43rd U.S. National Championships-Costa Mesa-Oct 1

43rd U.S. National Championships-Costa Mesa-Oct 1 Oct 7, 2011 5:16:14 GMT

Post by mdnhavasu on Oct 7, 2011 5:16:14 GMT

Billy “TheKid” Janniro won the United States National Speedway Championship for thesecond consecutive year and the fourth time overall with a flawless performanceat the world famous Costa Mesa Speedway.
Janniroentered the National Championship Final as they only undefeated racer and firstchoice of starting position. Thedefending champion has spurned gate one in the past, but wasted little time inchoosing gate one on this occasion. Two-time National Champion Charlie “The Edge” Venegas then picked gatetwo. Michael Raines, a surprise Finalistin just his second full year racing speedway, selected gate three. “Battling” Buck Blair, who made the Final viathe Last Chance, was left with gate four.
When thetapes went up Janniro held a slight lead over Blair as they entered turnone. Janniro stuck to the inside linewhile Blair used the cushion to find enough traction around the outside. Janniro took control of the lead on the backstraight and Venegas charged up the inside of Blair to take second as theyentered turn three. Janniro opened up acomfortable lead by the end of the first lap and left Venegas to only hope fora catastrophe from the leader. Janniro continuouslystretched his lead and took a peak back to surmise his lead the last time heexited turn two. His confidence andexcitement became evident in the final corner when he ripped off his goggles,through them into the crowd, and pulled a one-handed wheelie across the finishline in a spectacularly single spectacular motion. Janniro received a loud ovation from thelarge crowd and he reciprocated by saluting them with several wheelies duringwhat turned out to be several victory laps. Venegas finished second, Blair was third for his first National podiumfinish, and Raines finished fourth.
Four roundsof heats were kicked off with Janniro firing the first shot by blazing tovictory over Charles Ermolenko and Venegas. Blair followed that with his first victory of the evening ahead ofNorthern California’s Bryan Yarrow. Southern California season points leader Jimmy “The Little Animal”Fishback began his evening on a high note with a win over former Youth NationalChampion Jason Ramirez. Raines startedfast by using the outside in turn one to take the lead and the victory overSteve Russell in event four. Doug “TheDestroyer” Nicol, who was a reserve until a late withdrawal put him into theprogram, stunned legends Shawn “Mad Dog” McConnell, Bobby “Boogaloo” Schwartz,and “Flyin” Mike Faria by winning the last race of round one.
2010National Runner-up Tyson Burmeister began round two by defeating Yarrow. Venegas trapped from the outside and held offNicol in event seven for his first win. Janniro handed Raines his first defeat with a resounding victory inevent eight. Aaron Fox led event ninefor two laps but left an opening on the inside that McConnell exploited to takethe lead and the win. Schwartz finishedthe second round with a win over Northern California’s Tommy Hedden.
Jannirostarted the third round as the only unbeaten racer and he kept his streak aliveby beating Burmeister. Raines got backon the winning track by beating Ermolenko in event 12.
Faria, trying to get his eveninggoing, got the best of Venegas at the start of event 13. Venegas didn’t go away quietly and he houndedthe leader throughout the race. Itappeared that Faria would withstand the challenge but Venegas snuck up theinside coming out of the final corner and stole the victory at the finishline.
Blair overcame his previousscoreless race to beat Fishback for his second victory. Hedden beat Nicol to end round three withthis first victory.
The final round began withMcConnell being penalized for touching the tapes. On the restart Burmeister went over backwardsexiting turn four and brought out the red flag. Blair beat Josh Abbott on the third attempt for his third win in arow. Hedden used the ample outside dirtto control and win event 17.
Venegas and Raines both enteredevent 18 with their eyes squarely on qualifying directly to the Final. Venegas made the best start and led Rainesall the way to the finish. Both ridersput themselves in prime position to be in the Final.
Janniro and Nicol both came to thetapes in event 19 with aspirations of making the Final directly. Janniro only needed a second to guarantee aspot while Nicol could force a runoff for the direct qualification for theFinal with Venegas and Raines, and possibly Janniro, by winning. Janniro ended any suspense by romping to hisfourth victory and transferring straight to the Final. Nicol’s third put Venegas and Raines into theFinal and placed himself in the Last Chance.
Faria beatRussell in the final heat and put himself into a runoff to get into the SemiFinal.
Faria,Ermolenko, and Ramirez tied with six points and needed to runoff to determinethe last two riders in the Semi Final. Faria and Ermolenko showed their experience by finishing one-two anddispatched their teenage opponent to move into the Semi Final.
Burmeisterkept his championship hopes alive by leading all four laps of the Semi Final tomove on to the Last Chance. Fishbackfinished second, Ermolenko was third, and Faria finished fourth.
Nicol’swent for broke in the Last Chance and his gamble cost him any chance at makingthe Final by going through the tapes and getting excluded. When the tapes finally went up Blair made abrilliant start and was hardly troubled by his competitors en route tovictory. Blair moved on the Final,Hedden finished second, and Burmeister was third.
The 43rdNational Championship was not the final event on Costa Mesa’s 2011calendar. The Fall Classic thisSaturday, October 8 will be the final speedway event of the season forInternational Speedway Inc. Janniro willbe making the trek from Northern California and will certainly want to show hisfans and competitors that his championship hasn’t decreased his will towin.

RESULTS

Youth 200cc Second Division Main Event
7 – Gino Scopellite
34 – Maverick Molloy
214 – Michael Wells
108 – Chase Sanborn

Youth 200cc First Division Main Event
98 – Broc Nicol
45 – Braydan Galvin
222 – DaltonLeedy
18 – SebastianPalmese
23 – Shea Bendykowski

Youth 250cc Main Event (restarted twice) (awarded)
0 – Hayley Perrault
111 – Dillon Ruml (penaltyline)
21 – Braden Sauer (penalty line)
104 – Kurtis Hamill (nonstarter – restart)
308 – Max Ruml (fell,excluded)

U.S.National Heat Scoring 1 2 3 4 T
1 – Billy Janniro 3 3 3 3 12
6 – Shawn McConnell 2 3 0 0 5
8 – Bryan Yarrow 2 2 0 F 4
9 – Mike Faria 0 1 2 3 6
11 – Bobby Schwartz 1 3 0 1 5
14 – Eddie Castro 0 0 1 1 2
15 – CharlesErmolenko 2 1 2 1 6
23 – Steve Russell 2 0 E 2 4
25 – Jimmy Fishback 3 1 2 2 8
26 – Tyson Burmeister 1 3 2 1 7
39 – Buck Blair 3 0 3 3 9
40 – Tommy Hedden 1 2 3 3 9
41 – John Marquez 0 0 1 0 1
43 – Charlie Venegas 1 3 3 3 10
46 – Aaron Fox 0 2 1 E 3
48 – Tyson Talkington 1 1 0 0 2
63 – Michael Raines 3 2 3 2 10
66 – Jason Ramirez 2 1 1 2 6
98 – Doug Nicol 3 2 2 1 8
141 – Josh Abbott 0 0 1 2 3
22 – Mike Bloom (R) Did Not Race
30n – Devin Defreece (R) DidNot Race

Race Results
1: Janniro,Ermolenko, Venegas, Castro
2: Blair, Yarrow,Hedden, Marquez
3: Fishback, Ramirez,Burmeister, Fox
4: Raines, Russell,Talkington, Abbott
5: Nicol, McConnell,Schwartz, Faria
6: Burmeister,Yarrow, Ermolenko, Russell
7: Venegas, Nicol,Fishback, Marquez
8: Janniro, Raines,Faria, Blair
9: McConnell, Fox,Talkington, Castro (fell, remounted)
10: Schwartz, Hedden, Ramirez, Abbott
11: Janniro, Burmeister, Marquez, Talkington
12: Raines, Ermolenko, Ramirez, McConnell
13: Venegas, Faria, Abbott, Yarrow
14: Blair, Fishback, Castro, Schwartz
15: Hedden, Nicol, Fox, Russell (engine failure)
16: (restarted) Blair, Abbott, Burmeister (penalty line),McConnell (tape penalty) (fell, remounted)
17: Hedden, Fishback, Ermolenko, Talkington
18: Venegas, Raines, Schwartz, Fox (engine failure)
19: Janniro, Ramirez, Nicol, Yarrow (fell)
20: Faria, Russell, Castro, Marquez

Runoff
9 – Mike Faria
15 – CharlesErmolenko
66 – Jason Ramirez

National Championship Semi-Final
26 – Tyson Burmeister
25 – Jimmy Fishback
15 – CharlesErmolenko
9 – Mike Faria

National Championship Last Chance
39 – Buck Blair
40 – Tommy Hedden
26 – Tyson Burmeister
98 – Doug Nicol (tape exclusion)

U.S.National Championship Final
1 – Billy Janniro
43 – Charlie Venegas
39 – Buck Blair
63 – Michael Raines

Ryan Evans

43rd U.S. National Championships-Costa Mesa-Oct 1

Post by mdnhavasu on Oct 2, 2011 6:11:23 GMT

Post by mdnhavasu on Oct 7, 2011 5:16:14 GMT