While the heatwave gripping much of California has slowed many things down, it didn’t seem to affect the action Saturday night, August 1, at the Industry Grand Arena in the City of Industry. Both riders and spectators were ready to go.
Story & Photos by Richard T. Haight
The night opened with Broc Nicols flying away from the pack to secure his first heat win. Next up was Max “Mad Max” Ruml, who also won, starting a string of four straight wins. Then Wilbur Hancock, son of four-time World champ Greg Hancock, recorded a runaway heat win.
You can never tell what is going to happen at a Speedway race, and someone in the crowd decided to sponsor a $500 match race between Justin “The Jet” Almon and Jordan Vanderham. Almon squared off against Vanderham in a best-of-two-out-of-three challenge. It was close, but Vanderham went home $500 richer after some “hand-to-hand” combat.
Unfortunately, mechanical failures took a few of the top riders down, including National Champion Nicols. Despite a great 2025 season and wins so far this season, the 2025 AMA National champ went 0-for-4 for the rest of the night, threw a chain while leading his second heat, and lost a motor to finish off the night.
In the Division Two main event, young Catherine Moore scored a close victory over five-time winner Eloy Medellin Jr.
Next up was the Sidecar main event. Dillon Osborne had been asked to substitute for one of the Summers brothers, and he took the job seriously. He and Tom Summers won three straight heats and pulled away from Kevin Kale and Jen Hernandez to win the main event.
After the two semis, the final four came down to Ruml, young phenom Levi Leutz, Vanderham and Almon. Without his perennial nemesis Nicol to bang bars with, Ruml may have thought it would be an easy win, but Leutz had his own ideas and nearly came away with a main-event victory. The final was Ruml by inches over Leutz, with Almon and Vanderham bringing up the rear.CN
