BSN subscribers will get a bonus when watching Saturday night’s North American Final as riders ditch a long-time US tradition.
All the 21 starters in the 22 race programme will be wearing helmet colours to help viewers follow the action.
Kern County track promoter Steve Evans has taken delivery of four sets of the helmet colours for the meeting which will decide two of the three stars who will represent the USA in next year’s 2025 Grand Prix qualifying rounds.
He explained: “There were two main moans when we streamed the America v The Rest test match in February – one was that the race jackets of the two teams were too similar because they both had a similar background colour. The other was that viewers didn’t know who the riders were because they didn’t have helmet colours!
“Because we don’t have a lot of team events here our fans recognise the riders by their individual race numbers and by their kevlars and style but I recognise that isn’t as easy for the BSN subscribers.
“Some of our riders, those who have raced in Europe, have their own helmet colours but I got four sets from Australia so the riders will be wearing them in every race.”
Fifteen riders – Slater Lightcap, Chris Kerr, Alex Martin, Max Ruml, Billy Janniro, Sebastian Palmese, Austin Novratil, Russell Green, Aaron Fox, Louie Mersaroli, Luke Becker, Broc Nicol, Dillon Ruml, Timmy Dion and Gino Manzares – have been seeded to the Final based on their performances throughout the season and the final place will go to the winner of a six rider elimination contest.
Justin Almon, Greg Moore, Jordan Vanderham and Michael Wells will compete in the first run-off, the first two joining teenager Wilbur Hancock (four times world champion Greg’s son) and 64-year-old veteran Eddie Castro in the run-off Final with the winner taking the 16th spot in the full meeting and second and third acting as reserves.
The title – and the chance of getting into the 2025 Grand Prix series – will be decided over the old one-World Final format of 20 heats.
Half of the field, Kerr, 17-times American champion Janniro, Fox, Becker, Nicol, Manzares and the Ruml brothers have raced in British Leagues and Becker and Manzares were active in Europe this year.
While the eighth of a mile (220 yards) Kern County Raceway in Bakersfield is smaller than any British track (Plymouth’s Coliseum is 236 yards) the banking makes it more like a traditional UK circuit.
You can watch the meeting on BSN here, live coverage beginning at 8.45pm (UK) with Ian Brannan and Greg Blair providing the commentary from California. Stream Passes are priced at £11.99 and give access to the meeting live and on-demand.
LINE UP:
Final: Slater Lightcap, Chris Kerr, Alex Martin, Max Ruml, Billy Janniro, Sebastian Palmese, Austin Novratil, Russell Green, Aaron Fox, Louie Mersaroli, Luke Becker, Broc Nicol, Dillon Ruml, Timmy Dion, Gino Manzares.
Qualifiers: Justin Almon, Greg Moore, Jordan Vanderham, Michael Wells, Wilbur Hancock, Eddie Castro.
Words by Holeshot Media.
Image by Dale Miller.