|
|
Fast Fridays Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
1273 High Street
Auburn, California
Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
AMA Speedway National Championship
AUBURN, CALIFORNIA, September 25, 2021
Above results:
I was disappointed not to see the results of the first round published anywhere except on SpeedwayBikes.com
For those who are interested in following the National championship the previous results should have been in the program.
I have included a column on the right to show the series total for the riders who competed in both rounds.
I was under the impression that for a National Championship series riders MUST compete in all rounds. Otherwise you get “spoilers” like Charlie who took points away from Borello, Novratil and the NY riders who did both rounds.
Gary Roberts
Compliments of Doug Champ
By Michael Kirby
Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway
Gold Country Fairgrounds
Ruml Wins National Speedway Championship
By Michael Kirby (Story & Photos)
AUBURN, CALIFORNIA, September 25, 2021
Max Ruml has finally done it. Ruml has been knocking at the championship door for years honing his speedway skills and Saturday night at Fast Friday’s Motorcycle Speedway in Auburn Ca. he won the 2021 AMA National Speedway Championship. The 24 year old began his racing career in 2008 in the junior ranks and began racing professionally in 2013. Ruml has placed second to ten time national champion Billy Janniro in the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019 championships. This year he would not be denied.
This year’s championship included two rounds in New York, one in Owego which was canceled due to poor track conditions, round two in Greene NY and the final round at Fast Friday’s. Ruml was one of five west coast riders to make the trip to New York and had a perfect round bringing 21 points to the final round. Gino Manzares, Austin Novratil, Billy Janniro and Blake Borello also made the trip bringing points to the final round.
Coming to the final round Ruml needed 17 points to clinch the championship but it was not going to be handed to him. Manzares and Novratil were each just five points behind him and Janniro was seven points behind. The rounds were scored for 20 heats with the 16 riders scoring three points for a win, two points for a second place finish, three points for a third place finish and zero points for a fourth place finish. Top scorers were seeded into two semi-final heats and the top two riders from each semi-final transferred to the grand final. The grand final finishing order determined the round winners and their accumulated points total from both championship rounds determined the national champion.
The racing was fantastic, four riders, and all scratch four lap races. Ruml was having another fantastic night with a perfect score through the five rounds of heat races. In the first race Ruml faced Manzares but prevailed and Manzares finished second to him. That was the only point that Manzares was to drop during the evenings racing. Manzares went on to win the grand final and won the second series round. Ruml beat all challengers through the heat races but ran into trouble when he faced 2021 Fast Fridays track champion Charlie Venegas in semi-final one.
Seeded in semi-final one was Ruml with 15 perfect points, Venegas with 12 points, Louie Mersaroli with nine points and Bart Bast with nine points. Never count Venegas out, he can always play the spoiler and he would be the man to tarnish Ruml’s perfect night. Racing out of gate four he took control, casually looking over his shoulder at Ruml once in a while to check on him. Venegas finished first, Ruml dropping a point finishing second, Bast was third and Mersaroli was fourth. First and second Venegas and Ruml transferred to the grand final.
Semi-final two seeded of course Manzares who came in just one point off perfect so far with 14 points. Also in semi-final two was Janniro with 12 points, Aaron Fox with 10 points and Russell Green with eight points. In a fantastic race Manzares was able to keep Janniro at bay and finished first, Janniro was second and they both filled the other two spots in the grand final. Fox was third and Green fourth.
The grand final riders all walked out to the start line with their crews and began checking the condition of the lanes. Venegas was in lane one, Ruml in lane two, Janniro in lane three and Manzares in lane four. With the four best riders of the night and you could argue the four best riders in the nation lining up for the final anything could happen. Four guys jamming into turn one, something has to give and Ruml went into the wall, and had to withdraw. Manzares took over and won the race and the round two championship, Janniro was second and Venegas was third.
Even though Ruml was out of the grand final he still had the most combined points in the two championship rounds and was awarded his long awaited national championship. Manzares was second in the national championship and Janniro was third. “I was stoked coming into this round with a perfect score in New York, but Gino (Manzares) was right there,” said Ruml. “I am just very excited to be national champion.”
The national championship wraps up the 2021 Fast Friday’s season as the USA vs. The World finale event has been canceled. Travel challenges prevented the European riders from making the trip to Auburn.
2021 AMA Speedway National Championship Series (Two Rounds)
1-Max Ruml 38, 2-Gino Manzares 36, 3-Billy Janniro 30, 4-(Tie) Austin Novratil & Blake Borello 19, 6-Charlie Venegas 16, 7-Spencer Portararo 13, 8-Johnny Oakden 13, 9-Aaron Fox 11, 10-Bart Bast 10.
AMA Speedway National Championship Final 9-25-2021
1-Gino Manzares, 2-Billy Janniro, 3-Charlie Venegas, 4-Max Ruml , 5-Aaron Fox , 6-Bart Bast, 7-Louie Mersaroli, 8-Russell Green, 9-Blake Borello, 10-Danny Faria
Youth 250 Main Event
1-Catherine Moore
Youth 150 Main Event
Caden Cavrikas
|
