GREENE, NY

The track surface at Action Park East in Greene, New York, was the smoothest it has been in recent years for this year's East Coast Speedway Series opener - the Patrick Ahlund Spring Classic Championship, which honors the late rider from Sweden who had lived in Canada for many years and had raced at the New York venues and made friends with many American racers.

It was East Coast great Tuff McBride who kicked things off in the first heat race with a pole-to-pole win over Josh Carr, Andy Crawford and Dwight Basa, in that order. Casey Donholt looked very strong in the next heat, with Dave Clark just behind him; Brian Hollenbeck took third, while Mikey Buman fell and ended up fourth. East Coast points champion Adam "Missile" Mittl closed out the opening round of heats with a win and looked like his usual self en route to garnering the three points, with Jerry Harman riding smoothly behind him for second, Ray Barondick taking third with Shawn "Steamboat" Engel finishing fourth.

Mittl made another fast gate in his second series event to nab the holeshot and another win; Engel scored two points, Basa scored one and Buman was last. Donholt and McBride met up at this stage and produced a good show, with Donholt winning out; Clark took one point in third and Harman was fourth. In the next heat, Hollenbeck got himself into the winners' circle as well, with Carr looking good in second, Crawford third and Barondick fourth.

In round three, McBride threw on a new tire for his outside starting position against Mittl; it worked, as he made an awesome gate and got across Mittl. He was gone, and Mittl could only muster second, with Clark third and Basa fourth.

Donholt and Bumand took first and second in the next heat, and Hollenbeck and Barondick did likewise in the following contest.

After intermission, there was a good match-up between Donholt and Mittl; Donholt got the better of Mittl, who had to take second. Next, Harman then took his first three-point haul of the night by beating Clark. In the closing heat, first and second went to Buman and McBride, respectively.

In the Support feature, it was a fast Cole Farwell who won from the 50-yard line, but it was 14-year-old Zach Paters who stole the show, as he rode with poise that belied his years and grabbed second in his first meeting on a 250 laydown.

The Division One riders were placed into C, B and A finals, based on their points totals. Crawford was fast and won the C final. Harman topped the B final, with Clark second, Buman third and Carr fourth.

In the big one, Adam Mittl (above) exploded out of the gate on his JBR/Oury Grips/Justice Brothers/NGK Plugs/K&N Filters/Pelito-backed Jawa and went on to win the Patrick Ahlund Spring Classic! McBride was second, Donholt third and Hollenbeck fourth in a great night of racing.

Results

PATRICK AHLUND SPRING CLASSIC: 1. Adam Mittl; 2. Tuff McBride; 3. Casey Donholt; 4. Brian Hollenbeck.

B MAIN: 1. Jerry Harman; 2. Dave Clark; 3. Mikey Buman; 4. Josh Carr.

C MAIN: 1. Andy Crawford; 2. Shawn Engel; 3. Dwight Basa; 4. Ray Barondick.

SUP: 1. Cole Frawell; 2. Zach Peters; 3. Stefan Laessig; 4. Brian Bailey; 5. Don Wheeland.

JR: 1. Dylan Eldridge.

DIRT BIKES: 1. Dylan Hawk; 2. Roger Roberts; 3. Kaitlan Bailey.