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Perris RacewayPerris, California
2020 AMA / FIM North America Speedway Final MAX RUML HEADS BACK TO THE WORLD SPEEDWAY STAGE WITH STUNNING AMERICAN FINAL WIN! Max Ruml booked his return to World Championship Speedway by winning the Law Tigers AMA FIM North America Final at Perris Raceway on 12th December with a perfect 15 points. It was by far the biggest night in the career of the 23 year old star of the domestic USA scene with five straight wins. Ruml featured in the 2014 and 2015 Team USA Speedway World Cup campaigns and with his win at Perris, he has booked his place in the 2021 Grand Prix Qualifiers in May and the chance to reignite his international career. Joining Ruml to represent USA in the GP rounds was runner up Broc Nicol, who finished on 13. The event was run over the traditional 16 rider / 20 heat format for GP Qualifiers. The field was stacked with the cream of American Speedway. Ahead of the event, nine riders competed in a 4 heat run off series of elimination races for the last two places with Michael Wells and Sara Cords being victorious and making their way into the main show. Round 1 saw pre event favorite Luke Becker win the opening ride by a long margin from Russell Green. Max Ruml scorched to lead in heat two ahead of Under 21 runner up Sebastian Palmese, Austin Novratil with defending champion Billy Janniro, to much surprise, at the back. With positions looking set on lap three, Palmese hit bike problems and Janniro pulled out a champion move to move by both Palmese and Novratil to get back into contention with second place. Joint pre event favorite Broc Nicol led home Aaron Fox to win heat three. A very fast paced Dillon Ruml beat 16 year old phenomenon Kyle Cunningham in heat 4. Max Ruml went two for two in a thrilling heat 5. He got the gate but Gino Manzares came by to make a stunning pass for the lead. Undaunted, Ruml quickly repaid the compliment to take his second win in perhaps the race of the night. Brother Dillon also remained unbeaten with a heat 6 win from veteran Eddie Castro. Heat 7 was a blockbuster in the making, featuring last years podium of Janniro, Becker and Nicol. It was Nicol who got the best start from gate 1, with Janniro and Becker locked into close combat in turn 1, Janniro coming out the better of that battle. Places remained for the rest of the race, Nicol becoming the third rider on a perfect score while Becker, in third, was left with work to do for the rest of the night. Russell Green led home Cunningham in heat 8. Broc Nicol made it 9 out of 9 by winning heat…9. Max Ruml joined him on a half time maximum by taking heat 10 from Blake Borello. Becker led home Fox in heat 11 with Dillon Ruml’s perfect score ended with third. Janniro won from Manzares in another close battle in heat 12 to move up to 7 points at half time. Round four commenced with Dillon Ruml claiming his third win out of four from Janniro. Manzares by now was up to full speed and handed Nicol’s first defeat in heat 14. Nicol was close and looking for room to go by but in the end he settled for vital points on the board in his bid for the GP Qualifiers. Heat 15 saw Max Ruml take on Becker. A Ruml win would put him in the clear lead for the first time in the event whilst Becker needed victory to keep his 2021 World dreams alive. Ruml made a blistering start and became only the third winner on the night so far from the usually favored gate 4. Becker came home in second. Green took his second win in the event in heat 16 from Fox. The final round had it all to play for; North American title, podium spots, GP Qualifier spots and British League visa eligibility. Blake Borello got onto the win chart in heat 17, with Sara Cords in second perhaps making history as a female rider scoring points in a GP Qualifier. Janniro moved up to a final tally of 12 by winning heat 18 from Cunningham, who impressively charged from last place to second. Becker matched Janniro’s final tally with a heat 19 win over Manzares. The God’s of the draw were kind for the 20th and final heat. Going in, all four riders were minimally podium contenders with Max Ruml (12), Nicol (11), Dillon Ruml (10) and Russell Green (9) as the contenders. Max Ruml pulled out a perfect start to take the lead from Nicol, with Dillon third. Positions did not change during the race and the first two finishers, Max and Broc Nicol duly booked their invites to the World Qualifiers in May 2021. Third place gave Dillon Ruml fifth on the night. The NorCal superstars of Janniro and Becker were the dessert on a night of speedway fine dining with a run off for third. Janniro, the modern era king of domestic USA prevailed.. The event was run without spectators, with the American Speedway community and a long list of sponsors making the impossible of such a big race happen. A large audience tuned in from all over the world to watch on a PPV stream at www.xsra.tv. Max Ruml becomes the third different winner in the modern era of the event, with Becker taking the title in 2018 and Janniro last time out. Ruml takes home the ‘Sarge’ Robert Fiesler Memorial trophy for 12 months. The title, the biggest in Max’s career, re-opens the door of an international speedway career for the young star. Results: ‘Law Tigers’ 2020 AMA FIM North America Final, Presented By ‘Crossbones and Beards.’ Rider Score Total 1-Max Ruml 3 3 3 3 3 15 Heats Main Events Other Divisions Junior speedway turn out was low with one 250 and three 150s who ran combined races that were scored separately. Whilst 250 rider Owen Williams won the final from a handicap, Levi Leutz was top dog in the 150s. Ryder Manzares, son of Team USA’s Gino, won all Pee Wee races. Though the event marked the last race at Perris in 2020, it is a quick turnaround with the 2021 New Year’s Classic scheduled on January 9th. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and race date changes, Perris ran it’s full 10 race schedule in 2020 and has another 10 races planned in 2021. The Perris Promotion also has announced they are getting ready to run a similar style race program next year at Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield, California at a modern and new State of the Art Motorsport facility. The first public practice at Bakersfield will be on January 3rd after a successful behind closed doors test was held last weekend. Results Division 2 B Main Division 2 Main Division Three Main Juniors Pee Wee Sidecars
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