Photo by DJ Photos

The legendary Champion Speedway in Owego, NY played host to the final round of the King of Speedway Nationals on Sunday, August 31, and what a show it was.

Three-time and defending US Open Champion, Shawn "Mad Dog" McConnell of California, took home the crown in front of a packed house at Champion, but not without a strong fight from the other visiting racers and the hometown riders who put in a great effort.

The evening began with Adam Mittl outgating Mikey Buman from gate two and taking the win in that order. Dave Clark was third and Katalin Davis crashed and was out. Aaron Hesmer was the winner next time out over the returning Alex Heath. Rus Cornell was third and Jeff Garlinghouse last. McConnell defeated second placed Josh Carr in his first heat with Keith Hawkins getting third and Shawn Engel last. 1998 US National Champion, Bart Bast, beat Tommy Hedden in the fourth race with Tuff McBride in third and Stefan Laessig fourth. Lenny McBride was the final victor in the first set of heats with Corey Brookes second, Gene Bonsignore third from the 10 yard line and Andy Crawford last.

McConnell stayed unbeaten when he took 3 points from Buman in the second round. Bonsignore was first to the checkered flag ahead of Carr, while Tuff McBride beat Hesmer, Hedden beat Mittl and Bast took a win over Brookes.

McConnell had an important race against Hedden who was chasing him for the overall series lead to open round three. McConnell could not be had as he outdistanced Hedden to the finish. Tuff McBride, riding like he was 20 again, defeated Buman as well. Lenny McBride scored a surprising win over Bast to bring out a big cheer from the local fans while Mittl won from Hesmer and Bonsignore won from Hawkins to close out that round.

Bast ruined McConell's perfect night by opening the last round with a victory over him. Also producing wins were Hedden, Clark and Bonsignore.

A the end of the heats the top five racers overall in the series were placed into the 4 Grand Finals and the rest of the field was divided up into 5 rider, D, C AND B finals based on the evenings heat totals.

Winning the D-final in impressive form was Crawford with Garlinghouse second, Laessif third and Engel fourth. Davis was a non-starter. The C-final went to Buman with the rest of the order being Carr, Heath, Hawkins and Cornell. Lenny McBride won the B-final only after Tuff's bike seized while leading it coming out of turn four for the finish. Clark took second, Brookes third, Bonsignore fourth and Tuff got last.

McConnell rode his Justice Brothers/Western Blasting/Oakley GM to the win in the first Grand final with Hesmer second, Bast third, Hedden fourth and Mittl falling and hurting his knee in last. Hedden scored the win the second time out but McConnell kept the points lead with a second. Adam Mittl stole the show the last two Mains by taking them both in fine fashion which enabled him to tie Hedden for second overall and force a runoff which he lost. McConnell grabbed second in the last two events though and this gave him the overall KING OF SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP!

King of Speedway Overall Championship Standings after 3 rounds
1. Shawn McConnell-Champion 84 pts
2. Tommy Hedden 75 points won runoff for second
3. Adam Mittl 75
4. Aaron Hesmer 69
5. Bart Bast 64
6. Mikey Buman 63
7. Tuff McBride 62
8. Len McBride 58
9. Gene Bonsignore 51
10. Corey Brookes 50
11. Josh Carr 45
12. Dave Clark 41
13. Shawn Engel 30
14. Keith Hawkins 28
15. Andy Crawford 26
16. Jeff Garlinghouse 24/Russ Cornell 24
18. Katalin Davis 17
19. Alex Heath 13
20. Stefan Laessig 9