American Speedway
American Speedway: Janniro wins New Year Classic at Victorville.
By Admin
Feb 5, 2008, 20:02

The 2008 Southern California speedway season began the same way the 2007 season ended, with Billy "The Kid" Janniro winning the main
event at Wheel2Wheel Raceway in Victorville.

Ricky Wells entered the main event undefeated and used first gate
choice to select the outside. Chris Kerr, who will be racing for
the Redcar Bears in the British Premier League, picked gate one.
Janniro, who just re-signed with the Coventry Bees of the British
Elite League, chose gate two, which left Buck Blair with gate
three.

Janniro led the field in the New Year's Classic Main Event into turn
one and he exited turn two with Kerr chasing him. Kerr was unable
to mount a serious threat and Janniro was first to the checkered
flag. Previously unbeaten Ricky Wells finished third and Buck Blair
was fourth.

Wells led Janniro in the first heat before falling in turn three,
then Janniro and Billy Lyons tangled in turn one on the restart.
Janniro was leading the third attempt before experiencing mechanical
problems which handed the win to Wells. Kerr handily won his first
race of the day in the second heat. Wells defeated Blair for his
second win. Kerr beat Janniro into turn one and held off all of
Janniro's efforts to score an impressive second consecutive win.
Tim Gomez held off the dual efforts of Blair and Shaun Harmatiuk for
three laps and appeared to have held off a last-corner charge by
Harmatiuk for the victory. However, the referee declared Harmatiuk
to be the winner.

Janniro began the second half of the program with his first win of
the day. Blair used a superb cutback move on Kerr in turn two to
take the lead and kept him at bay for his first win. Wells scored
an easy third victory in race 18. Blair narrowly led Janniro for
three laps before the former SRA National Champion made a
scintillating pass around the boards to take the lead and the win.
Wells won the last heat over Kerr to finish the heats with a perfect
score.

Bryan Buffington led the Second Division Main Event, but Steve Bowen
tried to charge underneath the leader coming off the final corner.
Bowen clipped Buffington and hit the wall hard. Buffington held on
and crossed the line first and was followed by Russell Green. Bowen
walked off the track, but eventually went to the hospital and may
have broken his ribs.

J.C. Masters led the Third Division Main Event from start to finish
to collect the victory. Brad Moreau was second, Danny Baker
finished third, Mike Nutting was fourth, and Jonni Jade finished
fifth.

The next scheduled event at Wheel2Wheel Raceway is Saturday, March
1.