July 12, 2024
Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway
Auburn Ca.
Michael Kirby Story and Photos
A weeklong summer heat wave that has Auburn Ca. just gripped with sweltering hot days and daytime temperatures hovering in the 110-degree range kept some of the Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway fans away from the Gold Country Fairgrounds Friday night. But for those diehard fans that braved the heat, made it out to the track, sat back, grabbed a cold beverage from the snack bar enjoyed some exciting speedway racing. As the sun went behind the tall pines that shade the stands and the temperature cooled a little a great racing program began.
Billy Janniro, again won the scratch main event for the second week in a row. This is week ten of the 2024 Fast Friday’s season and Janniro has qualified for every scratch main event so far. Of those ten scratch mains Janniro has won six so far this season. Janniro was perfect in the scratch program Friday night winning his heat, semi-final and then the main event. At the start of the main event Charlie Trana out of lane one took a nasty fall and took a few minutes to get up. He was alright but was unable to restart, leaving Janniro, Bart Bast and Louie Mersaroli to carry on with the night’s finale. Running a great race and making Janniro work for the win Bast was close to Janniro and as Janniro worked the inside line Bast was just outside of him following in a close second charging toward Janniro.
Right next to Bast was Louie Mersaroli who was giving Bast a bit of a hard time battling for second place. When the dust settled Bast took second and Mersaroli was third.
Making it to the winner’s podium for the first time this season, Daniel Faria was all smiles as the Fast Friday’s trophy girls handed him his trophy for winning the handicap main event. Faria who starts on the 10-yard line won his handicap heat race, was second in his semi-final and then took the main in convincing style. Faria was challenged hard by last week’s handicap main event winner Justin Almon and Bart Bast. Almon 18, races in Southern California and has only made three trips north to Fast Fridays, was close and one slight mistake by Faria would have given the race to Almon. The mistake did not happen and Faria took the checkered flag. Almon rolled in second and Bast finished third.
Making his third trip to the winner’s podium this season Tisiah Prout Jr. won the support main event. Prout, new to speedway racing this being his first season, is learning the ropes fast and this was his third support main event win of the season. Larry Staggs was second and Mike Newnham was third.
After a two-week absence 2023 AMA Youth 250 National Champion Darren Armbruster was back on track winning the Youth 250 main event. Armbruster handicapped on the 60-yard line took the lead by the third lap of the six-lap race for first place. It was the sixth Youth 250 main event win of the season for Armbruster. Armbruster won all of the Youth 250 races Friday night including the main event. Jameson Hutchinson was second and Caden Cavirkas was third.
The streak is finally over for Riley Rearick. Up until this week Rearick had yet to lose a Youth 150 main event or even a heat race all season. But Friday night Rearick who starts more than halfway around the track was kept from a heat race win by fellow Youth 150 rider Gavin Evans Seeley who beat Rearick in the second heat race of the night. Rearick did come back with a great race and win in the Youth 150 main event keeping that streak alive. Rearick has ten Youth 150 main event wins under his belt, every Youth 150 main event so far this season. Seeley was second and Zander Schroeder was third in the main.
Team racing continued at Fast Friday’s with round four of the Team Challenge. The score coming into the night was Team IFC Financial 23 and Team Law Tigers 23, the lead up for grabs. Team Law Tigers scored a fantastic 10 points behind solid rides by Charlie Trana and John Peters who both scored three points each for Team Law Tigers with first place finishes. Antonio Coffman and Russell Green each added two points each with second place finishes for Team Law Tigers for a combined total of 10 points for the night. Team IFC struggled a little and managed only two points with third place finishes by Blake Borello and Catherine Moore. The score after four rounds of the Team Challenge was Team Law Tigers 33 points to IFC’s 25 points. Round five of the season long grudge match continues on July 26.
In the Fast Friday’s season points race Billy Janniro leads Division I. Janniro sits in first with 1272 points followed by Bart Bast with 1041 points and Charlie Trana in third with 1032 as of July 5. As of July 5, also Catherine Moore leads the Support Class with 460 points, in second place Brian Leventon has 414 points and Antonio Coffman is just behind him with 412 points.
Next week the ever popular and not to be missed North vs. South Challenge will be staged at Fast Fridays for the 32 year. The team racing event pits the best riders from Southern California against the best riders from Northern California in a once a season bragging rights event. The total score sits at the north leading the series with 20 wins to the South’s 11 wins. Should be a great night of team racing.
Fast Friday’s Results for 7-12-24
Division I Scratch Main Event
1-Billy Janniro, 2-Bart Base, 3-Louie Mersaroli 4-Charlie Trana
Division I Handicap Main Event
1-Daniel Faria, 2-Justin Almon, 3-Billy Janniro
Support Class Main Event
1-Tisiah Prout, 2-Larry Staggs, 3-Mike Newnham
Youth 250 Main Event
1-Darren Armbruster, 2-Jameson Hutchinson, 3-Caden Cavrikas
Youth 150 Main Event
1-Riley Rearick, 2-Gavin Evans Seeley, 3-Zander Schroeder
Team Challenge Series (Round Four)
Team IFC-2 Team Law Tigers-10
Total Score After Four Rounds
Team IFC- 25 Team Law Tigers-33








