Industry Racing
The Grand Industry Hills Expo Center
City of Industry, California

HAMILL WINS SPEEDWAY CYCLE MAIN AT INDUSTRY (week two) – By Tim Kennedy

Industry, CA., Jun. 5 – Perfection was the result of Billy Hamill's 500cc Division 1 speedway cycle racing effort Wednesday night at Industry Hills Expo Center. The 43-year old champion of the two-wheel sport led every lap of his three 4-lap heat races to earn the maximum nine points. He then won his semi-final race on his Hagon Shocks mount and the four-rider, four-lap main event in front of about 1,500 fans. He never trailed in any of his races on the smooth dirt track inside the Grand Arena.

Aaron Fox, from Menifee, took second position on lap 3 with an inside move on the backstretch. He trailed Hamill by three lengths. Despite losing runner-up honors, rookie Division 1 rider Max Ruml, a 16-year old Huntington Beach resident, finished third, two lengths in back of Fox. Past Industry Speedway champion and all-time Industry feature winner Charlie Venegas placed fourth, one length back. Gino Manzares led all four laps of the Division 1 consolation race. Tyson Burmeister, Buck Blair and Tyson Talkington followed. Rudy Laurer won his second consecutive Division 2 main at Industry. Lewis Hughes led the final two laps and edged Steve "Beachball" Brown, the first two laps leader.

With six 1,000cc motorcycle/sidecar teams present, four teams raced four laps in a clockwise direction as usual. Two wheel cycles race in a counter-clockwise direction. Joe Jones and his sidecar "swing-man" Johnny Glover took the lead with an inside pass leaving the second turn to lead the final three laps. Dual Anderson and his rider Ethan Smith led the opening lap and finished second. The new No. 81 team of Dan Rapaport and Jacob Serrato placed third.

Broc Nicol, a 15-year old from Lomita, started from lane one and led all the way in a four rider 250cc Junior main. Kurtis Hamill, 14, won May 29 but finished second this week. Two divisions of young 150cc Junior riders ran features. Starting from lane two, Courtney Crone, a seventh grader from Corona, led all four laps of the 150cc first division race. She defeated week one winner Sebastian Palmese, Michael Wells and Maverick Molloy. The second division 150cc Junior main completed a perfect night for newcomer Slater Lightcap, from Huntington Beach. He also won both of his heats. The 7-year old raced at Costa Mesa but was making his debut at Industry.

A field of six pee-wee division riders, including a pair of 5-year old rookie riders, rode 50cc mini cycles. "Lightning" Luke Whitcomb, 7, again dominated his fellow pee-wees. Officials handicapped the fun-loving youngster by starting him alone, 40 to 50 yards from the starting gate. It took him four laps to gain the lead during his two victorious heat race rides. He turned it up a notch on his No. 27 cycle and had the main event lead after two laps to win easily. Nick Dunn and Walker Calvo followed.

Ambulance paramedics had a busy night attending to fallen riders this week after a quiet week one. Three hard crashes caused them to bring out the gurney and move injured riders to the pits for observation. None of the riders had to be transported to a hospital. During a Division 2 heat race, a collision at the third turn sent Bander Alexander to the ground and Steve Bowen and his cycle hard into the outer wall. Both remained on the ground several minutes. Bowen was removed on the gurney with a sore back and leg injury. All riders involved are expected to return next Wednesday for round three.

NOTES: Racing started at 7:30 at 76 degrees and concluded at 9:51 pm at 68 degrees. An amazing 44 races were run with two brief interruptions for track preparation with a grader. There were 39 races and three track prep breaks on May 29. ... The 50/50 drawing winner took home $357. this week. ... Pee-wee rider Luke Whitcomb's father Wade Whitcomb races his No. 227 JAWA in Division 3. He is a pastor at a Baptist church in Garden Grove. Luke is the only one of his four children who races.

Max Ruml, who turned 16 on March 15, started speedway cycle racing in 2008. He dominated the 250cc Junior division last season and bypassed the 500cc D3 and D2 ranks to go directly to the expert D1 level. He has been sensational immediately as a D1 rider in competition at the three track So Cal circuit—Industry (Wednesdays), Pirate Speedway in San Bernardino (Fridays) and Costa Mesa Speedway (Saturdays). This week at Industry he won two of his three heats on his No. 308 JAWA cycle and finished second in the other to tally 8 out of a possible 9 points. He tied two riders for second place in points, one behind Hamill's 9 points. Max then finished a close second to Hamill in one of the two semi-finals.

Courtney Crone is 12 (DOB 3/7/01) and an amazing front-running Junior first division speedway cycle racer. She uses distinctive white and pink trimmed leathers, an Arai helmet and has a backup 150cc cycle in her pit. Retired AMA flat-track racer/champion Sammy Tanner is a huge supporter of the young lady. She won features last year at age 11 on a 200cc cycle, but rules changed to cut her Junior class from 200 to 150cc this season. Sammy said the 150cc cycles are trickier to race because they don't have as much power to use with the throttle. Courtney has mastered both 200 and 150s. She is the youngest of Jack Crone's three daughters (ages 19-18-12) and the only one interested in racing. She began racing in a No. 99 quarter midget. She is now 4'9" tall and weighs 74 pounds. She said she wants to advance to Division 1 in speedway cycle racing as Max Ruml has done. When asked about her ultimate racing goal she quickly replied, "I want to race in the Indianapolis 500." She watched the 2013 Indy 500 on TV and knew about the four female drivers in the 500. She said she is not a big fan of Danica Patrick. Her dad's business involves interaction with major league racing teams. He missed her June 5 Industry victory because he was at the Laguna Seca track on business. Courtney said she phoned him from the pits after she won and he was elated by her success. She races on the So Cal speedway cycle circuit at all three tracks and has won features at all three sites. She considers Industry her home track.

What most cycle fans do not know is that Courtney has made her auto racing debut this season. After reaching the minimum age of 12 for racers with some racing experience, she took Ford Focus Midget training from veteran open-wheel racer/champion Wally Pankratz. He operates an open-wheel racing school and trains Ford Focus Midget drivers with his Edmunds Autoresearch No. 32 and No. 37 midgets that have made demonstration hot laps at Industry Speedway each season. Courtney raced Wally's orange No. 32 twice this season at Ventura Raceway, a one-fifth mile clay track in Ventura. On March 16 Courtney started fourth and finished third in her 8-lap heat race. Then she started fourth and finished second in a four-car, 20-lap main event. On May 4, she started and finished fifth in her 8-lap heat. She started sixth and finished fourth in the 20-lap main. She raced all 20 laps both times and now ranks fourth among seven VRA drivers who earned points. Courtney has raced in only two of the six Ventura FF Midget races. She said she is looking forward to racing one of Wally's two FF Midgets next on Saturday, June 29 at the quarter-mile clay Orange Show Stadium in San Bernardino. It is next to the Pirate Speedway cycle track on the Orange Show Fairgrounds just east of Interstate 215. Courtney hopes to race full midgets, sprint cars and eventually rear-engine formula cars on her journey through auto racing ranks on her way to making the Indianapolis 500.

Sent from Howie Zechner - Howie - RAZ Video