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FOX RUNS AWAY FROM THREE TEENAGERS – By Tim Kennedy
Industry, CA., Jul. 15 – Aaron Fox, 27, ran away from three impressive teenage challengers on his 500cc GM/Stuha during the weekly Wednesday night speedway bike main event at Industry Speedway. It was the annual Laidlaw Harley-Davidson Night at the track in the Grand Arena of the Industry Hills Expo Center. About 1,200 spectators witnessed his second consecutive feature victory in a field of 16 First Division riders.
A total of 43 speedway bike races were run despite a 15-minute track lighting blackout shortly after 8:00 pm. Fox, from Menifee, was perfection personified this week. He led every lap in all five of his races. He won all three of his four-lap heats, plus the second semi-final over D-1 rookie Dillon Ruml, 16. Broc Nicol, 17, won the first semi-final over Max Ruml, 18, to set the four rider feature field.
When the starting gate shot upward in the feature, Fox launched from the inside lane and led the first lap over lane two starter Nicol, D. Ruml (lane three) and outside starter M. Ruml. They ran in that order all four circuits. Fox won by five lengths over Nicol, who had three lengths on D. Ruml. Max trailed his younger brother by one length.
Third and fourth place finishers in the two semi-finals ran a four-lap consolation race that immediately preceded the main event. Shawn McConnell led all four laps over pressing Charlie Venegas. Buck Blair and Rocco Scopellite trailed in P. 3-4. Scopellite won a two rider run-off race after he and Gage Geist tied at four points for P. 8 in points after three rounds of heats. Geist did a high-side fall on the first lap in turn two and caused a brief red flag. That gave the victory to Scopellite.
The 500cc Second Division field had 15 riders present and they raced two rounds of heats for points. In the first D-2 heat, three riders fell hard (one in turn one and two at turn two). All three riders remained on the ground for several minutes; Lewis Hughes walked from turn one but was sidelined for the night. One of the second turn downed riders was Hayley Perrault, who started racing 50cc pee-wee bikes nine years ago and celebrated her 18th birthday on July 1 at Industry.
Perrault and Nathan Siegel returned from turn two falls to the restarted race. She finished second and also finished second in her other heat to make the D-2 main. There she started from the inside lane and ran four fast laps perfectly on her Jawa Lay-down to win her first Industry 500cc main of 2015. She also won a D-2 Industry main last July and four 500cc mains at other speedways. Veterans Rudy Laurer, Ron Davis and Mike Lane followed.
The 500cc D-3 field for newer and returning to racing riders had ten riders. They each ran a heat race and one of the two semi-finals from which the top top finishers in each semi advanced to the feature. Chris Wiggins and Steve “Beach-ball” Brown won the two semis. In the D-3 feature, Wiggins, 32, started from the outside lane and led all four laps over Brown, George Yates and Greg Willis.
The Junior Division 250cc main had all six 250cc riders present in it. Jake Isaac, 12, led all three laps of the race, shortened by two laps because of a red flag. Fast-closing Sebastian Palmese, 11, started 50-yards from the starting gate and earned second. The red-flag flew following a lap 4 third corner crash that involved visiting Auburn resident Colton Hicks, 13, and Michael Wells, 14. Both fell and Wells remained prone several minutes before he walked to the pits. Referee Steve Lucero excluded Hicks, son of D-1 racer Bob Hicks, as the cause of the crash and gave Wells third place. The race was not resumed with more than 50% complete and because of time constraints. James Blair and Sara Cords finished in P. 4-5 respectively.
Now four-time Industry 2015 winner Slater Lightcap, 9, won the mini-150cc main event after starting 50-yards from the gate. He led laps 3-5 and beat Luke Whitcomb, 9, Dakota Shockley, 10, Keelan Venegas, 11, and sisters Skylar, 16, and Rachel, 9, Schnakenberg.
The 50cc pee-wee division main event was an upset victory for Cole Ayers, 9, from Moreno Valley. He edged fast-closing Travis Horn, 7, who starts all of his races with a 50-yard handicap because of his success. Horn now has won six of the eight pee-wee mains this season at Industry. Levi Leutz, 6, Richard Stephens, 9, Conner Salazar, 7, and youngest rider Gavin Dryfka, 4, followed. The tiniest pee-wee is the step-brother of riders Gage (D-1) and Glenn Geist, 9, (mini 150cc).
EXTRA RACES: Street legal Harley-Davidson motorcycles raced a pair of heat races with four riders and then a crowded eight-rider field in a main event. In a heat race two Harley riders fell in the second turn without injury. Troy Hoff, 33, from Westminster, led every lap on his No. 1 Harley 88 cu. in. Dyno FXD. Ed Subia, from Orange, finished second on his No. 84 Harley 1,200cc Sportster. Chris Wiggins won his D-3 feature and also rode his street-legal Harley to victory in his bracket H-D main while wearing his leathers with 239 on his back. .
Industry also conducted the annual heat race and main event for employees of season-long sponsor Laidlaw's Harley-Davidson in Baldwin Park. All seven employees started from the gate on similar motorcycles that carried numbers 1 through 7. No. 6 of Chris Garcia was announced as winner of the heat and main event in flag-to-flag runs.
PIT NOTES: Brad Sauer, of Bakersfield, and his son Brayden, injured on July 1 in a fall at Industry, came south July 15 to LA County-USC Medical Center to see a neurologist. Brayden, 18, still has no feeling in his right leg and was in the Industry pits in a wheelchair. He was in mid-pack on the backstretch on the initial lap of the July 1 D-2 main. Then a rider turned left and hit Brayden's front wheel. That sent him tumbling down the track. He had no feeling in both legs and lay prone 20-minutes. An ambulance took him to LA County-USC Med Center where he underwent tests for two days. Feeling returned to his left leg before he left the track. Brad loaded his No. 21 Jawa and Brayden's No. 217 in his truck and followed the ambulance to the hospital. He spent two days with his son at the hospital. Brad and his wife drove Brayden home several days after his accident. .
Brad, 46, and Brayden hoped to see a neurologist July 15 and get additional information. They were not successful and asked for Brayden's medical record, which will be mailed to them. Brad brought along his speedway bike and raced three heats but did not make a semi-final. Brayden watched the races in his wheelchair in the wheelchair section near the scoring/announcing area above the starting line. Brad said they will seek medical treatment closer to their home in Bakersfield. Brad said Brayden had similar leg numbness last year after a crash and it took him four months to recover. Brayden impressively won the June 24 D-2 500cc feature at Industry. He also won his July 1 heat race easily and was a solid bet to win his second consecutive D-2 main before his crash. He is a good friend of the Ruml brothers and Nicol, who all showed great concern for him on July 1 and greeted him in the pits two weeks later. Everyone wishes the popular Sauer a speedy recovery.
Charlie “the Edge” Venegas and his 11-year old son Keelan “Lil Edge” were absent at Industry July 8. Charlie and Broc Nicol bikes made contact at Auburn and Charlie fell. He received a shoulder injury that took some time to heal. Both father and son raced at Industry July 15 while mom was in the pit booth selling pit passes and then in the scoring booth as a co-scorer for all races.
Two returning D-3 riders made their first 2015 racing starts July 15 at Industry. Brent Smith, 45, from La Verne, is an air-conditioning technician. He raced speedway from 1996 to 2004 and rose to the D-2 intermediate skill level. He got married, had a daughter and put his No. 103 GM bike in storage. He watched the July 8 races at Industry with his 10-year old daughter and his girl friend. They were in the grandstand a week later to watch his return to speedway racing.
In his only heat race Brent led the first three laps, received the white flag and slowed at turn two. He dropped to P. 4 as his three competitors raced past him. He finished fourth. Announcer Bruce Flanders told the crowd. “ He must have thought he had received the checkered flag.” In his semi-final race Brent finished fourth in a five rider field.
Dave Ruby, 55, also from La Verne, was a 2014 D-3 rookie on his No. 112 Jawa and finished second in one feature. He sold his bike after the season. Then he found he missed racing, so he borrowed a bike from D-3 rider Greg Willis and finished fifth of five riders in his heat race. Dave finished third in a field of five in his semi-final. His bike owner Willis placed second and advanced to the D-3 main. Returning riders Brent and Dave did not face each other in either of their rides, but they probably will in coming weeks. Both friendly riders are welcome additions to the 2015 speedway bike competitive field.
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