Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic ATQMRA Powered by VP
Wall Stadium, NJ
Matt Janisch of Nazareth Pa parked the Alan Mollot 51 Lindblad Badger in victory lane at Wall Stadium not once but twice, winning both the rained out feature from July as well as the second feature of the night. Ryan Tidman and Jeff Kot rounded out the Podium in the first feature with Tidman and Brett Michalski on the podium in the second feature. Cole Mullen had a career best fourth in the first race with Kyle Taraska posting a fifth-place finish in the second feature Making them the ACRO Rookies of the Race. Flying Ryan Tidman sits atop the standings with Dave Gorbatuk at the top of the 2017 Rookie Class. Up next for the ATQMRA is a return trip to Mahoning Valley on Saturday September 16.
The first feature saw a front row of Cole Mullen and Mark Yoder bring the field to the green flag with Matt Janisch making the move from his third position to take the lead. Matt Roselli would work his way into the lead but his time in front would be short lived when he would do a slow spin exiting the fourth turn bringing out the caution.
This would put Janisch on the point. Janisch earning his first win in the Mollot 51 was no easy task when Joey Bailey would make a hard charge on the inside entering the third turn. They made contact mid turn with Bailey getting the worst of it as Bailey made a slow roll onto his side. Janisch was able to keep his mount moving when the red flag flew. Janisch took off on the restart and held off a hard charging Ryan Tidman to park the historic 51 Lindblad Badger in Victory lane adding his name to a long list of many of the top drivers in the history of the ATQRMA that have won races in the historic 51 owned by Mollot, including Lenny Boyd, Johnny Coy Sr. and Jr. as well as Donnie Adams who won numerous Championships in this car that made its first start in 1981 with a Crossley engine.
Jeff Kot would storm across the line third with Cole Mullen in fourth posting his career best TQ finish and taking ACRO Rookie of the Race honors. The fifth finisher was a resurgent Matt Roselli who charged from the back after spinning from the lead.
The second feature had a front row of Kyle Taraska and Joey Payne III bring the field to the green. Sixth starting Buddy Sload would lead lap 1. The second lap saw a multi car tangle bring out the red flag when Ronnie the Rocket and Cole the Hammer Mullen came together. Tim Proctor came away on the short end of the stick in the incident when his car turned over. Joey Payne III had his day end as a result of the incident. When racing resumed Sload would again launch into the lead opening a solid lead on second place Kot, who started 8th, when a brake bracket would fail taking him out from the lead, Kot also would drop out on the same lap with wheel center failure. Janisch who started 13th would find himself in the lead.
A hard charging Matt Roselli who went tothe rear earlier in the race after tangling with Ryan Tidman, who was also sent to the rear for his involvement in the incident, charged back to third position in the waning laps. Roselli made an aggressive move entering the third turn on the last lap driving deep into the corner in an attempt to overtake Bailey. It didn't work out for either driver as Roselli made contact with Bailey sending both spinning to the exit of the turn with Roselli rolling onto his lid then back onto his wheels. The red flag flew for the incident on the final lap and the race was declared complete and Janisch once again parked the red badger in victory lane making it three wins in a row dating back to Janisch's win in the Tricky Challenge at Pocono International Raceway and his fourth win on the season.
Flying Ryan Tidmanwould rebound to finish second with Brett Michalski making the Podium. Geoffrey Sutton would finish fourth in his BGF Chassis mount with Kyle Taraska in the Fred Delibero 01 BGF earned ACRO Rookie of the Race honors with his first top five finish. Fellow Rookie Dave Gorbatuk was sixth with another Rookie Jon Keller finding his groove in 7th.
Next up for the ATQMRA I a trip to Mahoning Valley Speedway on Saturday September 16th. With only 3 more points paying races on the schedule Flying Ryan Tidman appears poised to earn another Championship with more than a race's advantage over second running Geoffrey Sutton in the standings his points lead will be difficult to overcome. The margin back to third from Sutton is considerable but the battle for the third spot in the standings has a 3 way dead heat between Jeff Kot in his Behrents Performance Badger, Joey Bailey in his Bruce's Pro car 02 and Mark Yoder in his Hyper Hugger TQMidget.
Dave Gorbatuk leads the Acro Rookie Standings by 32 over Cole Mullen and Cole's Father Ronnie the Rocket Mullen.
Feature #1 (25 Laps) 1. 51 Matt Janisch 2. 1B Ryan Tidman 3. 95 Jeff Kot 4. 73c Cole Mullen5. 98 Matt Roselli6. 75 Mark Yoder 7. 73b Brett Michalski 8. 98 Tim Proctor 9. 461 Geoffrey Sutton 10. 32 Dave Gorbatuk11. Kyle Taraska 12. F8 Kerry Irwin13. 02 Joey Bailey 14. 39 Ronnie Mullen15. 36 Buddy Sload 16. 9 Brett Conklin 17. 20 John Keller 18. 6 Bill Force
Feature #2 (25 Laps) 1. 51 Matt Janisch 2. 1B Ryan Tidman 3. 73b Brett Michalski4.461 Geoffrey Sutton 5. Kyle Taraska 6. 32 Dave Gorbatuk7. 20 John Keller 8. 02 Joey Bailey 9. 98 Matt Roselli 10. 75 Mark Yoder 11. 36 Buddy Sload 12. 73 Ausin Fehr 13. 95 Jeff Kot 14. 9 Brett Conklin 15. 39 Ronnie Mullen16. 73c Cole Mullen17. 67 Joey Payne III 18. 98 Tim Proctor
2017 POINT STANDINGS
DRIVER POINTS
Ryan Tidman 1140
Geoffrey Sutton 1008
Jeff Kot 940
Joey Bailey 940
Mark Yoder 940
Matt Janisch 912
Buddy Sload 884
Matt Roselli 820
Dave Golbatuk [R] 816
Cole Mullen [R] 784
Ronnie Mullen [R] 760
Joey Payne III 612
Tim Proctor 428
Eric Corum [R] 380
John Keller [R] 356
Austin Fehr 320
Kerry Irwin 312
Kyle Taraska [R] 296
Dave Williams 196
Kris Graver 196
Rob Vivona 184
Brett Michalski [R] 168
Chad Parks 152
Bill Force Jr. 100
Lou Cicconi 100
Jesse Mauer 100
Chris deRitis 100
Brandon Azzalina 100
Dan Lane 100
Steve Boland [R] 100
Chris Hirt 100
Brett Conklin 88
Mike Tidaback 88
Nick Ladyga 84
Rob Neely 72
Shilo Boyce 48
JT Davis [R] 48
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