| August 15, 2022
It was a hot Saturday night in Southern California, and the second round of the AMA National Speedway Championship in City of Industry at Industry Hills Speedway added to the heat, August 13.
Story and Photos By Richard Haight
All the best riders wanted to throw down this year’s top scorer Max Ruml but no one could. Ruml, aka “Max Max,” marched to both the California and AMA National Championships.
Ruml has been all but unbeatable this year. The best that anyone could do on Saturday night was a single defeat at the hands of Gino Manzares, with Gino using Max’s outside line to stymie Max’s drive. Max drove in so hard in the last turn that he nearly threw it away trying to get around Gino.
Max ran through virtually everyone else for four straight three-point heat wins over the best the country has to offer, which included 10-time California State champ Billy Janniro, Conner Penhall Memorial Champion Austin Novratil, Shawn “Mad Dog” McConnell, Manzares, Bart Bast, Aaron Fox and others. There were a few slips and slides with Shawn McConnell getting his left hand run over in his second heat. “Mad Dog” (McConnell), who is still more than competitive at near 65 years of age, gamely got up to start his third-round heat, but pulled out when the hand would not allow him to continue.
Janniro was also on a perfect run until his third heat, when he finished second to Ruml.
Other heat winners on the night were Austin Novratil with three, Russell Green with one win and Aaron Fox who managed two wins on the night.
In the first semi-final, Manzares handed Max his first defeat of the night, and one of the very few this entire year. But both advanced to the main event. In the second semi, Novratil was finally looking to be back on form defeating Janniro for the third spot in the final.
After the two semi-finals drawn from the top eight scorers on the night, the main event came down to Ruml, Janniro, Novratil and Manzares. Out of the gate Janniro was looking good, but as it has been all year, Max drove around the outside of everyone to take the last victory of the night, and the points that go with it. The finishing order was Ruml, Janniro, Manzares and Novratil.
The last round of the National Championship comes to Fast Fridays at Auburn California on September 17.
FINAL
- Max Ruml
- Billy Janniro
- Gino Manzares
- Austin Novratil