Club Moto Speedway
Super Saturday Speedway Racing
Livermore, California

Week 2
August 22, 1998 - Livermore
By: Gary Roberts

A great second night at Livermore. I was in the UK last week, so missed opening night. I understand there was some good racing and that the first division riders declined to accept their prize money last week, as a gesture of thanks to the promoter for putting this great new facility together. This track is a quite unique among American Speedway tracks in that its not located in a County Fairgrounds. This has significant advantages. For one, it does not have to pay an enormous rent every week (usually of the order of $1500 per week), which so often in the past has been the single item that has crippled so many tracks. Secondly, any profit from the concession stands goes to the promoter, not the fairgrounds. Also, a big plus is that they don't have a curfew by which time they have to finish racing. All this adds up to an extremely hopeful Speedway opportunity for Northern California. They offer practice sessions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5-9 and on Sundays from 10 till 2. It is situated reasonably close to the large San Francisco Bay population, so there is the potential to re-build the big Speedway movement that existed in this area back in the eighties. For me personally, its a miracle, because its just 35 miles from where I live! I heard no complaints from the riders about the track. Its surface was fairly loose, with plenty of dirt. There were a number of very close races with plenty of overtaking.

Scratch Main
1. Billy Janniro
2. Jim Sisemore
3. Bart Bast
4. Matt Becker
Billy Janniro continues to get better and better each week. He and Jim Sisemore traded places throughout the race, with Bart Bast waiting to pounce. Matt Becker was in among them for the first couple of laps, before taking time out to do a quick 360, but continued, only a few yards behind. It was good to see Matt back in action after a break of about 6 weeks.

Scratch Consolation
1. Tommy Hedden
2. Bob Hicks
3. Scott McNeil
4. Bobby Hedden
Bobby Hedden appeared out of the pits just as the tapes went up for the other three. He finished a half lap behind, about where he started out.

Division 2 Main
1. Gary Moranville
2. Dave Booth
3. Bobby Chipman
4. Dennis Cassidy
5. Harlan Bast
6. Mike Gildersleeve
I watched Gary Moranville practice here last Tuesday and he impressed promoter Jess Ochoa so much he moved him from third to second division. In just 3 months, he has gone from nowhere to winning the second division main. He was riding evenly and fast.

Division 2 Consolation
1. Bill Thomas
2. Mike Browne
Also qualifying, but non-starters were Bill Newby, and Jeremy Martinez A popular win for 74 year old Bill Thomas.

Division 3 Main
1. Don Chipman
2. Bill Warnock
3. Craig Boone
4. Geno Bellino
5. Richard Sandon
6. Troy Burton

Division 3 Consolation
1. Ivan Sevart
2. Brian Leventon
3. Richard Powell
4. Gary Hullbert
5. Donny Powell

Division 1 Juniors
1. Eric Carrillo
2. Donny Robinson
3. Bryan Yarrow

Division 2 and 3 Juniors
1. Jon Curry
2. Eric Smith
Anthony Martinez and Matt Browne both fell.

It was good to see so many people stay around after the racing and drink beer and socialize. The racing finished at 8.15 and there were still plenty of people around when I left at 10.15. NOTE: Racing starts at 6 pm, but will move to 7 pm in September. The promoter is still putting the finishing touches to the facilities, and permanent track lighting and bench seating are not yet completed. For spectators comfort, you are welcome to bring a lawn chair!

Gary Roberts

See the photo page for more shots of the first race night at the track!