“Hot Weather = Hot Racing” or “Speedway at “The Grand”

California and much of the country has been going through an extended heatwave for weeks. And while the heatwave gripping much of California has slowed a lot of things down, it didn’t seem to affect the action Saturday night at the Industry Grand Arena. Both riders and spectators were ready to go.

Most of the top national competitors were there, and the first heat of the night opened with 2025 AMA National Speedway Champion Broc Nicol literally flying away from the pack to take his first heat of the night. In the next heat Multi-time California and National Champ “Mad” Max Ruml sprinted away for a win, starting a string of 4 wins in a row. Then Wilbur Hancock, son of 4-time World Champ Greg Hancock, rang up a run-away heat win. The night was certainly off to an interesting start.

Max Ruml and Levi Leutz

There are always surprises lurking about, and you can never tell what happens at Speedway, and Saturday was no exception. Because someone in the crowd decided to sponsor a $500 Match Race between two of the country’s top riders, Justin “The Jet” Almon and Jordan Vanderham. It sounded interesting, so Justin squared off against Jordan in a best 2 out of 3 challenge. 12 laps of one on one racing. It was close, but in the end, Jordan went home $500 richer after some close hand to hand combat.

Getting back to the usual heats, things got “interesting”. Interesting, because in a rare night, mechanical failures took a few of the top riders down. In his next heat, Broc Nicol leaped out to a good lead, looking like his second win of the night was in the bag. But in the last corner, his bike threw a chain within sight of the finish line. While Max Ruml would go on for 4 more straight victories, In spite of a great 2025 season, and wins so far this season, the 2025 AMA National Champ, Broc Nicol went in the opposite direction, going 0 for 4 the rest of the night. In his next heat, he blew a motor, a rare occurrence for someone who’s bikes are immaculately prepared. This forced a switch to his back-up bike, which… promptly tossed another motor to finish off the night!

Max Ruml and Wilbur Hancock battle it out

Next up were the Sidecars. The Sidecars, or “Hacks” as they are called, are about as much action as you can get on two, three or four wheels. Twice the engine as the solo bikes, and twice the riders! Literally sideways 100% of the time, it takes two people to control one of them. Dillon Osborne came out of retirement to fill in for one of the Summers Brothers, but he really hadn’t forgotten much, as he rapidly got the hang of it to take all three heat races.

The ”Up and comers” trying to advance to Division 1 were up next, and in the Division 2 main event, the ladies prevailed as young Catherine Moore scored a close victory over 5-time main event winner Eloy Medellin. Better watch out guys, the ladies are coming for you!

Next up was the Sidecar main event. Dillon Osborne showed that the heat wins were no fluke, and that he took the job seriously. After he and Tom Summers took three straight heat wins they drove away from Kevin Kale and Jen Hernandez to take the main event.

Osburn and Summers over Kale and Hernandez (Jennifer Hernandez!)

In the semi-mains, two riders advance from each race, and go to the Scratch Main. The final 4 came down to Max Ruml, young phenom Levi Leutz, who has shown that after advancing from the 250cc bikes to the 500’s in Division 1, that he means business. Next up was Jordan Vanderham and finally Justin the “Jet” Almon. Without his perennial nemesis Broc Nicol to bang bars with, Max Ruml may have thought it would be an easy win, but Levi had his own idea, and nearly came away with a main event win. After four laps of side by side action, The final was Max Ruml, by inches over Levi Leutz, with Almon and Vanderham bringing up the rear.