Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128331
AMA East Coost Speedway Champion Speedway Gator Takes First Bite at Speedway Opener By JASON BONSIGNORE OWEGO, NY, MAY 30 T he season opener at Cham pion Speedway kicked 0(( with beautiful wea ther. gorgeous trac k conditions, and the fami liar face of threeti me East C oas t Spe edway Ch am pion To m " Gator " Sephton in the w inners' cir cle. The 16-ride r Scratch field was run in a four ro und champio nship format , with the top two points scorers going directly to th e main event ; th e next eight transferred to two semis, w it h the semi w inners goi ng to the final and thirds ending up in the last -chance qualifier. Sep hton was pe rfect in the heat rounds . The ageless Gene Bonsignore, w ho wou ld tum 57 in two weeks , was also perfect until a spark-plug cap came off his new j ustice Brothers/Red Line O il jawa in his t hird heat . jere my Parsons. who is very fast these days, suffered his only defeat at the hands of Canadian Aaron H esmer, w hich put him and Bonsignore in a runoff for the last direct tra nsfer. Bonsignore held off Parsons in the runoff for th e spot. Parsons and his yo unger brother joel " T he Bull" Parsons convincingly won th eir semifinals, earning two of the last th r ee positions in the Scratch main. Owego young ster " Flyin' Brian" Hollenbeck rod e an excellent last-chance dash for the fifth and final slot . Th e ma in eve nt saw Joel Par so ns in one . Bonsign ore in two , Jer emy Parso ns in th ree. Sepht o n i n (ou r and H oll enb eck in f ive . Bonsigno re held th e lead coming off tum two, but t he Progres sive Suspen sion / Col e Co nst ruction-backed Sephton just got by on the outside and never looked back, snagging th e season-o pe ning Scra tc h main -eve nt win at the spiritual home of Eastern Speedway. Bonsignore hun g o n (o r second, w h ile Je rem y and Holl e nbe ck d ice d fo r t hird a nd "T he Bull" enjoye d his first Scratc h main ever, finishing fifth. Support A actio n was e nte rtaining and was won by East Coast child phenom Mikey "Mad Dog " Buman. fo llo we d by fa n favo rit e l ay "Silve r bac k" Cassleb ury, who was making a ret urn to Speedway after a long layoff. Newcomer Ryan Kaza (rom Rochester, New Kawasaki·mounted Wes Ba ughman dominated t h e 12Scc a nd Before The Hill Jun ior classes a t t he Memorial Day Motocross at Madras Motocross, winning a ll four motos he contested. finishes. wh ich was good for the overall win . He Blake Hall were Baughman's closest compe tition in th e class, alth ough neith er would ser iously challenge the IS-year-old Baughman. Grant Hall York, w on the Support B D ivision for the first ti me, ahead of second-place competitor H enry Hanzo, wh o is in his 60s and comes all the wa y from New jersey to com pete! Katalin Davis, who is showing lots of pr omise and is starti ng an Eastern trend of girls racing two-class wi nner on th e day) placed second to Colin Baker in the fir st mota, and w hen Baker w as a no -show in m ot o two , Frace took the wi n and th e overall. Washingto n's Tanner Berry, one of the mu lti tude of out-of-staters on hand, used consistent 3· 3 placings to tra il Baughman in t he overall sta nd ings, w hil e Hock em a' s 2-4 finishes garnered the rider fro m Coos Bay third overall, followed by Blake (S-2) and Levi Bishop. w ho rounded out the top five. Baughman w ould later cap ture an over all 125 cc jun io r -cl ass victory - his six th overa ll wi n of the three-day event - to end th e weeke nd unbeaten. Th er e we re unusually large turnouts in the Speedway, too k top place in the junior main. RESULTS SCR: I. Tom Sephton ; 2. Ge ne Bon sigllOl'"e ; 3. Jere my Parsons: ... Brian Hollenbeck.: S. }oeI Parsons. SUP k I. Mike Boman 2. Jay CassIebury; 3. Shawn Eng~; ... Mike Gillette ; 5. ; Adam Mittl. SUP B: I. Ryan Kaza; 2. Hen ry Hanzo; 3. Derek Spencer; .of. Mike Tompkins. JR: I. Ka uJin Davis. placed second overall with a 3-2 tally. followed by Antho ny Rom er o (4-3). N eith er Ber ry nor Newman was as fort unate in the 6Scc Open class. as R.j. Leach won the decisive second moto , as well as overall. SOc (0-6), SO (7-8) and SOcc O pen classes. c cc UJ ~ KTM rider De rr ick May has been t he to p Co br-a-mounted Trevor N ewm an and KTM rider Dustin Laughlin dazzled the spectators en r oute to mota wi ns in the SOcc (0-6) class, but it was N ewman (3- 1) who netted the overall wi n, performer in th e ascc ranks or late, and on this d ay t he dim inu t ive speedster swept both Supe r min i mo t os , bea ting C had Turner. How ever. Turner tu rned th e tables and got th e 13 ahead of Laughlin ( 1-3) and jack Fowle r (2-S). best of May in the 8Scc ( 12- 13) class. u; Poli ni r ide r Alya s Wardius was consistent all weekend, and t hat paid 0(( in th e SOcc (7-B) 5 "' ~ was trailed by Wardius and Massey. In t he 6Scc (9. 1I) co ntest. Brad Frace (a RESULTS class: Ward ius' 2-2 finishes bett er ed tho se of ~• Wyatt Fowle r (3-3) and Brayde n Massey (9- 1) SO (0-6): I. Tre'iOl'" Newman (Cob ); 2. Dustin Laughlin (KTM); 3. Jack Fowler (Cob) . SO (7 .S): I. AJyas Ward ius ~ for the overall. Massey ' s luck im pr ove d in the SOcc Open (Pol): 2. Wyatt Fowl er (Cob) : 3. Bra. den Masse y (Pol). SO y OPEN: I. Brayden Massey (Pol): 2. AJyas Ward ius (Pol); 3. W~tt Fowler (Cob). 65 BEG: I. Brandon Gabbard (Suz): 2. class, as he trailed Chr is Alldredge and Wardius Dustin Kenville (!