Industry, CA., Aug. 9 – The 3^rd annual AMA/FIM Silver Cup Championship with 31 junior/youth riders took place Sunday at Industry Speedway in The Grand Arena of the Industry Hills Expo Center. The 34 races ran from 12:30 to 2:40 pm in front of about 200 persons, primarily family and friends. Parking and admission were free. Some Wednesday night speedway fans came to watch the young stars of tomorrow develop their racing skills.

The three division event for 250cc juniors and 150cc youth mini division 1 and division 2 had riders from ages 8 through 16 competing. The event at Industry is the only junior speedway championship event recognized by the FIM, the foremost motorcycle racing sanctioning body in the world. Industry Speedway has hosted the event all three years.

Racing used the European Grand Prix championship format. Point scoring success moved riders into semi-finals and the three main events. Main event winners earned the title 2015 AMA/FIM Junior Speedway Silver Cup Champion. They earned donated cash up to $350 to winners and top three trophies larger than the riders themselves. All riders competing also received gift bags. Justice Brothers provided all the fuel. The top three bikes were impounded to check for compliance with technical rules.

Grand Marshals for the event were 1996 Speedway World Champion Billy Hamill and his wife Christina. Billy has been a long-time, major supporter of junior speedway racing. His Hagon Shocks and Hagon-supported junior speedway academy have helped develop the outstanding crop of talented junior speedway racers today. Many of the past junior speedway riders are now winners in the 500cc Division 1 ranks.

2015 CHAMPIONS. The three 2015 AMA/FIM champions by division were:

   > Junior 250cc—Colton Hicks, 13, from Auburn. He won all four of his heat races to score a perfect 12 points. He led every lap he raced, including the four-lap feature. He is the son of 500cc Division 1 rider Bob Hicks, who raced at Industry Saturday night.

   > Youth Mini 150cc D-1--Sterling Martin, 10, from Salinas. He also won all four of his heat races, scoring the maximum 12 points, and then led all four laps of the first division main event for more experienced 150 riders.

   > Youth Mini 150cc D-2—Sam Hagon, 10, from London, England, won three of his four heats and finished second in the other for a score of 11 points. He led all four laps in the second division main event for less experienced 150 riders.

The Junior 250cc field consisted of 11 riders from ages 11-16. Seven riders came from Nor Cal and four from So Cal. The mini 150cc first division field had ten riders from age 8-12. Seven came from Nor Cal and three were from So Cal. The mini 150cc second division field had riders from age 8-11. Four competitors came from Nor Cal, five from So Cal, and one from Europe.

Several northern California riders were racing at Industry Speedway for the first time and all loved the facility and its large video screen above turn three for live and replay coverage. The entire event was telecast live on the IndustrySpeedway.com website. Track announcer Bruce Flanders provided commentary.

Industry Speedway Racing Director Kelly Inman had his usual experienced crew of officials work the junior/youth championship event. Steve Lucero was referee, Tom Fox was starter, and Ryan Evans was pit steward. A drone operator flew his drone over the indoor racing site during the National Anthem and during the three main events to provide unique views of the action.

By divisions the heat race winners were:

   > 250cc: Colton Hicks (4), Jake Isaac (3), Sebastian Palmese (2), and one each by Dylan Wagner, Anthony Dion and Kyle Cunningham. (12 total heats).

   > 150cc D-1: Sterling Martin (4), twin brother Alex Martin (3), Slater Lightcap (2) and Luke Whitcomb (1). (10 total heats).

   > 150cc D-2: Timmy Dion (4), Greg Moore and Sam Hagon (3 each). (10 total heats).

P 1 through 4 riders in points had main event lane choice with the highest in points choosing a starting lane first.

POINTS EARNED:

   > 250cc: Hicks (perfect 12), Palmese and Isaac (10 each), Cunningham and Blake Borello (7 each), Anthony Dion, 13, and Dylan Wagner, 11 (6 each), Landon Norton (5), Michael Wells (4), Richie VanderMeeden (3) and Sylar Schnakenberg (1). The latter two riders are age 16.

   > 150cc D-1: S. Martin (perfect 12), A. Martin (11), S. Lightcap (10), L. Collins (8), Enzo Sorani (6), Cameron Krezman (5), Luke Whitcomb (4), Logan Hedden (2), and Keelan Venegas and Charlie Trana (1 each).

   > 150cc D-2: Timmy Dion (perfect 12), S. Hagon (11), G. Moore (10), D. Shockley and Andrew Russell (6 each), Glenn Geist (5), Sammy Waddill (4), 10^th birthday celebrant Rachel Schnakenberg (3), Colton Nelson (2), and Nick Dunn (0).

One hard crash occurred during event 17, a 250cc round three heat race. Jake Isaac, 13, led lap 1. Then Michael Wells, 14, led laps 2 and 3. Wells exited turn two on the final lap with a narrow lead. However, he spun and fell on the backstretch. Closely following Isaac struck the Wells bike and also fell hard. Wells remained on the ground near the wall several minutes with the wind knocked out of him. Then he walked to the pits unassisted. He raced later.

150cc D-2 Main: London resident Hagon started from pole position with Moore (Carmichael), Dakota Shockley (Rancho Cucamonga) and T. Dion, 11, (Grass Valley) to his right. Hagon led all four laps and beat Dion by 30-yards. Moore and Shockley had five yards between their bike and the rider in front of them.

150cc D-1 Main: Lane one starter S. Marlin had his 10-year old twin Alex alongside. Slater Lightcap, 9, (Huntington Beach), started from the third lane, with Auburn's Landon Collins, 9, next to the wall. Sterling led every lap with his usual perfect ride on the straights and in the turns. Lightcap passed Alex on the initial lap and finished 15-yards off the lead. Alex tried to make a last lap charge for a Martin brothers 1-2 finish, but fell one length short of Lightcap. Nevertheless, both twins shared the podium and sprayed onlookers later from bottles of sparkling cider. Collins was fourth on lap 2 when he fell in the second turn and pushed his bike to the infield.

250cc Main: Hicks shot into the lead from the pole position and won by two lengths over 2013 FIM 150cc D-1 champion and 2013-14 Junior National Champion Sebastian Palmese, 12, (Rancho Santa Margarita). Palmese started from lane 3. Kyle Cunningham, 11, (Auburn) started from lane 4 and ran third every lap, but trailed the leaders by 30-yards. Lane 2 rider J. Isaac, 13, (Whittier), touched the starting tapes with his front wheel before the start. Per Grand Prix rules, he was excluded from the race and had to ride back to the pits.

Well-attended award ceremonies after the final race took place in the pits near the track entrance gate. Top three finishers in all three features stood on the podium, received their huge trophies, prize money envelopes and posed for photos before spraying onlookers with cider. The 12-page free program given to everyone in attendance had six color pages with numerous photos of the riders. Everyone got on the road shortly before 4:00 with smiles on their faces after racing on “their day” when they did not have to share the track with adults.

PIT NOTES: Attendees included Saturday night AMA National Championship round three feature winner Billy Janniro. His nephew Dylan Wagner, 11, from Napa, raced in the 250cc class. Charlie “the Edge” Venegas finished fourth in the feature a night earlier and was helping his son Keelan, 11, race in the 150cc mini D-1 division. Bob Hicks and his No. 808 Jawa were still in the pits after he also raced Saturday in round three. His son Colton rode his No. 24 to victory in every 250cc event he raced. He looks like the next Nor Cal rider to follow in the footsteps of Brentwood's Luke Becker, a 16-year old 500cc D-1 rookie in 2015, to speedway racing stardom.

Other young Saturday night 500cc riders present to watch the juniors and youth race as they did in recent years were: Max Ruml and his brother Dillon, 16, and Austin Novratil. Most of the Nor Cal teams came south a day early to watch Saturday night racing at Industry Speedway. ... Track announcer Bruce Flanders manned the PA microphone for the first time at the all AMA/FIM Junior racing program.

Barry Weiss, the TV actor/star of Storage Wars, is a regular at Wednesday night Industry Speedway racing. He often gives Industry Speedway Racing Director Kelly Inman $20 or more in cash to add to the racing purse. Kelly announced this weekend that Weiss stepped up big time and added $1,000 cash to distribute to junior riders at the final Wednesday night 2015 race at Industry on August 26—California State Championship Night.

Other supporters of the AMA/FIM JR. Speedway Silver Cup Championship event included: Carol & Dave Perez, Nor Cal Chuck, World Champion Greg Hancock, Alarmco Integrated Solutions, the Bernardi, Palmese and Martin families, Dave Gallegos/Speedway USA, Images Screen-printing, Robie Peterson, Max & Dillon Ruml, Kurtis Hamill, Luke Becker, Maria Valles, Courtney Crone, Warnock Racing, Rich VanderMeeden, the Nelsons, Big Time Speedway Dingus McGees, Hagon family, Rick Shafer, SpeedwayBikes.com, RC Jones, Justice Brothers, sidecar champion driver Joe Jones, and land speed racer Danny Thompson, son of the late Mickey Thompson.