Niagara Raceway
Netherby Road / Townline Tunnel
Welland, Ontario, Canada
1999 Week Two
June 19, 1999 Niagara Raceway
By: Duncan Luke. luke99@idirect.com
Chris Hesmer takes the Final! Second week in a row!
For the second week there were two number one plates in use but the CMA has now ruled on this dispute.
For the remainder of the season at Welland, John Kehoe is the #1 plateholder apart from the National Championship,
when it will be Chris Hesmer's. John will also have the #1 plate at
half mile events which, along with Welland's weekly races, make up the CMA series covered by this plate.
Chris's #1 plate covers the National Championship and all meetings at Paris which are not part of the other series.
Complicated? You bet! It was much simpler when there were two National titles available, Short-track and long-track!
Division 1 racing on the night was rather routine although the final featured
an absorbing race long battle for third place. Fred Legault, who is in good form at present, held off a series of
determined challenges from John Kehoe with
Wisconsin veteran Greg Comstock also in close attention until he slid
off on the final turn. He then earned an
appreciative round of applause from the crowd when he picked his bike up
and pushed it home. Quite an
effort on Welland's large track for the fifty plus veteran. Chris Hesmer completed an unbeaten evening with a clear win
in the final and for the second week in a row Jeff Orosz provided the
excitement. He missed the gate in
his first race and powered around the outside to second before picking
up traction coming out of turn four. He reared
and came off the back of his bike before it hammered into the safety
fence. Fortunately he was only winded and after a minute
or two was back on his feet and running to the pits for his back-up bike
for the rerun. No wonder he is a crowd favorite.
Joe Heye, on his first outing at Welland, won both Division 2 heats and
looked in command in the final before drifting wide on the
last lap. This allowed 14 year old Aaron Hesmer to nip through on the
inside for a popular victory. Almost all the action
in the final was on the last lap as John Dmytrow, on the track again
this week, moved up to third over Ryan Rainville and
Casey Franic moved past Joel Keller for fifth place.
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