OWEGO, NY

A full field of speedway stars and the Nikstock Music Festival were on hand at Champion Speedway on June 19. This race event was round one of the New York State Championships, and four of the riders in the field had previously won the title: Adam Mittl, Tuff McBride, Warren Diem (4, below) and Gene Bonsignore. The latter three have all been racing since the 1970s. Mittl is the defending champion.

Mikey Buman opened up the night with a win, over Mittl. Josh Carr took third, with Shawn "Steamboat" Engel fourth.

At this stage, things got really exciting, as McBride and Diem met up. They went elbow to elbow for four laps, with McBride just barely taking the win. Brian Hollenbeck was third and Dave Clark fourth.

Next, it was Lee Bailey who rode off with three points, over Jerry Harman. Bonsignore ended up third with Ray Barondick finished fourth.

Casey Donholt finished off the first round of heats by beating Jesse Diem to the checkers. Andy Crawford was third and Russ Cornell was fourth.

McBride was strong again in round two and wound up with another win, as Buman had nothing for him. Buman took two points, Bailey one and Cornell zero.

Mittl looked more like himself in his second heat and won it, with Bonsignore in second, Jesse Diem third and Clark fourth.

In the next outing, Donholt stayed unbeaten, with Hollenbeck, Barondick and Engel behind him, in that order.

Warren Diem could not be caught in his next event. Harman was second, Carr third and Crawford fourth.

In round three, the victors were Buman, McBride, Warren Diem and Hollenbeck, while valuable second-place points went to Clark, Donholt, Bailey and Bonsignore.

Hollenbeck started up the final heats by defeating Buman. Jesse Diem scored third, with Harman fourth.

Next, Donholt and Mittl took a one-two, over Warren Diem. Cornell was last.

McBride remained undefeated and Bonsignore picked up another second in the next heat.

Lastly, Bailey got an easy three points when the others in his heat all tallied DNFs.

With several riders out for the evening due to equipment failures, Cornell was moved into the C main event, making it a five-rider affair, which was won by Harman, with second going to Jesse Diem. The rest of the order was Carr, Barondick and then Cornell.

The B main saw Bonsignore make a lightning-fast gate from the outside wall and almost get across the field, but he was midtrack coming out of turn two and Bailey sneaked up the inside, with Mittl behind him, which kept Hollenbeck coming through behind and dropped Bonsignore to the back. Bailey would not be denied, and Mittl took second. Bonsignore and Hollenbeck diced until Bonsignore hit a hole and laid it down.

In the feature, the unbeaten McBride leapt out into the lead, with Warren Diem in hot pursuit. McBride stayed out front for several laps, but Diem finally got an outside drive and passed McBride to take round one of the New York State Championships. It was Diem's first Scratch main-event win since 1999. McBride kept second and the overall points lead heading into round two on June 26 at Action Park in Greene, New York. Donholt was third, with Buman fourth and Bailey fifth.

Results

NY STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1. Warren Diem; 2. Tuff McBride; 3. Casey Donholt; 4. Mikey Buman; 5. Lee Bailey.

B MAIN: 1. Lee Bailey; 2. Adam Mittl; 3. Brian Hollenbeck; 4. Gene Bonsignore.

C MAIN: 1. Jerry Harman; 2. Jesse Diem; 3. Josh Carr; 4. Russ Cornell; 5. Ray Barondick.

SUP MAIN: 1. Zach Peters; 2. Katalin Davis; 3. Dee Holden; 4. Cole Farwell; 5. Dan Horengic.

DIRT/BK MAIN: 1. Spencer Portararo; 2. Roger Roberts.

JR MAIN: 1. Dakota Crone; 2. Spencer Portararo.