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HAMILL WINS INDUSTRY SPEEDWAY BIKES MAIN – By Tim Kennedy
Industry, CA., Jun 11 – Billy “the Bullet” Hamill rocketed to his first AMA Speedway Bike scratch feature victory of 2014 at Industry Speedway Wednesday during the annual “Legends of Speedway Night” in the Grand Arena at Industry Hills Expo Center. About 1,000 spectators plus viewers on the Internet were dazzled by his spectacular winning ride. He took the lead on the outside during the third of four laps and won convincingly. Hamill, the 1996 Speedway World Champion and many-time national champion, overcame a broken frame that his mechanic Jeff Arnold discovered just prior to the feature. Hamill said the vertical crack makes his primary bike a throw-away. His backup No. 104 GM bike was geared differently and forced him to use the long way around the tight, eighth-mile dirt oval.
The top four in points after three rounds of heat races for 16 500cc Division 1 riders lined up at the starting gate with nine-point rider Charlie “the Edge” Venegas, 47, picking the inside lane. Next, nine-point rider Hamill, 44, chose lane two. Third lane choice went to 17-year old Max Ruml, leaving the outside lane to Tyson Talkington. Ruml, the 2013 Under 21 National Champion and 2011 Youth 250cc State Champion, is in his second season as a 500cc D-1 rider.
When the starting gate lifted, Venegas and Hamill reached the first turn together and drifted up the track in tandem. Ruml, who won his first D-1 main events this season at Pirate Speedway in San Bernardino,seized the open inside space vacated by Venegas and Hamill. The teen blasted by both veterans exiting turn two. Ruml led the first two laps narrowly over outside-running Hamill. During lap 3 Hamill shot past Ruml on the outside leaving turn four and led by a length. On the final lap Venegas shot past Ruml on the inside as they raced out of the fourth turn and edged the teenager by a length. They trailed Hamill by several lengths in the most thrilling Industry feature this season. Talkington ran fourth all four laps.
The D-1 scratch consolation race was a virtual photo finish between AMA 2012 Youth Division Champion and 2013 AMA Long Track 250cc Junior Champion, Broc Nicol, 16, and Shawn McConnell, 55. First year 500cc D-1 rider Nicol, the son of retired D-1 rider Doug Nicol, launched from lane two and led lap 1 by inches over outside-running McConnell. The finish was so close the referee and starter conferred before naming Nicol the winner. McConnell rode back to the finish line and disputed their call, but lost his appeal. “Fast” Eddie Castro, 55, and Jason Ramirez, 22, finished third and fourth.
Scratch semi-final races were events 30 and 31 of the 39 race program. Sidecars were not on the week three schedule but they will return next Wednesday. Hamill led all four laps over outside lane starter Talkington in the first semi-final. Then Venegas led all four laps from lane one and beat lane two starter Mad Max” Ruml. Third and fourth place finishers raced in the consolation event.
The 500cc D-2 (intermediate level) feature went to US Navy Sea-bee Davey Shaw, from Port Hueneme. He led every lap and beat Gabe Price, Brad Moreau and Harold Hartke. Newcomer Ricky Richards, from Orange, led laps 2-4 of the 500cc D-3 main for novice pros. He won his first main at Industry on his first visit after racing at Pirate Speedway and once at Costa Mesa Speedway. First lap leader Lewis Hughes, Kevin Fife and last week winner Steve “Beach-ball” Brown followed.
A six-rider Junior Division 250cc main event produced another flag-to-flag victory for “Daring” Dillon Ruml, 15, from Huntington Beach. He received a $100 cash bonus from the Papparardo family, who also gave $50 cash to runner-up Kurtis Hamill, 15. Gage Geist, Braydam Galvin, Courtney Crone and Michael Wells followed.
Sebastian “Big Daddy” Palmese, a 10-year old from Mission Viejo, won his second Junior mini-150cc first division main in three weeks. He started 50-yards behind the starting gate to give other riders a better chance. Jake Issac led the first two laps before Palmese raced past him and won going away. Tristan Britt, 11-year old Huntington Beach resident, led the first two laps of the original start before he fell in turn four and was excluded by AMA rules.
The mini 150cc second division main for newer 150cc riders who advanced from the pee-wee division, also had a restart after “Lightning” Luke Whitcomb, 9, fell in turn four while leading. He rose slowly and walked to the pits with his dad, a 500cc D-3 rider. Keelan “Lil Edge” Venegas, 10-year old son of Charlie “the Edge”, led all the way over Andrew Russell, 8, from San Pedro. It was his second consecutive victory at Industry.
Rookie pee-wee Travis Horn, a 6-year old from LaVerne, has become so dominant in the pee-wee class that officials handicapped him 50-yards at the start. The smooth and fast-riding youngster won all his heat races and his third consecutive four-lap feature on board his Honda XR 50cc. Rookie Rachel Schnakenberg, 8, followed. Newcomer Jose Navarette and Conner Salazar, 5, followed.
PIT NOTES: Names of 35 “Legends of Speedway” were on name cards atop tables arranged in a U-formation in the courtyard at the site's restaurant. There were 31 legends present and all signed “hero cards” or the 16-page printed program distributed free of charge to all attendees as they entered the front gate. The program cover contained a photo of the top three speedway bike finishers at the 1937 World Speedway Championship from Wembley Stadium in London, England. They were: winner Jack Milne, runner-up Wilber Lamorealux and third place Cordy Milne.
Legends present were: Jan Ballard, Pam Bennett, Terry Clanton, Mark Cherry, Keith Chrisco, Stu Egli, Bryce Eikelberger, Ryan Evans, Mike Faria, Dubb Ferrell, Jim Fishback, Bruce Flanders, Dean Foreman, Dave Galvan, Bobby Harbison, Larry Huffman, Steve Lucero, Billy Meister, Rick Miller, Rob Morrison, Doug Nicol, Steve Nutter, Sonny Nutter, Bruce Penhall, Preston Petty, Bobby Schwartz, Dave Sims, Sammy Tanner, Bobby Tocco, Tumbleweed Walton, and Dean York. Legends posed for a group photo in the infield during the first of two track maintenance breaks. They stood on rows of a small metal grandstand moved from the pits via a skip-loader for the occasion. Three of the legends—Clanton, Flanders and Huffman—have announced speedway bike racing.
The 50/50 drawing for cash this week produced a $966 total with the riders getting half and a lucky spectator holding the winning ticket also getting $483. ... Among those who watched Industry Speedway bike racing on the Internet this week was D-1 rider Gino Manzares, who telephoned announcer Flanders. Gino is racing this year in England along with Aaron Fox, who also raced at Industry last season. Gino will fly home to So Cal to visit family and race in the June 28 AMA National qualifier at Ventura Raceway.
The black/yellow No. 34 USAC-CRA 410 cu. in. sprint car raced by Corey Ballard was inside the front entry gate at Industry Speedway Wednesday. The sprint car team gave speedway bike fans a tutorial about exciting sprint car racing and upcoming race dates at Perris Auto Speedway—June 14 and July 4. ... Open-wheel drivers present this week at Industry included Billy Felts, Steve Howard and Wally Pankratz. ... Keith Chrisco, who raced the No. 47 Jan Gaffney Chevy sprint car at Ascot in the 1980s, lived in North Carolina from 1999-2009 and worked as an engine builder for Rick Hendrick Motor-sports. He returned to So Cal and is now building engines at his KC Performance in Huntington Beach for sprint cars, nostalgic cars and land speed record cars.
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