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RACING SCENE Column – (Costa Mesa AMA National) – By Tim Kennedy
Los Angeles, CA. - The first of four point races for the 2015 AMA Speedway National Championship took place May 30 at Brad Oxley's Costa Mesa Speedway. The historic speedway motorcycle racing track at the Orange County Fairgrounds and Exhibition Center in Costa Mesa is now in its 47th consecutive year of speedway bike racing. Huntington Beach resident Max Ruml, 18, won the track season opener on May 16 in the Jack Milne Cup event. Max is the 2011 California State Youth Champion and 2013-14 Under 21 U.S Speedway National Champion.
The Costa Mesa Speedway motto is “pitch'n it sideways”. Riders did just that Saturday night in five rounds of four lap heat races. Riders earned points on a 3-2-1-0 basis during those 20 heats. A pair of semi-final races divided the top eight riders in points into two four rider races. The top two finishers in each semi-final advanced to the final race with four riders for four laps. Under the championship format all races, including the finals, added points to the heat race total points.A radio-controlled drone flew above the track and recorded racing all evening.
From lane one, Aaron Fox, 27, won the first semi over 17-year old rising star Broc Nicol. Nor Cal rider Bart Bast, 47, and rookie 500cc rider Dillon Ruml, 16, followed. Dillon, the 2013-14 California State Junior Champion, is the brother of Max. Billy Hamill, 45, started in lane two and led all four laps over lane one starter Billy Janniro, 34, Max Ruml and Buck Blair, 37.
The final race lineup had Fox (with 16-points after the semi-final) earning first lane choice for the start. He selected the pole. Next, Hamill (with 15-points) selected lane two. With third lane choice, 15-points rider Janniro took the outside lane four. Nichol, with 14 points, was left with the third lane. Nicol jumped the start and broke through the starting gate tapes. That resulted in his exclusion from the race per championship event rules. He rode back to the pits.
At the start, Hamill shot into the lead in close quarters with Fox on his left. They forced outside running Janniro high in the first two turns and that is the way the three competitors ran all four laps. Hamill won by three lengths over Fox, who had five lengths over Janniro. Unable to catch P. 2 Fox on the last lap, Billy “the Kid” J. slowed noticeably as he exited turn four. Hamill rode his Hagon Shocks GM bike. Janniro rode the backup GM bike of Rocco Scopellite as he did three nights earlier in front of 3,400 spectators when he won the inaugural Connor Penhall Memorial Cup final at Industry Speedway (35-miles north of Costa Mesa).
Janniro drove home to Nor Cal for the regular Friday night racing at his home track—Fast Fridays Motorcycle Speedway at the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn. Janniro won that May 29 scratch main event and drove south on I-5 Saturday to race at Costa Mesa. He said he earned about $3,500 and other prizes Wednesday night at Industry. At Costa Mesa, in front of about 2,000 fans, he added more feature cash to his loot for two victories. It was a lucrative financial haul over 96-hours in the span of four days.
Other riders who raced Friday night in Auburn and Saturday night at Costa Mesa were: Charlie “the Edge” Venegas, Auburn resident Tommy Hedden, Tyler Warren, Jamison Dilkey, and the handicap main event winner Broc Nicol, from Lomita. Venegas, a regular competitor at Auburn, keeps a speedway bike in Nor Cal and flies between So Cal and Nor Cal races. Janniro,Venegas and Hamill list their occupation as “professional racer” on speedway websites.
The remaining three rounds of the AMA Speedway National Championship Series at four different speedways will be: Saturday, June 27 at Jim Naylor's Ventura Raceway; Saturday, August 8 at Industry Speedway (in Los Angeles County); and Friday, September 18 at Fast Fridays in Auburn. That track is located about 40-miles north of Sacramento and just a few miles from the I-80 freeway.
The AMA Speedway National Championship Series has 14 eligible riders and alternates. Jason Ramirez fell hard Wednesday night in the Connor Penhall event at Industry and did not race Friday. Russell Green, 23, moved into the Ramirez assigned starting slots for the five rounds of heat races in Costa Mesa. Rocco Scopellite raced as an alternate in round four (event 14) after Max Ruml was excluded by referee Steve Lucero per championship rules for touching the starting gate with his front wheel before it lifted. He rode back to the pits and Scopellite joined the event 14 field.
Three wild card heats (1a, 2a and 3a) started the Costa Mesa racing program at 7:30 pm and preceded the 20 rounds of heat races for 500cc riders. Winners of the first three wild card heats moved on to the fourth wild card heat (4a) along with the fastest second place finisher by elapsed time in the three wild card heats.
Wild card heat winners were: Tyler Warren, 19, from Auburn; Gage Geist, 15, and Dillon Ruml 16. The fastest second place finisher was Bobby “Boogaloo” Schwartz, 58, who completed his four laps in 43.10. He had wild card heat 2a all but won won when two riders fell on lap 3 in turn three. The entire race was re-run from the start; Geist led all four laps over Schwartz, who elected to skip race 4a, which ran with only the three wild card heat winners.
Juniors 250cc champ D. Ruml, in only his fourth 500cc race according to his father Dave, led race 4a all the way over Geist. They earned spots in the five rounds of qualifying races in starting slots W 1 and W2 (reserved for the wild card heat 4a P.1-2 finishers. The two teens were elated to join the other 14 riders in the 16 rider eligible field. Points are accumulated in all four AMA Speedway National Championships rounds, so they are officially in the chase for the 2015 speedway national championship.
SUPPORT RACES: Costa Mesa Speedway on May 30 also ran heat races and main events for two support classes. Three riders raced in the mini 150cc class. “Slammin” Slater Lightcap, from Huntington Beach, rode his 2007 Shupa 150 and edged “Lightning” Luke Whitcomb, of Anaheim, in a close duel. “Rocket” Rachel Schnakenberg, of Anaheim, placed third. All three are 9-years old. The Juniors 250cc field had a four rider field. Feature winner Sebastian “Big Daddy” Palmese, 11, rode his Jawa 250 and dominated. Jake Isaac, 12, Michael Wells, 14, and rookie James Blair, 14, from Grand Junction, CO. followed. Blair is the nephew of “Battling” Buck Blair and also rode a No. 39 as his uncle does.
It was announced that teenagers Broc Nicol and Max Ruml would be flying to Europe on Tuesday, June 2 to race in the Speedway World Team Championship events. Multi-time US. National Champion Billy “the Bullet” Hamill, the 1996 Speedway World Champion and 1998 World Team Champion, is captain of the USA team. The next Costa Mesa Speedway event will be Harley Night # 1 with speedway bikes and sidecars on the Saturday, June 13 program.
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