AMA Speedway National Championships return to Champion Speedway on September 5

The biggest Speedway Motorcycle Race in the Country, The AMA Sanctioned Speedway National Championship Series, is set to be held at Action Park East in Greene, N.Y. on Sept. 4, and at Champion Speedway in Owego, N.Y. on Sept. 5. The event will feature the best racers American Speedway has to offer, including the defending and current 10-time AMA National Champion, Billy Janniro. Janniro has also won two US Open Championships here in New York. 

Joining Janniro on the visiting riders list from California are FIM North American Final Champion Max Ruml, Former British League rider and TEAM USA Member Gino Manzares, Current US Open Champion Austin Novratil, Former Dream Team USA rider Tim Gomez, and rising Northern California star Blake Borello.

Representing Florida will be 10-year British League Veteran David Meldrum and the top Colorado rider, Redmond Bohannon, is in the field. This will mark the first time the series has ever been held outside of California. 

The New York Rounds are presented by Powersports X, located at 2400 NY-26, Vestal, N.Y. and Mad Jon and Bernie Racing from Reseda, Calif.

This year’s Championship series will include three nights of racing. The final round will be held at Fast Fridays Motorcycle Speedway in Auburn, California in late September. 

On Saturday evening, Sept. 4, the gates will open at 5 p.m. and racing will take place at 7 p.m. at Action Park East on Route 12 in Greene. For round two, on Sept. 5, gates will open at 4 p.m. with races blasting off at 6 p.m. 

Local fans will have a lot to cheer about and the guest stars will have their hands full as the track promotion has a strong program of local riders at the moment. The top local favorites will be NYS Champion Spencer Portararo of Endwell; Len McBride of Windsor, who has five track titles at Champion Speedway; Brian Hollenbeck of Owego; Dave and Jonny Oakden of Rochester; and Dave Clark of Berkshire. 

Speedway motorcycles have absolutely no brakes, 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 20,000 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.

Champion Speedway is located at the end of Route 434 on Old Narrows Road. You can Google 227 Old Narrows Rd., Nichols, N.Y. 13812 for driving directions Support Class racing, and Juniors and Trikes will be included both nights. The band Metaturnal from Barton, N.Y. will be playing live at intermission and immediately following the races on Sunday. 

For more information, call (585) 739-9612 or visit www.eastcoastspeedway.com or www.speedwaybikes.com.