IN
THE
WIND
P46
Ruml Tops Industry Hills Speedway
I
t was another hot (both figura-
tively and literally) night of racing
at the California State Speedway
Championship at Industry Hills
Speedway in the City of Industry,
California, July 6. When things
cooled off, it was Max Ruml rising
to the top.
The Wednesday night's program
was a full one, with National Pros
showing up like AMA number-one
"Mad" Max Ruml, "Fast" Eddie Cas-
tro, Austin "On The Throttle" Novra-
til, and Shawn "Mad Dog" McCon-
nell. And there was also Division 2
and 3 racing, as well as Juniors and
the Minis in the program.
National Champion Ruml has
been on a roll lately, and it showed
as he blew through his three
qualifying heats, dispatching Gino
Manzares, Castro and up-and-com-
ing first-year Division 1 rider Slater
Lightcap. The finish was not much
of a surprise. After all, Ruml is un-
beaten in the four events so far.
Novratil was having a bit of
bike trouble during the evening,
and Castro almost lost an entire
engine when an oil line bolt came
adrift on the last lap and emptied
the crankcase. As a result, both
Novratil and Castro had to go to
the consolation race. It ended
up being Tim Gomez, a surpris-
ing winner, over Castro and Alex
Martin, with the unlucky Novratil,
who is usually one of the fastest
on the track, bringing up the rear.
McConnell, Castro, Tim Go-
mez and Novratil, as well as last
year's 250 Under-21 National
Champion Slater Lightcap all
rolled through their qualifying
heats. This meant that the main
event would be Ruml, Lightcap,
Manzares and McConnell all go-
ing for the win. It ended up being
a bit of barnburner.
Ruml can be a runaway at
times, but McConnell, who is now
in his 60s, wasn't in the mood for
that. He got so sideways that he
left nothing on the table. At the
end, despite the best efforts of
McConnell, it was Ruml winning
again by only a length or two over
McConnell, with Manzares scor-
ing the last point for third place.
Richard T. Haight
MAIN
1. Max Ruml
2. Sean McConnell
3. Gino Manzares
4. Slater Lightcap
Max Ruml took the
win at the latest round
of the AMA California
State Speedway
Championship at The
Grand Arena in the City
of Industry, California.
PHOTO: CHUCK NULL
