OWEGO, NY

On June 27, Champion Speedway ran a rare Sunday evening program billed as the "Speedway Joe Cup" to honor longtime Speedway fan Joe Hodak of Johnson City, New York. Hodak has rarely missed a race in 35 years of Champion Speedway. In Champion's heyday, the program was always on Sunday evenings, and huge crowds attended. Nowadays, it seems difficult to get spectators out on Sundays, but Champion chooses to run one Sunday a month when its sister track, Action Park, operates on a Saturday.

The racing began with Handicap heat races. Casey Donholt came from the 50-yard line to win the first one, with Josh Carr second, Andy Crawford third, Lee Bailey fourth and Don Wheeland fifth.

Tuff McBride came all the way from the 50-yard line as well to win his heat. He was followed by Jerry Harman, Dee Holden and Shawn Engel. Mark Bradley did not make the call.

Mikey Buman (above) made it three for three for the 50-yard markers when he closed out the heats with a win. Fellow 50-yarder Adam Mittl was second. Third went to Russ Cornell, with Katalin Davis fourth and Brian Bailey fifth.

Donholt looked strong again en route to winning his Handicap semi. Bailey and Buman also gained transfer spots to the main with their second- and third-place finishes. Crawford, Cornell and Davis finished out of the running.

McBride was leading the second semi, with Mittl in second, when Jerry Harman hooked up and accidentally bumped into Carr. Both riders were caught up on the bikes and carried speed into the end pit wall, hard. Unfortunately, Carr was unable to get up and was diagnosed with a broken leg. (He would have surgery the next day.) Shawn Engel inherited the third and final transfer position.

McBride kept his good night going with a victory in his Scratch ride. Coming in second was Clark, with Davis third and Cornell fourth.

Donholt also remained unbeaten, taking a Scratch win over Buman and Crawford. Bailey did not make the ride, as had followed Carr to the hospital.

Mittl scored an easy match-race win over Engel in closing the heats. Harman was out due to the earlier crash, and Clark was having bike problems.

Donholt handed McBride his first loss of the evening in the first Scratch semifinal, but both riders would go on to the final. Davis beat out Engel for third, with Cornell taking fifth.

Mittl beat Buman for first in the other semi. Clark and Crawford would move on to the last-chance qualifier after placing third and fourth.

Clark handily won the LCQ, over Davis and Engel. Crawford bowed out due to bike problems.

Buman drew the pole for the Scratch main, and he was eager to win. He had not won a main event in nearly three years, and he wanted it bad, as he's a two-time Speedway Joe Cup winner. He made a nice start and rode a tight inside line to take the checkered flag on his H&B Racing Jawa. Donholt tried hard but had to settle for second, with McBride third, Mittl fourth and Clark fifth.

In the first attempt at the Handicap final, Engel went down, and Mittl had to lay it down to avoid him, which caused a restart. On the second try, Buman got past Engel (the only rider in front of the 50-yard line) early and basically cruised to the checkered flag for a double win. Mittl moved up to second place overall, with McBride coming from the 60 for third. Engel took fourth, Donholt was fifth, and Bailey was a nonstarter.

Results

SPEEDWAY JOE CUP: 1. Mikey Buman; 2. Casey Donholt; 3. Tuff McBride; 4. Adam Mittl; 5. Dave Clark.

HDCP MAIN: 1. Mikey Buman; 2. Adam Mittl; 3.Tuff McBride; 4. Shawn Engel; 5. Casey Donholt.

SUP MAIN: 1. Katalin Davis; 2. Zach Peters; 3. Dee Holden; 4. Bob Harris; 5. Don Wheeland.