|
JANNIRO TOPS VENTURA RACEWAY SPEEDWAY BIKE ACTION – By Tim Kennedy
Ventura, CA., Jun. 28 – Billy Janniro won the second of four rounds of the AMA National Speedway Bike Championship Series at four tracks Saturday on his No. 1 bike. He led all four laps in a race billed as “the Commotion by the Ocean”on the fifth-mile clay Ventura Raceway. The annual event at the Ventura County Fairgrounds took place in front of about 2,000 spectators at the Seaside Park “bullring” adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. Known as “The Best Little Dirt Track in America”, the usual auto racing venue produced the second consecutive victory for Janniro in the 2014 series. He also won the 2013 Ventura feature for the two-wheelers.
Janniro, from Napa, won the first race in the 500cc speedway bike series on June 7 at Costa Mesa Speedway. His 21 points led the 17 riders with points entering round two in Ventura. He held a six point lead over Charlie Venegas, who did not race in Ventura after his flight south was canceled following his Friday night race in Auburn. Round three will take place Saturday, August 9 at Industry Speedway. Fast Fridays Speedway in Auburn will host the final round on Friday, September 19. Janniro now leads the the series at the halfway point by eight points (39-31) over Max Ruml. Buck Blair is third with 22 points.
Multi National and California State Speedway Bike Champion Janniro led almost every lap he ran Saturday in Ventura. He won four of his five heats, his semi-final race and the four-lap main event. He was out front in 21 of his 24 race laps. Janniro only beat himself in his fifth heat by touching the starting gate tapes with his front wheel, resulting in disqualification from that race. He protested the referee's call initially, but was replaced by reserve rider Danny Faria. He rode back tot he pits with no points instead of having a shot a a perfect 15 heat race points.
Janniro's miscue dropped him to third in heat race points which advanced the top eight point scorers to the two semi-final races. Gino Manzares, who flew in late Friday night from England where he races in the British Premier League, was the top ranked rider in Ventura after 20 heats. He tallied 14 points based on the 3-2-1-0 system with four wins and one second in his five races. “Mad Max” Ruml also scored 14 points out of a possible 15. Manzares beat Ruml in their only head to head meeting so he earned first lane choice in the first semi-final. Ruml had first lance choice in the second semi. Janniro, with second lane choice, selected lane two.
Manzares led all four laps in the first semi and beat Austin “on the Throttle” Novratil for the two transfers. Bart Bast and 500cc rookie Broc Nicol, 16, followed. In the best race of the night, Ruml got the jump from lane four and led the first three laps over pressing Janniro. On the final lap Ruml pushed up the track in the fourth turn under intense pressure. Janniro shot past him on the inside for the victory. Disappointed Ruml settled for second in his second season as a 500cc rider. “Fast” Eddie Castro, from nearby Ojai, placed third with Buck Blair fourth, ending their race night.
FEATURE: The four lap main event had three GM riders against one Jawa rider—Novratil. The teen was back in action after recuperating from a recent injury. The starting order from inside to outside was Novratil (No. 27), Ruml (No. 5), Janniro (No. 1) and Manzares (No. 24). Janniro, 33, used his obvious racing skills on two wheels against three young, rising stars of speedway racing. Manzares, 20, Novratil, 19, and Ruml, 17, all competed at Industry, San Bernardino, Costa Mesa and Auburn last season. Manzares' 2014 experience racing in England was expected to increase his chances at Ventura this year after he placed third in the last Ventura main. It did—he finished second, 15-yards in back of winner Janniro. P. 3 Ruml was 15-yards in back of Manzares, and Novratil ten yards from Ruml's back wheel. The checkered flag flew at 9:29 pm.
Promoter Steve Evans presented large trophies to all main event winners following the final checkered flag. Other main event winners were:
> Junior Division 250cc: Nor Cal's Luke Becker, 15, beat Dillon Ruml, 15, and Gage Geist, 14.
> Extreme 1,000cc Sidecars: The No. 2 Yamaha of paraplegic driver Bryan Motis and sidecar “swinger” Josh Bennett won. Heat race winner Dual Anderson/Ethan Smith (Yamaha R1) followed closely, with Dave Alexander/Bob Dent third. The Stuart Glass/Jack Straw (Ducati) did not start after dropping out of their heat race.
> Support Division: Rookie 500cc rider Dalton Leedy, 14, led all four laps over Sean McDougall, from Bakersfield. Jeramiah Allen, Ron Davis and Jamison Dilkey followed. Danny Faria took the 500cc Support Division trophy dash.
> Vintage Speedway Bike Main: A special main for vintage speedway racers on their vintage speedway Westlake and Jawa two and four stroke bikes had six riders from age 53 to about 70. Ken Thiebaud, from Santa Margarita, led all four laps on his Jawa two stroke. He narrowly edged the Westlake of Dan Waller, from nearby Goleta. P 3-6 riders were: Malcolm Roe, from Santa Margarita, Bob Waller, from Santa Barbara, Pat Smith and Dave Tice, from Templeton.
Preliminary racing started at 5:30 pm with two wild card 500cc heat races to determine the two riders who were added to the 14 seeded riders in the 20 heat races that awarded points. Danny Faria and Rocco Scopellite won those races that started five and four unseeded riders respectively. Faria was deemed wild card No. 1 and Scopellite WC No. 2 and moved into those slots in the five rounds of heats. All other divisions in action raced preliminary heats and runoffs as well to 6 :05pm. Then a scheduled intermission and interviews took place prior to the 20 point heat races start at 7:00 pm.
The first wild card 500cc race of the night at 5:35 resulted in the only injury sustained on the shirt-sleeve, 70+ degree evening. No. 293 Rick Valdez was in third place starting lap two when his front wheel contacted the back wheel of P. 2 Dilkey's No. 145N at the starting line. Valdez, from Riverside, flew over his front wheel and tumbled on the track to the first turn entrance. He got to his feet, but quickly reclined on the ground in pain. He was treated by ambulance EMTs and then taken to a local hospital for treatment. He was diagnosed with “a broken collarbone and separated shoulder” according to officials. Valdez returned to the pits before racing concluded.
Nine riders won the 20 point-paying 500cc heat races. Janniro, Manzares and Ruml each won four times. Novratil and high-riding Castro won twice. Single heat winners were: Tyson Talkington, Bart Bast, Broc Nicol and Bryce Starks. Heat winners came from all four lanes at the starting gate. The outside lane 4 had ten winners, the inside lane 1 had four winners, and lanes 2 and 3 each produced three winners. Janniro won his four heats from all four lanes in this order—4, 3, 1 and 2. In round five he was disqualified by tape contact in lane 2. Billy “the Kid” won his semi-final from lane 2 and the feature from lane 3.
Grand Marshal at Ventura Saturday was Bobby “Boogaloo” Schwartz, 57, who was honored a night earlier with “Bobby Schwartz Night at Pirate Speedway in San Bernardino. He raced his No. 11 bike last Wednesday at Industry Speedway. The living legend of speedway racing was the 1986 & 89 US National Champion, 1984 & 91 California State Champion, 1982 World Team Cup Champion and 1981-92 World Best Pairs Champion. He ranked 12th of 17 riders with five points after the June 7 race in Costa Mesa. He was entered to race in Ventura but withdrew to serve as Grand Marshal.
Schwartz was interviewed several times at Ventura and gave the command to start engines for the first race. He gave credit to Sonny Nutter for getting him started in speedway bike racing. He said, “This is my 41st year in speedway.” He said his dad bought him his first Jawa for his 17th birthday. Now his young son Bobby, Jr., 6, is racing a 50cc pee-wee bike. A full page in the Ventura Raceway $2.00 printed program was devoted to Schwartz and his speedway career. The unique program cover depicted a large, Jaws-like shark leaping from the ocean trying to grab a speedway bike rider. Only 230 of the coveted programs were printed by Jim Naylor's staff. The pre-set 20 heat race printed line-ups in the program allowed fans to keep track of riders points as races progressed.
Riders entered who did not race included Venegas (canceled airline flight); Tyson Burmeister (on vacation with his family in Hawaii); Billy Hamill (US National team captain), Mike Faria, and Shawn McConnell (blew both of his engines last week). Reserves who replaced them were: Manzares, Jason Ramirez and Travis Henderson, from nearby Ojai. Nor Cal's Danny Faria and So Cal's Rocco Scopellite raced their way into the top 16 riders for the heats via their wild card heat victories.
PIT NOTES: In attendance for the only AMA racing at the “roar by the shore” Ventura Raceway were USAC Midget racing champions Ron “Sleepy” Tripp, from Costa Mesa, and Wally Pankratz, from Orange. Wally had his trailer and midgets in the Ventura pit area. Why? “I'm teaching a class here at Ventura Sunday afternoon with four or five students,” professor Wally answered. ... Support Division rider Sean McDougall, 41, said he now only races at Ventura. He built seven McDougall 150cc and 250cc speedway bikes when his son raced. He knows where they all are. He has one, Billy Hamill has one for his school, and original owners still have the others.
Ventura Raceway promoter Jim Naylor operated his track grooming equipment all night (at least four or five times between races). He left the PA announcing to “Crazy Chris” who announces at Steve Evans speedway bike events. Danny Hall worked as referee from the starters' stand overlooking the starting tapes. He called Janniro's DQ for touching the tape and Billy protested initially. The ref stood his ground and AMA rules prevailed. Billy relented and rode back to the pits in a minute or so as fans watched intently.
Double-stacked hay-bales were rented for the AMA event. They were positioned in front of the crash-wall in all four turns and along the inside of the front straight to protect starter Tom Fox. After the final race track workers used track equipment to retrieve hay-bales and position them in the pits for return to the owner. ... When asked before the feature who would win, grandstand fans were most vocal for either Manzares or Ruml according tot he track announcer.
Manzares told me he flew United Airlines from London to Los Angeles and arrived late Friday night after racing for his British Premier League team Thursday. They won 52-38 June 26 over the P. 10 Rye House Rockets. His Ipswich Witches next match on Friday, July 4 at 7:30 pm is against the P. 12 ranked Plymouth Devils. “I still have jet-lag,” he said. He will visit family in Corona and then fly back to England Wednesday (July 2) for his next weekly race. He is in his rookie season with Ipswich, one of 13 league teams. Ipswich ranks second currently behind Edinburgh, for which So Cal rider Aaron Fox races. Ipswich operates as a major league baseball or football team would in the USA. The British speedway season lasts from March through October. Ipswich races at Foxhill Stadium on the outskirts of Ipswich. There are 24 weekly meetings, 12 home and 12 away. Gino's CMA rating (points/rides) of 5.75 ranks third on the seven rider Ipswich team. The Ipswich CMA leader has 4.56 currently. Gino wore his No. 4 bib at Ventura.
Buddy Mills, 90, is the only pre-World War II speedway bike racer still around. He rode a pace lap in front of the six vintage speedway bike riders prior to their entertaining, close main event. Mills pulled into the infield and executed a few donuts in the infield and kicked up dust. Then he dismounted and watched his friends race. Later Buddy told me, “This is one of three Jawas with Westlake heads that I own. I'll turn 91 in November,” he said as he chatted with the vintage group that pits together.
Promoters present were: Dave Joiner, from Fast Fridays in Auburn; Kelly Inman, from Industry Speedway; Steve Evans, Victorville and Ventura, and Chris Morgan, AMA Pomona half-mile flat track Saturday, October 11. Chris said eight speedway bikes raced an exhibition race on the big Pomona half-mile last year and he hopes to have even more speedway bikes compete this year. He said the bikes attained up to 120+ mph on the straights. Also mentioned was the upcoming AMA Long Track Championship at Perris Auto Speedway on Saturday, July 19. Manzares won that championship feature at PAS last year over Novratil.
|
