Champion Speedway
Owego, New York
Donholt wins at Champion
East Coast Speedway Series
By Jason Bonsignore
Champion Owego, New York, USA - July 31, 2010
Eastern Speedway Promotions
Photo by Silent Shots Photography
The weather at Champion Speedway on July 31 was better than the previous week when the program was washed out just minutes into it by rain. The track was in good condition and ready for racing.
Round one of the all scratch program kicked off with Tuff McBride taking a win on his new GM motorcycle. Second place went to Dave Clark while Shawn "Steamboat" Engel was third and Dee Holden fourth. Casey Donholt took three points in the next outing over Corey Brookes, Keith Hawkins and Jeff Garlinghouse in that order. Former 4-time East Coast Points Champion, "Mean" Gene Bonsignore scored a surprise win over current Champion, Adam "Missile" Mittl, in the last heat. Mittl would take second with Andy Crawford third and Russ "Doctor Dirt" Cornell fourth.
Clark got on the winners board to start round two when he beat out Brookes, Crawford and Hawkins in that order. McBride kept unbeaten by handing Mittl a loss. Donholt was third with Holden fourth. Bonsignore again scored three points by keeping ahead of Engel, Garlinghouse and Cornell.
McBride was making good use of his GM as he took another win in the third series. Taking second in that one was Hawkins, third was Crawford and last was Garlinghouse. Donholt met up with Mittl again and this time got the best of him by winning. Mittl had second handily but fell on the last lap and Cornell got by for second. Mittl recovered quick enough to keep third over Holden. Bonsignore made another nice start and held off Brookes for a win. Engel was third and Clark had bike problems at the back.
The final heat races began with a big match between McBride and Mittl. McBride outgated him though and could not be caught. Mittl would take second with Brookes third and Crawford fourth. Bonsignore would cap off a perfect run of heats with a win over Hawkins. Engel was third and Holden fourth. Donholt finished off with the checkered flag while Clark took a second, Garlinghouse third and Cornell fourth.
Bonsignore and McBride were tied at 12 points and would toss a coin for first gate selection for the final. McBride won and chose gate one. Bonsignore took two with Donholt taking three, Mittl four and Clark was on the outside. Donholt burst out of the gate first and rode off with his third win of the season. McBride was a close second. Mittl third, Clark fourth and Bonsignore fifth.
Champion Speedway gets set for a big run of events in mid August through September. August 14th is the Nikstock music festival along with full race program which worked out very well in June with the music and races mixing well together then on August 28th the Legends of speedway are coming back and many old time riders have pledged to get back on a bike, this will be the largest reunion event since Champion re-opened in 1997 plus there will be a large turnout for the regular race program and on Labor Day weekend the track plays host to the US Open Championship Finals on Sept 5th plus will have a live band playing. Five International stars from CA have already committed to racing in the US open and the field should be the best in years. Champion also just opened its go-kart fun track which is a blast for people of all ages!
For more info visit www.eastcoastspeedway.com or call (585) 723-9746.
Scratch Main
1. Casey Donholt
2. Tuff McBride
3. Adam Mittl
4. Dave Clark
5. Gene Bonsignore
Support A Final
1. Jeff Garlinghouse
2. Dee Holden
3. Brian Bailey
4. Zach Peters
5. Bunk Harris
Support B
1. Bill Papula
2. Delbert Roser
Juniors
1. Spencer Portararo
2. Dakota Crone
Dirt Bikes
1. Jordan Engel
2. Roger Roberts
3. Dakota Crone
PW
1. Kaitlan Bailey
Photo by Silent Shots Photography
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