By Tim Kennedy
(Industry) – Charlie “the Edge” Venegas, of San Bernardino, proved that he still has the edge at Industry Speedway in round two of the 2010 weekly Wednesday night speedway cycle racing series. The past track champion and all-time main event winner at The Grand dirt track in the Industry Hills Expo Center led all four laps of the five-rider 500cc Division 1 feature.
An all-time track record crowd of 2,500 persons included players, families, friends and officials of the La Puente Little League baseball teams on their awards night. Most improved players for all 30 teams (minors, farm and tee-ball) were named before the second round of D-1 heat races. The large crowd filled about half of the 5,000 seat grandstands at the open-sided indoor arena on a hillside overlooking the East San Gabriel Valley. With schools closed for summer vacation, nearly all of the baseball partisans remained in their seats and enjoyed the motorcycle action through the final race.
When the starting line tapes lifted, Venegas shot from the fourth lane into the lead entering the first turn on his Bower Development No. 43 JAWA Buck Blair, from the pole, ran second all four laps and trailed Venegas by five yards at the checkered flag. Neil Facchini took third on lap 3 and Mike Faria followed him past Jimmy Fishback as well on lap 3. Fifth place Fishback trailed the winner by 20-yards in the tight field. Venegas said has has somewhere between 50 and 70 wins at the Industry track during eight seasons.
Tyson Talkington, a 23-year old from Riverside, won the 500cc Division 2 feature for intermediate-skill level riders. He led all four laps despite incurring a ten yard penalty at the start for anticipating the green light and touching the starting tapes with his front wheel. Norman Graham, 49, from Costa Mesa, led all the way in the 500cc D-3 main for rookie riders. That race had a crash on the first lap when leader Kevin Wybenga, of Whittier, fell in the fourth turn without injury. Third place “Big” Yogi Isgro hit the front wheel of the downed cycle with his front wheel. Isgro launched over the front of his cycle and landed hard on his right shoulder. He rolled on the ground in pain and required medical attention from paramedics present. He rose in a few minutes and was able to return to the pits
Costa Mesa residents won the four-team 1,000cc sidecar 4-lap main event. Driver Joe Jones and swing-man Jimmy Olsen were trailing the team of Gerard Jackson and swinger Dave German after the first two laps when a frightening flip on lap 3 caused a red flag and a complete restart. Third place Ken Brown and swinger Matt Davis were in third place at speed when they entered the third turn, dug in and suddenly flipped twice. Both men were thrown to the dirt and the rig came down on top of Davis. The two competitors were stunned and sat on the track, but soon both were able to walk to the pits. On the restart the Jones/Olsen team grabbed the lead over Jackson/German, led all four laps and edged the former leaders by one length. Jackson/German had won two earlier heat races over Jones/Olsen with last lap inside passes in the third and fourth turns.
Blair (over Venegas) and Fishback (over Facchini) won the two scratch semi-main events that sent the top two finishers in each race to the feature. Faria started second and led all four laps in the D-1 last chance race to earn the fifth and final main event berth. Eddie Castro, the only rider to score a perfect nine points by winning all three of his heat races, fell while taking the lead in his five-rider semi-main. He remounted quickly, lost half a lap and finished fifth. He did not transfer to the last chance race that was open only to the third and fourth place riders in the two semis.
Dillon Ruml, 10, won the youth division 200cc main and Sammy Ramirez, 10, from Orange, won the youth 250cc feature in the second category within the same race. Rossmoor resident Matthew Duffy, 9, won the three-rider, 4-lap pee-wee division main in his first race at the track this season on his 50cc mini cycle. Racing will continue each Wednesday into September at the track on Temple Avenue, just west of Azusa Ave. and midway between the 10 and 60 freeways.
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