INDUSTRY, California — “Fast” Eddie Castro lived up to his long-time nickname Wednesday night by winning his first 500cc Division 1 main event this year at Industry Speedway. He became the sixth different D-1 feature winner this year at the Industry Hills Expo Center indoor dirt track. Harley night action was round 13 of 14 scheduled races this season at the San Gabriel Valley track. Castro, a 51-year old welder from Ojai, won two of his three heat races and placed second in the other heat to tie for high point honors at eight points with three other riders. He finished second in in one of two semi-final races to make the five rider, four-lap feature.
Castro drew starting lane two of five. When the starting tapes lifted, Castro shot into the lead before the first turn. He retained it over fifth lane starter Charlie Venegas, the only rider in the field with a prior main event victory at Industry this season. Shawn McConnell raced from fourth to second on lap 2 as Venegas slipped to P. 4. The final two laps had Castro in front of McConnell by ten yards. Third place Tommy Hedden, from Auburn, was a length back and Venegas was another length back. Pole starter Tyson Burmeister placed fifth, 15-yards in back of Venegas.
The five-rider support division main went to pole starter Eloy Medellin, who lead all four laps. Hedden and Venegas captured the two semi-final races. In the last chance race for third and fourth place finishers in the two semi-final events, McConnell edged Buck Blair by a length for the final feature berth. Blair, the only rider who had made all 12 D-1 features at Industry this year, missed the main for the first time. Joe Pape, known as “the horny guy” for wearing a Viking-horned helmet, drove his 1953 flathead 750cc Harley-Davidson (No. 75z) to victory in both street-legal Harley races. Six Harleys participated.
With five sidecar teams present, four teams made the sidecar feature. Joe Jones and his sidecar swing man or “monkey” Jimmy Olsen led all four laps on their newly built rig. They won by ten yards over paraplegic driver Bryan Motis and Brandi McElroy. Two youth division main events went to the Ruml brothers of Huntington Beach. It was the fourth time in 13 weeks that the brothers have won features on the same night. Dillon, 11, won the 200cc four-lap event and Max, 13, led all four circuits of the 250cc event. Two pee-wee main events for 50cc riders went to rookie Logan Scantlin, 9, of Covina, who won the first race in his fourth week. Matthew Duffy, 9, of Rossmoor, won the pee-wee main for stock-type cycles, including KTM cycles built in Austria.
Next Wednesday night will be the Industry Speedway final race of season seven. Promoter Jeff Immediato, concluding his third season at Industry, has booked the annual California State Championship event. Top D-1 riders from northern California are expected to join local D-1 riders for the prestigious title race. Making the event more compelling for riders are added cash payoffs for heat race victories.
