- By Tim Kennedy
Industry, CA., Aug. 20 - Ricky Wells, 17, won his fifth USA Speedway Cycle Division 1 main event and fourth in a row during round 16 of 20 weekly Wednesday nights of cycle racing at Industry Speedway. He also won two of his three heat races, scored the most points (
in preliminaries and won more than $800 for his effort. More than 800 spectators at The Grand arena of the Industry Hills Expo Center watched the New Zealand-born teen who relocated to the United States as a youngster. He raced in youth cycles and became the Under 21 US National Champion before advancing directly from youth under 16 to D-1 (expert) status. He has made a brief foray into speedway cycle racing in Germany this year and seems destined to pursue a professional speedway cycle racing career in Europe.
Wells, from Yorba Linda, started from the first lane of a five-rider wide field at the starting gate. He shot his 500-cc JAWA into the lead and beat lane five starter Charlie Venegas, who won eight of the first nine features at Industry this year, by five yards. Track point leader Shawn McConnell, Neil Facchini and legendary speedway cycle star Bobby Schwartz, 52, followed. Dave Alexander and sidecar rider Matt Davis led all four laps of the four-team sidecar race.
Allen Doss led all four laps of the 500-cc Division 2 (Intermediate level) four-rider main and donated his winnings to the Scott Driggers recovery fund. Rookie Tim McGrath led all four laps of the four-rider D-3 (novice) main. Austin Novrati, 13, took the youth under 16 main on his 250-cc cycle. Samuel Ramirez, 9, won the 250-cc cycle youth under 12 main, passing early leader Jacob Wondolowski on lap 3 and leading the final two laps.
MEDICAL UPDATE: Sidecar driver Scott Driggers, 48, was injured two weeks ago after his throttle stuck open and caused him to crash at speed into the crashwall. His injuries included five breaks in his pelvis, a broken femur and internal bleeding. Four surgeries and 20 pints of blood were required to stabilize Driggers while he was in the intensive care unit at LA County-USC Medical Center. He was moved during the past week to Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach to be closer to his home in Lake Forest. His nephew Sean, the sidecar rider "swinger", received a broken nose and dislocated hip. He has returned to his Pahrump, NV home.
It is expected that Scott will be unable to return to his job for at least two months. Last week speedway riders at Industry Speedway went through the grandstands with their helmets and collected money to help defray Scott's mounting financial burden.They collected $3,171 at Industry. Speedway cycle fans at Costa Mesa Speedway on Saturday added $400 to the Driggers fund. Also, the woman who won the $445 fan portion of the 50/50 raffle Wednesday donated all $445 to Driggers.
INDUSTRY SPEEDWAY RIDER POINT STANDINGS:
Division 1 (as of August 19 Division 2 (as of August 12) Division 3 (as of August 12)
1 Shawn McConnell 978 1 Steve Bowen 108 1 Tim McGrath 139
2 Buck Blair 953 2 Bryan Buffington 91 2 Chris Thomas 112
3 Charlie Venegas 830 3 J. C. Masters 74 3 Bruce Marteney 108
4 Ricky Wells 827 4 Rudy Laurer 68 4 Tony DeAlmeida 96
5 Jimmy Fishback 723 5 Justin Hassan 61 5 Ron Mongenel 66
6 Bobby Schwartz 564 6 Brad Moreau 54 6 Paul Thornton 58
7 Jason Ramirez 440 7 Allen Doss 45 7 Matt Davis 53
8 Neil Facchini 398 8 Kim Stevens 40 8 Hugh Randolph 38
9 Eddie Castro 324 9 Eloy Medellin 37 9 Mark Sincavage 15
10 Brad Sauer 300 10 Scott York 18 10 Blake Bowen 15
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