With the forecast of rain coming toward Welland later in the evening, the events were pushed quickly through the night by referee John Franic. A field of 10 riders Terry Rideout, Jeff Orosz, Tim Murray, Aaron Hesmer, Chris Hesmer, Joe Heye, Katalin Davis, Rob Dixon, John Kehoe and the return to the track for a vacationing Jon Bennett produced a great night of racing.
Speedway was represented with 2 heats and 2 final races.
The night's events were mixed with some great racing, run-off qualifications and gate position toss ups.
Round 1 - Heat One:
Chris Hesmer and John Kehoe came out the gate side by side, with John Kehoe hitting the front into corner one, Chris Hesmer quickly pulled around the outside and pulled ahead of John Kehoe. With Joe Heye close behind, Joe Kehoe had a race on hand from both directions. Jon Bennett and Katalin Davis had their own battle behind the leading pack. John Bennett slide off on corner 2 and left Katalin Davis to grab a good comfortable 4th place. The battle was up front with Chris Hesmer covering the track to keep John Kehoe behind him. Joe Heye laid back like a lion on his prey for any mistakes and he got this on lap 3 John Kehoe was forced out wide and Joe Heye nipped under him only to hit a grip less piece of track and John Kehoe came around to grab 2nd place behind the fast looking Chris Hesmer.
1: Chris - 2: John- 3: Joe - 4: Katalin - 5: Jon B
Round 1 - Heat Two:
The on-track battle of the titans continued with Aaron Hesmer and Jeff Orosz taking to the track for heat 2. The start was a close one, with Aaron Hesmer putting all his weight back onto the driving rear wheel to pulled along side Jeff Orosz into the first bend. Jeff Orosz pulled away coming out of turn 2 and led a strong race throughout keeping Aaron Hesmer behind him. Rob Dixon and Terry Rideout enjoyed their own battle for 3rd and 4th place with Rob Dixon celebrating ahead of Terry Rideout and Tim Murray.
1: Jeff - 2: Aaron - 3: Rob - 4: Terry - 5: Tim
Round 2 - Heat One:
The battled continued for round 2 for the Hesmer/Orosz battle! Aaron Hesmer didn't get a good start and Jeff Orosz capitalized on this. Gaining a good lead by the middle of lap one, he was soon feeling the heat though with Aaron Hesmer all over him for the remainder of the race! Also the Dixon/Rideout duel was played out behind the two front runners. Close racing until Rob Dixon pulled away to grab 3rd place on lap 3. Jon Bennett showing some tiredness after his recent huge bike trip followed up the rear.
1: Jeff- 2: Aaron - 3: Rob - 4: Terry - 5: Jon B
Round 2 - Heat Two:
A tremendous start by both Chris Hesmer and John Kehoe saw them also continue their battle from heat 1. Side by side action around turn 1 with Chris Hesmer pulling ahead. They both battled hard to use all of the track to find that grip to gain that extra inch. Great racing! Joe Heye also joined in on lap 3 giving John Kehoe some pressure, but it was not to be! Katalin Davis and Tim Murray also enjoyed a good race behind the leaders, with Katalin Davis grabbing 4th place ahead of Tim Murray.
1: Chris - 2: John - 3: Joe - 4: Katalin - 5: Tim
"A" Final Qualification Run-off
Both Joe Heye and Rob Dixon finished their heat on the same points and needed to race off in a 2-lap qualifier. Unfortunately, it was run just after a soaking from that track staff and this led to a very quick and easy win for Joe Heye to qualify for the main "A" final.
"B" Main Final
Rob Dixon took to the gate a man looking to win. Having lost his place in the run-off qualification. He took the gate along side Terry Rideout and shoulder to shoulder they came out of the gate and then Rob Dixon took off and took a smooth comfortable win! The rest of the race was basically from the gate.
1: Rob - 2: Terry - 3: Tim - 4: Jon B - 5: Katalin
For the first time in 2008, we had a tie on points for gate pick selection in the main "A" final. Which led to a coin toss in the pits for Chris Hesmer & Jeff Orosz (Chris won) and Aaron Hesmer & John Kehoe (Aaron won) So the selection was:
1st pick - Chris Hesmer - 2nd pick - Jeff Orosz - 3rd Pick - Aaron Hesmer - 4th pick - John Kehoe - 5th Pick - Joe Heye
"A" Main Final
The tension was high as they took to the start line, everyone expected a repeat of the past weeks final with Aaron Hesmer and Jeff Orosz to dominate the final, but to our great surprise, Chris Hesmer had a flyer and took a good first turn to take the lead. Chased hard by his Brother Aaron Hesmer, Chris Hesmer lost his lead on lap 2, this left Jeff Orosz to battle hard with Chris Hesmer to gain a 2nd place on lap 3, but it was too late to catch the flying Aaron Hesmer who took the checkered flag with his infamous finger wiggle to his fans as he crossed the line. Joe Heye and John Kehoe simply were unable to do anything to catch these 3 riders!
1: Aaron - 2: Jeff - 3: - Chris - 4: Joe - 5: John
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