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Costa Mesa SpeedwayOrange County Fairgrounds 50th US National Championship 50th U.S. National Championship - Costa Mesa, CA, USA - October 6, 2018 Five rounds of championship-format speedway and a Last Chance race whittled the 16-racer field down to just four in the National Championship Final. Janniro’s top score afforded him the first opportunity to pick his starting position and he chose gate one. Max Ruml, the only racer to beat Janniro during the evening, chose gate two. Two-time National Champion Aaron Fox decided on gate three which meant that Dillon Ruml would start in gate four. When the tapes went up Janniro and Dillon Ruml were at the front. They both went for the same piece of real estate in turn two and they went down. The referee determined that it was turn-one bunching and ordered a complete restart. The second time the tapes went up it was nearly the same result but Janniro got to the dirt in turn two just ahead of Dillon Ruml and was able to find ample traction to propel him down the back straight with the lead. Dillon Ruml’s momentum was stalled and his brother Max led the charge after the leader with Fox squeezing into second. Their chase was valiant but was all for naught. Janniro, who hasn’t competed in this event in five years, was out to make a grand return. He was first to the checkered flag and did so on his back wheel. Max Ruml finished second, Fox was third, and Dillon Ruml finished fourth. Janniro’s first victory in this event since 2011 made him just the second racer to win the SRA U.S. title five times. The legendary Mike Bast has seven titles to his name. After Grand Marshall Billy “The Bullet” Hamill gave the command to start engines, it was Max Ruml who made an early statement by beating Janniro in event one. Fox defeated Jason Ramirez in event two. Dillon Ruml beat former National Champions Charlie “The Edge” Venegas and Chris Manchester in event three. Shawn “Mad Dog” McConnell ended the first round by beating defending National Champion Broc Nicol who returned from Britain just for the event. Max Ruml started the second round with another victory, this time ahead of Manchester. Venegas beat Fox and McConnell in the next heat. Janniro earned his first victory by defeating Dillon Ruml and Nicol. Austin Novratil finished round two with a win over Jimmy “Little Animal” Fishback. Round three began with four title contenders coming to the tapes. Fox came out the victor with Dillon Ruml second, Novratil third, and Max Ruml getting a tough fourth. Nicol found his winning stride in event 10 ahead of Jason Ramirez. Janniro made it two straight wins ahead of Manchester. Venegas ended the third round by beating Fishback for his second straight win. The fourth round opened with Max Ruml earning his third win, this time at the expense of McConnell. Sammy Ramirez beat former National Champion Bart Bast in the next heat. Janniro made it three wins in a row with a defeat of Venegas. Fox finished round four by beating Manchester. At this point Janniro and Fox were at the top of the score chart with 11 points each and would soon meet; Venegas was right behind them with 10; Max Ruml had nine points; Dillon Ruml was next with eight; Nicol and Manchester were sitting on seven; and McConnell had six. The final round began with Max Ruml putting himself directly into the Final with his fourth win while Nicol and Venegas would have to compete in the Last Chance Race. Manchester won event 18 which put him into the Last Chance Race as well. Janniro won the penultimate heat to seal first gate choice in the Final and Fox finished third behind Sammy Ramirez. Dillon Ruml closed out the heats with a win over McConnell and earned himself first choice of starting position in the Last Chance Race. Dillon Ruml cruised to victory in the Last Chance Race and moved on to the Final. Venegas finished second, Nicol was third, and Manchester finished fourth. RESULTS National Championship Final (restarted) Last Chance Heat Scoring 1 2 3 4 5 T
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