| February 21, 2024
After a one-week delay due to a rain-flooded track at Kevin Harvick’s Kern County Raceway, the second annual USA vs. The World International Speedway Challenge got under way with dry skies on February 17 in Bakersfield, California.
Team USA dominated the second annual USA vs. The World International Speedway Challenge at Kern County Speedway in California.
Story and Photos by Richard Haight
Expat Brit Steve Evans promotes the growth of Speedway in America by bringing some of the best riders from around the world to compete with Team USA.
The home team included the Ruml brothers, Max and Dillon, who are multi-time California State Speedway and AMA National Speedway champs; 2023 North American Speedway Final Champion Luke Becker, who is currently riding for the Leicester Lions in the SGB (Speedway Great Britain) Premiership league in the UK; multi-time California State and AMA National Champion Billy Janniro; and 2023 California State champ Broc Nicol. Rounding out the team were Team Captain Gino Manzares, 2021 AMA National Under 21 (U21) Champion Slater Lightcap and 2022 U21 champ Alex Martin.
For The World team, there were riders representing the UK, Italy, Poland, Sweden and Northern Ireland, with the UK’s Chris “Bomber” Harris captaining the team.
After the first round of heats, in the traditional 20-heat round-robin format, where everyone races everyone else, Team USA jumped out to a 15-9-point lead. That was much better than last year when two Polish-league teens coached by four-time World Champion Greg Hancock seemed to dominate.
Although there were ups and downs and virtually everybody had taken a fall or slid out while leading, the U.S. team was able to maintain a decent lead. The track had recently been gifted with a set of air fences, and while some of the falls looked nasty, virtually everyone walked away intact—but the same could not be said for a couple of the bikes. At the end of the traditional round of heats, unlike last year, Team USA came away with a 57-44 victory over The World.
Billy Janniro leads Luke Becker and Slater Lightcap.
The top three scorers for each side were Chris Harris (18), Tom Brennan (17) and Leon Flint (7) for The World team, and Max Ruml (13), Luke Becker (12) and Gino Manzares (9) for the Yanks, but consistency won the day, with Team USA taking a lot more points overall.
After the traditional round-robin event was done, the 16 top points scorers were matched up in a four-race set of semifinals, with only the winners advancing to the individual Championship Final. The Final turned out to be a 3-1 Team USA contest, with only Bomber Harris representing The World. But that didn’t seem to bother Harris, as he jumped out to what looked to be a commanding lead, only to throw it away and test the new air fences in the third lap. The win went to Luke Becker, with Billy Janniro taking second and “Mad Max” Ruml taking the last podium position. That makes it a double victory for Team USA, taking both the team and individual crowns.
