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JANNIRO WINS FOURTH 2014 FEATURE @ INDUSTRY SPEEDWAY – By Tim Kennedy
Industry, CA., Jul. 23 – Billy “the Kid” Janniro, 34, came south from his home in Napa Wednesday and enjoyed another perfect night at Industry Speedway in the Industry Hills Expo Center Grand Arena. About 1,000 spectators attended on 1980's attire contest night. Janniro won all three of his heat races, a semi-final, and then led all four laps of the feature from gate two. The professional racer rode his No. 1 Jawa frame with a GM motor, a combination he favors on all his speedway bikes.
Austin Novratil, 19, started from the outside gate, ran second all four laps and trailed by 15-yards. Last Saturday at Perris Auto Speedway the impressive teenager won the 2nd annual AMA US Long-Track Championship. Charlie Venegas started from gate three and chased Novratil all the way and placed third, two lengths back. Pole starter Broc Nicol, a 16-year old Junior Division 2013 champion and 2014 500cc Division 1 rookie, had a perfect night working until the feature. The fast-rising teen won his three heats to score the maximum nine points and then won his semi-final over Novratil. He ran fourth all four laps from pole position.
The scratch consy for third and fourth finishers in the twin-semis was the most exciting race of the night. Buck Blair led lap 1, but slid to the ground in the first turn on lap 2. He remounted and finished fourth. Tyson Burmeister led laps 2 and 3, but Jason Ramirez made a thrilling charge on the final lap. He ran the outside line at speed through the third and fourth turns and narrowly edged a surprised Burmeister at the finish line. Rocco Scopellite placed third, with Blair trailing by half a lap.
With six 1,000cc sidecars present, Joe Jones and his rider (or “monkey&rdquo Johnny Glover led all four laps. They defeated the pressing No. 007 team of Dual Anderson/David Dent. P.3 was the Nor Cal team of Jim “Smylie” Kinne/Dave Salke, from Pioneer in Amador County. They rode the ex-No. 5150 of Dylan Beard, who sold his equipment to the now No. 74 team. Jeff Rowe/John Bach finished fourth after winning the three sidecar consolation race to earn the final feature berth.
Ron Davis, from Norwalk, led every lap of the 500cc Division 2 main to defeat prior winner Brad Moreau and Carl Gazafy. Chris Jones dropped out. It was the first Industry main event triumph for Davis, a stock car Figure 8 and oval stock car veteran on dirt and paved tracks in Perris and Irwindale. ... Chris Wiggins, 41, started ten yards from the gate and passed early leader Steve Brown on lap 3. He won easily over Brown, Dave Ruby and George Yates. Reverend Wade Whitcomb, the Division 3 feature winner last week, scratched after blowing his engine while finishing fourth in the first heat.
The Junior Division 250cc main was a four-rider go and No/So Cal battle between winner Dillon Ruml and northerner Luke Becker, who won both heat races. Ruml led every lap with Becker pressing him. Gage Geist and Courtney Crone followed closely. Becker and his father drove south to get more experience at Industry, which will host the 2nd annual Silver Cup for junior and pee-wee riders on Sunday, August 10.
The mini 150cc Division 1 main was a flag-to-flag victory for Slater Lightcap, 8, from Huntington Beach. Identical twins Sterling and Alex Martin, 9, from Salinas, finished second and third after starting from the 30 and 20 yard lines respectively as a handicap for past success. Tristan Britt and double heat race winner Dylan Wagner, 10, from Napa, placed fourth and fifth. Wagner is the nephew of D-1 winner Janniro.
The min 150cc D-2 main was the second feature consecutive victory at Industry for “Lightning” Luke Whitcomb, 8, of Anaheim. His primary young female fan, wearing a lightning bolt shirt, posed for post-race photos with him at the podium. The winner dropped to P. 3 on the initial lap. He took second from Andrew Russell a lap later and passed Keelan Venegas, 10, for the lead on lap 3. Trying to regain the lead on the final lap, Venegas slid to the ground in turn two and did not restart. Russell took second.
The pee-wee division had another large field and divided into modified and stock divisions. Travis Horn, 6, won mains in both classes. Dustin Staggs and Tanner Richey followed in both races. First-time Industry rider Sammy “Bullet” Waddill, 7, from Vallejo, did not start. Newcomer Gunner Haggard, 6, led every lap of the pee-wee stock feature. The two daughters of rider Chris Jones made their first racing starts at Industry memorable. Brianna, 8, and her sister Hannah, 6, finished second and third on their Yamaha 50cc bikes. Conner Salazar and Jose Navarette followed.
PIT NOTES: The 45 race night had a five minute delay after three 500cc D-1 heat races to repair a balky right side of the starting gate. Sidecar champion driver Joe Jones came to the rescue and got the job done. ... Speedway bike photographer “J.T” was missing this week because of illness. ... Pee-wee rider Waddill (No. 52N) rode a Cobra 50cc bike made in the USA (Texas). ... Shawn McConnell was a D-1 entrant this week with a borrowed motor. That motor, too, bit the dust as his own motor did five times recently, so he had to scratch again. He is seeking sponsorship money to get back on track soon.
The 50/50 drawing this week was $966, with $483 going to riders and $483 to the lucky fan holding the winning ticket. ... Spectator applause and cheers determined the winner of the 80's clothing night contest. ... Irwindale Speedway staff brought the No. 29 stock car for display at the front entrance booth, where incoming spectators spun a wheel for prizes including tickets to upcoming races. Ryan Partridge, chief driving instructor at the track's school and the NASCAR late model point leader, towed the No. 29 driving school car the 11 miles between Irwindale and Industry.
The Friday, July 18 Fast Fridays Speedway event at Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn was the annual North vs South battle. The North team won 73-66. The six South riders and points earned were: Max Ruml (17), Venegas (15), Novratil (12), Tyson Talkington (10), Mike Faria (9) and Nicol (3). The six North scorers were: Bart Bast (21), Janniro (19), Bryce Stark (13), J. T Mabry (9), Tommy Hedden (6) and Ryan Bast (5).
Talkington drove south July 19 to race in the Perris Long Tack Championship that evening. He picked up his long-track Jawa at his Riverside home to race in Perris. Late Saturday afternoon Freddie Orozco, the original Industry Speedway promoter in 2004-05, loaded the No. 48 Talkington had raced Friday in Auburn into the back of his pickup. Riverside resident Orozco drove it to Irwindale Speedway. He had it on display at the main concourse. He talked about speedway bike racing to interested stock car fans among the 5,982 spectators at the NASCAR race. Mutual cooperation between Industry and Irwindale Speedways and PAS (Riverside County) is encouraging and produces increased attendance for all parties. Wednesday, July 30 will be Harley Night at the Industry races. Orozco rode some practice laps at Industry this week on his Harley-Davidson street motorcycle.
Novratil won the AMA US Long Track Championship at the PAS half-mile July 19 in front of a reported good crowd. Buck Blair, Max Ruml, Nicol, Eddie Castro and Talkington finished in P. 2-6 respectively. Max was absent at Industry July 23 because he flew to England as a reserve member of the US team in the World Team Cup. He joins team members Greg Hancock, Ricky Wells, Aaron Fox and 2013 PAS Long Track Champion Gino Manzares. Team manager is Billy Hamill, who was on vacation with his family last week and missed the July 16 race at Industry. Competing teams Saturday at Kings Lynn represent USA, GB, Australia and Italy. The team finishing fourth goes home and the other three teams move on to Poland.
Junior 250cc rider Courtney Crone, 13, changed her Hagon/GM 250cc number and colors this week after acquiring sponsorship. Her new backer is former Ascot Park South Bay Speedway speedway bike promoter Chris Agajanian. Her white and pink No. 4 became the black and neon green No. 98. Chris' new energy drink product—Integrity ENERGEE Drink is on her bike and leathers. She also raced the orange No. 32 Wally Pankratz Ford Focus midget at Ventura Raceway Saturday, July 19 as No. 98jr for her new sponsor. She was up front early and finished fourth at Ventura in a ten car, 20-lap main event.
The scariest crash during July 23 Industry racing occurred in event 24—a Junior 250cc heat. P. 2 Gage Geist bounced off the plywood crash-wall exiting turn four on lap 2. His bike hit passing P. 3 Crone, who flipped across the starting line. Her flipping bike hit P. 4 Michael Wells' passing bike; he and his bike also flipped simultaneously. He injured his wrist and did not race subsequent events. Unhurt Crone came back after repairs to her bike and finished second to winner Braydan Galvin. Geist was excluded for causing the wild, double flip.
Later in D-1 heat racing round three (event 28) Venegas (from gate two) and Janniro (from gate three) came together on lap 1 leaving turn two. Both stars and good friends fell together near the wall. Janniro's front wheel had caught the back wheel of Venegas as they went for the same place on the track. They discussed the accident at the scene, remounted and returned for the complete restart. Janniro won over Venegas, Talkington and Russell Green.
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