Batavia Motor Speedway
Batavia, New York
Batavia Motor Speedway
Batavia, New York, USA
August 12, 2005
By Jason Bonsignore
For the first several weeks of the 2005 season at Batavia Motor Speedway, the track was fairly rough as was to be expected for a new facility. What wasn't expected was that on the night of the fifth event, the track would be absolutely perfect! The track staff had worked hard in the previous week to ad clay to the surface and mix it in with a tiller. The combination worked well and as it began to rain during the event the track became better and better developing outside lines.
Although it began to rain heavily at one point during the Handicap Semifinals, the riders soldiered on and the fans stayed seated to see the action.
Semi number one had "Motorin" Matt Otto on the zero yard line with "Mad dog" Mikey Buman on the forty, George "Lazorbeam" Lazor and Dave "Smokin" Oakden on the fifty and Jeremy "Darkhorse" Parsons on the seventy. Otto got out to an early lead and was riding his best race of the season. He was eventually passed by Parsons and Buman but remained in third to transfer to the Main Event. Lazor held off Oakden for fourth with Parsons grabbing first over Buman.
Semi number two in the Handicap Program had Adam Mittl off the sixty yard line with "Mean" Gene Bonsignore on the fifty, and Alex"The Hazard" Heath on the thirty. Heath led for lap one until Mittl, Bonsignore and Lengle all got by in that order. Things stayed the same for the rest of the event with Heath never being able to recover a transfer position. The riders came off the track covered in mud and it looked more like English Speedway!
Scratch semifinal number one was due to be a good one. Parsons and Mittl met for the first time along with talented youngster, Buman. Parsons pulled away from the start but was hotly pursued by Mittl. They finished one and two with their experience paying off over Buman, who was third.
The last of the scratch semis had Oakden facing off with Lazor, Heath and Bonsignore. Oakden used his gate one advantage smartly and rode the inside to victory. Lazor made a hard charge on the outside but had no success and Heath moved under him for second. Bonsignore was fourth.
The Last Chance was probably the best race of the night. Lazor had decided to mount a 22inch rear wheel due to the track conditions being deep. The 22 creates much more traction than a standard rear wheel when the track is right. Bonsignore, and Buman made up the rest of the field. The fans were treated to a great race as Bonsignore and Lazor swapped the lead three time over three laps with The Justice Brothers, Red Line Oil, K&N sponsored Lazor just getting a outside burst with the 22 at the finish line to win and transfer to the Main. Bonsignore was second with Lengle third and Buman fourth.
The stage was set for the Scratch Main with Parsons, Oakden, Heath, Mittl and Lazor all lining up. Many thought Lazor had a good chance from the outside with the 22 wheel but he could only manage getting into third by lap two as Parsons and Oakden had made good gates from the inside. Mittl moved by Lazor on lap four as Lazor had no choice than continue to try the outside with the 22. Somehow near the end of the race, Heath moved up into third while Mittl made a mistake. The final finishing order was Parsons taking the flag over Oakden, Heath, Mittl and Lazor.
Otto was back for the Handicap Main on the zero yard line with Buman, Bonsignore, Mittl and Parsons all breathing down his back. As the tapes went up, Otto was out into first for a half a lap until giving way to the freight train. Buman and Bonsignore also passed Otto and on lap three Mittl finally made his move into fifth. Parsons was second, Buman third, Bonsignore fourth, Mittl fifth and Otto sixth.
In Support Speedway Action Ron Makely won his first Speedway Main Event ever when Otto, who had it in the bag, fell making the win available for Makely.
Scratch Main Event
1. Jeremy Parsons
2. Howie Oakden
3. Alex Heath
4. Adam Mittl
5. George Lazor
Last Chance
1.George Lazor
2. Gene Bonsignore
4. Mikey Buman
Handicap Main
2. Jeremy Parsons
3. Mikey Buman
4. Gene Bonsignore
5. Adam Mittl
6. Matt Otto
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