DECEMBER 28, 2013
GRAND ARENA/CITY OF INDUSTRY, CALIFORNIA
SPEEDWAY
P68
MONSTER ENERGY WORLD SPEEDWAY INVITATIONAL
STORY BY ANDREA WILSON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE SHAMBECK
F
or the second year running,
world-class speedway returned
to Southern California to a soldout crowd at the Grand Arena in the
City of Industry for the Monster Energy
World Speedway Invitational. Only this
time it wouldn't feature the American
domination of a year ago. Britain's
Scott Nicholls took the win this time,
besting last year's winner Billy Janniro,
fellow American Charlie Venegas and
the young Australian Darcy Ward.
The unique nature of the track, most
notably its size – around half the size
of the average European track – gives
a big advantage for the American riders who cut their teeth on tracks like
it. And many race at the Grand Arena
regularly. So it's not surprising that last
year it was pure American domination,
with an all-American final and Janniro
taking top honors on the home turf.
But many of the Europeans enjoyed
their experience racing here in the
U.S. and wanted another crack at the
track. One of those was the seventime British Champion Nicholls. Nicholls came just short of making the final
last year and said that if he got asked
back this year, maybe he could go one
step further.
Make that two steps further because
he not only improved on last year's results by making the final, he grabbed
the ultimate prize – victory.
"I was proud to be in the final because you know the Americans are so
dominant here," Nicholls said. "The
track is so special and you can see
that they are so at home on it. And for
BRITISH
SCOTT NICHOLLS RETURNS TO SO CAL
