2024 Junior Kurtz Memorial Cup Speedway Results

| August 20, 2024

The seventh annual Junior Kurtz Memorial Cup, held on August 14 at The Grand Arena at Industry Hills Expo Center in City of Industry, California, was full of surprises.

By Richard T. Haight

The night started with “Last Man Out” heat racing, in which the gate goes up and after one lap, the last guy across the line is excluded. After two one-lap heats, the last two riders go to the line for a two-lap fight for all the bucks. This unusual event was brought back on Wednesday night, with both the promoter and the fans pitching in extra money, with 100 percent going to the winner. Nearly $1000 was in the pot.

Max Ruml (1) and Broc Nicol at 2024 Junior Kurtz Memorial Cup — **Max Ruml (1) and Broc Nicol battle at Industry Speedway. It ended up being Nicol’s night. Photo: Chuck Null**

Although “Mad Max” Ruml has been pretty much unbeatable this season, nothing lasts forever. Ruml managed to avoid elimination for the first two one-lappers but couldn’t get around Broc Nicol to save his life, with Nicol taking home a handful of wadded-up $10s, $20s, and $50s to the delight of the crowd.

After working through the heats, Ruml took a nearly perfect score to make it to the main, with Nicol, Slater Lightcap and Aaron Fox all tied exactly one point behind.

At the gate, both Nicol and Ruml got great starts, with the lead trading places a couple of times each lap, never more than a few inches apart. Both of them tested out different lines to block or hold the lead. But at the checkers, it was Nicol beating Ruml by six inches, if that.

The rest of the evening was just as exciting, from the PeeWees to the Sidecars, with the latter last up of the main events. Twice the displacement, twice the riders, national champs Jones and Summers narrowly beat team Ovrid /Ovrid, with the Smylie/Kinner outfit taking the last place on the podium.