Archive for ATQMRA
Sutton Wins Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic ATQMRA Wall Opener
Earns First ATQMRA Feature Victory
Wall Stadium, Wall Township,NJ Saturday April 23, 2016
2014 ATQMRA Rookie of the year Geoffrey Sutton parked the Metz Driver Development BGF Engine 461 in Victory lane at the season opening race at Wall Stadium earning his first career ATQMRA victory. Heat races were won by Pat VanVarick and Flying Ryan Tidman. The Brice's NAPA Auto Parts Clean Start products were handed out to teams at Wall. The Bob Emmons MNO season long Hard Charger program will be back in place for the 2016 season. Next up for the ATQMRA is a trip Mahoning Valley to blister the circular oval in winged competition on Saturday April 30th. Rookie Eligible Pat VanVarick was the highest finishing rookie giving him the Rookie Points lead.
The first heat race was won by Pat VanVarick in his Hyper Hugger Micro Sprint. He charged from his fourth starting position to the lead and fended off the Challenges of Geoffrey Sutton on several restarts. The first heat was slowed by a series of flips by 2015 ATQMRA Rookie of the Year Mike Glaser who went for a high side tumble coming out of the fourth turn. Somehow the car was unharmed in the incident and Glaser returned to finish the heat. Matt Roselli was third followed by 2015 Champion Buddy Sload, 2014 Champion Matt Janisch and 1998 club Champ Jon Gambutti rounded out the drivers eligible for the feature redraw.
The second heat was never seriously in doubt as Ryan Tidman started from the pole by the luck of the draw and outpaced Jeff Kot and Joey Bailey. Brett Conklin, Ron Mullen and Anthony Payne rounded out the qualifiers to be in the Feature redraw.
The feature saw a front row of Anthony Payne and Matt Roselli bring the field down to the green with Roselli using the outside lane to gain the lead through one and two. Geoffrey Sutton followed Roselli into second and turned under Roselli coming out of turn four to lead the first lap and was scored in the lead the remainder of the race.
It wasn't quite that easy however. A lap three caution bunched the field but Sutton was able to maintain the lead and open a gap on second running Roselli. As Sutton started negotiating lap traffic Roselli and a hard charging Ryan Tidman closed to within striking distance of. The three would dice their way though traffic until lap 22 when Roselli would end up turned around coming out of the fourth turn. Sutton would have a pair of tigers on his tail on the ensuing restart with perennial ATQMRA Championship contenders Tidman and Janisch hot on his heels. Sutton was able to fend off Tidman's Challenges and win by a tight .163 seconds. Janisch was third followed by Jeff Kot and VanVarick. Joey Bailey rolled across the line sixth with rookie Mark Yoder seventh. Matt Roselli would recover from his spin to finish eighth Followed by Wall Stadium's Fan Voted Most popular driver and rookie of the year eligible Ronnie the Rocket Mullen with Mike Glaser posting a top ten.
Special thanks goes out to Bill Brice of Brice's NAPA Auto Parts of nearby Freehold, NJ. They are back supporting the ATQMRA with their Clean Start program once again in 2016. They provided each team in attendance with a NAPA 5 gallon bucket containing carb and brake cleaner a roll of shop rags hand cleaner and Mother's Spray wax to help keep the competition clean and looking good.
Bob Emmons has also returned to help support the ATQMRA with the MNO $500.00 Hard Charger award that was presented in 2015 to ATQMRA Champion Buddy Sload. Racers earn passing points by advancing from their feature starting position.
ATQMRA News and Notes:The ATQMRA was eighteen strong for the season opener. Tim Proctor had his beautifully prepared 98T on hand but had his day end early with an uncharacteristic engine failure. 2008 ATQMRA Rookie of the Year and multi race winner as well as past Borger's Speedway Champion Austin Fehr returned to competition with the ATQMRA. Fehr worked though the day adjusting to Wall's challenging flat track. The day saw a Payne owned 67 return to competition for the first time in many years with Joey Payne III at the controls. Payne won 11 out of 17 open Kart races on Wall's inner oval in 2015 and is trying his hand in a Drinan TQ Midget. Payne finished a respectable thirteenth in the main. Payne's Little brother Anthony picked up a ride in the potent Sload Racing 53 but was out early in the feature. Joey Jr. hopes to have Anthony Payne's Laffler TQ ready for next week's show at Mahoning Valley. Absent on the day was Steve Craig who has designs returning to competition with the organization starting with Mahoning Valley. Following his win Sutton was thankful to Jim Fleishman and Chad Haywood of BGF Engine and Chassis for providing the difference making horsepower to earn the win.
Heat 1: 1. 17 Pat VanVarick 2. Geoffrey Sutton 3. 43/98 Matt Roselli 4. 16 Buddy Sload 5. 48 Matt Janisch 6. 51 Jon Gambutti 7. 73 Austin Fehr 8. f8 Mike Glaser 9. 75 Mark Yoder
Heat 2: 1. 1B Ryan Tidman 2. 95 Jeff Kot 3. 02 Joey Bailey 4. 64 Brett Conklin 5. 39 Ronnie Mullen 6. 53 Anthony Payne 7. 46 Kerry Irwin 8. DNS 98T Tim Proctor
Feature (25 Laps)1. 461 Geoffrey Sutton 2. 1B Ryan Tidman 3. 48 Matt Janisch 4. 95 Jeff Kot 5. 17 Pat VanVarick 6. 02 Joey Bailey 7. 75 Mark Yoder 8. 43/98 Matt Roselli 9. Ronnie Mullen 10. f8 Mike Glaser 11. 46 Kerry Irwin 12. 64 Brett Conklin 13. 67 Joey Payne III 14. 16 Buddy Sload 15. 53 Anthony Payne 16. 51 Jon Gambutti 17. 73 Austin Fehr
Rudolph Turkey Derby Champ Bests ATQMRA Field of 35 cars
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TQ's @ Wall (WoS photo)
Belmar, NJ...... Eric Rudolph from Ransomville, NY was not only good but lucky at the 2015 ATQMRA Turkey Derby at Wall Stadium on Saturday. Rudolph led every lap reroute to pocketing the $1,000 winners share in the Mark Lafler owned Lafler House car in his first outing on Wall's inner oval. Matt Janisch set fast time with Matt Roselli earning a B-Main win. Four of the top finishing cars were disqualified following the race by the ATQMRA Officials for a tread width infraction. Next up for the ATQMRA is a General Membership Meeting this coming Sunday at 10:00 am in Fort Washington, Pa.
Ransomville New York's own Eric Rudolph is an accomplished racer in countless divisions beyond the world of TQ midget racing. He has wins in Modified stock cars on pavement and dirt as well as documented success in TQ midgets indoors. He used his talent as a race car driver coupled with a little luck to earn the thousand dollar winners share at the ATQMRA Turkey Derby. Rudolph drove his way into the redraw by turning the ninth fast lap in qualifications and was lucky enough to pull the number one pill that gave him the pole for the scheduled 30 lap race.
2015 ATQMRA Champion and two time feature winner on Wall's flat track as well as track record holder Buddy Sload charged from his fifth starting position to third on the initial race start. Sload worked his way into second by lap five to challenge Rudolph for the lead. A lap 7 restart would send Sload flipping entering the first turn ending his day. Sload was shaken but unhurt following the incident.
The incident put Ryan Flores into second. He would dog Rudolph the rest of the way but was unable to take the lead away from the Ransomville flyer. His chances for getting the win were cut short as a result of the race being shortened due to the impending storm front that was moving in.
The TQ midgets haven't had this strong of a field of cars at the annual Turkey Derby at Wall in many years. With 35 cars on hand and only 26 positions open for the feature it set up a situation where some racers were going to be watching the feature. Qualifications for the race were done by way of European style Time trials where 5 groups of seven cars were given four green flag laps to run their fastest lap. The top twelve would go into a redraw and the next 12 would go into the A-main straight up from time. The final two positions would be the top two finishers in the B-Main.
2014 ATQMRA Champion and the winner of that year's Turkey Derby Matt Janisch would set fast time. Janisch would redraw 7th but would be taken off the track as a result of putting down fluid. Matt Roselli who is normally a strong time trailer had a mechanical issue that relegated him to the B-Main which he won followed by Brett Conklin to advance to the A-Main.
In an unfortunate turn of events four of the top running cars were disqualified for a tread width infraction that was found during post race inspection. This put Ryan Susie in second position followed by Anthony Payne moving into a podium finish of third place in his first race on Wall's inner oval. Tom Fraschetta was fourth with perennial ATQMRA Championship contender Ryan Tidman fifth and 2014 ATQMRA Rookie of the year Geoffrey Sutton sixth. Tim Proctor finished seventh followed by ATQMRA regular Shawn McCaughey, Mark Yoder was ninth with Jeff Kot rounding out the top ten.
A follow up meeting to the October 21st Elections meeting is scheduled for Sunday December 6th at 10am. The meeting will be held at the Best Western Ft Washington, 285 Commerce Drive, Fort Washington, PA. It is located right at the exit from the turnpike. An agenda will be sent out by December 1st. The meeting will give all those with an interest in continuing the growth of the ATQMRA an opportunity to voice their opinions about the direction of the organization.
ATQMRA News and Notes:The ATQMRA Turkey Derby was a who's who of indoor three Quarter midget racing with cars and stars that frequent the indoor events put on by the Sammons family each year. Countless wins were represented in the field with Liquid Lou Cicconi racing the car that Ted Christopher used to win numerous indoor feature events. The team battled gremlins in the engine management system all day. ATQMRA and ARDC Veteran Steve Craig made a return to the ranks of the ATQMRA after a several year absence. Joey Payne III made laps on the day in the Bruce Leote 26 car making his first Turkey Derby appearance in TQ competition and also marking the first time he was on track in competition with his father Joey Jr. and brother Anthony.
ATQMRA Turkey Derby 2015 Results
1. Eric Rudolph $1,000 2. 38 Ryan Susie 3. 45 Anthony Payne 4. 57 Tom Fraschetta 5. 1B Ryan Tidman 6. 46 Geoffrey Sutton 7. 98x Tim Proctor 8. 17v Shawn McCaughey 9. 75y Mark Yoder 10. 95 Jeff Kot 11. 15a Avery Stoehr 12. 27 Mark Rogers 13. 98 Matt Roselli 14. 11 Steve Whitt 15. 64 Brett Conklin 16. 16 Buddy Sload 17. 17 Pat VanVarick 18. 48 Matt Janisch 19. 55 Steve Craig 20. 71 Chris Allen 21. 75 Lou Cicconi 22. 73B Brett Michalski
DQ 15 Ryan Flores 5 Joey Payne 9 Jonathon Reid 07 Patrick Emerling
48 Matt Janisch set fast time
B-Main 1. 98 Matt Roselli 2. 64 Brett Conklin 3. 66 Rob Vivona 4. 39 Ron Mullen 5. 65 Mike Occhopinti 6. 26 Joey Payne III 7. 49 BJ MacDonald 8. F8 Mike Glaser 9. 33 Brianna Page
