OWEGO, NY

When Tuff McBride (above) came out of retirement five years ago, it was big news on the East Coast Speedway scene. Everyone expected him to be one of the top guys, but that after an 11-year layoff he would probably not be his old dominating self, and that has been somewhat true - until now.

Fast-forward to 2010, and he has apparently discovered some anti-aging pills or something. This season, McBride has won more heat races and main events than any rider and is currently leading the East Coast points race. He was undefeated at the New York State finals two weeks ago in Greene, and he was looking for more of the same on July 10 at Champion Speedway.

The opening heat races began with Casey Donholt beating out Mikey Buman, with Dave Clark and Shawn "Steamboat" Engel third and fourth, respectively. McBride won the next event, with Jerry "Buford" Harman second, Corey Brookes third and Andy "Motoboy" Crawford fourth. In the last race of the first round, former East Coast champion Jeremy "Dark Horse" Parsons was making a comeback after three years, and he rode well for a second-place finish, behind Adam "The Missile" Mittl; taking third was four-time East Coast points leader "Mean Gene" Bonsignore, and fourth was Russ "Doctor Dirt" Cornell.

Buman opened up the second round of heats with a win, over Bonsignore, Brookes and Cornell. That was followed up by McBride scoring another victory against Mittl, who took second; Clark grabbed third, with Crawford fourth. In the next heat, Parsons looked like his old self and came out on top of Donholt, with Harman third and Engel last.

McBride was hot again in the third series of heats, defeating Buman and Parsons, with Cornell in fourth. Mittl was starting to look like he did last year as he bested Donholt, with Harman third and Brookes fourth. Bonsignore was winning the final race when Engel went down all by himself and caused a restart; Clark made the start on the second try and won, with Bonsignore second, Cornell third and Engel taking zero.

The closing round of heat racing started with a strong match-up featuring McBride, Buman, Donholt and Clark; that was the finishing order, as McBride stayed unbeaten! Mittl then made an awesome inside pass to take a win from Parsons; Brookes scored one point for third and Crawford zero. Harman won the last heat, with Bonsignore in second again, Cornell third and Engel fourth.

In the main event, there would be no stopping McBride, as he outgated the field on his JBR/Polito/Skylark Diner/Justice Brothers/NGK/Oury-backed Jawa and rode like a man possessed to cap off an unbeaten night and add another main-event victory to his impressive résumé! Donholt wound up second, with Mittl third and Parsons getting Buman at the line for fourth.

The next event at Champion Speedway will be the Hank Bassett Cup Championship on July 17.

Results

SCR LCQ: 1. Jeremy Parsons; 2. Dave Clark; 3. Jerry Harman; 4. Gene Bonsignore.

SCR MAIN: 1. Tuff McBride; 2. Casey Donholt; 3. Adam Mittl; 4. Jeremy Parsons; 5. Mikey Buman.

SUP MAIN: 1. Bunk Harris; 2. Don Wheeland; 3. Dee Holden; 4. Zach Peters; 5. Delber Roser.