Champion Speedway
344 East River Drive
Owego, New York 13827
US Ope Round 2
Sept 5 and 6, 2020 Action Park East Greene, NY and Champion Speedway, Owego, NY
Janniro takes 2nd US Open Speedway Title
By Jason Bonsignore
The US Open Speedway Championships, held each Labor Day weekend in New York State at legendary tracks Action Park East and Champion Speedway, is always a premier event is American Speedway but in this crazy Covid year it was one of the ONLY events on the Calendar as the West Coast facilities were mostly unable to open!
Ten-time US National winner and defending US Open Champion, Billy "The Kid" Janniro was back to defend his title along with Western fast guns, Dillon Ruml, Blake Borello and female star Sara Cords! Some of Colorado's top riders were qualified in as well to take to the New York bullrings against the East Coast's top Motorcycle Speedway racers!
Round One was held at Action Park East in Greene, NY on what proved to be a tricky track surface as the venue had not been in use all summer. Janniro used his incredible talent and lofty experience to ride the sticky track pretty effortlessly but did suffer his only defeat as a result of looping the bike out in one heat race and crashing! Janniro would qualify for the A Final with 9 Points, while Borello would enter undefeated with 12. Ruml was the second top scorer to make the Main with 11 while East Coast Points Champion, Spencer Portararo, and Mikey Buman would close out the qualifiers with 10 and 9 respectively.
The next five riders in points would make up the B Final and the finishing order was Dave Clark, Jesse Diem, Dave Oakden, Redmond Bohannon and Len McBride who did not take part due to injury in his final heat race.
Janniro dropped the hammer from the start in the final and led wire to wire with Borello and Ruml tussling for second and Borello prevailing! Portararo outdistanced Buman for Fourth.
Janniro would take the overall points lead of 20 points for winning the Final into RD 2 the next evening at Champion Speedway while Borello would be second with 19, Ruml third with 18 and so on down the ladder in one point increments.
Opening heat wins at Champion were scored by Janniro, Buman, Ruml and Portararo with second places awarded to Bohannon, Borello, Corey Brookes and Adam Mittl. Picking up thirds were Cords, Clark, Jonny Oakden and David Pieper while fourths were credited to Diem, Mike Cortese Jr, Dave Oakden and Kenny Pieper.
Sara Cords began heat series two with a win much to the delight of the crowd over Dave Oaken, Cortese and Dave Pieper. Mittl was back in form with a win next over Bohannon, Clark and Jonny Oakden. Janniro scored another 3 next ahead of Ruml, Buman and K. Pieper while Borello closed out things with a checkered in front of Portararo, Diem and Brookes.
Portararo, Bohannon, Janniro and Diem all collected valuable. Portararo took an impressive win over Ruml while Janniro did his over Borello and Diem defeated Buman! Bohannon bested Brookes. Riders scoring one point for thirds were Cords, Cortese, Dave Oakden and J. Oakden.
Fourth heat results had Buman in the win column over Mittl, Cords and Brookes. Janniro ahead of Portararo, J. Oakden and Cortese. Diem won over D. Oakden, D. Pieper and reserve Dan Oakden while Ruml stayed sharp over Borello, Bohannon and D. Pieper.
Closing out the heat points with top points hauls were Borello, Buman, Janniro and Ruml. Important second place finishes went with Cords, D. Oakden, Brookes and Diem. One point place went to J. Oakden, Portararo, D. Pieper and Cortese.
At this stage points from APE were added onto the riders heat scores and the top 5 riders were put into the overall A Mains, for which there would be 4 finals with the top 4 riders rotating gate positions evenly, after that the remaining racers were put into C and B Mains to determine overall final series places.
A Main #1 saw Janniro make a lighting gate and never really be challenged. Ruml and Borello had a good race for second place with Ruml coming out ahead. Buman took fourth and Portararo fifth. Points for the finals were being awarded 10 for first, 7 for second, 5 for third, 3 for fourth and 1 for fifth.
A Main #2 had Janniro out front again with Ruml second but Portararo won the hometown fans cheer by beating Borello, who took fourth over Buman.
In the 3rd final Janniro and Ruml could still not be unseated for the top two places and the remaining spots were a carbon copy of the previous race with Portararo taking a hard fought third again.
Janniro had already clinched the title heading to the last final but still rode his heart out with lightning speed and running all the way out to the edge of the track spraying loads of dirt over the walls impressively on his way to a perfect night and his second US Open National Speedway Title! To the loud ovation from the Champion fans, Portararo chased him to second place over Borello, Ruml and Buman. Portararo would win the Stormin Norman Robinson trophy for being the weekend's top NY placer.
US Open Round 2 Results
Final 1
Billy Janniro
Dillon Ruml
Blake Borello
Mike Buman
Spencer Portararo
Final 2
Billy Janniro
Dillon Ruml
Spencer Portararo
Blake Borello
Mike Buman
Final 3
Billy Janniro
Dillon Ruml
Spencer Portararo
Blake Borello
Mike Buman
Final 4
Billy Janniro
Spencer Portararo
Blake Borello
Dillon Ruml
Mike Buman
C Main
1. Jonny Oakden
2. Mike Cortese
3. Dave Pieper
4. Corey Brookes
5. Ken Pieper DNS
B Main
1. Jesse Diem
2. Dave Oakden
3. Redmond Bohannon
4. Sara Cords
5. Adam Mittl
OVERALL US OPEN STANDINGS
1. Billy Janniro 75 Points
2. Dillon Ruml 57
3. Blake Borello 47
4. Spencer Portararo 46
5. Mike Buman 34
6. Jesse Diem
7. Dave Oakden
8. Redmond Bohannon
9. Sara Cords
10. Adam Mittl
11. Jonny Oakden
12. Mike Cortese
13. Dave Pieper
14. Corey Brookes
15. Ken Pieper
16. Dave Clark
17. Len McBride
18. Pat Cliff
19. Alex Heath
20. Jerry Harman
Support
1. Dalton Oakden
Division 2
1. Caleb Stewart
2. Andy Kourafas
3. Trenton Lane
4. Dale Robinson
5. Mark Bradley
Division 3
1. Anthony Terenzi
2. Dana Marsh
3. Neil Miller
4. Marcin Nicpon
5. William Warnock
Juniors
1. Levi Harris
2. Dalton Marsh
3. Cody Pierce
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