Ruml Wins Connor Penhall Memorial Cup
T
here were thrills and spills
at The City of Industry
for the ninth annual Connor
Penhall Memorial Cup, March
1, where Max Ruml emerged
from the smoke and rubble as
the night's winner.
The Memorial Cup honors
the late Connor Penhall, son
of two-time World Champion
Bruce Penhall, and it is consid
-
ered one of the premier events
of the Speedway season.
Surprises were the order
of the night. One of those
surprises involved 2024 AMA
National champ Broc Nicol,
who scored a perfect 15
points yet did not make the
main. But more on that later.
However, one thing in
speedway that isn't surpris
-
ing is crashes. Oftentimes,
the fallen rider, injured or not,
jumps up and asks, "How's
the bike?" Unfortunately,
Brad Sauer's bike wasn't all
right after taking a brief excur
-
sion through the wall, which
effectively ended his night. This
brought out Eloy Medellin Jr. as
the reserve. Eloy was recuperat-
ing from a pretty hard flip from
last Saturday's season opener
and was just a little subdued.
Multi-time champion Ruml
is pretty much as consistent
as they come, and Saturday
night was no surprise, as Ruml
marched through his heats with
three-point wins in all of them—
until he faced Nicol. In a thrilling
side-by-side battle, Nicol beat
Ruml to maintain a perfect score
for the night. Nicol won all his
heat races, giving him a 15-point
score, which earned him a place
in one of the two semi-mains.
The semis take the top eight
points scorers to two four-rider
semi-finals. But only two ad
-
vance from each semi, and in
his only loss of the night, the
surprising outcome was that
both Slater Lightcap and Austin
Novratil managed to hold off
Nicol to advance to the main
event.
After the usual scuffing in at
the starting line area to ensure
the best traction, the gate went
up, and Ruml was on fire, with
Novratil in pursuit. But Ruml
was not to be denied and won
his second Penhall Cup—taking
the beautiful Troy Lee Designs
helmet that is awarded to the
champ each year.
Richard Haight
FINAL (Top 3)
1. Max Ruml
2. Austin Novratil
3. Slater Lightcap
WIND
IN THE
P60
(L to R) Austin Novratil, winner Max
Ruml and Slater Lightcap made
the podium at the Connor Penhall
Memorial Cup.
