Ruml Fires First
B
akersfield's Kern County Race-
way Park hosted the first of
three rounds of this year's Ameri-
can Speedway championship.
Most of the current stars of
American Speedway were in at-
tendance, with the exception of
National number one Max Ruml's
brother Dillon, who has chosen
to get some International experi-
ence and signed with the Oxford
Cheetah's of the British SGB
Championship League.
Saturday's entrants included
Max Ruml and multi-time Cali-
fornia and National Champion
Billy Janniro, who was hoping
to avenge his loss to Max in the
2021 Championship. Also on
the entry list was Austin "On-The
Throttle" Novratil, Gino Man-
zares, recent 250cc-class Cham-
pion Slater Lightcap, Rheten
Todd and the latest version
from the first family of American
Speedway Racing, Bart Bast.
The event ran in both the tradi-
tional 16-rider, 20 heat round-robin
format, where each competitor
runs in five races against every oth-
er competitor, and in a two semi-
final, one main event-style run-off.
After a lot of cheering and hand
waves to the crowd, the gate was
pulled down for the final, and the
four finalists (Louie Mersaroli,
Aaron Fox, Ruml and Janniro)
pulled up to the tapes. Ruml
pulled a slight lead over Janniro
out of the gate, but Janniro went
to the outside cushion in hopes
that the slightly higher corner
speed would get him around Ruml
by the end. But it was not to be.
At the end of four laps, and
try as he might, Janniro was not
quite able to get around him.
Ruml, down on points all night
due to an earlier mechanical
DNF, used his reserve bike and
was able to hold off the 10-time
champ for the win. However, be-
cause riders accumulate points
throughout the series based on
their heat race finishes, as well
as the main event, Janniro left
with a slight three-point lead in
the championship due to an ear-
lier DNF by Max.
Richard T. Haight
IN
THE
WIND
P40
Max Ruml kicked off
the AMA Speedway
Championship in
Bakersfield with the win.
PHOTO: RICHARD HAIGHT
