INDUSTRY, California — Newlywed Billy Janniro, a 28-year old from Vallejo, won his second Division 1, 500cc main event here in three tries this season during week seven of the 19-week Wednesday night speedway cycle races. The 2008 AMA/USA National Speedway Cycle Champion entertained the 1,336 spectators, which was the second largest crowd of the season at The Grand in the Industry Hills Expo Center. Janniro shot from lane four in a five-rider field of two-wheel superstars to lead entering the first turn. He barely beat lane two starter Charlie Venegas, a two-time winner this season, for the initial lead that he held all four laps. The winner got married last Friday in Reno after winning earlier that night in Auburn. His wife was in the pits to cheer his continuing hot streak of victories at three tracks in California.
Pole starter Gary Hicks, who won all three of his heat races and his semi-final race, took second from Venegas on the inside at the starting line during lap 3. Third finisher Jimmy Fishback and Ricky Wells, in his first start at Industry Speedway this season, dropped Venegas to fifth on the final lap. Wells and Janniro finished one-two in the first semi-final to make the feature lineup. In the second semi, all four riders fell in the third turn on the initial lap. Mike Faria and Hicks made contact and fell. Venegas and Jason Ramirez, 17, then laid their bikes down to avoid the fallen riders. All four restarted. Fishback won the four-rider D-1 “last chance race”over Bobby Schwartz, Faria and Ramirez to earn his feature berth.
Junior Division 2008 rider Joey “the Bolt” Holt, a 14-year old 500cc rookie D-2 rider from Oak Hill, won his third D-2 main event this season at Industry in seven weeks. He continued his impressive first season by making a final turn pass on the final lap. Race-long leader Dan Poli, from Napa, led the first three laps and settled for second in a six-rider field on his first visit to Industry. Rookie Butch Waymire, a 53-year old American Airlines captain on B-777 flights to London and Tokyo, led all four laps in a six-rider field of D-3 (rookies) . It was his third D-3 feature victory in six outings with an ex-Nate Perkins 500cc cycle. He has also won a D-3 main at San Bernardino.
Five riders participated in a “wheelie” contest on their speedway cycles. Fishback won easily by riding halfway around the track on his back wheel with the front wheel in the air. Gerard Jackson and his rider Dave German won both heat races and the 4-lap sidecar main in a close duel with the husband and wife team of Shawn Driggers and his wife Melissa Driggers, who provided counter-balance in the turns from the sidecar. Jacob Wondolowski, 7, of Placentia, led all four laps and won the pee-wee division five-rider main on his 50-cc mini cycle.
Junior main event victories went to 250cc mounted Rocco Scopellite, 13, of Huntington Beach for his second victory this year. Race-long leader Kyle Hicks,17-year old son of D-1 rider Gary Hicks, fell in the final turn and did not finish after leading three laps. Two Junior 200cc mains were run for less experienced and more experienced riders. Hayley Perrault, 12, of San Juan Capistrano, won her first feature trophy at Industry on her Honda in a two-rider field. A four-rider field of more experienced junior riders on 200cc cycles was most entertaining. Sammy Ramirez, 9, of Orange, won for the fourth time in seven weeks. He dueled 14-year old Brad Wilson, a visitor from New Zealand, and they traded the lead early. On the final lap Wilson tried to retake the lead in the third turn and fell without injury after the lead duo make contact.
Last Friday Mike Faria won the D-1 500cc feature at the new dirt speedway cycle track just east of the third and fourth turns of the Orange Show Speedway quarter-mile paved oval in San Bernardino. Janniro won at Fast Fridays Speedway at the county fairgrounds in Auburn. There will be a speedway cycle triple-header this weekend with the 2009 National Speedway Cycle second round Friday in Auburn and the usual speedway cycle event at Orange Show in San Bernardino. This Saturday night (July 11) the Justice Brothers-sponsored “California State Long-track Speedway Cycle Championship” will be held at Perris Auto Speedway on the quarter-mile clay oval for a $5,000 purse. The 31-race program will feature a star-studded field of D-1 riders, including 2009 English League rider Ricky Wells and red-hot Janniro, who will come south Saturday after racing in Auburn Friday night. The last California State Long-track Speedway Cycle Championship race was held in 1990 at Ascot Park in Gardena. The last speedway cycle racing at The PAS occurred 13 years ago. If enough fans come out to watch the exciting action Saturday, more speedway cycle racing at The PAS will be scheduled.
