Janniro wins scratch main at Fast Fridays; round 1 of Team Challenge a draw

The second week of the Fast Fridays Motorcycle Speedway season featured the first round of the popular Team Challenge. For five rounds throughout the season, Team Law Tigers and Team IFC will challenge each other in scratch races, accumulating points each round for finishing positions in the heat races. These points will carry over each round to the Team Challenge final on Aug. 8. The Team Challenge is interesting because the teams race three heats each round, working with a teammate in each race. In team racing, the pairs of teammates work together and help each other score the most points in each heat. Many times, this means taking one for the team and giving up a possible win to support a teammate with a block. It's exciting and fun for the riders and fans. In round one, Team Law Tigers members Billy Janniro, Russell Green, Daniel Faria, Gregory Moore, Cody Anker and Catherine Moore tallied nine points in the three heats behind three points for a win by Janniro, two points each for second-place finishes by Faria and Catherine Moore and one point each for Aker and Gregory Moore. For Team IFC, Wilbur Hancock and Antonio Coffman picked up wins and three points each, along with a second-place finish and two points by Broc Nicol. Darren Armbruster added one point for a third-place finish for nine total points. Janniro, an 11-time AMA National Speedway Champion, shook off the dust of opening night last week and was the fastest man of the night, winning the scratch main event. Janniro found his groove with a win in his first heat race. He was second in his semifinal race, his only loss in the scratch program, when Nicol caught him in exciting finish at the tapes by inches to transfer to the main event. Janniro got to the lead out of the gate and held it to the tapes but Nicol, last week's scratch main winner, and Russell Green were not far behind him. Janniro rode on his back tire in a wheelie across the finish line. Green was second, Nicol was third and Hancock was fourth. Armbruster had a perfect night in the handicap program. Riding off the 10-yard line, Armbruster won his heat, semifinal and the main event. Riding out front in a six-lap handicap race is not an easy task with longer yardage riders working their way through the pack chasing you. Armbruster did a good job riding his race and keeping the other riders at bay over six laps. Hancock was second and Green was third. Aker won the Support Main Event for the second week in a row, though he had to work a little harder to repeat. Aker won his first heat but finished third in his second heat race after a restart was required because of a crash between Tim Rott and Joseph Suplita. Aker was back in top form for the main event. Catherine Moore was second and Brandon Hendrickson was third. Jameson Hutchinson had a great night, making quick work in his two heat races and the Youth 250cc main event. Runner-up Wesley Rearick was his main challenger, dogging Hutchinson in each race, including the main event. Caden Cavrikas was third. The Youth 150cc program was broken into three divisions to accommodate the different riding skills of the racers. Riley Rearick repeated his victory last week and won the Youth 150cc D1 main event. Rearick dropped his first race to Zander Schroeder with a second-place finish, then found his groove with wins in his second heat and the main event. Mason Howell won the Youth 150cc D2 main event with Leeann Emerson second and Logan Kerr third. William Bruce was first in the Youth 150cc D3 main with Dexter Orlando second and Zeva Schroeder third. Let's not forget about the wild Pee Wee division with more than 25 little champions showing for their three races with great support from the Fast Fridays fans. This week, Fast Fridays brings back the Extreme Sidecars for the first of five rounds this season, including the AMA Extreme Sidecar National Championship on Aug. 30. These crazy pairs of racers fire up their 1000cc motors and slide around the track with one rider hanging off the back of their three-wheeled motorcycles. For more information and ticket purchases, visit www.fastfridays.com or call 530-878-RACE.