Ventura Raceway
West Harbor Blvd
Ventura, California

Speedway Team Racing
Max Ruml Stars for Vikings, but Aces High at Ventura!
October 10, 2014 - Ventura Raceway
From Steve Evans

Team USA World Cup star and AMA National #3 Max Ruml scored a faultless 4 ride maximum at Ventura on October 4th, but his Vikings team went down 54-45 to the superior Aces.

This late addition to the US Speedway season proved to be very popular with the riders and fans in attendance on this double billed show with Flat Track races. Each team featured 8 riders with 4 500cc laydown riders and 4 Vintage bike riders per team. Each rider raced 4 times in the 16 heat program.

Austin Novratil was second behind Ruml in 3 of the heats, but was unlucky when leading his third and then was hit with a flat tire. Rocco Scopellite had a mixed night with two very impressive wins and two last places. Dillon Ruml scored 9 points on his West Coast 500cc debut, including 2 wins. Eddie Castro scored a steady 6+2 at his local track where he is still a huge fan favorite.

For the vintage riders, Dan Waller was unbeaten with 12 points and 4 wins. Malcolm Roe, a Manchester native and Belle Vue fan, scored 3 wins and 11 points for the Aces. Pat Smith, also an Ace, ended with 9+1.

The Aces held a 15-9 lead after heat 4, going up to 10 points after heat 6. Max Ruml got a double point win for the Vikings in heat 8 to make the gap 7. After heat 12 the Vikings pulled back to 40-35 down and a 4-2 in heat 13 left the gap at 3. But a 5-1 and 4-2 in heats 14 and 15 pulled the lead back to 9 which stayed with a 3-3 in the final race as Max Ruml led home Novratil, Castro and Scopellite.

Scores:
Vikings 45 - Max Ruml 15, Rocco Scopellite 6, Ron Davis 0, Bruce Marteney 5; (Vintage) Bob Waller 5+1, D Waller 12, Mike Novratil 0, Dave Tice 0, Ron Bankow 2

Aces 54- Austin Novratil 6, Eddie Castro 6+2, Dillon Ruml 9, Mike Lane 4+1; (Vintage) John VanderMuelen 6+3, Malcolm Roe 11, P Smith 9+1, Dave Smith 3+2