CHENANGO BRIDGE, NY

This was May, so it should have been warm outside, but on a cold spring evening in Chenango Bridge, New York, the racing action inside on the ice at the Chenango Ice Rink was hot, as the top U.S. and Canadian Speedway ice racers were vying for the New York State ice championship title! The 2009 winner, Shawn McConnell, was unable to make the trip, so the title was up for grabs.

The first round of heats began with Tuff McBride taking the win, over Dave Clark (above), with "Jammin' Jeff" Garlinghouse in third and Josh Carr in fourth. The next heat featured a great race between Mike Buman and Jerry "Buford" Harman; though Harman led most of the race, Buman made a move up the inside on lap three to take three points, while Harman fell to fourth, behind Gary "Hitman" Hesmer in second and Keith Hawkins in third. Craig "Cobra" Estelle made a return to speedway to take the victory in the final heat of the opening round, over New York State dirt champion Adam "Missile" Mittl; Shawn "Steamboat" Engel was third and Andy "Crawfish" Crawford was last.

Hawkins was on fire in round two, handing McBride a stunning defeat; Garlinghouse and Engel rounded things out in that order. Mittl was back in top form when he came out in the next heat and beat Buman; Hesmer put the hit out on Carr for third place. In the final heat of round two, Clark defeated Estelle in a good battle, with Crawford and Harman taking third and fourth, respectively, before intermission.

In Support racing, at this point it was Don "Daredevil" Wheeland who was shining, and he went on to take the feature win, over Brian Bailey and Bunk Harris, later in the program.

The final heat races saw McBride determined to get a first-place finish, and he did so by getting to the end ahead of second-placed Harman and third-placed Garlinghouse; Crawford had traction issues. In the next heat, Clark continued to look strong as he held off Hawkins; Buman stayed ahead of Carr for third. In the last heat race, Mittl got revenge on Estelle and handily beat him; taking one point in third was Engel, while Hesmer was fourth.

Carr put it all together and rode to a smooth win in the C Final, over Garlinghouse, Harman and Crawford.

The B Final turned out to be one of the better events of the night, with Buman and Hawkins closely spaced for four laps, but with a good battle going on behind them for third and fourth, between Hesmer and Engel. Buman won it, followed by Hawkins, Hesmer and Engel.

By the time the A Final rolled around, there was not much left of the ice; apparently it hadn't been thickened properly for the race, which led to its wearing out very early, and this was having quite an ill effect on the racing. The start line was completely down to concrete, which meant starting from certain positions would be a big disadvantage. What should have been a great final turned into a fiasco: Clark and Estelle did not really have any competition, as Mittl and McBride spun for what seemed like days on the concrete before their machines got moving off the line. Clark capped off a solid ice-racing season by going on for his first State Ice Championship, with Estelle second, McBride third and Mittl fourth.

Mittl wound up winning the overall North American Indoor Ice Racing Points Championship.

Results

NY STATE INDOOR ICE C'SHIPS: 1. Dave Clark; 2. Craig Estelle; 3. Tuff McBride; 4. Adam Mittl.