| 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.
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…
