September 14, 2024

Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway

Auburn Ca.

Michael Kirby Story and Photos

Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway brought back a very popular racing event not seen since 2022 at the Auburn Ca. racetrack. Saturday night the Gold Country Fairgrounds was alive with the racing skills of racers in the Speedway’s Best Pairs Championship. The program put six teams of two riders each racing in 18 heat races working together to outscore the other riders. Racing as a team is much different than the weekly racing program of every rider for himself. Teams must work together for the good of the team sometimes sacrificing a win for protecting a teammates finishing place. Scoring the most points is goal of the evening and winning the championship.

The way it works the pairs scored points in each heat race, three points for a win, two points for a second-place finish, one point for a third-place finish and zero for a fourth-place finish. After the 18 heats the team with the most points are the champions and ties would be settled with run-offs

The six teams racing in Saturday night’s championship were Timmy Dion and Rees Todd, Bart Bast and Alex Martin, Billy Janniro and Louie Mersaroli, Broc Nicol and Charlie Trana, Chris Kerr and Blake Borello and Danny Faria and Greg Moore. All skilled racers at Fast Fridays very capable and understanding of the importance of working as teammates for the pair’s championship.

As the evening progressed the team of Jannio/Mersaroli and the team of Nicol/Trana were the teams to beat with Nicol/Trana stumbling in the first heat with just one point but roaring back with perfect fives for the rest of the heats ending with 26 points. Janniro/Mersaroli did nearly the same but in reverse with two fives, then four points, two fives then stumbled with just a one point in heat 17 to finish with 25 points just one point off the Nicol/Trana team for second place. In a rare occurrence Billy Janniro fell in turn one of heat 17 which took a toll on their score as he was unable to recover to his near perfect racing performance and placed fourth in that heat.

The team of Bast/Martin turned in fine performance finishing with 17 points with a perfect score in heat five with Martin scoring a win and Bast picking up a second-place finish. The pair finished in third place overall. In fourth place but putting on a great show of team racing the team of Kerr and Borello finished with a score of 16 just one point off Bast/Martin. In heat 18 the last race of the evening Kerr/Borello showed just how team racing should be done. As Borello got out front in lap one, Kerr fell just behind him not wanting to a pass just hanging right off Borello’s rear tire and protecting him from any other rider that might want to get in on the party. The strategy worked great, and the pair finished one and two for five points. Kerr and Borello work well together and Kerr pits for Borello on regular nights. They finished fourth overall.

Rounding out the racing evening was a Youth 150 division program and of course the pee-wee division did also take to the track for a few races. The official youth season is over but many of the Youth 150 division riders are moving up from the pee-wee division and were getting some track time for next season when they will be riding in the Youth 150 division. Some of the riders were on a 150cc bike for the first time.

Liam Falcon was first in the youth division followed by Logan Kerr, Gavin Evan-Seeley and Brady Wills. This is good example of how riders progress through the youth programs from pee-wee’s to the 150cc class, to the 250cc class, then to the adult divisions. Many of the division one champions that race today came up this same way spending years honing their riding skills learning from older riders.

Not to miss next Saturday September 21, as Fast Friday’s presents probably the most important race of the season as the 2024 AMA National Speedway Championship will be decided. It is the third and final round of the championship series and the winner will carry the AMA number one plate on their bike for the next year. The top three riders in the series are separated by just two points so the racing will be very close all night. Ticket information can be obtained at www.fastfridays.com.

Results

Pairs Championship

1-Broc Nicol/Charlie Trana-1 5 5 5 5 5-26

2-Billy Janniro/Louie Mersaroli-5 5 4 5 5 1-25

3-Bart Bast/Alex Martin-3 5 1 3 1 4-17

4-Chris Kerr/Blake Borello-3 1 5 1 1 5-16

5-Danny Faria/Greg Moore-3 1 3 4 1 1-13

6-Timmy Dion/Rees Todd-3 1 1 2 2 2-11

Youth 150

1-Liam Falcon, 2-Logan Kerr, 3-Gavin Evan-Seeley, 4-Brady Wills