Photo Credit: Jim Smith, AARN
Staff Report | Monday, August 10th, 2020
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ- Buddy Sload earned the victory at Wall Stadium Speedway in the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels JJ Lane Memorial.
Sload started off the evening in his #36 Spitfire Chassis winning the first heat race. Jeff Kot, coming off his big win at Mahoning Valley Speedway, carried his momentum to a win in the second heat driving the Behrents Performance Warehouse TQ Midget.
After the redraw, it was Anthony Payne in the #12 Dent Zones TQ Midget who led the field to green. However, it wouldn’t take long for Geoffrey Sutton in the #51S Yuhas Chassis to power past Payne for the lead. Sload eventually follow through into second.
Sload would snag the lead from Sutton, racing wheel to wheel powering down the backstretch through turns three and four. Sload led the sixth lap by a bumper, which ultimately paid big dividends for driver #36. Bill Force Jr., in his return to the ATQMRA, looped his #6 machine off of turn 2 bringing out the first caution of the evening. Sload was able to retain the lead and control the following restart thanks to the pass he made on Sutton the previous lap.
Making his first start since Turkey Derby last November, Mike Glaser’s Aqua Solutions #27 Machine came to a halt after a spin in turn 4 for the second caution of the evening. This caused a complete restart as the field resorted back to the line-up from the previous caution.
Sload would eventually take advantage of the clean air around him and begin to set sail the field. However, a herd of hungry drivers maintained respective pace behind behind him. These drivers Geoffrey Sutton in second, Ryan Tidman in third, Joey Bailey in forth and Jeff Kot in fifth.
As the race approached halfway, Brianna Page spun out in turn three to bring out the third caution of the evening. This yet again stacked the field up for a double file restart putting on a great show for the fans.
Sload would break out to the lead again. While much of the top-5 remained the same, it was Kyle Taraska in the Chick-fil-A #22 machine working the outside lane to muscle his way from sixth fifth on the restart.
With Sutton chasing down Sload, the #51S team experienced a heartbreak with seven laps remaining. A water hose came loose on his 750CC engine, causing Sutton to slip in his own water and spin in turn three in front of the leaders. Sutton was done for the evening, as his final results will not show how strong the team was this evening.
After a lengthy red flag for clean-up, the field restarted single file with seven laps remaining. Buddy Sload would never look back hang on and earn the victory in the JJ Lane Memorial.
Joey Bailey earned his first podium finish in the #1B Boyd-Built Chassis finishing 2nd, and Ryan Tidman earned his first podium finish of the year finishing third. Kyle Taraska would finish forth and Jeff Kot had another strong outing finishing 5th in the feature.
“Team Easy Street” drivers Joey Bailey and Kyle Taraska were the biggest movers in the race. After respectively starting eighth and ninth, the two drivers finished second and forth as mentioned.
After starting on the pole, Anthony Payne finished a respectable sixth.
Tim Proctor, in his first race back at Wall Stadium Speedway after experience a viscous flip in Turkey Derby last November, finished a strong seventh. Mark Yoder finished eighth. These were great runs for both of these drivers after experiencing mechanical failures at Mahoning Valley Speedway two weeks ago.
After starting on the outside pole, Paul Dodorico earned another solid top-10 finish earning ninth in his first race of the season.
The feel-good story of the evening, Tommy Lane, who entered the event in Joey Payne III’s #67 Badger in an effort to honor his brother John John, rounded out the top-10.
In the ATQMRA’s first scheduled event at Wall Stadium Speedway this year, series officials worked together with the staff at the speedway to create a special event to honor the-late John John Lane.
In a community effort, drivers came together and autographed two banners featuring a commemorative logo in JJ’s honor. One banner was presented to the Lane Family during a special pre-race ceremony, the other will be hung proudly on the property Wall Stadium Speedway. A big thank you to Natural Designs, Kyle Taraska, Buddy Sload, Jeff Kot and Wall Stadium Speedway staff in making this a reality.
While at times this weekend there was a void felt without the warm presence of John John in the pits, we as a community have proven we will never let JJ be forgotten. On behalf of the entire ATQMRA, we extend our sincere appreciation to the Krause Family for hosting the event, and competitors from all divisions to come together to honor our friend and colleague in a very special night. Godspeed John John Lane.
The Hoosier Tire-Mid Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels will be back in action this upcoming weekend on Saturday, August 15th, 2020 at the Bethel Motor Speedway in Swan Lake, NY.
Race Results:
Heat 1:
1. #36 Buddy Sload
2. #51 Ryan Tidman
3. #1B Joey Bailey
4. #75 Mark Yoder
5. #22 Kyle Taraska
6. #23 Avery Stoehr
7. #67 Tommy Lane
8. #6 Bill Force Jr.
Heat 2:
1. #95 Jeff Kot
2. #51S Geoffrey Sutton
3. #12 Anthony Payne
4. #98 Tim Proctor
5. #55 Paul Dodorico
6. #76 Brianna Page
7. #91 Bobby Watkins
8. #27 Mike Glaser
Feature:
1. #36 Buddy Sload
2. #1B Joey Bailey
3. #51 Ryan Tidman
4. #22 Kyle Taraska
5. #95 Jeff Kot
6. #12 Anthony Payne
7. #98 Tim Proctor
8. #75 Mark Yoder
9. #55 Paul Dodorico
10. #67 Tommy Lane
11. #76 Brianna Page
12. #27 Mike Glaser
13. #6 Bill Force Jr.
14. #23 Avery Stoehr
15. #51S Geoffrey Sutton
16. #91 Bobby Watkins
