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JANNIRO WINS SPEEDWAY BIKE INDUSTRY SPEEDWAY SEASON OPENER –
By Tim Kennedy
Industry, CA., May 28 – “Battling Billies” competition for dominance opened the 14-race 2014 season Wednesday as Industry Speedway kicked off its 11th season of speedway motorcycle racing at the Industry Hills Expo Center. Billy Janniro, from Napa, and Billy Hamill, from Carlsbad, provided action for fans when they met in the scratch main event. Janniro edged Hamill by one length. Their personal duel excited an estimated 1,500 spectators who witnessed 46 races from 7:30 to 9:56 pm. The dirt track is under the roof of the modern Grand Arena that has a large screen for instant replays. The open-sided speedway overlooks the scenic San Gabriel Mountain and the populous east San Gabriel Valley.
Janniro started from the inside lane and led all four laps over pressing Hamill, who launched from lane three when the starting tapes lifted. Hamill trailed by a length from start to finish but Janniro repulsed his attempts to pass. Tyson Burmeister placed third, two lengths off the lead and Austin Novratil was four lengths in back at the checkered flag. Hamill won seven of 15 features at Industry Speedway last season. Janniro, an infrequent competitor at Industry, won one Industry feature last August.
Three rounds of Division 1 heat races, with riders on 500cc Jawa and GM motorcycles, awarded riders 3, 2, 1 and 0 points for each race. Janniro and Novratil won all three of their heats and scored the maximum nine points. Hamill and Burmeister each scored eight points via two wins and a second place.
Semi-final races went to Burmeister over Novratil and Janniro over Hamill in the second semi. Max Ruml, a second year 16-year old D-1 rider from Huntington Beach, won a consolation race for third and fourth place finishers in the pair of semis. Ruml started from lane one and led every lap over Shawn McConnell, Eddie Castro and 2013 Junior 250cc champion Broc Nicol. The teenager skipped D-3 and D-2 when he moved directly to 500cc D-1 competition this season.
SIDECARS: The wild, fan-pleasing 1,000cc motorcycle/sidecar teams had five rigs in action after two entered teams scratched because of work commitments. Sidecars raced two heats in their usual clockwise direction. Reigning champion Joe Jones and his sidecar “swing-man” Johnny Glover led all the way. No 007 of Dual Anderson/David Dent placed second as the entire field was close all four laps.
Junior 250cc graduate Dalton Leedy, a 16-year old from Riverside, won his first-ever main event at Industry in the 500cc D-2 feature for intermediate level riders. Chris Jones, US Navy Seabee Davey Shaw, 36, and veteran Rudy Lauer followed. The 500cc D-3 main for newer riders went to Chris Wiggins, of Orange. Lewis Hughes, Kevin Fife and Steve Brown trailed. Wiggins won two D-3 features at Industry last season.
The youth divisions had full fields and many newcomers, plus visitors from mid-California. Gage Geist, a 14-year old Temecula resident, made his second start at Industry his first main event victory. He won three prior features at two tracks—two at Fast Fridays Speedway in Auburn, and one at Pirate Speedway in San Bernardino. Runner-up Kurtis Hamill, Dillon Ruml and Michael Wells chased Geist all four laps in that order. Courtney Crone, 13, won the Junior 250cc consy after moving up from Junior 150cc D-1 last season.
The mini 150cc first division main went to Sebastian Palmese, a 10-year old from Mission Viejo. He led every lap all night. The dominant D-1 150cc rider last season with 12 Industry Speedway victories and the California State Championship for his class won 41 main events at five speedways. Twins Sterling and Alex Martin, from Salinas, finished second and fourth, with Slater Lightcap third.Tristan Britt led every lap of the mini 150cc Junior D-2 main over 2013 pee-wee division champ Luke Whitcomb, Jake Issac and Keelan Venegas.
The entire field of five 2014 pee-wee riders on 50cc Honda mini bikes were newcomers and Industry rookies. Travis Horn, 6, from La Verne, won the two heats and four lap pee-wee main. He led every lap in his three races. Moreno Valley's Cole Ayers, 8, Anaheim's Rachel Schnakenberg, 8, and Cameron Titterness, 6, followed. Connor Salazar, a 6-year old from the City of Industry, watched racing at Industry Speedway last year and wanted to race. His father bought the hometown youngster a Honda 50 and is assisting him in the pits.
Six D-1 500cc riders scored six or more points in heat races. Six more riders tied at three points for seventh place with top the eight in points advancing to the two semi-finals. The tied riders had to race a runoff to determine the P. 7 and P. 8 riders. Five riders ran the run-off (event 36). New D-1 rider Nicol led all four laps and advanced to the first semi. Veteran Eddie Castro was runner-up and moved to the second semi. Travis Henderson, Tim Gomez and Rocco Scopellite followed. Jason Ramirez did not start.
PIT NOTES: Two D-1 stars from last season were absent. Aaron Fox and Gino Manzares are racing in Europe for British League Speedway teams this season. They may return to USA racing during breaks from their European competition. ... Kelly Inman, Industry Speedway Competition Director, announced that during the off-season Industry Speedway became a full-time American Motorcyclist Association (AMA)-sanctioned speedway racing track. It is the only speedway in Southern California with that distinction.
The No. 91R Maxim Chevy USAC-CRA sprint car owned by Brett Roa and raced by his son Brody was on display inside the Industry Speedway front gate Wednesday. Brody, now from Garden Grove, raced it to fifth place four nights earlier in a 40-lap feature at Perris Auto Speedway. The Roa family explained their sprint car details to incoming bike racing fans and distributed sprint car schedules. The collaborative effort between the Perris and Industry tracks was arranged by Don Kazarian (PAS) and Industry Speedway's Kelly Inman. Speedway bikes have been on display also on the main concourse at PAS. Many spectators are fans of both sprint cars and speedway bikes. Midget driver Jerome Rodela and retired sprint car and midget driver Jeff Heywood were at Industry for the season opener.
Round two at Industry Speedway on Wednesday, June 4 will feature all divisions and sidecars for the second consecutive week. June 11 will present all divisions and will be the annual “Legends Night” with speedway bike stars from the past seated at a long table signing autographs for fans for an hour prior to the first race.
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