Champion Speedway
Owego, New York

East Coast Speedway Series - Speedway Joe Cup - Buman Doubles Down
By Jason Bonsignore
Champion Owego, New York, USA - June 27, 2010
Eastern Speedway Promotions
Photo by John Zachary

On June 27, Champion Speedway ran a rare Sunday evening program billed as the Speedway Joe Cup to honor longtime Speedway fan, Joe Hodak of Johnson City, NY. Hodak has rarely missed a race in 35 years of Champion Speedway. In the heyday at Champion, the program was always Sunday evenings and huge crowds attended. Nowadays it seems difficult to get spectators out on Sundays but Champion chooses to run one Sunday a month when its sister track, Action Park, operates on a Saturday.

The racing began with handicap heat races. Casey Donholt won the first one with Josh Carr second, Andy Crawford third, Lee Bailey fourth and Don Wheeland fifth. Tuff McBride came all the way from the 50 yard line also to win his heat. He was followed up by Jerry Harman, Dee Holden and Shawn Engel in that order. Mark Bradley did not make the call. Mikey Buman made it three for three for the 50 yard markers when he closed out the heats with a win. Fellow 50 yarder, Adam Mittl, was second. Third went to Russ Cornell with Katalin Davis fourth and Brian Bailey fifth.

Donholt looked strong again by winning his handicap semi. Bailey and Buman also gained transfer spots to the Main with second and third places. Crawford, Cornell and Davis finished out of the running. McBride was leading the second semi with Mittl in second when Jerry Harman hooked up and accidentally got into Carr. Both riders were caught up on the bikes and carried speed into the end pit wall hard. Unfortunately Carr was unable to get up and was diagnosed with a broken leg. He would later have surgery the next day. Shawn Engel would inherit third and the final transfer position.

McBride kept his good night going with a victory in his scratch ride. Coming in second it was Clark with Davis third and Cornell fourth. Donholt also remained unbeaten making a scratch win over Buman and Crawford. Bailey did not make the ride as had followed Carr to the hospital. Mittl scored an easy match race win over Engel in closing the heats with Harman out from the crash and Clark having bike problems.

Donholt handed McBride his first loss in the first scratch semi final but both riders would go on to the final. Davis beat out Engel for third with Cornell taking fifth. Mittl beat Buman for first in the other semi. It was Clark and Crawford who would go on to the last chance by getting third and fourth.

Clark handily won the last chance over Davis and Engel. Crawford bowed out with bike problems.

Buman drew the pole for the scratch main and was eager to win. He had not won a Main event in nearly 3 years and wanted it bad as he is a two-time Speedway Joe Cup winner. He made a nice start and rode a tight inside line to take the checkered flag on his H&B racing Jawa. Donholt tried hard but managed second with McBride third, Mittl fourth and Clark fifth.

In the first attempt at the handicap final Engel went down and Mittl had to lay it down to avoid him which caused a restart. On the second try, Buman got past Engel, the only rider in front of the 50 yard line, early and basically cruised to the checkered flag for a double win. Mittl moved up to second place overall with McBride coming from the 60 for third. Engel would take fourth, Donholt fifth and Bailey was a non starter.

Speedway Joe Cup
1. Mikey Buman
2. Casey Donholt
3. Tuff McBride
4. Adam Mittl
5. Dave Clark

Handicap Main
1. Mikey Buman
2. Adam Mittl
3.Tuff McBride
4. Shawn Engel
5. Casey Donholt
6. Lee Bailey DNS

Support Main
1. Katalin Davis
2. Zach Peters
3. Dee Holden
4. Bob Harris
5. Don Wheeland
6. Brian Bailey

ATV Pro Main
1. Tom Donahue
2. Rick Ganoung
3. Kevin Whitmore
4. Sean Neal