CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif. – Three weeks remain in the Industry Speedway season and Charlie Venegas is three wins shy of a record.
Venegas, a 20-year veteran of Speedway Motorcycle racing, is the winningest rider in the short history of Industry Speedway, with 33 main event victories since the start of the 2005 season (2004 results are not available), and he’s been winning at better than a 50 percent ratio the past two years.
The 41-year-old father of three from San Bernardino will go into Wednesday night’s (Sept. 3) event with nine wins in a season that will conclude with two more track championship races and the AMA Sports/USA Speedway California State Championship Sept. 17.That puts the rider known as “The Edge” in position to tie or break the record he set in 2007, when he won 10 regular season races and his second State title.
Venegas set his record in 21 races in 2007. This week’s event will be the 18th of 20 overall in The Grand arena at the Industry Hills Expo Center. But Venegas did not ride in two of those while finalizing the opening of his Golden Gate Speedway in Vallejo and three times has failed to qualify for the main event – among them one that was cancelled. So in reality Venegas has collected his nine wins in just 11 races.
Ricky Wells, a 17-year-old from Yorba Linda, is second on the win list after capturing five of the past six mains. His four-race win streak was broken last week by Venegas, who had two four-race streaks earlier in the season.
The other main event winners are Buck Blair, who is out of action with a shoulder injury, and Shaun Harmatiuk, who has been an infrequent competitor.
The total of four different winners also is a record. Eight riders took the checkered flag in 2005 and there have been six winners in each of the past two seasons.
Entrance gates at The Grand open at 5:30 p.m. and racing gets under way at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, students and military, and $5 for children 6-13.
Information may be obtained by calling the Industry Speedway Hotline at 949-640-0455 or visiting the Internet web site at www.Industryspeedway.com.
