Champion Speedway
344 East River Drive
Owego, New York 13827
Larry and Kathy McBride Memorial
Champion Speedway August 5, 2023
From Jason Bonsignore
(L-R) Casey Donholt, Tuff McBride, Lenny McBride
photo by Kelly Klees
Donholt takes 11th McBride Memorial win!
The Larry and Kathy McBride Memorial event each year at Champion Speedway pays tribute to a great couple, who raised two of the best East Coast speedway riders of all-time, multi-time track Champions, Tuff and Lenny! Larry did the videos of all the races for years and wrote press releases and stories from all the tracks while wife, Kathy, did scoring and sign ups! The race always is a fun night and this past Saturday at Champion Speedway was no different! As a special addition, multi-time NYS and US Open Champion, Warren Diem, who is battling some health issues, was also present to be inducted into the East Coast Speedway Hall of Fame and was ridden around the track on his old Godden bike which was generously loaned for the night by former rider, Kelvin Herrala!
The 3 rounds of scratch racing which decided points for who would make the two semifinals was highly exciting! The Division 1 program has been very competitive this season with many surprises as to who, and who does not, make the mains each week. Former 5-time track champion, Adam "The Missile" Mittl was the fastest rider in the heats with 9 points, going undefeated and also winning his semifinal! Five riders would be tied for second with 7 points each including, Casey "Dominator" Donholt, "Flyin" Brian Hollenbeck, Lenny McBride, Mikey Buman and "Sideways" Spencer Portararo! Caleb "Flying Mullet" Stewart and Levi "Hornet" Harris would round out the final spots in the semis with 3 points both. Donholt would take the first semi with Hollenbeck taking the second transfer position ahead of Stewart and Portararo. As stated previously, Mittl won the second semi with McBride second, Harris third and Buman fourth. Buman would re-deem himself by winning the last chance to take the final transfer to the Main Event.
Prior to the Main, AFT pro-rider, Logan McGrane, Warren Diem's nephew, won the 2nd Division main in his speedway debut!
Mittl had first choice of gates for the feature and chose gate 4. Donholt then chose 1. Hollenbeck grabbed gate 2, McBride 3 and Buman was left with the outside. Donholt made one of his perfect starts and grabbed the lead on his Justice Bros/TANKS AUTO SALES/JOE V'S AUTO REPAIR/SCOTT'S Headers Jawa, while his main competition, Mittl, got squeezed out off the line and found himself all the way at the back on lap one! Mittl would feverishly go to work passing each rider over the next few laps but was unable to get by Donholt and had to watch Donholt cross the line just ahead of him to take home the McBride Memorial for an incredible 11th time! Hollenbeck would finish 3rd with Buman 4th and McBride 5th.
The next event at Champion Speedway is the Danny Moonbeam Fallon NYS Championship Round One on August 19th! The racing has been awesome this season and it will be really good that night as riders vie to be New York State Champion! The final round is August 26th at Action Park East in Greene!
Larry and Kathy McBride Memorial
1. Casey Donholt
2. Adam Mittl
3. Brian Hollenbeck
4. Mikey Buman
5. Lenny McBride
Division 2
1. Logan McGrane
2. Alex Heath
3. Albert Smith
4. Chloe Schnurr
5. Kenny Dahlin
6. Brian McManamon
7. Scott Vargo
Division 3
1. Hunter Wagner
2. Cody Pierce
3. Ray Schweiger
4. Adam Mittl Jr
Division 1 Junior
1. Macoley Saunders
2. Lilly Cornell
3. Cody Pierce
4. Joel Farwell
Division 2 Junior
1. Kabriel Howard
2. Jenson Pierce
3. Gracie Bailey
4. Dominic Matias
5. Dakota Pierce
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