VENTURA RACEWAY
10 West Harbor Blvd.
Ventura, CA 93001
2019 AMA National Speedway Championship Series Round 1
June 15 , 2019 - Ventura Raceway
Story and Photos by: Mitch Friedman -<mitcho399@gmail.com>
Ventura Raceway for the 7th straight season has held a round of the AMA National Speedway Championships. The “Commotion by the Ocean” is an historic Speedway venue going back to Tuesday night racing in the 70’s and 80’s. Tonight it held up to its name of “Commotion by the Ocean”
The Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys sponsored round one saw sixteen riders set to battle and see who would take round one of the championship series. The favorite coming into the night was 9 time and defending AMA Speedway National Champion, five-time California State Champion Billy “The Kid” Janniro. Janniro won every one of his heat races going into the semi-finals to show the field that his dominance of the sport is still there! Gino Manzares was 2nd in points going into the semis. Gino has several year’s experience in the English Speedway leagues and with Team USA. The Ruml bothers where 3rd and 4th on points. Max spent time overseas racing for the Edinburgh Monarchs in the UK and has really shown his speed and maturity since returning state side. Younger brother Dillon is the current California State Champion and has the nickname of “Pickle”.
They also had a Vintage Speedway Championship race for stand-up engine bikes that was won by Chris Mistretta on a very clean Jawa.
Wilbur Hancock, son of 4-time Speedway World Champion Greg Hancock took the win in the 250 Support Main on his GM 250 engine in a full size Stuha Chassis bike over Ron Davis. Grin was at the track as “Pitman” for his son!
Semi-Final 1 Dillon “Pickle” Ruml got out of the gate fast and held on to the lead till turn 3 when Janniro went up high and right around Ruml and never looked back. Janniro took the win with Ruml in second spot both moving onto the Main Event. Samuel Ramirez and Bart Bast rounded out the field.
Semi-Final 2 The “Commotion by the Ocean” lived up to its name. Gino Manzares grabbed the lead out of the gate with Max Ruml and Russell Green in tow. It seemed like all 3 riders spun their rear wheel at the same time and then Max’s tire got grip and wheeled into Manzares bike and everyone going down hard! Manzares got the worse of it as he slammed into the ground hard and looked to have broken or dislocated his right shoulder. Ruml looked to be knocked out but was alert quickly and Green just laid down the bike to avoid the other 2 down riders was okay. Here is where it gets tricky the semi only started with 3 riders and Austin Novratil did not start the race because he blew up his GM engine. With 2 riders out from the crash that put Russell Green out of Reno into the main event.
There was no stopping Janniro he won every heat and Semi he rode in and the Main was not going to change that. Janniro grabbed the gate and lead from start to finish with Dillon Ruml trying to stay on his rear wheel but that did not last long as Janniro pulled away from the field. Ruml and Green followed Janniro over the line.
Looks like Janniro is looking for his 10th AMA Speedway National Championship with 2 rounds remaining at The Grand in Industry in August and the Final round in September at Auburn.
Results and Points:
1. Billy Janniro 21
2. Dillon Ruml 15
3. Russell Green 15
4. Gino Manzares 13
5. Max Ruml 12
6. Samuel Ramirez 11
7. Bart Bast 9
8. Austin Novratil 8
9. Jason Ramirez 7
10. Colton Hicks (WC2) 6
11. Tim Gomez 5
12. Eddie Castro 5
13. Bob Hicks (WC1) 3
14. Blake Borello 3
15. Danny Faria 2
16. Tommy Hedden 0
West Coast Vintage Speedway National Championship
1. 254 Chris Mistretta
2. 163 Ron Davis
3. 240 Dan Waller
4. 27 Bob Waller
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