Champion Speedway
East River Drive
Owego, New York

Patrick Ahlund Spring Classic Championship
May 25, 2014 - Champion Speedway Owego, New York
East Coast Speedway Series
Donholt wins Patrick Ahlund Spring Classic
By Jason Bonsignore
Photos by Steve Koletar

Champion Speedway in Owego opened up its 40th anniversary season on May 25th with a well organized, timely run program that was witnessed by a healthy crowd and with a good turnout of competitors! The show featured some excellent announcing by Finger Lakes radio personality, Paul Szmal, who got his start doing Speedway at Empire Speedway in Brewerton, just out of college! Szmal is usually in hot demand on the car racing circuit but has a strong love for speedway and has agreed to be the official announcer of Champion Speedway this season and will only miss one event.

Mikey Buman kicked things off in Division one racing with a wire to wire win over "Jammin"Jeff Garlinghouse, followed up by Corey Brookes and Shawn "Steamboat" Engel! Dave "Shark" Clark then won his heat against second placed, Adam "The Missile" Mittl, with Jerry "Beufford" Harman third and Ron "Reaper" Walker fourth. "Mean" Gene Bonsignore grabbed the gate in heat three but David "Victor" Meldrum made a pass on the outside of him on lap two and went on to the checkered flag. Bonsignore would come in second with Alex "Hazard" third and Jesse Diem a scratch. Casey Donholt scored a pole to pole win to finish out round one. Tuff McBride was a close second and Ray Barondick third. Russ "Doctor Dirt" Cornell was fourth.

It was more of the same for Buman in round two with another win but Cornell got on the board with a second place and Walker one point for third. Bonsignore did one better with his first win followed up by Barondick and Engel then Clark. McBride also got into the winners column, staying ahead of Harman, Heath and Garlinghouse in that order. Mittl nailed down a convincing win over Donholt with Meldrum third and Brookes last.

The third heat series began with a blistering race that saw 3 wide for several laps until Buman pulled ahead for good. Donholt held off Clark for second. Meldrum took his first 3 point haul over McBride with Engel getting one point. Mittl took another victory from Garlinghouse and Barondick. The ref made an honest mistake in the final heat missing Cornell's wheel touching the tapes. Two other riders caught it and were pulling back as the tapes flew then had to try and play catch up as the race was never stopped. Harman and Cornell got away from the field with a win and second, while Bonsignore and Brookes had to try and catch up. Bonsignore would take third.

Mittl would take his 3rd heat win in the final round, while Buman would remain unbeaten! Donholt and Clark also scored 3 points each with valuable second place points going to Harman, Cornell, Garlinghouse and Brookes.

In order to make the Main event directly, riders had to be the top 5 in points after the heats. A three-way tie occurred for fourth place in points so a runoff had to be run between McBride, Meldrum and Harman. On the first try McBride touched the tapes and had to be sent back. Meldrum, on his Cobra's Mahal/Advocare sponsored GM, capitalized and won, thus gaining the last direct transfer to the Main. Harman was second and McBride third and they would go to the last chance.

In the last chance Clark would make a strong start and not look back to gain the last spot in the final. Harman was second, Bonsignore third, Cornell fourth and McBride fifth.

Prior to the Scratch Main, Cameron Taylor from Watkins Glen won his first ever Division Three Main and Brian Bailey of Newark Valley won the Division Two final. Lonni Whitmore was king of the hill in the Pro ATV Class.

On the first try of the Patrick Ahlund final, Mittl was away first and led into the first corners but Donholt spun around and went down. He got a break as a full restart was ordered but this time Clark touched the tapes and was penalized. On the third try Donholt made a slightly better start than Mittl and got to the corner first on his Pelito sponsored Jawa machine while Mittl pressured hard on his Oakley/Oury/Justice Bros/Scotts Headers GM. Donholt went fast and got wide only once, where Mittl pulled close to a pass but could not seem to put enough traction down, and Donholt chopped back to the inside for a nice win! Meldrum took the final spot on the podium with a third!

Patrick Ahlund Final
1. Casey Donholt
2. Adam Mittl
3. David Meldrum
4. Mikey Buman
5. Dave Clark

Last Chance
1. Dave Clark
2. Jerry Harman
3. Gene Bonsignore
4. Russ Cornell
5. Tuff McBride

Division Two
1. Brian Bailey
2. Roger Roberts
3. Brandon Sturzenegger
4. Don Wheeland
5. Andrew Clark DNF

Division Three
1. Cameron Taylor
2. Pat Farrell

JR Speedway
1. Mason Higley

PW 50 MAIN
1. Lucas Reilly
2. Kayden Vargo
3. Mason Higley
4. Derrick Manvely
5. #7
6. Atrayo Lattimer

Photos by Steve Koletar