Ten-Time Champ to race at Champion Speedway on September 1 and 2

One of the most prestigious events in North America for speedway motorcycle racing, The U.S. Open National Championships, is set to come to Champion Speedway in Owego, N.Y. on Sept. 1 and 2, and one of the greatest riders of all-time, current AMA U.S. National Champion Billy Janniro, is set to compete. 

Janniro, from Northern, California, is not only the current U.S. National Speedway Champion, but has also won nine other National Titles and holds the record in American speedway with 10. 

He will be making his second appearance at Champion Speedway in his career; three years ago he won the Patrick Ahlund Spring Classic, but has never raced the U.S. Open.He also is the current point leader in the 2018 AMA National Championship Series. 

This year’s Championship series will include two nights of racing at Champion on Sept. 1 and 2. The big news of who is racing does not stop at Janniro. Another former National Champion, Aaron Fox of Menifee, Calif., who has won the U.S. National at Costa Mesa twice, and also competed in the British League, is also slated to compete. 

Also featured is young teenage phenom Dillon Ruml, from Huntington Beach, Calif., who has been tearing up the West Coast tracks and just got back from representing Team USA in the World Team Cup rounds overseas and Russell Green, of Northern California, who has also raced overseas. 

Also on the import list is 13-year British League star David “Victor” Meldrum, of Berwick, who is now the number one ranked rider in Florida. Representing Colorado will be three of their top points riders – young star Redmond Bohannon, and veterans David and Ken Pieper. The Pennsylvania representative is Jesse Diem.   

Local fans will have a lot to cheer about and the guest stars will have their hands full as track Promoter Jason Bonsignore has a strong program of local riders at the moment. 

The top local favorites to win the Championship have to be former Champion, Casey Donholt of Port Crane, who leads this summer’s Points Championship along with Binghamton’s Mikey Buman, who will be making his first appearance of the season.

Endicott’s Adam Mittl, who is a five-time track champion and Len McBride of Windsor, a legend in the sport with four-track titles to his credit, will also be competing. 

One rider to keep an eye out for is former East Coast Points Champion Jeremy Parsons, of Vestal. He has recently returned to speedway after a bit of a layoff. Young Spencer Portararo of Newark Valley has been strong lately and the Oakdens, Dave and Dan, will serve the Rochester area well.

Speedway motorcycles have absolutely no brakes, and go from 0 to 60 mph in 3-seconds and slide totally sideways through the turns. They run on methanol and the sport attracts crowds of 20,00 plus for weekly meetings in Europe. There are only several pockets of speedway in the U.S. and New York is recognized as one of the best, second only to California.

The Speedway action gets underway at 7 p.m. on Sept. 1 at Champion Speedway, and at 6 p.m. on Sept. 2 at Champion, which is located on East River Drive at the end of Route 434 in Owego. ATV and Support Class racing will be included both nights. Monday, Sept. 3 at noon, could serve as a rain date. More information can be found by calling (585) 739-9612, or by visiting www.eastcoastspeedway.com or www.speedwaybikes.com.