Flyin' Faria doubles up once again

Three-time national champion Mike Faria cleaned up at Fast Fridays speedway races Friday night, winning both the scratch main and the handicap main events. It was Faria's second double win of the season and he remains the only rider to have won a double at Fast Fridays this year.His scratch main win started with a great gate from the inside pole position. Super-gater, Charlie Venegas was on the outside and although fast out of the gate, Venegas found little traction on the outside to carry his speed through the first corners. Faria's closest competitor was Auburn's Tommy Hedden, coming out of gate two, who rode level with Faria, through the corner and into the back straight. Hedden stayed close for a lap, then moved to an inside line behind Faria to protect his second place from gate three starter, Arizona visitor, Nate Perkins. This pattern was maintained for the rest of the race, each rider waiting for the one in front to make a mistake, which at this level of competition rarely happens. Faria's handicap main took a little more luck. He started way back on the 50-yard line with Hedden. On the 40 yard line were Orangevale's Chad Felicio and Palermo's TJ Fowler. Perkins was on the 30-yard line and Auburn's Josh West on the zero. At the start West, who has progressed a long way this season, wasted no time in holding onto his advantage, with Perkins having minimal success in catching him. West held the distance until the fourth lap when Perkins, still holding second place ahead of Fowler, Faria and Felicio, fell down, forcing Hedden to lay his machine down to avoid hitting him. The restart order put Fowler and Faria just behind West, then Felicio and Hedden, with Perkins at the back, penalized for causing the restart. Felicio's machine would not fire up, so the field was down to five. The restart gave West a smaller lead, bringing the heavy duty predators forward. In the restart Faria got a good gate enabling him to get clear of Fowler. This left only West between him and the win. First he tried the inside, but West held firm to the pole, then he used his 30 years of experience to pick the right place to find outside traction, which gave him the win. West took second, Hedden third, and Perkins fourth. Fowler pulled off with machine troubles."What a fabulous turn around!" Faria exclaimed. "I have been lucky in picking up some new sponsors. Kristi Meyer of HomeTown Realtors here in Auburn has been wonderful, then there's West Coast Muffler of Concord and Keil Electric in Reno. These people have helped me keep my racing program going. For the main events I made a couple of small changes to my motor and it paid off. Everything seemed to fall into place for me tonight, this must mean I have to race another year!" What used to be considered a young man's sport is certainly changing. Faria will be 50 years old next year.For the second week in a row, the second division winner was Reno's Tyler Hanson. Hanson also leads the division two points championship.The third division winner was Jackson's Paul Schoen. He took over from early leader Dave Joiner, the Fast Fridays promoter, who races about once a season to benchmark his skills.Friday was also the final of the Challenge Elimination Series championship, for which five riders have qualified from rounds throughout the season. The final winner was Citrus Heights' Bryan Yarrow.Speedway notes: In last weekend's Scandinavian Grand Prix at Malilla, Sweden, America's Greg Hancock made it through to the semifinals, but missed qualifying to the final. Australia's Jason Crump continues to add to his runaway score of 150 points from seven GPs, with just three more to go. Hancock retains his second position, with 95 points with Nicki Pedersen is still in third place with 85 points. With only three rounds left, it would require a catastrophe for Crump and a miracle for Hancock for the order to change around.