New Champion Speedway
East River Drive
Owego, New York
Cam Rafferty Wins The Main Event!
Results June 10, 2000
By Maggie Simpson
16 year-old Cam Rafferty brought home the first Scratch Main event
win of his speedway career after being on the receiving end of
some good fortune in 2nd annual Ohmar Lightner Cup here at
New Champion Speedway in Owego. The event is dedicated to the
memory of a long time speedway supporter, official and local
police officer, Ohmar Lightner. The scratch only format consists
of four rounds of qualifying heats with the top eight riders
heading to two four-man semis. From there the top two riders
go directly to the main event and the remaining riders going
to a last chance qualifier where the winner gets the last
spot in the five man main event.
After four qualifying rounds, Tommy "The Gater" Sephton looked
unbeatable with 12 points, winning all of his heats easily.
Tied at 10 points with two wins each were Craig Estelle and
Bruce "the Mongoose" Nelson. "Lightning" Lenny McBride and
"Mean" Gene Bonsignore were next with 9 points each.
Cam "The Kid" Rafferty was the lone rider with 8 points. Jason Bonsignore and Support A rider
Jerry "Beauford" Harmon were the remaining qualifiers with 7 points each.
Semi 1: The line up for the first semi had McBride in gate one and
Sephton in two. In the outside positions were the father
and son team of Gene and Jason Bonsignore in three and
four respectively. As the gate went up it was McBride
who had the clear advantage off the line but he drifted
a bit allowing Sephton to drive underneath coming out of
turn two. McBride gave chase but could not find the
drive to catch Sephton who pulled away to win by four
lengths. McBride would go on to finish second with
third Gene and Jason at the rear.
Semi 2: The line up for semi two had Estelle in one, Rafferty in two,
Nelson in three and Harmon by the wall. As the tapes went
up it was Nelson who had the initial jump from three but
Estelle had the drive off one and pulled past into the
first turn. Rafferty not content to be left behind drove
underneath Nelson going down the backstretch and into the
turn. From there it would be a three-way battle with
Estelle coming out on top and Rafferty second.
Nelson and Harmon would head for the LCQ.
Last Chance Qualifier:
The line up for the LCQ had Harmon in one, Nelson in two, Jason Bonsignore in three and Gene by the wall in four.
As the tapes went up it was Nelson who took the gate.
Jason lifted off the line allowing Harmon to drop
underneath and Gene to drive around the outside.
Nelson would pull away for the transfer while
Jason chased Harmon in third while Harmon pressured
the elder Bonsignore for second.
Main Event:
The line up for the Main had Sephton in one, Rafferty in two,
Estelle in three, McBride in four and Nelson on the outside
in five. McBride was set for one of his lightning gates
but Referee Don Hawkins had other plans. As McBride crept
towards the tapes Hawkins held the switch for a second
longer, causing McBride to back away, that's when the
"Hawk" let them loose. Sephton took the gate from one
with Nelson coming hard from the outside and making a
brief challenge for the lead, but Rafferty snuck underneath
to take second away. By the start of lap three,
Estelle had caught up to Nelson but couldn't hold
his line, taking them both wide out of turn two.
This allowed McBride, who had been left sitting at
the tapes to drive underneath to take third. From
there it looked like it was Sephton's race.
Raffety and McBride gave chase but could not close.
At the end of lap four, while most of the crowd was
mesmerized by Estelle breaking traction into a series
of doughnuts back in turn two, Sephton fell coming
out of turn four, letting Rafferty take the win.
McBride would come back from his last place gate
for a hard fought second, with Nelson in third.
Sephton would pick his bike up to salvage fourth.
Estelle eventually got his Jawa pointed in the
direction of the checkered flag for last place.
In the Support classes it was a pair of "Old Timers"
taking home trophies. Both having ridden in the 70's,
Support A rider Ted Fey and Support B rider
Dave Richards, both rode in last years Legends
event and decided to make it a full time stint in 2000.
From: Jason Bonsignore kabons64@hotmail.com
Division One
1/ (427) Cam Rafferty
2/ (71) Lenny McBride
3/ (17) Bruce Nelson
4/ (104) Tom Sephton
5/ (51x) Craig Estelle
Support 'A'
1/ (0) Ted Fay
2/ (38) Jerry Grenga
3/ (8) Craig Lane
4/ (815) Dave Smith
5/ (88) Joe Heitman
6/ (30) Joe Greene
Support 'B'
1/ (4a) Dave Richards
2/ (93) Chris Strong
3/ (812) Duane Smith
4/ (169) Tony McElroy
5/ (99) Joel Parsons
6/ Casey Casslebury
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