UTICA, NY

Round two of the Bully Dog North American Indoor Ice Racing Championships was sponsored in part by local BRP/Ski-Doo and Can-Am dealers and featured some hot ice-racing action.

The first heat race saw a spectacular tangle between Adam "The Missile" Mittl (above) and Jerry "Buford" Harman, as both riders went down hard and it took several minutes to untangle their bikes! On the restart, it was Tuff McBride who rode off with the win, followed by Mittl and Corey Brookes, while Harman was out with machine damage from the first incident.

Dave Clark then went on to win heat two, with Aaron Hesmer second. Taking third was former ICE veteran Gary "The Hitman" Hesmer, who was making a return from a long layoff due to injury. Josh Carr was fourth.

"Mean Gene" Bonsignore took a convincing win to close out the round over second-placed Shawn "Steamboat" Engel, and third place went to Andy "Crawfish" Crawford. Russ Cornell fell on the first turn and was last.

McBride was strong again as he burst out of the start and won the opening ride of round two. Clark took two second-place points, while Aaron Hesmer and Cornell were third and fourth.

Mittl was too fast for Gary Hesmer, Carr and Crawford, in that order, in the next outing.

Bonsignore, who was looking like one of the faster riders on the night, won again, with Harman second, Engel third and Brookes fourth to finish the second series of heats.

The third set of heats began with McBride remaining undefeated. Harman was right behind him and Clark was third, with Gary Hesmer fourth.

Aaron Hesmer then got himself into the winners' circle, with Cornell second, Brookes third and Crawford not far off in fourth.

Bonsignore was leading the last heat down the back straight but got pushed wide and off the race line by Engel and dropped to fourth. Mittl then passed Engel up the inside and went for the win. Engel steamboated his way to second, with Carr third. This forced a run-off for last spot in the A final between Bonsignore and Aaron Hesmer. Bonsignore led the run-off until the last corner, where he hit a patch of concrete and moved over too much, setting up a drag race to the finish that Aaron won by inches.

Bunk Harris took the win in the Support Speedway division, while Roger Roberts won the Junior class. Jay Shelton scored the top honors in the Mad Dog Flat Track class, sponsored in part by Kold Kutter.

Cornell was back on form (which makes him a top contender in American ice racing) when he won the C final. Carr was just behind him, with Brookes third. Crawford had a flat tire and did not ride.

Bonsignore led the B final from start to finish, with Gary Hesmer taking a solid second. Harman was third and Engel fourth.

McBride seemed destined to take the A final, as he was leading for the first couple of laps, but then he hit the same patch of concrete Bonsignore had earlier and moved wide, allowing Mittl to come through on his Bully Dog/Justice Brothers/Oury/NGK Jawa for his second victory in a row! McBride recovered for second, Clark was third and Aaron Hesmer was fourth.

Results

A MAIN: 1. Adam Mittl; 2. Tuff McBride; 3. Dave Clark; 4. Aaron Hesmer.

B MAIN: 1. Gene Bonsignore; 2. Gary Hesmer; 3. Jerry Harman; 4. Shawn Engel.

C MAIN: 1. Russ Cornell; 2. Josh Carr; 3. Corey Brookes.

SUP SPDWY: 1. Bunk Harris; 2. Don Wheeland; 3. Brian Bailey.

JR SPDWY: 1. Roger Roberts; 2. Spencer Portararo; 3. Zach Peters.

MAD DOG: 1. Jay Shelton; 2. Tim Jackson; 3. Bunk Harris.