Champion Speedway
East River Drive
Owego, New York 13827
US Open Speedway Championships
Josh Larsen takes 2nd US Open Speedway Title!
August 31 and September 1, 2013 - Champion Speedway, Owego NY
Story by: Jason Bonsignore
Photos by: Sheera Myers and Brian Walsh
After winning all four of his races and the A final at Round One of the John F. Stalma US Open Speedway Championships, Californian, Josh Larsen, seemed the favorite for the overall title heading into the final night on Sunday, September 1st at Champion Speedway in Owego, NY.
The track surface was smoother than it was for round one and the racing was closer and more entertaining for it. Unfortunately, English rider, Gary O'Hare, was lost with an injury from the previous night, however a sturdy field of the best East and West Coast racers were ready for battle!
Round one opened up with Dave Oakden making a good start and taking a win over Zach Peters with David Meldrum slowing up thinking a red flag had come out at one point which relegated him to a third place. Ron Walker was fourth. Dave Clark controlled the next heat and Jesse Diem was second with Ray Barondick third and Jeff Garlinghouse fourth. Defending Champ, Chris Kerr, put on a nice ride to score max points in the next outing with former 4-time Champion, Shawn McConnell, just behind in second. Casey Donholt would take third and Mikey Buman fourth. Larsen was just as sharp as the previous meeting and won handily in his first ride over Jerry Harman who stayed ahead of Alex Heath and Chuck Podany. Russ Cornell closed out round one with a nice gate and go tactic while Corey Brookes pressured him and hung onto second from third placed Gene Bonsignore and fourth placed Dan Oakden.
Riders who took home wins in the second series of heats were Donholt, Buman, Bonsignore, McConnell and Larsen again. Two points each for seconds went to Meldrum, Dave Oakden, Garlinghouse, Cornell and Clark.
At the beginning of the third heat sets it was Larsen who again stayed unbeaten with a convincing win over Donholt. Barondick grabbed third. McConnell snatched vital points for first ahead of Meldrum and Cornell and then Harman got by Bonsignore after a couple laps to take over a win with Diem also getting by Bonsignore just at the end for a second. Buman was then able to outdistance Garlinghouse and Walker and Kerr got back into the winners column with an awesome set up job and pass on Clark after two laps. Clark stayed second ahead of Heath.
Closing round victories were taken by Donholt, Kerr, McConnell, Bonsignore and Larsen remained unbeaten with a start to finish haul against Buman. At this stage riders scores from the Main events of the previous round of the series were added to their heat totals on this evening and they were then placed in D, C and B Finals accordingly with the top 5 overall riders going directly to 4 A Main events in which gate positions would rotate evenly with exception to the 5th highest points scorer, who would have to come from the outside in each final.
Results of the D-Final were...Barondick, Podany, Walker, Peters and Dan Oakden, in that order. Cornell completed a fine evening by winning the C-Final with a start to finish effort over Garlinghouse and Oakden, who were second and third. Brookes would take fourth and Heath fifth. Buman used the track wisely to bring home the B-Final with Meldrum hard on him for second. Harman, Diem and Bonsignore would have a good battle for third with the end result being that.
The top five riders who qualified for the A-Finals...Larsen, Donholt, Kerr, McConnell and Clark, were all given 10 bonus points prior to the Mains. Clark would be the rider to start on the outside in all features while the others would go through rotation.
McConnell came out guns blazing in Final 1 with a vintage win with Donholt second, Kerr-on his third borrowed bike of the night, third, Larsen fourth and Clark fifth. With the points being larger increments in the finals this actually brought about a 3-way tie for the series lead with Larsen, McConnell and Donholt all on 45 and Kerr just behind with 43. Clark had 36. Larsen was back to himself for final 2 and won, thus regaining his series lead by three points over McConnell, who nailed second. Donholt remained in the hunt with a third place while Kerr struggled with bike problems for a fourth. Clark was again fifth. Kerr then bounced back with a win in final number 3 while Larsen and McConnell had an awesome shoulder to shoulder battle for second which Larsen won. Donholt was fourth and Clark fifth. Results to this point meant that heading into the last Main event, the scores for the overall were...Larsen with 62 points, McConnell with 57, Kerr with 56, Donholt with 53 an Clark with 36. Donholt used his inside advantage and made a great start to lead and take the win to move himself up to second overall and win the Stormin Norman Robinson trophy as top NY scorer, but it was Larsen's consistency in taking second place on his Motorcycle Superstore / JBR / Scotts Headers / Silkolene / Oakley/ Joker powered GM that earned him his 2nd US Open Speedway Championship Title 13 years after his first in 2000!! McConnell would finish third, while Clark got fourth and Kerr fifth. McConnell's third earned him a place on the podium with 3rd overall. Kerr ended as fourth highest and Clark fifth.
Overall John F. Stalma US Open Finish
1. Josh Larsen 69
2. Casey Donholt 63
3. Shawn McConnell 62
4. Chris Kerr 57
5. Dave Clark 41
6. Mikey Buman 38
7. David Meldrum 35
8. Jerry Harman 32
9. Jesse Diem 31
10. Gene Bonsignore 29
11. Dave Oakden 24
12. Jeff Garlinghouse 22
13. Corey Brookes 18
14. Russ Cornell 16
14. Alex Heath 16
16. Gary O'Hare 13
17. Ray Barondick 9
18. Dan Oakden 7
19. Chuck Podany 6
20. Ron Walker 5
20. Zach Peters 5
22. John Lewis 2
23. Josh Carr 1
24. Shawn Engel 0
Division Two Overall
1. Alex Heath
2. Dan Oakden
3. Spencer Portararo
4. Don Wheeland
5. Brian Bailey
Division Three Overall
1. Roger Roberts
2. Steve 'COBRA' Luxton
3. Pat Farrell
ATV Champion
1. Steve Kappler
Brian Walsh Photo
Brian Walsh Photo
Donholt in red, Kerr white middle, Larsen white on right end, McConnell back right and Clark back left
Larsen victorious at US Open Speedway Championships Round One
Round one of the 2013 John F. Stalma US Open Speedway Championships kicked off at Champion Speedway, in Owego, NY, on August, 31st, with a 24 rider first division field that featured the top East Coast riders and 5 visiting International stars! The night's competition would consist of 3 heat rounds and then 4 semifinals and a B and A Final.
Round one of heat racing saw the return of the defending Champion, Chris Kerr, from Auburn, CA, who had previously spent 5 years in the British League. He would face a father and son combo of David and Dan Oakden and Ray Barondick. Unfortunately Kerr lost a chain off the start and got zero points for his efforts. Dave Oakden would comfortably win, followed by Dan then Barondick. Dave Clark would make a fine start in heat two to take it over second placed Mikey Buman. Third went to 10 year British League veteran, David Meldrum, now residing in Florida, with Jeff Garlinghouse in fourth. Former 4-time US Open Champion, Shawn McConnell, of Brea, CA, won heat three. Jesse Diem looked solid in second. Chuck Podany took one point for third and Shawn Engel was last. Gary O'Hare of England, made an awesome start to get a jump on Casey Donholt and lead heat four for a couple laps until tiring and giving way. Donholt would soldier on for top place while O'Hare remained second with Alex Heath and Russ Cornell closing out in that order. Former World number 9, World Team Cup Gold Medalist and 2000 US Open Champ, Josh Larsen, from LaVerne, CA was on a blazing pace to win event five handily over Jerry Harman who was followed by Corey Brookes and Ron Walker. Former track Champion, Gene Bonsignore, still riding strong at age 65, scored 3 points in the final dash of the first round, with John Lewis second, Zach Peters third and Josh Carr fourth.
Harman got himself on top to open round two with a good run over second placed Heath. Third went to Dan Oakden. Donholt registered another 3 points by beating Buman and Diem. McConnell was top dog again but this time Garlinghouse snatched two points and one went to Carr. Larsen was gone for another win but Clark stayed a spot ahead of O'Hare. Bonsignore added another in the w column with Walker and Podany second and third and Kerr kept his chain on for vital top points with Meldrum just behind, while Brookes was third position.
All-important wins in series three went to Harman, Larsen, McConnell, Kerr, Brookes and Meldrum. Taking two points each for seconds were Podany, Diem, Clark, Donholt, Bonsignore and Dave Oakden. Third place finishes got credited to Heath, Walker, Buman and Garlinghouse while two other events had two riders each who did not finish.
The top 20 points scorers were placed in 4 semis at this stage. Winners of semis would go to the A Final, seconds would transfer to the B Final, thirds to the C-Final, fourths to a D-Final and lasts would be done.
The heat scores to this point of the meeting were as follows...
Heat Points
Dave Oakden -5
Ray Barondick -1
Chris Kerr -6
Dan Oakden - 3
Dave Clark -7
Mikey Buman -5
Jeff Garlinghouse -3
David Meldrum -6
Chuck Podany -4
Shawn Engel -0
Jesse Diem -5
Shawn McConnell -9
Alex Heath -4
Russ Cornell -0
Gary O'Hare -3
Casey Donholt -8
Corey Brookes -5
Jerry Harman -8
Ron Walker -3
Josh Larsen -9
Gene Bonsignore -8
Josh Carr -1
Zach Peters -1
John Lewis -2
A runoff for two Semi spots out of three riders was won by Barondick with Peters second, Carr third.
Results of the semis are listed below.
Semi 1 - 1. Kerr 2. Buman 3. Harman 4. Heath 5. Barondick
Semi 2 - 1. Larsen 2. Clark 3. Diem 4. Garlinghouse 5. Podany
Semi 3 - 1. Donholt 2. McConnell 3. Oakden 4. Brookes 5. Walker
Semi 4 - 1. Meldrum 2. O'Hare 3. Bonsignore 4. Cornell 5. Peters
Bonsignore made a nice start to lead the C-Final briefly before giving way to Diem who came nicely up the inside of him on lap one and Harman was able to follow. Diem went continued on to take it while Harman remained second, Bonsignore third and Dave Oakden fourth.
Unfortunately rain began to fall from the sky at the time of the B-Final and after several attempts to run the B Final on a slick surface with numerous crashes, including O'Hare going out with an injury, it was decided to run the B and A-Finals at the start of the next meeting on Sunday. As a result of the first tries at the B Final, Buman and McConnell would come off the ten yard penalty line, O'Hare was out and Clark would be the lone rider on the zero.
The B Final was exciting the next night even with just 3 riders. McConnell was third heading into the first turn but then used the outside for two laps to pass both Buman and Clark spectacularly on a 22 but then when he dropped down to the pole on the third lap he fell while leading. Clark would win with Buman second.
Previous Report
Round One was a 24 rider, 3 round format with the top 20 point scorers going to 4 semifinals. After 3 rounds of heats, Josh Larsen and Shawn McConnell remained perfect with 9 points each and next down having only dropped one were Jerry Harman, Casey Donholt and Gene Bonsignore, each with 8. Chris Kerr threw a chain while leading his first race and Gary O'Hare also had one mechanical DNF. If you add up the points and wonder why a couple riders that should have been in the semis were not. John Lewis could not ride the semis with an injury and Dan Oakden opted out to concentrate on Division 2 as he had been a last minute replacement in Division 1 for Jeremy Parsons who hurt his shoulder on a motocross bike.
Heat Points
Dave Oakden -5
Ray Barondick -1
Chris Kerr -6
Dan Oakden - 3
Dave Clark -7
Mikey Buman -5
Jeff Garlinghouse -3
David Meldrum -6
Chuck Podany -4
Shawn Engel -0
Jesse Diem -5
Shawn McConnell -9
Alex Heath -4
Russ Cornell -0
Gary O'Hare -3
Casey Donholt -8
Corey Brookes -5
Jerry Harman -8
Ron Walker -3
Josh Larsen -9
Gene Bonsignore -8
Josh Carr -1
Zach Peters -1
John Lewis -2
Runoff for two Semi spots out of three was won by Barondick with Peters second, Carr third.
Semis listed below, winners went to A Final, 2nd Places to B Final, 3rd Places to C Final, 4th Places to D Final, 5th Places were out.
Semi 1 - 1. Kerr 2. Buman 3. Harman 4. Heath 5. Barondick
Semi 2 - 1. Larsen 2. Clark 3. Diem 4. Garlinghouse 5. Podany
Semi 3 - 1. Donholt 2. McConnell 3. Oakden 4. Brookes 5. Walker
Semi 4 - 1. Meldrum 2. O'Hare 3. Bonsignore 4. Cornell 5. Peters
C-Final Results
1. Jessie Diem
2. Jerry Harman
3. Gene Bonsignore
4. Dave Oakden
After several attempts to run the B Final in the rain with numerous crashes, including O'Hare going out with an injury, it was decided to run the B and A-Finals at the start of the next meeting on Sunday. As a result of the first tries at the B Final, Buman and McConnell would come off the ten yard penalty line, O'Hare was out and Clark would be the lone rider on the zero.
The B Final was exciting the next night even with just 3 riders. McConnell was third heading into the first turn but then used the outside for two laps to pass both Buman and Clark spectacularly on a 22 but then when he dropped down to the pole on the third lap he fell while leading. Clark would win with Buman second.
The A Final got off to a nasty start with Kerr and Clark tangling and going into the fence with Chris Kerr's bike being bent beyond use. He would then use a borrowed machine. The restart was won from start to finish by Josh Larsen who would remain unbeaten.
A Final
1. Josh Larsen
2. Casey Donholt
3. Chris Kerr
4. Dave Clark
5. David Meldrum
US Open Round Two - Photo by Sheera Myers
At the conclusion of Saturdays events riders were awarded a score based on one point increments starting with Josh Larsen getting credited with 20 points for winning the A final then Casey Donholt getting 19 for second, Chris Kerr 18 for third and so on down the ladder.
On Sunday 20 riders took part in 4 heat rounds and at the end of the heats their heat points were added onto the score they earned for Saturday's competition and then they were placed into D-C-B and A Finals based on overall score. The top five riders in points would take part in 4 separate A-Finals as is tradition at the US Open. The top 4 would get a chance at each gate position while the fifth rider starts from gate five each time.
Josh Larsen continued his dominance in the heats by rolling through each round undefeated. Larsen earned 12 heat points to bump his total to 32. Shawn McConnell only dropped one point for 11, Kerr had 10 points, Donholt 9 and Clark, Buman, Bonsignore and Harman were all next with 8 points each.
When all the math was done the finals were set and results were as follows.
Overall US Open D-Final
1. Ray Barondick
2. Chuck Podany
3. Ron Walker
4. Zach Peters
5. Dan Oakden
C-Final
1. Russ Cornell
2. Jeff Garlinghouse
3. Dave Oakden
4. Corey Brookes
5. Alex Heath
B-Final
1. Mikey Buman
2. David Meldrum
3. Jerry Harman
4. Jesse Diem
5. Gene Bonsignore
There was some great racing in the finals, I don't remember any crashes but Chris Kerr rode 5 different bikes throughout the night after bending his early on and had ignition problems with one or two of them also which cost him from placing higher. Larsen rode strategically to win. Donholt was consistent and made good starts, eventually taking home the Stormin Norman Robinson cup for top East Coast scorer. McConnell rode his rear off to try and make up for bad luck lost points and was his usual super impressive self on the inside, one race literally following Larsen around for four laps with about two inches between them. There is one great pic with his throttle under Larsen's arm exiting a turn! Clark tried hard from the outside. Points for the finals were 10, 7, 5, 3, 1
A Finals
#1. #2. #3. #4.
1. McConnell 1. Larsen 1. Kerr 1. Donholt
2. Donholt 2.McConnell 2. Larsen 2. Larsen
3. Kerr 3. Donholt 3. McConnell 3. McConnell
4. Larsen 4. Kerr 4. Donholt 4. Clark
5. Clark 5. Clark 5. Clark 5. Kerr
At the end of the day, after winning 10 of his 13 races all weekend, it was Josh Larsen who convincingly took home his second John F. Stalma US Open title, 13 years later, on his Scotts Headers, Silkolene, Motorcycle Superstore, Bell Helmets, Oakley, ARC, Mesa Hose backed GM. The former World Finalist, Grand Prix rider, World Team Cup and CA State Champion ended with an overall score of 69 points to take the title.
Overall John F. Stalma US Open Finish
1. Josh Larsen 69
2. Casey Donholt 63
3. Shawn McConnell 62
4. Chris Kerr 57
5. Dave Clark 41
6. Mikey Buman 38
7. David Meldrum 35
8. Jerry Harman 32
9. Jesse Diem 31
10. Gene Bonsignore 29
11. Dave Oakden 24
12. Jeff Garlinghouse 22
13. Cory Brookes 18
14. Russ Cornell 16
14. Alex Heath 16
16. Gary O'Hare 13
17. Ray Barondick 9
18. Dan Oakden 7
19. Chuck Podany 6
20. Ron Walker 5
20. Zach Peters 5
22. John Lewis 2
23. Josh Carr 1
24. Shawn Engel 0
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Sunday Results for other Divisions
Division Two Main Final
1. Alex Heath
2. Dan Oakden
3. Spencer Portararo
4. Don Wheeland
5. Brian Bailey
Division Three Main Final
1. Roger Roberts
2. Steve 'COBRA' Luxton
3. Pat Farrell
US Open Quick Results
Congrats to Josh Larsen on taking his second US Open Title, 13 years later, at Champion Speedway! He looked first class all weekend. Full report coming soon!
1. Josh Larsen
2. Casey Donholt
3. Shawn McConnell
4. Chris Kerr
5. Dave Clark
Division 2 Champion is Alex Heath
Division 3 Champion is Roger Roberts
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