Fast Fridays: 'Iron Man' Mersaroli wins Division I Scratch main event in Auburn

More than halfway through the Fast Fridays Motorcycle Speedway season, the action on Auburn's tricky dirt oval just keeps coming. Friday night, Louie Mersaroli came alive to win the Division I scratch main event. Nicknamed "Iron Man" after winning the grueling 25-lap main event on June 30, Mersaroli won his scratch heat race and finished second in his semifinal to Billy Janniro. Drawing the inside lane for the main event, Mersaroli got a great gate as the tapes went up and was in the lead in turn 1. He built on that lead as the four-lap race progressed. Dogged by Broc Nicol a few bike-lengths back, Mersaroli was not troubled and expanded his lead to the finish line with a convincing win. Nicol was second, Janniro was third and Blake Borello was fourth. The win marked the second scratch main event this season for Mersaroli. Alex Martin earned his first victory this season in the Division I handicap main event. Racing at Fast Fridays since he came up through the youth ranks, the 18-year-old and past Youth 250cc AMA National Champion in 2021 began racing in 2010 and professionally in 2021. Second place in his heat race and first in his semifinal, Martin was handicapped on 30-yard line. He survived several crashes on the first lap of the main event involving himself, Janniro and Bart Bast. The mishaps kept Bast and Janniro out of the restart. With a little more room to move around after the restart, Martin prevailed. Chase Kangas led most of the race was second, and Nicol was third. John Peters picked up another win in the Division II main event. Peters, who has been getting a lot of laps lately in Division II, the Support Class and now Division I rides, had a perfect night with a win in his heat. Cody Aker placed second in the main, followed by Ray Holt Jr. Look for Peters to continue his upward climb with more Division I rides. With one previous Division III main-event win this season and numerous second-place finishes, speedway trooper Catherine Moore picked up another win Friday night. The Fast Fridays fan favorite and younger sister of Greg Moore, who also races at Fast Fridays, began speedway racing in 2020. Moore, who is handicapped on the 10-yard line, had a perfect evening by winning her heat. The crowd gave her a rousing cheer as she crossed the finish line in the feature. Antonio Coffman was second and Hunter Castillo was third. Visiting Levi Leutz of Southern California put on a great show off the 60-yard line in Youth 250 racing against Jameson Hutchinson in a two-rider division. Leutz had Hutchinson's number for the first two heats but ran into trouble in the main event when Hutchinson figured out a way to stop him. With Hutchinson on the zero line, the yardage distance was too much for Leutz to overcome and Hutchinson rode perfectly for the win. Young Riley Rearick pulled off his third consecutive main-event win in the Youth 150 division. Usually, Riley and his brother, Wesley Rearick, go at it head to head, but on this night, Riley had the advantage. Riley rides on the 40-yard line and Wesley is handicapped on the 50-yard line. A crash between Leeann Emerson and Rider Domenici brought on a line restart with Riley and Wesley in the 1 and 2 positions. Riley held on for the win, Matthew Wright worked into second place, and Wesley Rearick finished third. Now, the Rearick brothers will both be on the 50-yard line, and having Wright on the 60-yard line will surely make it interesting racing in the Youth 150 division. Round 5 of the Team Challenge brought M-45 a little closer to Team Law Tigers and set up a great final championship. The score going into round 5 was Law Tigers 29, Team M-45 19. Team M-45 had strong performances by Martin and Borello in heat two with combined five points and three more points from teammates Bast and Nicol in heat one. Team Law Tigers added four points, including three by Janniro with a win and one by Moore. That gave the Law Tigers a 33-27 lead over M-45 through five rounds, setting up the championship round Aug. 19. The Extreme Sidecars roll into town this Friday, Aug. 4, for the final round before the AMA Extreme Sidecar National Championship on Aug. 2.