This shot is of Chuck Miller of Marion, Ohio (#28 - BOOGIE WOOGIE) battling it out with Greg Honchell of Urbana, Ohio (#52 - GATES BELT SPECIAL) in the Factory Experimental Class.
This picture shows all the action in the Factory Experimental Class. Left front is Bob Cleveland of Georgia (SNAPPERIZER), front right is Mike Miller from Wisconsin (HEDGE HOG). In the back of the picture (but definitely not running last) is Chuck Miller (BOOGIE WOOGIE) who is actually in first place!! Running right behind Chuck is Greg Honchell (GATES BELT SPECIAL).
Poor Mike Miller!! He was holding on to 4th place when his motor blew on the final lap!! He pushed the HEDGE HOG the rest of the way and still held onto 4th Place! Sometimes you gotta do what'cha gotta do to finish the race!! Mike is also a previous National Champion in the Factory Experimental class.
Here is the 1998 STA-BIL Factory Experimental National Champion, Chuck Miller, taking his victory lap! Way to go Chuck! This is his second year in a row!!
Here is a shot of Larry Potenza of Grove City, Ohio (#77 -GRAVE DIGGER) and fellow teammate, Jim Miller of Columbus (#24 - RAINBOW WARRIOR) in the B Prepared Class.
This is a shot of Rodney Day of Columbus, Ohio (#43 - BLUE BYE YOU) approaching lap traffic with the B Prepared leader, Bob Cleveland, on his tail.
You can see here how Rodney is determined with his quick start for the B Prepared race. Rodney practices his quick start and has made it an art form now!
Jim Miller (RAINBOW WARRIOR) is holding off competitor Bob Stormer of Montana (McMOWER) in the B Prepared Class.
Jim Miller unfortunately had a wreck on this race day and cracked his ribs, and separated his collar/shoulder. In this picture you can see as he is just starting to flip over. After two months of recovery, Jim is now back to work!! You can check out the step-by-step pictures of Jim's wreck on his profile page. Go to: www.geocities.com/motorcity/downs/4076/ for the Ohio Mower Racers profile pages.
Here is a nice speed shot of Larry Potenza on the GRAVE DIGGER.
This classic shot is of the three racers who placed in the B Prepared class. On the left is B Prepared National Champion, Bob Cleveland of Georgia (SNAPPERIZER), 2nd place finisher - Greg Honchell of Urbana, Ohio (GATES BELT SPECIAL), and 3rd place finisher, Mike Bonville of Wisconsin (BLADES OF THUNDER).
This is our 1998 STA-BIL B Prepared National Champion, Bob Cleveland on the SNAPPERIZER. This is Bob's 3rd consecutive National Championship.
In the A Prepared race, is Mark Beckett of Ashtabula, Ohio (LAWNBOURGHINI DIABMOW), Trish Potenza of Grove City, Ohio (IRON MAIDEN), and Mark Boyce of Georgia (RED SNAPPER).
In this picture is another picture of Trish Potenza and Mark Boyce. We thought this picture was too humorous to pass up!! On the sidelines is Mark's pit crew (Bob Cleveland is one of them) who is razzing Mark BIG TIME because he cannot pass Trish on her IRON MAIDEN for the entire race!! She held her line and made it impossible!! They might not have received a trophy at the end of the race, but they had a blast anyways!!
Here is a shot of who actually won the A Prepared race. This is Steve Sergent of Marion, Ohio (mower not named). Steve drove a strong, steady race and held off Kurt Schwangle of Wisconsin (1997 A Prepared Champion) the entire day!! He had Kurt so frustrated that Kurt was taking out other racers by taking too many chances in trying to pass lap traffic. Steve not only got to take the victory lap for the Nationals that day, but he also won the Regional also held on that day! Way to mow Steve!!