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AMA Youth Speedway Long Track National Championship and Allen Fife Salute to America Night
Perris Raceway October 28, 2023
By: Steve Evans Email: dreamteamspeedway@sbcglobal.net
NICOL, HOHLBEIN, AND SCHULTZ ALL WIN BIG AS SPEEDWAY RETURNS TO PERRIS
Speedway made its long-awaited return to Perris Raceway on October 28th with the 3rd Annual Allen Fife Salute to America event, which also incorporated the 2023 AMA Youth Long Track National Championships. The popular venue had been dormant for speedway since Dan Bewley wowed the crowds last February, largely due to a scarcity of available dates and cooperation with the other Southern California promotions and tracks. On a cool fall evening, Broc Nicol took the spoils in Division 1 with Nick Hohlbein (250 Youth) & Ryder Schultz (150 Mini) taking the big titles.
The Division 1 program fell short of what would be considered an ideal number of entrants, but the format ran pitched all of the big guns against each other one team in the heats. This resulted in close races and no luck of the draw to unbalance the program. Ten riders raced four times each to qualify two directly to the final, 3rd-6th to a semi final and the rest of the field to the consolation. Max Ruml, who won both versions of America’s National title this year, showed his liking for the Perris venue where he had also won two FIM North America Finals in the past with a perfect heats score of 12 points. He defeated all of his major rivals and stamped his authority on the meeting, including a pass of Nicol in his fourth heat. Brother Dillon reeled off three wins after coming second to his brother first time out, with both going directly to the final. Nicol was right behind with ten points, but this meant he had to earn his final spot through the semifinal. Aaron Fox, rejuvenated and ready to return to full time racing after taking most of the season off, was very smooth and solid with 9 points. Astonishingly, the last two challengers for the semifinal, Austin Novratil and Eddie Castro came through the heats with just four points each after bike troubles beset each of them at various times.
The semifinal race saw Nicol with a fast start with Fox following and Novratil third. Though the track was on the slick side, Novratil read the conditions well and made a superb inside pass on Fox to get second place and reignite his evening. Fox kept close to Novratil but was not able to make a move to take second back with Castro picking up the rear. Talented youngster Justin Almon won the consolation race for the non-qualifiers.
Max Ruml took gate 2 for the final, Dillon electing gate 1 and Nicol off the outside. As an added bonus, the riders in the final would race for a $5,000 prize fund with Allen Fife’s son Kevin, the long-time clerk of the course at Perris, rallying up sponsors to load the purse. The tapes went up and it was Dillon Ruml inside and Nicol outside who made the best starts. Nicol had the edge as they hit turn 1 and then moved comfortably ahead. The rest of the field grappled for places with Novratil firstly getting by Max Ruml to take third and then by Dillon for second. Max then switched positions with his brother to take third place but while the podium battle was ongoing Nicol was away and cruised home to retain the title he first won in 2022.
The co headline was the 2023 AMA Youth Long Track National Championship. Though more like a traditional UK track in size, the Perris circuit is bigger than your typical short rodeo arena oval and therein lies the logic of the titles. The 250cc Youth Division had 4 entrants who raced in 5 heats accumulating points with the top scorer being the winner. The ultra-ambitious Nick Hohlbein, who raced in SGP3 250cc World Championship and in the Polish Ekstraliga training camp events in 2023 was simply in a class of his own, taking 5 wins and cruising to the #1 plate. The battle for 2nd though went right down the last race with SGP4 2022 rider Kensei Matsudaira edging out New York’s Albert Smith for second.
The 150 Mini Class had 7 entrants. Each raced four heats to qualify the top four in points to the final. The final alone would determine who was champion. Local racer Ryder Schultz, who started racing at Perris years ago on a 50cc peewee bike, won all of his four heats. He was joined in the final race by Wesley Rearick, Macoley Saunders (who also traveled from New York) and multi-talented racer Hudson Jones. Schultz once more raced out to the front in the final with Saunders second and Rearick third. Saunders, who traveled cross country to the event for the second year in a row, reeled in Schultz and came close to being able to challenge, but Schultz kept his cool to hold on for victory. Saunders was second and Rearick third.
Division Two had four entrants and saw a clean sweep from Rudy Laurer. Division Three was won by a first-time rider Brandon Howard who looked very impressive in taking three wins out of three. Other heat winners were veteran Tom Bryant, who was celebrating his 21st birthday again, and Kerry Sorensen, who returned to the sport recently after a lay off of around 15 years. The Last Chance race was won by Jason Wood. The vintage class saw Chris Mistretta taking heat 1, Ron Davis heat 2 and then Mistretta taking the Main. Rey Resendez won the first Rod Lake 50cc kids heat with Thomas Chavira winning heat two and the final. Joe Steffen was the victor in the Flat Track class with Elliot Iverson winning the Hooligan Division.
The event is held in honor of Allen Fife who passed away a few years ago. Fife was a promoter of speedway in Las Vegas, an actor, and a track announcer at the legendary Ascot venue. He was an extremely popular figure in sport and the event, championed by his son Kevin, has become an established part of the calendar.
Going into 2024, the plan is to return to a more regular schedule of races at Perris. The 2023 schedule was shortened as other promotions who were still recovering from two years of Covid shutdown reestablished and fine-tuned their schedules and Perris, by mutual consent, deferred pre-scheduled dates to the other tracks. The next scheduled race at Perris is February 17th, 2024, one week after the USA V World race at Bakersfield. It is expected that several of the world team will stay on for this event.
Results
Allen Fife Salute to America Main Event
98 Broc Nicol
7 Austin Novratil
5 Max Ruml
3 Dillon Ruml
Semi Final
98 Broc Nicol
7 Austin Novratil
46 Aaron Fox
14 Eddie Castro
Consolation
137 Justin Almon
327 Tyler Moszer
290 Harold Hartke
182 Rudy Laurer (DNS)
AMA 250 Youth Long Track National Championship
29 Nick Hohlbein 15 points
74 Kensei Matsudaira 6
7 Albert Smith 6
13 Brady Landon 0
150 Mini Youth Long Track National Championship Final
22 Ryder Schultz
33 Macoley Saunders
50 Wesley Rearick
15 Hudson Jones
Heat Points
Schultz 16, W Rearick 11, Saunders 9, Jones 8, Riley Rearick 6, Zaal Farhand 5, Gavin Evans Seeley 4.
Division 2 Main Event
182 Rudy Laurer
327 Tyler Moszer
111 David Newsham (RET)
113 Tony Rutledge (DNS)
Division 3 Main Event
100 Brandon Howard
280 Kerry Sorensen
220 Tom Bryant
369 Troy McQueen
125 Jason Wood (FX)
D3 Last Chance
125 Jason Wood
299 Ryan Bacarella
313 Paige Newsham (FX)
108 Bobby Richards (DNS)
Vintage Speedway Main
254 Chris Mistretta
163 Ron Davis
215 Greg Willis
108 Bobby Richards
138 Jim Sanders nonstarter
Rod Lake Kids 50cc
28 Thomas Chavira
69 Rey Resendez
98 Zaal Farhand
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