On Saturday night The California State Speedway Championship opened with the first of three rounds at the Industry Grand arena and surprises were the order of the day.
Traditional Speedway events consist of 20 four-man heat races, featuring 16 qualified or “Seeded” riders eligible. All of the 16 seeded riders races 5 heats and in the process faces everyone else on the program at least once. At the end of the night the eight highest point scorers race in the two semi-mains to determine who faces off in the final “Main Event” and takes the points that come with it and counting for the eventual championship.
Let’s face it, although Speedway racing is one of the oldest forms of motorized racing, having it’s start in 1928, it is a “Niche” sport. “Niche “ or not, there isn’t another form of motorsports that has better or more exciting “Mano-A-Mano “ or Hand to Hand combat! Except for bull fighting, there are few sports that feature as close competition.
Reigning AMA National and California State Champion Broc Nicol was back and ready to spring back from last weeks debacle which cost him two engines in a row! Others included 14 time state champ “Billy The Kid” Janniro, Multi-time Champ “Mad” Max Ruml, Wilbur Hancock, son of 4-time world individual Champion Greg Hancock, Austin ‘On the Throttle” Novratil and two young Phenoms, Brady Landon who is the 2024 FIM World (SGP4) Champion and recent 250cc winner Levi Leutz. Both are stepping up to the “Big” (500cc) bikes this year for the first time. Although to be honest, you would have a hard time believing that either one of them was the minimum 16 years old to qualify to ride the Pro-Class.
As the heats rolled out, one of the surprises was Auburn California’s Louie Mersaroli, who hasn’t raced a bike in almost 2 years, but stepped back in like it was last week! Louie won a heat and came within a couple of points of making the main event. Another surprise was that all of these guys won at least one of their heat races.
But the two fastest guys in the pack, Broc Nicol and Max Ruml, both multi-time Champions, scored perfect or near perfect points, with Mad Max losing but one point to Broc for the entire night.
Young Brady Landon, who looks like he would be more at home on a skateboard rather than a 500cc methanol burning rocket was next up scoring four wins and two 2nd places to end up third in overall points.
Billy Janniro can ride beyond normal limits at times, he has that level of commitment, however, in spite of winning a heat, Multi-Time California Champ Billy took a spill. He was unhurt, but didn’t have a spare bike, and was out for the night.
As the night drew to a close, and the two Semi-Finals were run, the four top finishers go to the main event. The final brought Broc Nicol, with the only perfect 15 point score of the night, with Max Ruml, a single point back. Beaumont’s Aaron Fox and young Brady Landon filled the remaining two places for the final.
Each rider chooses his starting gate based on his points score for the night and the introductions and interviews get the crowd warmed up for their favorite racers. And then the anticipation builds… Once the gate went up, the first start resulted in a red flag because Broc Nicol “Anticipated” the start, and got a warning from the starter.
In Speedway, the start can be critical, because we are talking about less than 2 minutes of combat. Norves are taut, and the gate went up Nicol was first out of the blocks …. But, again, Broc had anticipated the gate ever so slightly, and as per the AMA rules governing Speedway, was excluded! So, the main was going to be a 3-man wrestling match. On the third and final re-start Max Ruml got the gate, but had to fend off Brady Landon, never more than a bike length or two away, to score the first points in the State Championship!
Was Max happy? You bet, because his nemesis for the state championship got ZERO points towards the Championship while he won! As the saying goes, “Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose…”
Story = Richard T. Haight
Photos = Richard T. Haight and Chuck Null
