The well-known Champion Speedway in Owego is set to open its doors on May 25th with a special Sunday early evening race on the holiday weekend honoring one of its best recognized racers of all-time, "Hurricane" Hank Bassett of Vestal.
Bassett, was considered in the 70's and 80's as one of the top Speedway Motorcycle racers in the Country. He once won 12 Main event features in a row at Champion. In recent years he has been stricken with MS. The event has been run in Hank's honor each of the past 10 seasons and is billed as the Hank Bassett Cup.
Last season, Champion Speedway and Californian rider, Jon Stasiefski, an old friend of Bassett's, presented Hank with a check for $2,000.00 and a big screen TV. Stasiefski will again be flying in for the event and he and business partner, Bernie Fried, will again help to sponsor the race. Champion Speedway plans to present the first 100 fans through the gate with a limited photo card of Bassett. Over 40 Speedway riders have already signed up to compete, not including competitors for ATV and dirt bike classes which will run prior to the scheduled 6 pm start time.
Included in the 40 rider professional speedway field are some huge names that will be making full-time comebacks this year and will catch the attention of some of the older local fans...amongst those big names will be 6-time NY State and US Open Champion, Warren Diem of Conklin, and multi-time Champions and brother act, Tuff and Lenny McBride of Windsor, NY. Ironically, Lenny McBride, who is returning from a 2 year retirement, has a chance to break Bassett's record of 4 track championships, which is shared by he, Bassett and Tom Sephton of Vestal.
The somewhat legendary, 1/8 mile dirt motorcycle speedway venue opened in 1975 and for nearly ten years attracted crowds of up to 3,000 for its Sunday evening speedway shows. The track became so popular at one time that they had to turn people away! The track reached its high point in 1982 when World Speedway Champion and Hollywood actor, Bruce Penhall, came to town for the US Open Championships and a record crowd of over 5,000 witnessed the races!
The venue went through some ownership problems in the late 80's and early 90's and actually closed down for 4 years until 1997 when Rochester area Professional Hockey Player, Jason Bonsignore, brought the track back from extinction quite successfully. In its heyday, Diem and the McBride brothers were top performers and had a legion of local fans.
Speedway Motorcycles have absolutely no brakes, go from 0 to 60mph in less than 3 seconds and slide totally sideways on the dirt oval. Crowds of 20,000 plus attend races overseas where speedway reigns supreme. The sport remains one of the most affordable forms of family fun in the area with adult tickets at Champion costing only $10.00. Kids 6-12 are only $3.00 and there are many events on Champion's schedule offering discounted promotions. Parking and programs are free!
Bonsignore rebuilt the entire track and built the sport up again for nearly 10 years. Very good sized crowds began to attend the events again, National Championship races were hosted and top level racers were brought in at different times, including 1996 and 97 World Champions, Billy Hamill and Greg Hancock of California. The past two seasons have been stable but the track did not see any growth. That seems due to change this year...
Local racers and fans have lots to be excited about for 2008. The track has commitments from the largest group of competitors it has had since 2004 and has secured a large amount of advertising dollars from the I LOVE NY program and a private sponsor, ALL BALLS RACING from PA, a motorcycle bearing manufacturer. Along with Diem and the McBride's, other notable racers like Tom Burge of Port Crane, Craig Estelle of Windsor and Jeremy Parsons of Johnson City have all signed on for selected events after long layoffs.
The track will continue to host the US Open Championships, one of the premier events in North America, in July, but is looking to host its' own self-sanctioned US NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS over labor day weekend which will feature 10 International stars. It is hoped that former World Champion, Hamill, will be one of them. The track has also come up with a more timely and organized program for fans and has restocked its' souvenir store. A TT style course has been added for ATV and dirt bike racers along with Motocross and BMX tracks. A go-kart amusement ride track is scheduled to be built next month. Live bands and special promotions are being brought back for the first time in several years.
The 2008 season kicks off this Sunday at 6pm but the track will remain a mostly Saturday Night track, it has been Saturdays most years since 97, for this summer after week one. Local favorites like Alex "Hazard" Heath and "Flyin" Brian Hollenbeck of Owego and Russ "Homer" Cornell, Keith "Hawkeye" Hawkins and Tim Mathewson of Nichols will all be riding.
The speedway schedule will run mostly bi-weekly. Champion's sister track, Action Park East in Greene, opens a day earlier on May 24th at 7pm. More information can be found by going to www.speedwaybikes.com or www.jbrspeedway.com
