2010 California State Speedway Championship

Yesterday I started out in San Pedro with my speedway bike sitting in my daughter's garage in South Pasadena so me and my furry mechanic started headed north on the 110 Freeway from one end to the other.

Then I got a message that the turbo nitrous fire breathing VW camper that I needed to haul the JAWA in was not cruising Colorado Boulevard but serving as a rickshaw in Chinatown.

Eventually we got everything loaded up and took the 10 Freeway crawl from South Pasadena to Industry.

Ivan Mauger signing his book

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I need a giant lens too.

The night was billed as the California State Championship but could have been called the Billy Janniro Show.

Sonny Nutter State Champion 1968

I finished second twice in the first two races which placed me in the main for my division. The main included the rider with an X on his back. I finally figured out the X stands for "EXCLUDED". There has been some discussion on the Yahoo User Group about him crashing or falling 80 percent of the time. I personally don't care to be on the same track with him but I don't get to pick who I race against. I had gate choice and elected to load in four so I could see where the hell he was. I knew he would crash sometime during the race and he did running into Mike Salyer. The race was restarted and X was placed back on the ten and he did it again on the final lap by running into Mike again taking both of them out and I crossed the finish line first but Mike was awarded the win. Slayer was also awarded "Kick of the Night".

Industry Speedway Legends Night August 18, 2010

Well yesterday was rather warm and the temperature was about 94 degree at four in the afternoon as I set out towards Industry a mere 19 miles away.

For those who are interested in trivia the path to the 10 freeway is about 4 miles and the signals and the traffic is not that bad. The metered on-ramp at Garfield has so much traffic going on and off as they merge and cross each other it reminds me of the intersection at a figure eight race.

Then the first mile on the 10 freeway is at freeway speeds then it halts. Then we poke along while the Metro Link Train flys down the middle of the freeway. My dog Dede didn't go yesterday as the race van has been stripped of modern delights like air conditioning to enable it to accelerate at a rapid pace. I once timed the 0 to Sixty with a sun dial and depending on cloud cover the elapsed time was close to fifty minutes.

 

The season at Industry is almost over and after tonight there is only two meeting left. Aug 25th and Sept 1st. The official program list the August 18th date as "Bruce Penhall's Night of Legends." Last year Penhall suited up and rode.

There were two beautiful JAP speedway bikes on display and JAP has nothing to do with Tokyo and WW2. It is the initials of J.A. Prestwich of J.A. Prestwich and Co. LTD.

Gino Manzares was in attendance after returning from a six month stay in the UK. Charlie Venegas was also back in winning form. Charlie promotes the races at Golden Gate Motor Speedway at the Solano County Fair Grounds in Vallejo, California.

Billy the Bullet and son.

Nephew Buck copies Tyson Burmeister recent hair cut but didn't take it all off like Tyson did.

Legends on the track

Mark Williams at work making those great videos

Sidecars entering the track

Third division has been combined with Support to make a handicap race. There were twelve riders listed on the program but two more were added making a total of seven in each heat. There had been some complaining about this and the problem passing the slower riders from the back chalk marks. There is a user's group on Yahoo and that was where the seed started for the race between Kevin Johnson #122 and Fishback Senior. The Animal made several very well thought out words of advice and this turned into a

challenge. The race was only two laps and Fishback won at the wire in a last second pass.

John Pavia does have a number but wears the red X on his back. Maybe he could be considered a moving target on the track as he goes down hard and recovers here with the help of the crash wall.

It might be worth the time to take a look at theYahoo speedway group there. Fishback recently commented on a video where Pavia leg placement was discussed and the proper technique to be used was offered by the Animal.

Not sure who got the big trophy.

The challenge

Side car main