we always great time coming up here, it’s a great event,” said celebrating South team member Gino Manzares after the race.

High scorer for the evening and for the South went to Max Ruml who was perfect through the six rounds and had a third place finish in the A Main scoring 22 points. Also for the South Gino Manzares chipped in 17 points. For the North the high scorers were Billy Janniro and Charlie Venegas each scoring 14 points.

There was not a Division II or Division III this week but in the Youth program Charlie Trana won the Youth 250 division, Levi Leutz was second and Chase Kangas was third. In the Youth 150 division Darren Armbruster was first, Nick Hohlbein was second and Kensei Matsudaira was third.

North vs. South Challenge Results 7-23-21

South 78 North 58

South 78
Max Ruml 3 3 3 3 3 3 4-22
Gino Manzares 1 1 3 3 2 3 4-17
Bryan Yarrow 1 3 2 0 0 3 6-15
Aaron Fox 2 1 0 3 2 1 2-11
Russell Green 3 0 1 1 3 0-8
Kyle Cunningham 2 2 1 0 0 0-5

North 58
Billy Janniro 2 0 3 0 2 2 5-14
Charlie Venegas 3 2 3 1 0 2 3-14
Louie Mersaroli 0 0 2 2 3 1 3-11
Blake Borello 0 3 0 2 1 1-7
Bart Bast 1 2 0 1 1 2-7
Danny Faria 0 1 1 2 1 0-5

Youth 250 Main Event
1-Charlie Trana, 2-Levi Leutz, 3-Chase Kangas

Youth 150 Main Event
1-Darren Armbruster, 2-Nick Hohlbein, 3-Kensei Matsudaira

	The North and South teams before the challenge during the opening ceremony. (left-right) The South, Max Ruml, Kyle Cunningham, Gino Manzares, Russell Green, Aaron Fox, Bryan Yarrow. The North, Billy Janniro, Daniel Faria, Charlie Venegas, Blake Borello, Louie Mersaroli and Bart Bast. Pictured in the center is Fast Friday’s promoter David Joiner.
	Riders take the line for the start of the A Main start. (left to right) Aaron Fox, Daniel Faria, Bryan Yarrow and Billy Janniro. Yarrow won the race.
	Referee Steve Lucero
	Max Ruml was overall high scorer in this season’s North vs. South Challenge scoring 22 points for the South Team.
	Heat Race
	Bryan Yarrow riding for the South Team won the A Main event picking up six points.
	Youth winners were Darren Armbruster (left) in the Youth 150 Division and Charlie Trana (right) in the Youth 250 Division.
	The South Team celebrates their 2021 North vs. South Challenge. Pictured (left-right) are Bryan Yarrow, Kyle Cunningham, Max Ruml, Gino Manzares, Russell Green and Aaron Fox.
	Billy Janniro in a heat race with Max Ruml, both Janniro and Ruml and scored highly for their teams.
	Charlie Trana