Novratil Wins Pirate Speedway US National Qualifier
By noderel:
San Bernardino, CA., Aug. 9 – Austin “On the Throttle” Novratil, 18, won the biggest victory of his 500cc speedway motorcycle racing career Friday night here at Pirate Speedway on the grounds of the National Orange Show Event Center. He led all four laps of the four rider, four-lap A Final. It was the fourth and final round of qualifying races for the US National Championship in October. The Huntington Beach resident was the US Youth National Champion in 2009-10 and the AMA Under 21 US National Champion in 2011. He road his Lucas Oil Products-sponsored No. 27 Jawa.
Co-promoter Shawn McConnell, a Division 1 speedway bike veteran, and his wife Robynn were pleased by their largest turnout of spectators this season. Fans flocked to the fast speedway just east of the third and fourth turns of the quarter-mile Orange Show Stadium. Spectators occupied the bleachers around the track and stood in an elevated viewing area outside the third and fourth turns. The McConnell promotional team posted the $3,000 purse and sold 25 of the $75 heat race sponsorships that increased the purse for riders by $1,875. The 50/50 drawing added $107 and additional cash donations added to the yet to be determined total purse.
Novratil started next to the crash-wall in the A Final and took command on the outside exiting the second turn. He had to duplicate that move after a lap 3 red flag caused a restart. Pole starter/third place Chris Kerr, from Auburn, slid to the ground on his No. 27N Jawa next to the first turn wall. Fourth place “Fast” Eddie Castro laid his No. 14 Jawa on the ground also to avoid hitting Kerr, 29. Kerr, who raced in England for the Wolverhampton Wolves team from 2006-2010, was uninjured. However, rules for the qualifier rounds excluded him from the complete restart. Lane three starter Castro, 54, ran third all four laps. Lane two starter Tyson Burmeister, 29, ran a close second all the way on his No. 26 GM Stuha and pressed Novratil to the checkered flag. He trailed by three lengths, with Castro five lengths back.
All four A Final riders qualified for the prestigious US National Championship on October 5 at Costa Mesa Speedway. Fourteen guaranteed positions were available in the four qualifying rounds held at four different tracks this summer. Four positions in the 20 rider field are reserved for US riders racing all year in Europe and two spots are available to east coast riders. The A Final top four scored 25-22-20-19 points. Novratil's 25 points gave him 49 points after the four qualifying rounds, lifting him to tenth in final points. Burmeister's 60 points in the four qualifier rounds gave him fourth position. Castro's strong night at Pirate Speedway gave him 61 points and third place. Kerr's 55 points tied for fifth place with 16-year old 500cc D-1 rookie Max Ruml.
Billy Janniro remained first with 69 points. Aaron Fox retained second with 66. Bryan Yarrow, Gino Manzares and Charlie Venegas tied for seventh position with 50 points. Mike Faria ranks 11th with 48. Russell Green, 21, is 12th at 43 points, and “Battling” Buck Blair is 13th with 41. A two-rider runoff race between Tyson Talkington and Danny Faria was necessary after the A Final. The finish determined who would be 14th and who would be a reserve. After tying at 29 points, Talkington led all four laps and edged Nor Cal rider Faria, the son of speedway champion Mike Faria. With enough points after three qualifying rounds, Janniro, Yarrow and Venegas skipped the fourth round at Pirate and raced as usual in the weekly Friday night Fast Fridays Motorcycle Speedway event at Auburn. Eleven of the 14 qualified US National Championship riders are from So Cal and three from Nor Cal.
Forty-one races were contested at Pirate. That included heats and mains for the 500cc Support Division, Junior 250cc and mini-150cc riders, and for the 50cc pee-wee class. The 28 Division 1 riders raced in three rounds of heat races. Three riders—Kerr, Burmeister and Novratil—won all three of their heats for perfect scores of nine. They went directly to the A Final. Five riders tied at eight points via two wins and a second place in heat races. All five raced in a special runoff race that advanced only the winner to the A Final. Castro led all four laps to secure the coveted final A berth. Fox, Manzares, Blair and M. Faria followed in that order and all four raced in the B Final. That event awarded 18-17-16-15 points to the top four finishers. Manzares, 19, led all four laps of the B Final with Faria, Blair and Fox finishing behind him. Fox touched the starting tapes before they lifted so he received an automatic disqualification per rules discussed in the rider pit meeting.
The C Final was a day early 57th birthday present for Bobby “Boogaloo” Schwartz. He led all four laps and edged pressing Max Ruml, Tim Gomez and Russell Green. The C Final awarded 14-13-12-11 points to the top four. Three riders tied at three points in heat races. Only one could transfer out of the first runoff race of the night. Kayle Leo Grande led the first two laps. He fell in turn four on lap 3, remounted and placed third. Rocco Scopellite led the final two laps and beat Nor Cal rider Jamison Dilkey for the final slot in the D Final, where three riders who scored four points awaited.
In the D Final, Brad Sauer had been in third place on lap 3 when his bike contacted the downed bike of second place Danny Faria who fell exiting turn four. Sauer, from Bakersfield, also fell. The race was restarted with Faria excluded. Scopellite led the first three laps but slowed with an engine problem on the final lap in the second turn. Sauer quickly shot past on the inside and won the D Final over Scopellite with Kyle Hicks third. D Final riders received 10-9-8-7 points. All riders who raced received at least five points in the qualifier series.
The 12 Support Division riders present were reduced to six after the top three finishers in a pair of semi-mains advanced to the Support main. Two riders led the first two laps before a mid-pack crash between Braden Sauer and Chris Jones caused both to fall. Jones' bike rammed the crash-wall and shortened the front end. The bike had to be rolled to the pits on the back tire. Sauer, 16-year old son of the D Final winner, was sore and limped to the infield. He walked it off and returned for the complete restart. Jones went to the pits, borrowed a bike, and also returned for the restart. Jones led laps 3-5. He barely edged pressing Sauer, a two-time Division 2 feature winner (July 24 and 31) at Industry Speedway in his first year riding a 500cc bike. Early race leaders Jeremy Dunn and Ron Davis finished third and fourth. Steve Brown and Kevin Fife followed.
The Junior 250cc six-rider main provided one of the many highlights of the night. Michael Wells, 12, led every lap and edged pressing Hayley Perrault, 16. It was Wells' first ever 250cc feature triumph and Miss Perrault's best finish as well. Recent feature winners Broc Nicol, 15, Dillon Ruml, 14, and Dalton Leedy, 15, followed closely. Dryden Gayle, a 15-year old Yucaipa resident, placed sixth. Friends, including D-1 riders Buck Blair and Max Ruml, surrounded Wells in the first turn as he walked to, the pits. They “body tossed” him in the air several times to celebrate his historic triumph with him.
The mini-150cc main went to 50-yard line starter Sebastian Palmese, 10, after he led the final four laps of a five-lap race. He came back for the restart after falling earlier with race leader Gino Scopellite. Teen Sara Cords led the first lap and finished second. Rookie Travis Hamilton was third, down a lap, and Scopellite fourth.
The five rider 50cc pee-wee main went to Dakota Shockley, an 8-year old from Rancho Cucamonga. He led only the final lap after second place Tanner Richey paced the first four circuits. Nick Dunn and Jason Palmese placed third and fourth. Third place “Lightning” Luke Whitcomb fell in turn four without injury but did not finish.
Some of the heat race finishes were highlights of the racy evening. In event nine (Support heat), grandma Pam Bennett, a 52-year old mother of five and grandmother of six, came back from mid-week kidney stone pains and led the first two laps. C. Jones and S. Brown dropped her to a third place finish in a five rider field. In event 28, high-flier Castro passed first two laps leader Manzares on the outside and led the final two laps over runner-up Manzares. Falls were not uncommon on the high-stakes race night, but all riders escaped serious injury.
Junior 250cc rider Perrault, in her leathers, performed the National Anthem on her violin in the front straight grandstand before the first race at 8:00 pm. Announcer Bruce Flanders held his PA microphone for Hayley's perfect rendition. In the showmanship department, Pirate Speedway's costumed pirate mascot and pirate “Captain Jolly” entertained fans. Four costumed pirate “wenches” held large red and black skull and crossbones flags in front of each lane before each race. Racing started at 8:00 and concluded by 10:30 pm. The Pirate Speedway 2013 schedule has eight Friday night races scheduled from August 16 through October 11. Only August 30 will be dark.