American Speedway
American Speedway: Donholt dons winers cap at Action Park East, July 12, Greene, NY.
By Admin
Jul 17, 2008, 00:22

A switch to Saturday evening from Friday nights and some nice weather brought out the biggest crowd of the year at Action Park East in Greene. It also brought out the largest back gate turnout with over 60 entries. Those 60 entries put on some great racing.

In the first round of handicap heats it was Josh Carr who defeated Adam "Missile" Mittl and Shawn "Steamboat" Engel. Rounding out that heat were Jesse "Jet" Diem and Cole Farwell who were fourth and fifth in heat race one. Heat two saw Lenny McBride move past the field into the lead never to relinquish it. Warren "Warrior" Diem was hot on his tail until he ran out of fuel. Taking second was Stefan Laessig and Tim Murray of Canada was third.

The third race was won by Rick Sherwood of Newark Valley while second went to Casey Donholt with third being Tuff McBride.  Fourth place and out of a transfer was Corey Brookes and Jeff Garlinghouse was fifth. The final race to close out the handicap heats had Canadian National Champion, Aaron Hesmer, in it. Hesmer took second to Mikey Buman while Dave Clark grabbed the last transfer by getting third place ahead of Russ Cornell and Terry Rideout, who was also down from Canada.

The semis got exciting as there were some great match-ups. Semifinal number one had Donholt on the 60 yard line with the McBride brothers on the 50. Up front were some newer riders who were no slouches. Josh Carr was one of those newer riders and he did very well to again take home the win and grab a ride to the main event. Behind Carr at the finish was Tuff McBride followed by Lenny McBride. Donholt took fifth with Clark and Murray behind him. In semifinal two, Buman had to work his way past the field from the 60 yard line and was able to. He won it with Adam Mittl right behind him and Hesmer taking the final spot for the main by ending up third. Laessig stayed ahead of Engel and Sherwood for fourth.

Winners of the scratch heats were...Mittl, Hesmer, Buman and McBride, who beat Warren Diem in a very close race. Second place finishers were Lenny McBride, Donholt, Clark and Diem. Third places were taken by Cornell, Brookes, Sherwood and Laessig.

In the first scratch semi it was Diem who scored a convincing win when he out-gated and out-rode Buman, Lenny McBride and Hesmer in that order. He stayed tight to the pole and rode very smoothly. Donholt and Tuff McBride were able to take top two positions in the other semi by crossing the finish ahead of Mittl and  Clark.

In the last chance, Lenny McBride made an excellent gate from the number one shoot and was pressured hard all race by Mittl but never made any mistakes. In the end he was awarded the final scratch main slot for his efforts.  Mittl was second,  with Hesmer third and Clark fourth.

The scratch main was delayed on the first  try when an over-eager Tuff McBride hits the tapes and had to be penalized.  On the next attempt it was Donholt who lept out in front off  the line and Warren Diem could not overtake him in four laps. Donholt was your winner with Diem second, McBride third, Buman fourth and Lenny McBride last.

In the handicap finale the crowd was pulling for Josh Carr. Coming from the 20 yard marker Carr took control for 3 laps until misfortune struck. He hit a hole in turn four and got too wide letting the freight train go by. It was Hesmer who took advantage and drove away with the win!  Battling hard behind him to get second was  Mittl followed by Lenny McBride, Buman and Tuff McBride!

The next event on the Action Park schedule is the big one...The US Open National Championship on Saturday, July 26th!

Scratch Main
1. Casey Donholt
2. Warren Diem
3. Tuff McBride
4. Mikey Buman
5. Lenny McBride

Last Chance
1. Lenny McBride
2. Adam Mittl
3. Aaron Hesmer
4. Dave Clark

Handicap Main
1. Aaron Hesmer
2. Adam Mittl
3. Lenny McBride
4. Mikey Buman
5. Tuff McBride
6. Josh Carr

Support A
1. Shawn Engel
2. Cole Farwell
3. Tim Murray
4. Dee Holden
5. Jeff Garlinghouse

Support B
1. Henry Calpin
2. Brian Bailey
3. Dan Harbst
4. Tracy Dean