Staff Report | Monday, August 17th, 2020
Photo Credit: Tommy Lane / Sean Hart Photos
SWAN LAKE, NY- Joey Bailey earned his 16th career Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels feature victory at Bethel Motor Speedway this weekend.
The stars and cars of the ATQMRA were in competition for the second week in a row this weekend at Bethel Motor Speedway in the scenic Swan Lake, NY. Entering the event, the ATQMRA had two different winners in two feature races. Those drivers being Jeff Kot at Mahoning Valley Speedway, and Buddy Sload at Wall Stadium Speedway just over one week ago.
Just like at Wall Stadium Speedway, Kot and Sload won their respective heat races to kick off an evening of racing in the Catskills.
After the redraw, it was Mark Yoder of Ephrata, PA in the Ames Construction who drew pill number one to earn the right to lead the field to green. Five-time ATQMRA Champion “Flyin” Ryan Tidman started on the outside pole in Alan Mollot’s #51 Lindblad Badger.
Back to back self spins from Brianna Page and Joey Payne III, who was making his first start of 2020, kept the field bunched up early. This created many double file restarts and many opportunities to pass, which was surely a delight to the fans.
Anthony Payne and the #12 Dent Zones TQ Midget took advantage of the early race restarts, rolling the outside lane moving from sixth to fourth. The #1B of Joey Bailey in the Art’s Radiator Boyd-Built Chassis sliced and diced his way up through the field as well, making three-wide passes to advance into third. However, Yoder still stayed strong maintaining the lead through much of the early going as the field battled aggressively behind him.
Eventually, it was Joey Bailey making another thrilling three-wide pass on the bottom to get around both Yoder and Tidman, to take the lead on the seventh lap of the feature.
Bailey would pull away to a big lead over the green flag run to follow, until Joey Payne III spun for a second time in the closing laps. This caution would bunch the field up one more time setting up a one-lap-shootout.
With the fans on their feet, Bailey led the field to green as Tidman stayed right on his tail. Tidman’s best shot at victory was to keep Bailey honest, hoping he would make a rare mistake. That would turn out to be wishful thinking, as Joey Bailey rounded turn four to take the checkered flag.
Ryan Tidman finished second, with teammate Geoffrey Sutton finishing third, placing both Mollot Racing cars on the podium.
Last week’s winner Buddy Sload finished a “quiet” fourth to his Spitfire Racing team’s standards, but still a solid run nonetheless. Pole sitter Mark Yoder did a nice job of hanging tough to round out the top five.
Anthony Payne managed a sixth place finish for the second week in a row, Jeff Kot and the Behrents Performance Warehouse TQ Midget finished one seventh, Avery Stoehr making the long trip from Assonet, Massachusetts in Phil DiMario’s #23 Badger finished eighth.
Paul Dodorico earned his second top ten finish for in a row placing ninth. Tim Proctor would round out the top ten.
Tim Proctor finished 10th, followed by Mike Glaser in 11th. Payne III, Page and Taraska all pulled off the track early experiencing various issues. These drivers rounded out the fourteen car field at Bethel Motor Speedway.
In Joey Bailey’s sixteen career ATQMRA victory’s, this was the first driving for Donna and Lenny Boyd. In Bailey’s post race remarks, he was adamant that this victory was one of his best yet, as it was a “dream come true.”
The Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels will take a week off, before heading to Connecticut to the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Saturday, August 29th, 2020. This will be the organization’s first trip back to “The Speedbowl” since October of 2018. The ATQMRA will be on a winged-card with NEMA, as full midgets and “the lites” will be in attendance as well.
For all the latest news and updates surrounding the ATQMRA, please visit our website at ATQMRA.com. Furthermore, please follow the ATQMRA on various social media websites including Facebook and Instagram.
Race Results:
Heat 1:
1. #95 Jeff Kot
2. #51 Ryan Tidman
3. #1B Joey Bailey
4. #51S Geoffrey Sutton
5. #55 Paul Dodorico
6. #76 Brianna Page
7. #27 Mike Glaser
Heat 2:
1. #36 Buddy Sload
2. #12 Anthony Payne
3. #98 Tim Proctor
4. #22 Kyle Taraska
5. #75 Mark Yoder
6. #67 Joey Payne III
7. #23 Avery Stoehr
Feature:
1. #1B Joey Bailey
2. #51 Ryan Tidman
3. #51S Geoffrey Sutton
4. #36 Buddy Sload
5. #75 Mark Yoder
6. #12 Anthony Payne
7. #95 Jeff Kot
8. #23 Avery Stoehr
9. #55 Paul Dodorico
10. #98 Tim Proctor
11. #27 Mike Glaser
12. #67 Joey Payne III
13. #76 Brianna Page
14. #22 Kyle Taraska
