Industry Racing

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

Salute to the Military
June 26, 2019 - Industry Racing

MAX RUML IS PERFECT @ INDUSTRY SPEEDWAY – By Tim Kennedy

Max Ruml returned to racing at Industry Speedway Wednesday after a week on the sidelines. He had received a concussion Saturday, June 15 at Ventura Raceway during round one of the AMA Speedway National Championship Series and used the week off to recover fully. His precautionary plan paid dividends this week.

More than 700 Grand Arena spectators watched the 22-year old Orange County resident dominate competitors as he did when he won Industry week three on June 12. Ruml won his three heat races and scored the maximum nine points. He also won his semi-feature race and the 500cc first division main event aboard his GM-powered No. 5. He led every lap he rode all night.

As the high-point rider prior to the feature, Max selected the outside lane next to the plywood crash-wall. To his left were Aaron Fox (GM) in lane one, younger brother Dillon Ruml, 20, in lane two aboard his Jawa, and Nor Cal resident Blake Borello, 18, (Jawa) in lane three. Borello, from Georgetown (near Auburn) was making an infrequent appearance at Industry.

At the start, Fox led through the first two corners. Then Max blasted by him on the outside in the third turn and led all four laps. Fox trailed by one length at the finish. D. Ruml made a spirited charge on the outside and almost nipped Fox. “I beat him by a wheel,” Fox revealed in the pits. Borello ran fourth all the way and was six lengths out of third position. The checkers flew at 9:53 pm after a busy night with 39 races, including all divisions.

Russell Green led all four laps in the 500cc consolation race for third and fourth place finishers in the two semi-features. Shawn McConnell and 15-year old 500cc Division 1 rookie/250cc Junior Division National Champion Sebastian Palmese followed. Austin Novratil was unable to start after his spectacular spill while leading the second semi-feature on lap 2. He limped to the pits and his Swiss Gerhard engine bike was unable to continue.

Division 1 semi-feature winner M. Ruml beat Fox in the first semi, with Green and McConnell following. D. Ruml officially led all four laps of the second semi over Borello. Palmese was a close third and Novratil did not start. Novratil led the first lap and exited turn four on lap 2 a bit wide, forcing closely pursuing D. Ruml higher. Ruml's back wheel slid out from under the bike and Dillon fell next to his bike.

Novratil sped out of turn four using the inside groove as Ruml fell. As Novratil approached the start/finish line he lost control and fell hard, landing on his hip. His bike flipped wildly three or four times across the finish line and landed on its side in mid-track near the first turn. Both riders rose quickly and discussed the crash. Novratil, the May 29 and June 19 feature winner, was out for the night. D. Ruml made the race complete restart and won.

SUPPORT DIVISIONS:
Harold Hartke, 49, started from pole position on his JRM and led all four laps in the 500cc Division 2 main for intermediate skill level riders. David Lynch and Rudy Laurer were second and third. Dylan Black was unable to start and alternates were not allowed.
Practicing dentist Dr. David Newsham started second and led every lap of the 500cc Division 3 main for newer riders. Tyler Moszer, in only his second night at Industry, started from the outside lane, took second on lap 2 and held off third finisher Dennis Osmer. Jake Myers was fourth.

SIDECARS:
Four of the exciting 1,000cc sidecar teams raced this week. Two teams had first-time sidecar “swingers” in the sidecars to provide necessary counter-balance in the turns. Both rookies performed flawlessly. Joe Jones/Josh Flammia won one of two heat races and led all four laps of the feature. Ace Kale and sidecar rookie Brent Smith (No. 103 500cc veteran) won a heat and placed second in the main event. Kevin Kale, with first-time sidecar swinger Tracy Gallagher, were a close third. Kevin Holman/rookie Shannen Hennessey were fourth after pulling into the infield.

JUNIOR DIVISION:
Four 250cc junior riders raced two heats and a main event. Slater Lightcap, 13, won all three races. It was his fourth victory this season at Industry. Wilbur Hancock, 14, Jake Whitcomb and Andrew Russell finished in P. 2-4.

Five junior 150cc riders competed this week. Levi Leutz started in the 5-lap handicapped starting lineup from the 20-yard line. He took command on lap 3 from gate starter and lap 1-2 leader Nick Dunn. Leutz led laps 3-5 and beat Dunn, who earlier won his first heat race. Owen Williams, Nick Hohlbein and Jose Navarette finished third through fifth respectively.

Two 50cc pee-wee division riders stayed upright during all three rides in their new motorized activity. Jenson Horn, 5, won all three races and Rosie Russell, 8, was second each time. She finished on the lead lap in only her second night of racing at Industry. Her brother Andrew races in the 250cc junior division.

PIT NOTES:
> June 26 was Military Appreciation Night at Industry. All five military branches—Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Air Force—were recognized. Military recruiters were in the Grand Arena courtyard at an enlistment booth.

> The free eight-page printed program had 500cc speedway rider Sgt. Eloy Medellin, 49, from Garden Grove, pictured on the cover at speed on his No. 178 Jawa. He served eight years (1988-1996) in the US Marine Corps at the USMC El Toro base in southern Orange County. His unit was on standby for deployment to Iraq during Desert Storm. He spent his final two years on USMC reserve duty.

> Sixteen 500cc Division 1 riders competed this week in three rounds of heat races. It took five points to make the top eight rider field for the two semi-features. Heat winners were: M. Ruml (3), D. Ruml, Novratil, and Palmese (2 each), and one each by Bobby Schwartz, Fox and Green.

> Sidecar competitors are tough. No. 07 driver Kevin Kale suffered four broken ribs and a collapsed lung in a June 12 crash at Industry. The track chaplain drove him to a San Gabriel Valley hospital where the emergency room wait was six hours. So Kevin went to Fountain Valley Hospital in Orange County. He was hospitalized four days there. He returned to sidecar racing June 26 with a new swinger. He talked his friend Tracy Gallagher, 38, from Garden Grove, into riding in his sidecar. She said she had never seen a race before she tried it June 26 at Industry. She relied on Kevin's instructions about what she would have to do to keep their rig upright in the turns.

> No. 357 sidecar driver Ace Kale (Kevin's father) again was in the pits, but his scheduled swinger Jeremy Bell was a no show. So they recruited 500cc support rider Brent Smith (the June 12 500cc Division 3 feature winner) to fill in as the swinger. He did so admirably.

> No. 11 sidecar rookie swinger Shannen Hennessey, 25, from San Clemente, was back in action two weeks following a concussion she received after being ejected from her sidecar. Her driver turned sharply to the right to avoid the overturned No. 07 in turn one. She landed helmet first on the hard dirt surface and was unconscious several minutes. Shannen did not remember the crash, but a medical evaluation near home confirmed a concussion. She said she had to buy a new helmet to replace the cracked helmet she wore June 12.

> 250cc junior rider Jake Whitcomb, 13, and his family missed week two at Industry because they were on a one week vacation in South America. A friend of his father (500cc Division 3 veteran Reverend Wade Whitcomb) invited the Whitcomb family to be his guest in northern Ecuador on the west coast near the equator. They enjoyed the trip.

> Attendance this week was up for the second week in a row. The opening night crowd May 29 on Connor Penhall Memorial Cup Night was one of the best attended nights of the season as usual with more than 1,400 persons present.

> Division 1 500cc rider Tyson Talkington, of Riverside, said he sold his No. 48 Jawa speedway bike to a guy named North. Tyson, 32, now races a PASSCAR super stock car at Perris Auto Speedway. He said he just moved from third to second place in track points. S/C driver Joe Jones came to PAS to watch him race last Saturday. Tyson started racing speedway bikes in 2009. He last raced speedway at Industry in 2017. He made two speedway starts in 2018—at Perris Raceway and Costa Mesa.

> Track announcer Terry Clanton filled in for Bruce Flanders again this week.

> The 2 to 10 pm Thursday, June 20 Harley-Davidson X-Games Hooligan Stampede qualifier event in the Grand Arena had more than 800 riders compete according to the event racing director Kelly Inman. There were about 2,000 in the facility and races were taped for telecast on July 23 on ABC/ESPN. Inman said everything ran so well they want him to run the early August finals at the indoor baseball stadium in Minneapolis, MN.

> Industry race date changed: The annual Junior Kurtz Memorial Cup race was moved up one week to Wed. August 14. The August 21 date is now listed as tentative. The 44th annual AMA California State Speedway Championship race will be held Sat. August 24 for 500cc Division 1, with races for junior riders as well. There will be no racing at Industry Wed. July 3 because of the July 4th holiday. The Industry schedule has four consecutive Wednesday night races on July 10, 17, 24, and 31.

#######################