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FARIA WINS SPEEDWAY CYCLE MAIN @ INDUSTRY SPEEDWAY – By Tim Kennedy
Industry, CA., Aug. 10 - “Flyin Mike” Faria, 54, parlayed a newly rebuilt engine and new red/black leathers to his first Industry Speedway 500cc Division 1 main event victory this season Wednesday night. He became the fifth different winner in 11 events. The former Reno, NV resident now living in Bloomington, CA was one of three riders with the maximum 9-points for winning all three of their heat races. He placed second in one of two semi-final events and came from lane two to lead all four laps of the feature. Faria, a star for many years at Fast Fridays Speedway in Auburn, is a three-time U. S. National Champion (1990-91-97) and American Final Champion (97-99-2003) and four-time California State Champion. His most recent feature victories were July 29 on “Flyin Mike” Night at Inland Motor Speedway in San Bernardino and on May l7 at Costa Mesa Speedway.
Jimmy Fishback, the 2011 Industry Speedway and three-track combined points leaders, also scored 9-points in his heat races and won his semi-final for 12 points entering the main. He selected lane 1 and ran a close second to Faria all four laps before trailing by two lengths at the checkered flag. Eddie Castro came from the five hole to third, ten-yards in back of Fishback. Shawn McConnell started from lane 3 and ran fourth all the way. Russell Green, who was celebrating his 20th birthday, made his first start of the season in week 11 of 14 at Industry after getting his engine rebuilt. He finished in P. 2-2-3 in his heats and second in the first semi-final to make the feature where he started fourth and ran fifth every lap.
The Last Chance race that sent only the winner to the feature started only three riders. Dukie Ermolenko, making his first Industry Speedway appearance in years, lost his engine during his semi-final race in the fourth turn while in P. 2 on the final lap. The three L.C riders entered the first turn on lap 2 and leader Michael Raines fell. Second place Castro slid to the ground and into Raines' cycle. P. 3 Tommy Hedden, from Auburn, put his cycle on the ground to avoid hitting the two downed riders and it slid into Castro's bike. All three riders were uninjured, but Castro's No. 14 cycle was too damaged to continue. In speedway cycle racing the rider qualifies, not the cycle. So Jason Ramirez wheeled his No. 66 cycle from the pits for Castro to race. He then led all four laps and defeated Hedden and Raines to earn the final feature berth.
In a surprise, three-time 2011 Industry Speedway main event winner Charlie Venegas—the third rider with 9-points in heats for winning all three of his races—missed the L.C and main events. He went for the lead in his semi-final race on the first lap in the second turn. His No. 43 JAWA pushed up the track and he dropped to P. 5 before he recovered. He pulled into the pits on lap 3 because only the top four finishers advanced. Bobby “Boogaloo” Schwartz, the June 29 Industry main winner, also missed the L.C and feature. After racing concluded, the popular veteran celebrated his 55th birthday in the pits with cake for fellow competitors and fans.
Joe Donaldson, from Garden Grove, won his second consecutive 500cc Support A main. The ex-D1 rider recently bought the No. 122 cycle for his return to racing. First-year racer Chris Casey, won the 500cc Support B feature on his first visit to the track on his No. 391 cycle that he races in Auburn. The 27-year old from Auburn chased Covina's Kip McClain for three laps before executing an inside pass in the second turn on lap 4 for the lead and victory. Casey and fellow Auburn resident/D-3 rider Chase Vaccaro, 28, rode south with Hedden and headed north in Hedden's pickup truck right after the final race.
Max Ruml, 14, won his sixth Youth 250cc main at Industry this year and every race he ran Wednesday in dominating style. Two Youth 200cc mains had lead changes en-route to the finish. Broc Nicol, 12, started ten yards from the starting gate, led laps 2, 3 and 4 and won the three rider Youth A main easily. Michael Wells, 10, won his second P. 1 trophy this year in the Youth B main. The Huntington Beach rider trailed Braydan Galvin all the way to the fourth turn on the final lap when Galvin fell and Wells passed him on the outside. Galvin rose quickly but did not finish. Shea Bendykowski, 11, placed second after losing half a lap at the starting line when his engine balked and he needed a push start. Alyssa Smith, 9, started from the outside lane and led all four laps for her fifth pee-wee division main victory on a 50cc mini-cycle. She beat her cousin Dylan Smith, 10, and Luke Whitcomb, 5, who won the first heat over the two Smiths. Officials ran 36 races from 7:00 to 9:42 pm.
An innovative move to add money to the three south-land tracks (Industry, San Bernardino and Costa Mesa) combined 2011 point fund has been announced. A bowling tournament is planned for Sunday, September 18 (1:00 pm) at Concourse Bowl in Anaheim. Each team will have one rider and three others and will pay a $100 entry fee to cover cost of bowling, shoes and trophies. About $50 per team is expected to go to the speedway cycle combined point fund. A silent auction is planned as part of the event. Teams already entered include the Penhall Pinheads, The Boogaloo Bowlers, Larry's Lazy Laners, and RNG Rockin Bowlerz. For more information see [email protected].
Current two-track points (Industry & Costa Mesa) were posted in the pits Wednesday through August 3. Points for San Bernardino have yet to be included but will be included within a week. Fishback led at Industry with 325.5 points and Faria led at Costa Mesa with 228.5. The top ten listed were:
Jimmy Fishback 535.5
Charlie Venegas 415.5
Shawn McConnell 363.5
Mike Faria 362.5
Bobby Schwartz 272.5
Eddie Castro 236.5
Billy Hamill 223.5
Josh Larsen 214
Austin Novratil 213
John Marquez 188.5
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