Ruml Rules Industry Speedway
D
espite a little cool weather,
the racing at the Industry
Grand was anything but cool! And
there were surprises galore, as
only one rider, Broc Nicol, came
away with a near-perfect score
in the City of Industry, California,
on March 29. Near perfect? Yes,
because after a full night of rac
-
ing with a new engine setup and
three straight heat-race wins.
Nicol's main event almost turned
into a destruction derby.
Every one of the acknowledged
heavyweights and champions
ended up with a loss of one kind
or another. Right off the bat,
California Champion Max Ruml
couldn't get past fourth place in
the Handicap heat that set the
main event. Only the first three
places advance. In the next Handi
-
cap heat, it was AMA National
champ Nicol who got relegated to
fifth by Alex Martin, Slater Light
-
cap, Charlie Trana and Levi Leutz.
Next up was the three-race
Miss & Out Challenge. After each
one-lap race, the last man is
eliminated. Talk about do or die!
The third heat is a two-lap dash
between the remaining riders,
and Lightcap put it to Austin
Novratil for the win. As the night
progressed, Nicol won his next
three Scratch heats to advance
to the semis and Ruml won two
out of three to advance, losing
one heat to Novratil in the pro
-
cess. In the semis, Lightcap laid
down four perfect laps to give
Nicol his second defeat of the
night, and Russell Green held off
Ruml in the second semi-main.
In the "destruction derby,"
when the final grid lined up, it
was Nicol, Lightcap, Ruml and
Green for all the bucks. It didn't
last long because the first turn
became a three-man crash, with
Ruml getting thumped and only
Nicol coming away unscathed.
Speedway rules call for the
exclusion of a rider causing a
crash, so Lightcap was out, mak
-
ing it a three-man main event.
When the gate went up, it was a
two-man race, with Ruml holding
off Nicol for a close win.
Richard Haight
Scratch Main
1. Max Ruml
2. Broc Nicol
3. Russell Green
Handicap Main
1. Charlie Trana
2. Alex Martin
3. Justin Almon
WIND
IN THE
P64
Scratch main winner
Max Ruml leads Broc
Nicol and Russell
Green at Industry
Speedway.
PHOTOS:
RICHARD HAIGHT
(L-R) Justin Almon,
Slater Lightcap and
Austin Novratil mixed
it up again.
