By Tim Kennedy
(Industry) – Speedway cycle racing multi-champion Charlie “the Edge” Venegas, a 43-year old San Bernardino resident, won the Division 1 feature again Wednesday night on his 500cc JAWA cycle.
It was his second consecutive triumph at the track. He led all four laps from pole position in front of about 500 spectators at The Grand dirt track in the Industry Hills Expo Center. The all-time Industry Speedway main event record holder added to his growing total and won all five of his races. He won all three of his preliminary heat races for a perfect nine points and then won his semi-main event to earn a main event starting spot. As high point rider he picked the inside lane for the five-rider feature.
Venegas beat runner-up Mike Faria by ten yards. Faria, formerly from Reno, now lives in California where he is able to race at three area tracks each week. Eddie Castro, from Ojai, ran third all the way. Tyson Burmeister took fourth place on lap 2 from Buck Blair, the fifth finisher. Blair and Venegas won the two semi-mains and Castro earned the final feature position by leading all four laps of the last chance race for third and fourth place riders in the two semis.
Eloy Medellin, 40, of Garden Grove, won the four-lap D-2 500cc main. Rookie rider Mike Salyer, 51, of Claremont, took the 500cc D-3 lead on lap 3 of 4 and defeated five other riders. It was his first victory and came four months after he made his speedway cycle debut. Five 1,000cc sidecar teams were present and they raced in three preliminary heats to determine the four main event teams. The new team of Danny Jones and sidecar rider Brandi McElroy led all four laps of the competitive sidecar race. Gerard Jackson and his rider Dave German trailed closely, with Joe Jones and his rider Jimmy Olsen pressing both of the leading teams.
Mavrick Malloy, 8, of Chino Hills, won the 200cc youth main as the sole entrant. A large field of pee-wee riders on 50cc mini-cycles competed. They included seven youngsters of the three Cameron brothers—Todd, Johnny and Ryan. Two pee-wee main event winners were Hunter Cameron, 5, of Orange, in his first night of racing at Industry, and Sebastian Palmese, 6, of Santa Margarita.
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