Champion Speedway
East River Drive
Owego, New York 13827

East Coast Speedway Series
Speedway Joe Night
June 8, 2013 - Champion Speedway, Owego NY
Story by Jason Bonsignore
Picture by Ronald Evans rider on left is Jeremy Parsons, right is winner, Adam Mittl

The Speedway Joe Cup honoring one of the East Coast's most loyal fans, Joe Hodak, who has only missed a handful of events at Champion Speedway in nearly 40 years, almost didn't happen...3 days of rain leading up to the event and dark clouds most of the day on Saturday probably discouraged some fans, but not the riders and staff, as they were present to put on a show and the sun came out just before start time!

Two truckloads of fresh track surface were added earlier in the week but coupled with the rain and soggy conditions made for a challenging track early on! The riders struggled a little in their earlier handicap rides but as the night went on the track became very good and led to some great racing in the later scratch side of the program.

Casey Donholt won his scratch heat to kick things off with "Jammin" Jeff Garlinghouse taking second, Corey Brookes third and Jerry Harman fourth. Former East Coast Points Champ, Jeremy Parsons, took first in his race over Jesse Diem and Ron "Reaper" Walker. Zach Peters bowed out with bike problems. NY Speedway legend, Tuff McBride, is showing no signs of slowing down and took 3 points in heat 3 while Florida's David Meldrum was second. Shawn "Steamboat" Engel grabbed third over Andy Crawford. Reigning Track Champion, Adam "The Missile" Mittl, stormed to a victory as well in the final heat over Dave Oakden who is making a comeback this year, and Raymond Barondick . Russ Cornell was out of that ride with a shoulder injury.

Both semifinals could have been Main Events and it was hard to pick a winner. Donholt was able to keep McBride behind him and rode a tight inside line to take the first semi. McBride hung in for second and the transfer position. Diem took third followed by Oakden and they would go onto the last chance. Mittl again roared to the win in the other semifinal but there was a great race between Parsons and Meldrum for second. Parsons had it but Meldrum kept working the inside until he finally got by near the end. Parsons and Garlinghouse would see the last chance as well.

Parsons would put his stamp on the final main event position by taking 1st in the last chance but not without a hard fight from Diem who pushed him all the way! Oakden finished with a strong third after such a long layoff from the sport. Garlinghouse was fourth.

In the Speedway Joe Cup Final Mittl again blasted into the lead from gate three and looked to be long gone but Parsons, who had to come from gate five, made a good show of it riding the outside dirt line hard for a few laps looking as though he had second place but Donholt kept coming up hard on the side as well and the two eventually had a solid race for second with Donholt nailing it. Mittl ran home for his second checkered flag in two weeks for the season and his 3rd overall Speedway Joe Cup on his J&K Auto/Oury Grips/Scotts Headers/Oakley/Justice Bros GM. Meldrum and McBride kept up the pace for fourth and fifth.

The Handicap Main ended on a crash but it was on the 5th lap and the win went to a very deserving Jesse Diem, who is making a good showing so far this year!

The talk of Division Two was Danny Oakden coming back for the first time in a few years and riding in honor of his grandpa, former Speedway star, Howie Oakden, who has been battling cancer, and winning the Main event in fine fashion!

First time speedway rider, Joe Robinson, was a happy man as he took Division 3 honors!

The next event at Champion Speedway is a big one...The NY State Championship, Saturday, June 29th!

The rider turnout and enthusiasm has been excellent this year at Champion and more new faces are expected in late June and early July!

Speedway Joe Cup
1. Adam Mittl
2. Casey Donholt
3. Jeremy Parsons
4. Dave Meldrum
5. Tuff McBride

Handicap Main
1. Jesse Diem 40
2. Jeremy Parsons 50
3. Adam Mittl 50
4. Dave Oakden 30
5. Jerry Harman 40
6. Tuff McBride DNS

Division 2
1. Danny Oakden
2. Alex Heath
3. Brian Bailey
4. Spencer Portararo
5. Don Wheeland

Division 3
1. Joe Robinson
2. Andrew Clark
3. Roger Roberts
4. Mike Clark
5. Pat Farrell

Champion Quick Results

Some more very encouraging news on the Eastern scene from the weekend...very good rider turnout again with some old faces coming back, more new riders, several of which are going to be very fast teenagers, a new Junior Speedway rider and it is only going to get better the next few events as we had a large amount of guys who could not even make this show that will be back in upcoming weeks including Gene Bonsignore, Russ Cornell, Brian Hollenbeck, Stefan Laessig, Keith Hawkins, John Lewis, just to name a few.

Congrats to Adam Mittl for winning for the second week in a row at Champion and taking the Speedway Joe Cup! Jesse Diem has been getting better and better and took the Handicap Main. Danny Oakden rode great for such a long layoff and won Division 2, he is def one to watch, and a brand new rider, Joe Robinson, from Rochester, won Division 3 his very first time on a speedway bike!

The track was challenging for the first two heat rounds, we had added dirt for the event but it had also rained all week on it, and I was proud of everyone the way they used their heads and rode it. It turned into a great racetrack by midway and is going to produce some awesome racing this season.

Speedway Joe Cup Championship
1. Adam Mittl
2. Casey Donholt
3. Jeremy Parsons
4. David Meldrum
5. Tuff McBride

Handicap Main
1. Jesse Diem
2. Jeremy Parsons
3. Adam Mittl
4. Jerry Harman
5. Dave Oakden
6. Tuff McBride DNS

Division 2
1. Dan Oakden
2. Alex Heath
3. Brian Bailey
4. Spencer Portararo

Division 3
1. Joe Robinson
2. Andrew Clark
3. Roger Roberts
4. Mike Clark
5. Pat Farrell
6. Jim Sanchez
Brandon Bruzek DNS