By Micheal P. Murray
Owego, NY, May 25, Year?
Hank Bassett won his third straight main event at Champion Speedway. He was never seriously challenged during the race. Using a new four valve Jawa this year, he has easily won in all three main event victories.
Len Dillon, a Canadian rider making his first appearance at Champion, put in an impressive ride and made it to the Handicap and Division II main events.
In the first Handicap semi final, the 3,000 fans were on their feet at the finish when Gene Bonsignore and Pete Atwater came out of turn four together, battling for third place, with Bosignore winning over Atwater by inches. Ken Gehres won the race with a good ride with Jody Garris second.
Ted Fey put in another good ride to win the second Handicap semi final with Norm Robinson using a borrowed bike after his new JAP engine quit running, taking second place and Canadian Len Dillon third.
Pete Atwater, having one of his best seasons in speedway racing, put in an excellent ride to win the first Division 1 semi final with Mike Warren second to go to the main event.
Mark Plew gave Hank Basset a rood run for the money in the second Division 1 semi final, but came up second to Bassett to go to the main event.
In the Handicap main Garris and Robinson went down in the first turn of the first lap to cause a restart. On the restart Garris took the lead from Dillon in the second lap, and then lost it in the fourth lap to Gehres. Gehres won the race and Garris held off Fey for second.
Gehres capped off a perfect night of racing with his first double win of the season by taking the Handicap and Division II main events. In the Division II main, Jerry Messersmith was second with George Lewis third and Dillon fourth.
In the Division 1 main event, Bassett came off the line first and went on to easily win. Mark Plew was a distant second. Atwater and Mike Warren tangled in the first turn of the first lap and were never really in the race after that. Atwater finished third with Warren fourth.
Results:
Division 1: Hank Bassett, Mark Plew, Pete Atwater, Mike Warren.
Handicap: Ken Gehres, Jody Garris, Ted Fey.
Division II: Ken Gehres, Jerry Messersmith, George Lewis, Len Dillon
back to: North American Speedway History