Charlie Venegas made it three wins in a row and seven victories in eight weeks Wednesday night at Industry Speedway.
Venegas, 41, of San Bernardino, had an almost perfect night on his favorite speedway motorcycle track, in The Grand arena at the Industry Hills Expo Center. He won two of his three heat races, the Last of the Mohicans elimination race and his semifinal. The only glitch was a last-place finish in his second heat race.
In the final, Venegas followed a familiar script. He started on the inside of the track in the five-rider field, but quickly went to the outside to battle Ricky Wells for the lead. They crossed the line almost in tandem after the first of the four laps, but Venegas got the advantage on lap two and wasn’t seriously threatened.
Wells, the U.S. Under 21 champion from Yorba Linda, held onto second with Buck Blair of Huntington Beach third.
Blair and Wells both had a pair of heat race wins. Wells, 16, also won the first semifinal, which got off to a bad start when heat race winner John Marquez, of Elsinore, hit the outside wall at the end of the first lap and suffered a compound fracture of his right foot.
INDUSTRY SPEEDWAY RESULTS
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
FIRST DIVISION
Heat race winners
1. Buck Blair, Huntington Beach; 2. Charlie Venegas, San Bernardino; 3. Ricky Wells, Yorba Linda; 4. John Marquez, Elsinore; 5. Shawn McConnell, Brea; 6. Blair; 7. Venegas; 8. Wells; 9. Travis Henderson, Ventura.
QUALIFYING POINTS
Points are awarded on the basis of 3 for a heat win, 2 for second and 1 for third; the top eight scorers advance to the semifinals:
Blair 7 (3-3-1); McConnell 7 (2-3-2); Wells 7 (3-1-3); Venegas 6 (3-0-3); Bobby Schwartz, Costa Mesa, 6 (2-2-2); Marquez 5 (1-3-1); Henderson 5 (1-1-3); Jason Ramirez, Orange, 5 (2-2-1); Russell Green, San Bernardino, 4 (1-1-2); Neil Facchini, Riverside, 2 (0-2-0); Eloy Medellin, Yorba Linda, 0; Justin Hassan, Whittier, 0.
Last of the Mohicans
1. Venegas; 2. Wells; 3. Marquez; 4. Henderson.
First semifinal
1. Wells; 2. Blair; 3. Henderson; 4. Marquez (hit wall).
Second semifinal
1. Venegas; 2. Schwartz; 3. McConnell; 4. Ramirez.
Last-Chance qualifier
1. McConnell; 2. Ramirez; 3. Henderson; Marquez DNS.
Main event
1. Venegas; 2. Wells; 3. Blair; 4. Schwartz; 5. McConnell.
OTHER MAIN EVENT WINNERS
Second Division – Bryan Buffington, Orange.
Third Division – Ron Mongenel, Covina.
Youth – Austin Novratil.
PeeWee – Nicky Reimer.
