Track champions crowned at Fast Fridays in Auburn

Fast Fridays Motorcycle Speedway's move to Saturday nights for the remainder of the season proved to be an exciting one as championship racing began. The SOS Team Challenge, Pee Wee 50 and Fast Fridays track championships were held Saturday night. Riders in all divisions collect points for finishing positions in every race and a points winner was declared at the end of the regular season last week. The winners were Billy Janniro in Division I, John Peters in Division II and Sam Richardson in Division III. The top 16 riders in Division I points and top eight in DII and DIII are then qualified to race in the Fast Fridays Track Championship. Then it's all scratch racing for four laps elbow to elbow. Division I ran 20 events with each rider collecting points based on finishing order. The DI track champion turned out to be Louie Mersaroli, who won all his races and scored a perfect 15 points. Second place went to Russell Green with 13 points, dropping one point each in the second and third rounds. There was a tie between Alex Martin and Gino Manzares at 12 points. Manzares conceded the runoff and Martin was awarded third place with Manzares fourth. Mersaroli also finished second in season points. Divisions II and III were a little different, with the top eight riders racing in two heat races, four riders each, with the winners and second-place finishers moving on to a main event, where the winner would be crowned track champion. In DII, Sammy Tetrault and Dean Newnham were first and second in their heat race and Peters and Lawrence McNutt were first and second in their heat race, advancing to the main event. They lined up with McNutt in lane 1, Tetrault in lane 2, Peters in lane 3 and Newnham in lane 4. Peters got a good gate and held the lead to win the championship. McNutt was second, Tetrault was third and Newnham was fourth. It was a similar situation in DIII with eight riders in two heats and the top two in each heat transferring to the main event. Richardson and Cody Acker and Mike Newnham and Everett Holmes each came out first and second in the heat races to transfer. Richardson had lane 1, Holmes had lane 2, Newnham sat in 3 and Acker was on the outside. The tapes went up and in turn 1, Richardson got squeezed and went down, forcing a restart. This time, the race got off and Holmes took command and held the lead. Newnham was second and Richardson was third. The Pee Wee division has become very popular, and 17 pee wees showed for a chance to win the track championship. The riders raced nine heats, accumulating points, and the top four transferred to a winner-take-all main event. Leeann Emerson, who all season has won over the Fast Fridays fans, scored a perfect 12 points, along with Riley Rearick, to transfer. Jayce Preuss was third with 10 points, and the last spot went to Waylon Dempsey, who finished the heats with nine points. As the tapes went up, Emerson took the lead and finished in first place. Rearick was second, Pruess was third and Dempsey was fourth. If that wasn't enough racing for one night, the SOS Team Challenge between Team SOS and Team AR-17 finished with the final round for the season championship. Going into the sixth and last round, Team SOS trailed Team AR-17 48-30 and had an uphill climb. By the numbers, SOS couldn't win. The hope was to close the gap as much as they could. The round ended with a draw 9-9 and the final series score was Team AR-17 57 and Team SOS 39. Louie Mersaroli and Rheten Todd had strong 1-2 finishes for Team SOS, and Gino Manzares and Tyler Warren and had 1-2 finishes for AR-17. Championship racing continues this Saturday, Sept. 3, at Fast Fridays with the AMA Extreme Sidecar National Championship and the Youth 250 and Youth 150 AMA National Championships. FAST FRIDAYS Track Championships Division I: 1. Louie Mersaroli 15, 2. Russell Green 13, 3. Alex Martin 12, 4. Gino Manzares 12, 5. Rheten Todd 11. Season points (final): 1. Billy Janniro 1,461, 2. Louie Mersaroli 1,439, 3. Bart Bast 1,313. Division II: 1. John Peters, 2. Lawrence McNutt, 3. Sammy Tetrault. Season points (final): 1. John Peters 648, 2. Marc Denniston 566, 3. Dean Newnham 556. Division III: 1. Everett Holmes, 2. Mike Newnham, 3. Sam Richardson. Season points (final): 1. Sam Richardson 523, 2. Sebe Denniston 511, 3. Ray Holt Jr. 478. Pee Wee: 1. Leeann Emerson, 2. Riley Rearick, 3. Jayce Preuss.