OROSZ STARTS, WHERE HE FINISHED!
Report by Emily Hensby
The opening night at Welland Speedway prepped the crowd for another exciting season of speedway racing.
With a reduced field of riders, Mike Hammond offered to step back into division 2 to balance numbers and allow a smooth program to move forward.
The opening race with John Bennett, Gary Moody and Mike Hammond, left Hammond at the gate, and Bennett flew into a good lead to hold till the end, despite Moody losing some grip through turn 3 every lap, Hammond was unable to capitalize upon it.
Division 1 riders, Rob Dixon, C.J. Hesmer, Terry Rideout, Aaron Hesmer and current Canadian Speedway Champion Jeff Orosz, took to the line. C.J. Hesmer took a flying lead into bend one and held it for the race. Behind him Orosz was battling to find the line to take advantage then disaster, Orosz mistook the flag on lap 3 as the final flag and slowed before rejoining the race to beat out Terry Rideout for a fourth place. Aaron Hesmer could not get passed a fast looking Rob Dixon, no matter what he tried!
Round 2 saw Mike Hammond come back hard, and won the heat convincingly with Moody and Bennett left to battle it out behind him all race. Bennett passed Moody on lap 2, which left Moody to chase hard to the line, but it was not to be!
The Division 1 race was dominated by Jeff Orosz, forgetting his error in heat 1, he took a solid lead and never looked back. C. J. Hesmer was unable to get the momentum to catch Orosz's pace. The race was again between Aaron Hesmer and Rob Dixon, this time Hesmer held of a dodging and diving Dixon to gain a third place with Terry Rideout close behind.
The finals were set with John Bennett left spinning on the line, despite this he pushed Gary Moody all race, Mike Hammond left them both in his dust, proving that his move from Division 2 to Division 1 in 2010 is well-deserved!
With just minutes to the final race, Aaron Hesmer was working frantically with C.J. Hesmer and Terry Rideout to replace a sticking clutch, the teamwork paid off and Aaron was able to enter the race. The division 1 riders lined up with C.J. Hesmer on the inside gate, sadly for him his success in heat 1 was not repeated with Jeff Orosz and Aaron Hesmer out gated him into the first corner, and this left him stuck in third place for the whole race. Aaron Hesmer could do nothing to close the one bike length gap, no matter what he did, although he pushed hard, he could do nothing as Orosz completed his mission. Rod Dixon and Terry Rideout were also having their own battle behind with Dixon taking the fourth place at the line!
A great night of fast and entertaining speedway!
