LAKE PERRIS, CA

"Gorgeous Gary" Hicks - on his third bike of the night - won the Long Track main event at the Southern California Fair at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds. It's not very often that the skinny bikes get to ride on the big tracks, and Lake Perris is a half mile track - and as one rider said, it is "wicked-fast." It was also very hard on equipment.

It was four rounds of Handicap racing, with the top five in each division advancing to the mains. When the four rounds were over, there was only one Division One rider who was clean on the night, and he hadn't raced in years. That was Doug "The Destroyer" Nicol. It looked liked he had never been away, as he won all of his races handily. One point back of him was Hicks, with "Flyin' Mike" Faria one point behind Hicks. Neil Facchini and Russell Green secured their spots in their final rides, and they would complete the field.

Choice of starting gate went to Nicol, and he chose the pole. Hicks was in two, with Facchini in three. On the outside, it was Faria and Green. They loaded in, the light went green and the tapes came up!

Nicol and Hicks got out together and were side by side as they raced down the back straightaway. When they came out of turn four, Nicol's front end got into a high-speed wobble, and that was all it took for Faria and Facchini to get by. Hicks had put a whole lot of daylight between himself and the rest of the field by then, and he settled in to concentrate on running mistake-free. Faria and Facchini were in a battle for second, and it came down to the drag race to the checkered flag, and the nod went to Faria. Green finished fourth, with Nicol rounding out the field.

Austin Novratil was the dominating force in the Support division, and he not only won every heat race, he won them big. At 14, he was the youngest rider in the field, but he was turning times that were equal to or better than those of some of the Division One riders. It was no surprise to anyone when he ran away with the main, but it was a popular win with the fairgrounds crowd, who had been his fans all night long. Mike Reed tried to make it a race for the first lap, but he fell by the wayside, and then Tyson Talkington took over the task, and though he got close, he was never able to find a chink in Novratil's armor. Rich Fuhrman, Bruce Marteney and Reed would chase them home.

Justin Weeks and Mike Wiley were the high scorers in Support B action, and they went heads-up in their main. They got off the line together, but it was Weeks who took the lead, while Wiley tried to find a line that would work to his advantage. Weeks was riding the pole with no room to get under him, and it would be very hard to outrun him on the outside. They finished in that order. On back, it was Geoff Herkner, Paul Thornton and Steve Brown.

Four races are planned at Lake Perris next season, according to promoter Howie Zechner.

Results

SCR MAIN: 1. Gary Hicks (Jaw); 2. Mike Faria (Jaw); 3. Neil Facchini (Jaw); 4. Russell Green (Jaw); 5. Doug Nicol (Jaw).

SUP: 1. Austin Novratil (Jaw); 2. Tyson Talkington (Jaw); 3. Rich Fuhrman (Jaw); 4. Bruce Marteney (Jaw); 5. Mike Reed (Wes).

SUP B: 1. Justin Weeks (Jaw); 2. Mike Wiley (Jaw); 3. Geoff Herkner (Jaw); 4. Paul Thornton (Jaw); 5. Steve Brown (Jaw).