Hamill Continues Speedway Cycle Dominance June 26, 2013
By noderel:
Industry, CA., Jun 26 – There was a cash bounty on Billy Hamill Wednesday at Industry Speedway. He had dominated the first four weeks of 500cc speedway cycle Division 1 racing at the Industry Hills Expo Center Grand Arena indoor dirt track. Any rider who could beat the 43-year old past World and National Speedway Cycle champion in any race—heat, semi-final or main event—would receive a cash bonus of several hundred dollars. Hamill entered the Wednesday night two-wheel action arena undefeated this season. That's 51 scratch races and 51 victories at all tracks on the circuit.
The added financial incentive for his competitors did not faze Hamill. The Carlsbad resident again won all three of his heat races, his semi-final event and the four lap feature. He again led every lap en-route to each victory. The estimated crowd of 1,900 included a tour group of 35 British fans of speedway cycle racing on a 17-day tour of the United States. Their tour included stops at several speedway cycle races in California, including Fast Fridays in Auburn, Industry on Wednesday, and San Bernardino's Pirate Speedway on Friday.
The D-1 feature first lane choice went to Hamill and he selected lane one. Josh Larsen, the 2006 California State Champion, took lane two. Aaron Fox, who also scored nine points by winning all three of his heats, picked the third lane, leaving the outside lane for Charlie Venegas, who did not race last Wednesday because of the death of his sister-in-law. Larsen returned to action with a rebuilt engine this week after missing recent races after an engine failure. The Hamill bounty money made fans wonder if talented Hamill could win his fifth consecutive 2013 Industry feature.
When the starting gate lifted, Hamill shot into the lead immediately and beat Larsen to the first corner. Venegas took second from Larsen on the second lap, but Larsen reclaimed P. 2 a lap later. Hamill won by five lengths over Larsen, with Venegas a length back and Fox trailing across the finish line at 9:49 pm. Popular Hamill took a victory lap with the checkered flag as fans cheered his expertise. ... The D-1 consolation race, for third and fourth place riders in the two semi-final events, went to Buck Blair, who led all four laps. Shawn McConnell, D-1 rookie Max Ruml, 16, and Michael Raines followed.
SIDECARS: With seven sidecar teams in competition again this week, the four highest teams in points after two heat race rounds ran a four-lap main in their usual clockwise direction. Chris Jones subbed for driver Joe Jones, his brother, with rider Johnny Glover in the sidecar as usual. The duo led all four laps over the No. 2 rig. Jones then performed his fan-pleasing cartwheels from the starting line to the first turn after his victory. The winning 1,000cc Suzuki-powered No. 1 beat paraplegic driver Bryan Motis and his rider Josh Bennett. Gerard Jackson/Dave Green (No. 66) and Jeff Rowe/John Bach (No. 1965) followed closely. ... The Driggers brothers, driver Casey and swing-man Riley, led all the way in the sidecar consolation race. The 81 and 007 teams (the June 19 feature winner) followed.
Eloy Medellin, from Garden Grove, was in front all four laps after starting from lane one in the 500cc Division 2 main. He also won last week. Danny Baker, Bruce Marteney and Chris Jones ran second through fourth all the way. Steve “Beach Ball” Brown led every laps and defeated Chris Wiggins in the entry level 500cc D-3 main. Dave Troutt was in P. 3 on the final lap when he hit the fourth turn wall and fell hard without injury. The race concluded at that point.
JUNIORS: Dillon Ruml, 14, led all four laps for the second week in a row in the 250cc Junior Division main. Dalton Leedy was runner-up. Broc Nicol fell earlier but finished third. Hayley Perraultl took fourth. Courtney “pink flash” Crone, 12, started the mini 150cc Junior main 30-yards from the gate along with most recent feature winner Sebastian “Big Daddy” Palmese, who finished second to Crone this week. Gino Scopellite launched from the 10-yard line and finished third. The other four male riders started at the starting gate and one of them led the first lap. The race was five laps because of the staggered/handicapped lineup based on skill level. Crone went to the outside early and was up to P. 3 quickly as Palmese and Scopellite also worked through traffic. On lap 2 Crone shot between the P 1-2 riders entering the first turn and took command for good. She easily earned her second Industry main win this year and the third of her two years at Industry on her 140cc cycle
The pee-wee division main event also was a five lap race and started seven of the age 5 and up youngsters on 50cc mini cycles. A pair of 7-year old chargers—Luke Whitcomb and Jonas Leo Grande—started 50-yards from the starting gate. Frequent pee-wee winner Whitcomb fell in the second turn during the first lap. He walked his cycle to the infield. Leo Grande, son of D-1 rider Kayle Leo Grande, ran out front all the way for his first Industry feature victory this season.
PIT NOTES: June 26 was “Salute to Military Night” at Industry Speedway. A special military color guard participated in opening ceremonies shortly before the first race at 7:30 pm. ... Maverick Molloy was absent this week because the mini-150cc junior rider was racing his junior dragster all week in the NHRA Western Conference Final at Bandemere Speedway in Colorado. ... The hottest night of the year at The Grand Arena for the first summertime event was 92 degrees at 6:20 pm and still 76 at 10:20 pm. ... There were 39 races during the busy night with two brief breaks for track re-grooming by a tractor.
The 50/50 cash drawing girls collected $958 this week, with a season-high $479 going to the riders and an equal $479 going to the lucky fan holder of the winning ticket. The winning fan donated $100 back so the track could put up a large curtain to block the sun from the grandstand. At sunset the sun bathes grandstand fans at the west end of the grandstand in sunlight until about 8:00 pm. Carol Perez, of Industry Hills Expo Center, said she had already ordered a curtain like the one in the third turn that keeps the sun out of riders eyes on the backstretch. Prior to the D-1 feature she said give the donated $100 to the winner of the D-1 main event. So D-1 winner Hamill took home an extra $100 bonus.
A group of 35 speedway cycle racing fans from Great Britain attended Industry Speedway races for the first time. They were on a 17-day tour of the USA. They had toured New York City, San Francisco, and LA/Hollywood from their base at the Marriott Hotel in LA. They saw speedway cycles races last Friday at Fast Fridays Speedway in Auburn, visited Costa Mesa Speedway, and watched Industry racing from the main grandstand behind announcer Bruce Flanders. They will watch speedway cycles race Friday at Pirate Speedway in San Bernardino. Then a visit to Las Vegas will conclude their tour, organized by Travel Plus Tours, of Ipswich, UK. ... The personable Brits called USA speedway cycle tracks “small tracks” and said their European quarter-mile tracks are about three times the size of our tracks. Wembley Stadium in London no longer hosts speedway cycles and there is no track in GB. One tourist said they go to Cardiff, Wales to watch speedway cycle racing. It attracts several thousand, but the best attended tracks are in Poland where 4,000 fans are common.
Kelly Inman, Industry Speedway Racing Director, invited a 410 cu. in. sprint car team to display their sprint car inside the main grandstand entrance for arriving fans. Kelly was a former No. 43 sprint car driver at Ascot who still enjoys sprinters. The No. 92 Tom & Laurie Sertich “Moose Racing” Victory chassis driven to main event triumphs by David Cardey this year at Victorville (March 16) and Orange Show Stadium (June 1) was on display. No. 92 owners/team members distributed photo cards and sprint car racing schedules to fans entering the track and all night. They plugged upcoming sprint car races at OSS on Saturday, June 29 and at Perris Thursday, July 4. Hopefully, many of the two-wheel racing fans will become four-wheel sprint car fans as well. Retired sprint car drivers Mike English and Steve Howard were in the speedway cycle audience this week.
Courtney Crone confirmed Wednesday she will be racing Saturday, June 29 at the OSS quarter-mile clay oval in a URA limited midget. She will drive one of the two Autoresearch/Ford Focus midgets owned by Wally Pankratz, her car racing instructor. She has raced Wally's orange No. 32 twice at Ventura this season and will be racing at OSS for the first time. A practice session is planned Thursday. Although she is only 12, Courtney has raced quarter midgets and karts since she was 4. Two of her main rivals will be P 1-2 finishers at OSS on June 1. They were: Clayton Rushton, 12, and Cory Elliott, 13. Rushton drives the No. 55k Spike and Elliott wheels the No. 11e TCR. Courtney knows both of them from racing open-wheel cars when they all were much younger. Her dad Jack showed me a book that displayed Courtney's trophies; there was a roomful of trophies.
Bobby “Boogaloo” Schwartz was entered to race his No. 11 June 26 at Industry. The visiting Brits are familiar with his racing from his European tours and they wanted to see him race. However, he arrived after the pit gate closed and did not get to race. He clearly was unhappy about that fact. Bobby, a 40+ year speedway cycle racing veteran, said he helped World Champions Bruce Penhall and Greg Hancock get started in speedway cycle racing. Schwartz will be the honoree on “Bobby Schwartz Night” Friday, June 28 at Pirate Speedway, in San Bernardino. So the Brits will get to see him race there.