The July 20th race at Champion Speedway in Owego, NY was in doubt only minutes before race time as the rain was pouring down and riders and fans were scrambling for shelter.

As it has on several occasions though this season, the rain let up and track workers and riders immediately went to work on the surface which came around great and the program only started 30 minutes late.

Californians, Shawn "Mad Dog" McConnell and Shaun "King Tiuk" Harmatiuk were on hand as they were trying to get tuned up for the following weeks US Open Championships. They did not disappoint and McConnell started off the speedway program by moving through a field of five riders from the 60 yard line to take a win in the first handicap heat race. Coming in second was Jesse "Jet" Diem with Adam "Missile"Mittl third and Keith Hawkins fourth. East Coast great, Warren Diem, blew off the 50 yard line ahead of Lenny McBride and Tuff  McBride and quickly got by the front yardage riders to claim a victory. Lenny moved up into second  with Tuff finishing third. In the final heat it was Harmatiuk who won but he had to make a great outside pass on  Jerry "Buford" Harman on lap three to solidify it. Mikey Buman was also able to get by Harman and take second.

In semi number one it was Harmatiuk who came off the 50 yard marker and moved Jesse Diem over. Harmatiuk went on for he win while Diem hung in for third for a while right behind Tuff McBride until Mittl passed him on lap four, followed by Buman. Mittl seemed to have the last transfer spot locked up on the last lap until he made the mistake off trying to ride wide and Buman snuck under him for third.

The other semi saw McConnell ride spectacularly to win it by passing all of the riders while coming from the 60. Warren Diem used his experience to follow McConnell through the pack to second and Lenny McBride had to work hard to get past Katalin Davis on the second to last lap for the last transfer.

Adam Mittl produced a dominant scratch heat ride by defeating Buman rather handily. Jesse Diem was third and Hawkins fourth. Tuff McBride and McConnell had an awesome side by side ride in their heat with McBride taking the win by inches! Harmatiuk gated very strongly from the outside and rode away from second placed Warren Diem and third placed Lenny McBride and the last heat race.

Buman opened up the scratch semis by scoring an unexpected win over McConnell where he passed McConnell up the inside coming out of turn two off the start. Warren Diem was unable to transfer as he got third with Hawkins last. Harmatiuk won again in the other semi with Lenny McBride grabbing the second place spot. Mittl passed Tuff for third when McBride broke a chain and looped the bike on the last turn.

The scratch main turned into a weird and wild affair. McConnell and L. McBride were one and two by a country mile going into the last corner. McConnell hit a tacky spot and went to the wall while McBride drifted off the groove and seemingly went backwards.  While this happened, the two watched hopelessly as Buman cruised to the checkered flag. McConnell recovered for second and McBride was third. Harmatiuk got passed by Mittl at the finish for fourth.

Lenny McBride piloted his Justice Brothers/JBR/NGK Spark Plugs/Red Line /K&N  sponsored JAWA  to the win in the Handicap Main by being the first 50 yard line rider to turn one  and then running a nice smooth inside line for 6 laps to hold off the hard charges of the two-time  US Open Champion, McConnell, who passed 4 others to nail down second. Harmatiuk was third with Warren Diem staying ahead of Buman and Tuff McBride.