PHOTO CREDIT: Sean Case / Jim Smith
Staff Report | Monday, September 7th, 2020
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ- Jeff Kot dominated at Wall Stadium Speedway this weekend to hoist the trophy after earning a feature victory for the second time in 2020.
The Hoosier Tire-Mid Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels made a return trip to Wall Stadium Speedway this Labor Day weekend for the fourth event of the 2020 season.
For the third consecutive event, Jeff Kot and Buddy Sload started off the evening of racing with winning their respective heat races.
This weekend’s race was the first of the season to be influenced by the ATQMRA handicapping procedure, which ultimately placed Tim Proctor and Kyle Taraska on the front row to lead the field to green.
The duo would drag race all the way through turn two before Proctor edged Taraska for the lead. Proctor would begin to pace the field as Taraska slipped back, as the likes Kot and Geoffrey Sutton would charge forward.
By lap three, Kot in his Behrents Performance Warehouse TQ Midget would set up the #98 of Proctor for the lead, passing him cleanly in the third turn as he set sail on the field.
Buddy Sload charged his way up to second, as he, along with race leader Kot, separated themselves from the rest of the field. Sutton, along with teammate Ryan Tidman and teammates Joey Bailey and Taraska all remained in a tight battle from third through sixth.
Sparks began to fly around halfway, when Kyle Taraska’s Chick-fil-A TQ Midget experienced an issue with his right rear brake rotor. The rotor, glowing tremendously, would extract a vast amount of sparks while entering the corner under braking. While no caution was thrown, Taraska was black flagged by Wall Stadium officials due to safety concerns, ending his night prematurely.
Moments later, sparks flew again when Buddy Sload and Mike Glaser made contact off the fourth corner. As Sload attempted to lap Glaser while trying to chase Jeff Kot down for the lead, Glaser moved wide before coming across the front end of Sload. The ensuing contact tore Sload’s left front tire off his car, sending another shower of sparks into the sky. Sload’s night also ended prematurely due to the contact from the only caution of the race.
On the green-white-checkered restart, it was Alan Mollot’s #51’s with Sutton in second and Tidman and third, trying to give Kot one last run for his money. However, Jeff Kot was able to pull away to earn his second victory of the season and his first career victory on Wall Stadium’s inner oval.
Geoffrey Sutton finished second, with Ryan Tidman in third. Joey Bailey finished fourth and pole sitter Tim Proctor put together a strong run to round out the top five.
Anthony Payne and the #12 Dent Zone’s machine finished sixth. After unofficially pacing the field in practice, Avery Stoehr finished seventh. Brianna Page had her strongest run of the year, rounding out the lead lap cars in eight.
Mike Glaser finished ninth and Tyler Ferris, making his second career ATQMRA start and first of the season rounded out the top ten.
Buddy Sload and Kyle Taraska with their noted issues rounded out the field of running cars in eleventh and twelfth. After finishing sixth in his heat race, Mark Yoder experienced mechanical issues which ended his day prior to taking the green flag in the feature. Yoder will be credited last place points in thirteenth.
After an emotional “Polish Victory Lap,” Kot dedicated his win to the-late JJ Lane. Lane, the former Wall Stadium Photographer who lost his life this past spring, was honored by Wall Stadium and the ATQMRA earlier this year. However, Kot has elected to run Lane’s name on his nameplate for the duration of the 2020 season.
The Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels will make one more stop at Wall Stadium Speedway this fall for the prestigious running of the Turkey Derby on Thanksgiving Weekend. The series will return to action prior, with events at The New London-Waterford Speedbowl on October 24th and Bethel Motor Speedway on November 7th.
Race Results:
Heat 1:
1. #95 Jeff Kot
2. #22 Kyle Taraska
3. #1B Joey Bailey
4. #51S Geoffrey Sutton
5. #27 Mike Glaser
6. #76 Brianna Page
7. #33 Tyler Ferris
Heat 2:
1. #36 Buddy Sload
2. #51 Ryan Tidman
3. #23 Avery Stoehr
4. #98 Tim Proctor
5. #12 Anthony Payne
6. #75 Mark Yoder
Feature:
1. #95 Jeff Kot
2. #51S Geoffrey Sutton
3. #51 Ryan Tidman
4. #1B Joey Bailey
5. #98 Tim Proctor
6. #12 Anthony Payne
7. #23 Avery Stoehr
8. #76 Brianna Page
9. #27 Mike Glaser
10. #33 Tyler Ferris
11. #36 Buddy Sload DNF
12. #22 Kyle Taraska DNF
13. #75 Mark Yoder DNS
