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MAX RUML WINS INDUSTRY SPEEDWAY YOUNG GUN BATTLE – By Tim Kennedy
Industry, CA., Jun. 7 – Max Ruml, 20, made up for missing the Industry Speedway opening night feature a week earlier by winning all five of his rides Wednesday night at the Grand Arena indoor track. On May 31 (Connor Penhall Memorial Cup Night) his brother Dillon, 18, shot past Max on the outside at the checkered flag of their semi-final race and “beat me by a wheel” for the final transfer to the main event.
This week Max was the dominant 500cc first division star in front of about 900 fans present and more watching the live internet telecast. He won his three heats for a perfect score of nine, won his semi, plus the main and led every lap in his five races. “I have GM and Jawa bikes and decided to use my GM this season,” Max related as he talked to fans in the pits under the front straight grandstand at the Industry Hills Expo Center.
Max, the 2016 Industry Speedway track champion, got the jump when the green light flashed and the starting gate tapes lifted. He started on pole in the 42nd race of the evening, launched quickly and won the race to the first turn inside groove. He led all four laps and received the checkered flag from starter Tom Fox at 9:47 pm.
Broc Nicol, 19, started from the outside next to the crash-wall aboard his No. 4 Hagon and applied intense pressure every lap. However, he finished one length back. Dillon Ruml, on a Jawa, pressured Nicol all four laps but trailed him by a length at the finish. Aaron Fox started from the third lane and was five lengths behind the younger Ruml at the finish.
Events 32 and 33 were exciting scratch semi-final races for the top eight riders in points after three rounds of heat races. The first two finishers in each semi-final advanced to the main event. Max, from lane four, and Dillon, from pole, finished one-two in event 32 with Fox and Austin Novratil in P. 3-4. Nicol, also from the outside gate position, and Gino Manzares, from pole, ran one-two all four laps in the second semi. Gage Geist and Shawn McConnell finished third and fourth.
Geist led every lap in the D-1 consolation race (event 41) and edged pressuring Fox by a length and a half. McConnell, fell on lap 1 in the second corner, remounted and finished third. Novratil scratched from the event.
Six 1,000cc sidecar teams raced a pair of heat races, then a “last chance qualifier” (not consolation) race as event 39 for the last three teams in heat race points. Only the LCQ winner transferred into the four team side car feature (event 40). Paraplegic driver Bryan Motis, using his former No. 4, led all the way with Johnny Bach as his swinger providing counter-balance in the turns.
The Joe Jones/Tom Summers team started the sidecar feature (run in a clockwise direction) from lane two and led every lap. Motis/Bach, from lane three, finished a close second. The No. 31 rig of Robert Curry/Johnny Glover placed third. Dillon Osborne/Blake Kroncite (No. 64) were running second on lap 2 in the second turn when they spun out in the inside groove and collected the 31 rig. The 64 was excluded from the restart for causing the incident.
SUPPORT DIVISIONS: Sixteen D-1 500cc riders were augmented by eight D-2 500cc intermediate level riders and seven D-3 500cc newer riders. In the junior ranks, five mini 150cc riders and four 250cc riders competed. Only two pee-wee riders raced on 50cc bikes.
Rudy Laurer led all the way in the D-2 main event. David Lynch, college student Hayley Perrault and Bruce Marteney followed. Brent Smith started from pole position and led every lap of the D-3 main. Kevin Fike, George Yates and Dennis Osmer followed at the checkered flag.
The junior 250cc feature figured to be a battle between the two heat race winners—Sebastian Palmese, 13, and Auburn resident Colton Hicks, 15. It was just that for a lap and three-quarters. Then P. 2 Hicks bobbled in the fourth turn and lost a position to Jake Isaac, 14, who took and retained second place. Hicks finished third with Michael Wells fourth.
The mini 150cc main was reduced from five to four riders by the absence of Luke Whitcomb. Levi Leutz engine failed at the gate. Newcomer Gordon Teuber III, who turned 11 on June 10, was third on lap 3 when he pulled into the infield with an engine problem. That left 10-yard line starter and first lap leader Jose Navarette and laps 2-5 leader Slater Lightcap (from the 30-yard line) as the only finishers. Lightcap, from Huntington Beach, also won both heats.
Owen Williams, 10, led every lap in both of the 50cc pee-wee heat races. So track officials moved him back 40-yards from the starting gate for the five lap main event. That did not faze him and he led laps 2-5. First lap leader Ken Matsuidaira, 6, finished second on his Yamaha 50.
PIT NOTES: The Hicks team--father Bob (500cc D-1 No. 808) and son Colton (No. 24n)--towed south from their home in Auburn for the second week in a row. Carson said his 250cc bike is a hybrid—Stuha front-end, Jawa frame, and GM engine. Carson and his So Cal-based 250cc rival Sebastian Palmese will race this summer in Europe. They will travel together to Czechoslovakia to race in the August 250cc World Championship. They will lease GM engines and fellow Californian Greg Hancock, the four-time Speedway World Champion, will provide Stuha bikes for both Seb and Carson to race.
Broc Nicol, from Lomita, will fly American Airlines to Europe on Sunday, June 18 after racing at Ventura Saturday, June 17 in the first round qualifier for the US Speedway National Championship. He will return to Cali for the second round US National qualifier at Santa Maria Speedway. His sponsors include NHRA team owner Don Schumacher and Race Pro among others. He was interviewed at Industry Wednesday by PA announcer Bruce Flanders and said, “I love this (Industry) track.” He added that his motto is, “Work hard, don't give up, and give it your all.”
Hayley Perrault, a past Junior 250cc main event winner and current 500cc D-2 rider, is another of the So Cal speedway riders planning to race in Europe. She will be going to Great Britain for a racing vacation later this summer. The 19-year old college student in Orange County holds her own against male riders in her division.
“Lightning” Luke Whitcomb, 11, from Anaheim raced his No. 27 mini 150cc to third place in a five-rider heat race at Industry June 7. He scratched from his second heat and main event. Why? He felt sick to his stomach. His mother drove him to Kaiser Hospital in Anaheim to check for possible food poisoning. His father Wade and one year younger brother Mark (who looks like Luke) loaded his 150cc bike onto their truck and followed later.
Blond Gordon Teuber III, of Rancho Palos Verdes, was a first-time 150cc rider on June 7 at Industry. He kept it upright and finished on the lead lap in all three of his races. He turned 11 three days after his speedway debut. He raced one time at Industry as a 50cc pee-wee on July 16, 2014 and then shifted his attention to racing motocross at Perris Raceway and the Mammoth Lake track.
Joe Jones' sidecar was all white this week instead of his usual patriotic red, white and blue self-built rig. He said he left that rig in Australia on loan. He did not build any new sidecars this winter. The all-white rig he drove June 7 was built in England and was sold to a buyer in Canada, where there is no sidecar racing. Joe bought it from the Canadian owner. He plans to race it this season and promised to have it painted suitably soon. Sidecars are on the Industry June 14 schedule as are all other divisions that raced June 7.
Bryan Motis said he had to relinquish his sidecar number (No. 2) because number 1, 2 and 3 are reserved for the the top three finishers in the sidecar national. He said he returned his long-time former number (No. 4) and repainted his rig attractively with a large 4 displayed prominently.
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