Nicols' Night at Industry Speedway
T
he seventh annual Junior
Kurtz Memorial Cup at The
Grand Arena at Industry Hills
Expo Center in City of Industry,
California, was full of surprises
on August 14.
The night started with "Last
Man Out" heat racing, in which
the gate goes up and after one
lap, the last guy across the line
is excluded. After two one-lap
heats, the last two riders go to
the line for a two-lap fight for all
the bucks. This unusual event
was brought back on Wednes
-
day night, with both the promot-
er and the fans pitching in extra
money, with 100 percent going
to the winner. Nearly $1000 was
in the pot.
Although "Mad Max" Ruml
has been pretty much unbeat
-
able this season, nothing lasts
forever. Ruml managed to avoid
elimination for the first two one-
lappers but couldn't get around
Broc Nicol to save his life, with
Nicol taking home a handful
of wadded-up $10s, $20s, and
$50s to the delight of the crowd.
After working through the heats,
Ruml took a nearly perfect score
to make it to the main, with Nicol,
Slater Lightcap and Aaron Fox all
tied exactly one point behind.
At the gate, both Nicol and
Ruml got great starts, with the
lead trading places a couple of
times each lap, never more than
a few inches apart. Both of them
tested out different lines to
block or hold the lead. But at the
checkers, it was Nicol beating
Ruml by six inches, if that.
The rest of the evening was
just as exciting, from the Pee
-
Wees to the Sidecars, with the
latter last up of the main events.
Twice the displacement, twice
the riders, national champs
Jones and Summers narrowly
beat team Ovrid /Ovrid, with the
Smylie/Kinner outfit taking the
last place on the podium.
Richard T. Haight
Scratch Main
1. Broc Nicol
2. Max Ruml
3. Slater Lightcap
WIND
IN THE
P52
Max Ruml (1) and Broc
Nicol battle at Industry
Speedway. It ended up
being Nicol's night.
PHOTO: CHUCK NULL
