Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Nicol Wins Speedway National Round L ittle went according to plan on Saturday, August 3, for the second round of the AMA Na- tional Speedway Championship at the Industry Hills Expo Center. Some of the favorites fell, others fell afoul of the strict AMA rules, and the expression always a bridesmaid, never a bride, was proven amiss. The racing started off a little slow, with a slightly greasy track, but as the track dried, there were some serious barn burners, not to mention a few surprises. The controversy started off when Broc Nicol, last year's runner-up in the Championship, touched the tapes of the starting gate in the second heat. Unless the tapes get broken, it is often overlooked, but not in a National Championship event. Up until then, Nicols was leading this year's Championship points 20 to 19 over multi-time State and former National champ Billy "The Kid" Janniro. No points for a heat puts a rider down a potential three points to start off the night. As the night progressed, however, Janniro was on fire, but in his third heat, he threw it away while lead - ing by 20 yards. Then defending Champion "Mad" Max Ruml, who has been pretty much unbeatable this season, got thrashed in a close race with Janniro. As the track dried up a bit, the races got closer and closer, with some real hand-to-hand combat. However, controversy arose again when Nicol was leading his last heat by a mile when a rider fell during the last lap. When a fall oc- curs after the white flag, the rules say there are no re-starts, but somehow the referee called for a re-start! That certainly didn't help Nicol, as the race ended up with two re-starts, and Nicol narrowly lost to Janniro despite leading the first two starts. After two semi-finals with the top eight points scorers, the main event came down to the first- and second-place finishers in each semi. Janniro and Ruml got in with four heat wins. Chris Kerr, from Northern California, got in when Slater Lightcap went down while leading a heat, and then there was unlucky Nicol. Nicol had had enough of always being the bridesmaid and took the lead from the start. The next four laps saw Ruml attack both high and low, each time rebuffed by Nicol. Strangely, the multi-time champ, Janniro, got shuffled straight to the back, and Nicol held on to win in convinc - ing style over Ruml and Kerr. Nicol retains the lead in the National Championship stand- ings. Richard Haight FINAL 1. Broc Nicol 2. Max Ruml 3. Chris Kerr 4. Billy Janniro WIND IN THE P60 (L-R) Max Ruml leads Billy Janniro, Broc Nicol and Chris Kerr during the AMA Speedway National final at the Industry Hills Expo Center in California. Photos: Richard Haight