2010 New York State Ice Speedway Final
Chenango Bridge, New York
2010 NAIIR Final Round New York State Indoor Ice Speedway Championships Results
Saturday May 8, 2010
By: Jason Bonsignore, East Coast Speedway Promotions
Photo by: John Zachary/Silent Shots
It should have been warm outside in May but on a cold spring evening on May 8, 2010 in Chenango Bridge, NY the racing action inside on ice at the Chenango Ice Rink was hot! The top US and Canadian Speedway Ice Racers were vying for the NY State Ice Championship Title! The 2009 winner, Shawn McConnell, was unable to make the trip so the title was wide open for grabs!
Round one began with Tuff McBride taking the win over Dave Clark with "Jammin" Jeff Garlinghouse in third and Josh Carr fourth. The next heat was a great race between Mike Buman and Jerry "Buford" Harman. Harman led most of the race but Buman made a move up the inside on lap 3 to take 3 points. Harman fell to fourth with Gary "Hitman" Hesmer second and Keith Hawkins third. Craig "Cobra" Estelle made a return to speedway to take victory in the final heat of the opening round over NY State dirt Champion, Adam "Missile" Mittl. Shawn "Steamboat" Engel was third with Andy "Crawfish" Crawford last.
Hawkins was on fire to kick off round two handing McBride a stunning defeat. Garlinghouse and Engel rounded things out in that order. Mittl was back in top form when he came out and beat Buman. Hesmer put the hit out on Carr for third place. Clark defeated Estelle in a good battle with Crawford and Harman taking third and fourth before intermission.
In Support racing at this point it was Don "Daredevil" Wheeland who was shining and he went out to take the feature win over Brian Bailey and Bunk Harris later in the program.
The final heat races saw McBride destined to get back to a first place finish and he did so by getting to the end ahead of second placed Harman and third placed Garlinghouse while Crawford had traction issues. Clark continued to look strong and held off Hawkins. Buman stayed ahead of Carr for third. In the last heat race, Mittl got revenge on Estelle and handily beat him. Taking one point in third was Engel while Hesmer was fourth.
Carr put it all together and rode to a smooth win in the C-Final over Garlinghouse, Harman and Crawford in that order. As before mentioned it was Wheeland who then came out and won the Support Final with Bailey just behind him and Harris not far back. The B-Final turned out to be one of the better events of the night with Buman and Hawkins closely spaced for four laps but with a good battle going on behind them for third and fourth between Hesmer and Engel. Buman would win with the final finish after that being Hawkins, Hesmer and Engel.
By the time the A-Final had rolled around there was not much left of the ice as an apparent lack of effort on the rink's behalf to thicken it properly for the race had led to it wearing out very early and this was having quite an ill-effect on the racing. The start line was completely down to concrete and this made having certain start positions where the concrete was a big disadvantage. What should have been a great final turned into Clark and Estelle not really having any competition as Mittl and McBride spun for what seemed like days on the concrete before their machines got moving off the line. Clark capped off a solid ice season by going on for his first State Ice Championship with Estelle second, McBride third and Mittl fourth. Mittl wound up taking the overall North American Indoor Ice Racing Points Championship.
A-FINAL
1. Dave Clark
2. Craig Estelle
3. Tuff McBride
4. Adam Mittl
B-FINAL
This was where the ref incident took place and he was a little out of it to make a final call. I think if the scorers revert to the last lap they had...
1. Mikey Buman
2. Keith Hawkins
3. Gary Hesmer
4. Shawn Engel
C-FINAL
1. Josh Carr
2. Jeff Garlinghouse
3. Jerry Harman
4. Andy Crawford DNR
Junior
1. Spencer Portararo
2. Roger Roberts
Photo by: John Zachary/Silent Shots
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