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Costa Mesa Speedway
Orange County Fairgrounds
Costa Mesa, California
49th U.S. National Speedway Championship
September 30, 2017 - Costa Mesa
Report by Ryan Evans
Photos: Paul Flanders
2017 U.S. National Championship - Costa Mesa, CA, USA - September 30, 2017
Broc Nicol made a spectacular last-to-first dash and won the 2017 United States National Championship in stunning fashion at the world famous Costa Mesa Speedway.
“Mad” Max Ruml was the top scorer entering the Final and earned himself the first choice of starting position. Despite winning two heats from gate one earlier in the evening, he selected gate two. This was the gate from which he suffered his only defeat so far. Austin “All Throttle” Novratil quickly chose gate one with the next pick. Nicol was next and picked gate four. This left gate three to Luke “Little Missile” Becker.
The four combatants entered turn one in tight formation and the entire pack went relatively deep into the corner. Max Ruml and Novratil emerged on the back straight at the front engaged in a handlebar-to-handlebar battle with Novratil on the inside and Max Ruml on the outside. Becker was third and Nicol was slightly behind him, but still at the back. Max Ruml held a narrow lead after the first lap but carried so much speed into turn one that he ran a wide line and Novratil looked as if he may go underneath but his speed carried him deep into the corner as well. Meanwhile, Becker and Nicol were in a side-by-side battle for third just behind the front pair. Max Ruml was leading at the halfway point and cut down to the inside entering turn one but his speed again carried him wide and Novratil closed in on the back straight. While this was going on, Nicol remained committed to the outside line and secured third on the back straight. Max Ruml led into turn three and felt himself drifting wide in turn four while Novratil held a tighter line. Unbeknownst to those two, Nicol was deep in the cushion and making it work. Max Ruml made a slightly defensive move to his left in turn four to protect his lead from Novratil. This slowed his momentum just enough, and gave Nicol the space to get between the leader and the wall as they took the white flag. Max Ruml now found himself in no-man’s-land trying to protect from both sides. Nicol went to the dirt in turn one and Max Ruml tried to slide in front of him as they exited turn two but couldn’t pinch off his line. They raced down the back straight in lock-step and entered the final corner in the same fashion. Anyone who wasn’t standing was doing so now in anticipation of the title coming down to a drag race out of turn four to the finish. Both racers held true to their lines. Max Ruml drifted up exiting turn three to pinch off Nicol but it was Nicol finding just enough grip on the outside to squeeze between Max Ruml and the wall and win by inches. Nicol’s carried so much speed that he had to lay his bike down while not being sure if he had won or not. He stood up, looked and listened for the announcement. The deafening noise from the crowd probably made it difficult but he was able to bask in the glory of hearing himself announced as the new National Champion. Max Ruml had to accept a narrow second place, Novratil was third, and Becker finished fourth. It was Nicol’s first National Championship as a professional and he joins Greg Hancock and Ricky Wells as the only racers to win the Junior National Championship and the U.S. National Championship.
The evening kicked off with Dillon Ruml defeating Gage Geist. Gino Manzares beat defending National Champion Aaron Fox and Nicol in event two. Max Ruml defeated Tyson Burmeister in the next heat. Becker ended the first round by beating former National Champion Bryan Yarrow.
Max Ruml started the second round with a defeat of Fox for his second straight win. Burmeister beat Yarrow in the next event. Novratil recovered from a fall in his first race to beat Shawn “Mad Dog” McConnell in event seven. Nicol finished round two by beating Russell Green.
Round three began with Novratil using the outside to beat Manzares for his second win in a row. Fox beat Geist in event 10. Nicol handed Max Ruml his only defeat of the heats in event 11. Becker defeated Burmeister to end the third round with his second victory.
Dillon Ruml cutback underneath Yarrow for the lead and the win to start the fourth round. Novratil powered around the outside to defeat Nicol and Becker in event 14 and get his third straight win. Burmeister scored his second win with Green being the victim. Max Ruml ended round four with a win over McConnell.
Entering the final round it was Max Ruml at the top of the standings with 11 points; Burmeister was right behind him with 10; Nicol and Novratil were tied with nine points; Fox and Dillon Ruml both sat on eight points; and Yarrow and Becker each had seven.
The final round began with Nicol defeating Dillon Ruml and Burmeister to bring his total to 12 points, which would be enough to get him to directly to the Final. Dillon Ruml and Burmeister would go to the Last Chance. Max Ruml won event 18 for a total of 14 points and first gate choice in the Final. Becker defeated Manzares in the penultimate heat to earn a spot in the Last Chance. Novratil finished off the heats with his fourth consecutive victory to give him 12 points and a place in the Final.
With so much at stake, there was little surprise that the Last Chance Race had a pileup in turn one that brought out the red flag. A full restart was ordered but Fox’s machine was a casualty and he would have to compete on his spare bike. Becker swept around the boards from gate four and raced away with the victory and the only transfer to the Final. Dillon Ruml finished second, Fox was third, and Burmeister finished fourth.
Three other divisions also competed on the evening, but none of them were racing for a title. Sammy Ramirez was victorious in the Support Main Event. Mike “Spiderman” Bloom finished second, Michael “Scooter” Wells was third, and Chet Kohler finished fourth.
Sebastian “Big Daddy” Palmese showed why he is the Junior 250 National Champion by winning their main event. “Gentleman” Jake Isaac was second and Sara Cords finished third.
Slater Lightcap led from start to finish and won the Mini 150 Main Event. “Lightning” Luke Whitcomb was second, Jose “Nitro” Navarrete finished third, Andrew Russell was fourth, and Justin Almon finished fifth.
RESULTS
U.S. National Championship Final
4 – Broc Nicol
5 – Max Ruml
7 – Austin Novratil
22n – Luke Becker
Last Chance (restarted)
22n – Luke Becker
3 – Dillon Ruml
1 – Aaron Fox
26 – Tyson Burmeister (fell)
Support Main Event
199 – Sammy Ramirez
22 – Mike Bloom
214 – Michael Wells
202 – Chet Kohler
Junior 250 Main Event
1 – Sebastian Palmese
16 – Jake Isaac
14 – Sara Cords (fell, remounted)
Mini 150 Main Event
1 – Slater Lightcap
27 – Luke Whitcomb
48 – Jose Navarrete
96 – Andrew Russell
7 – Justin Almon
National Championship Heat Scoring 1 2 3 4 5 T
1 – Aaron Fox 2 2 3 1 1 9
3 – Dillon Ruml 3 1 1 3 2 10
4 – Broc Nicol 1 3 3 2 3 12
5 – Max Ruml 3 3 2 3 3 14
6 – Shawn McConnell 1 2 F 2 0 5
7 – Austin Novratil F 3 3 3 3 12
8n – Bryan Yarrow 2 2 1 2 2 9
10 – Gage Geist 2 1 2 F 1 6
11 – Bobby Schwartz 0 F 0 0 0 0
14 – Eddie Castro 1 1 0 0 0 2
22n – Luke Becker 3 0 3 1 3 10
24 – Gino Manzares 3 0 2 1 2 8
26 – Tyson Burmeister 2 3 2 3 1 11
48 – Tyson Talkington 0 0 1 1 0 2
105 – Danny Faria 1 1 1 0 1 4
321 – Russell Green 0 2 0 2 2 6
199 – Sammy Ramirez (R) Did Not Ride
22 – Mike Bloom (R) Did Not Ride
National Championship Race Results
1: D. Ruml, Geist, Castro, Schwartz
2: Manzares, Fox, Nicol, Talkington
3: M. Ruml, Burmeister, Faria, Novratil (fell)
4: Becker, Yarrow, McConnell, Green
5: M. Ruml, Fox, D. Ruml, Becker
6: Burmeister, Yarrow, Geist, Manzares
7: Novratil, McConnell, Castro, Talkington (fell, remounted)
8: Nicol, Green, Faria, Schwartz (fell)
9: Novratil, Manzares, D. Ruml, Green
10: (restarted) Fox, Geist, Faria, McConnell (fell)
11: Nicol, M. Ruml, Yarrow, Castro
12: Becker, Burmeister, Talkington, Schwartz
13: (restarted) D. Ruml, Yarrow, Talkington, Faria (retired)
14: (restarted) Novratil, Nicol, Becker, Geist (fell)
15: Burmeister, Green, Fox, Castro
16: (restarted) M. Ruml, McConnell, Manzares (penalty line), Schwartz
17: Nicol, D. Ruml, Burmeister, McConnell
18: M. Ruml, Green, Geist, Talkington
19: Becker, Manzares, Faria, Castro
20: Novratil, Yarrow, Fox, Schwartz
Ryan Evans
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