By: Blu Metz
October 26, 2015 Lehighton, PA
ATQMRA goes 4 wide to salute the fans
Buddy Sload did what he had to do to earn the 2015 ATQMRA Championship by winning the feature to earn his first ATQMRA Championship after spending several seasons in the bridesmaid position. Ryan Tidman's third place finish in the Boyd Owned 1B earned the team the 2015 car owner's Championship. Mike Glaser of Jackson, NJ capped his first full season with the ATQMRA by earning the coveted title of ATQMRA Rookie of the year. Next up for the ATQRMA is the Annual Turkey Derby at Wall Stadium that will feature an indoor rules package and $1,000 to win. Heat Races were won by Buddy Sload and Mahoning Valley Modified Star Kris Graver.
The front row of Mike Glaser and Shawn McCaughey led the field in an impressive four abreast parade lap salute to the fans. The start saw McCaughey accelerate into the lead with Championship contender Ryan Tidman advancing from his fifth starting spot to second. Tidman overtook McCaughey on lap four and started to open an advantage on the field.
A caution on lap nine set off a sequence of events that would affect the championship outcome. Calls were made against Tidman, who is exceptionally good on starts, for jumping the restart not once by twice relegating him to the back of the pack for the restart. Several cars were involved in incidents on the aborted starts but were given their positions back as a result.
This sequence of events put the hard charging Buddy Sload the outside pole for the restart alongside McCaughey. Tidman would be relegated to making his championship charge from the rear of the field. Sload would take the lead on the ensuing restart and Tidman would begin his charge back through the field. 2014 ATQMRA Champion Matt Janisch would move into second but wasn't able to mount a serious challenge to Sload.
Tidman raced through the field in impressive fashion finishing a solid third place on a track that has been very good to him over the years. It was enough to earn the Car owner's Championship for the 1B car owned by Lenny and Donna Boyd but not enough for him to earn another driver's title.
In his first full season of circle track racing after a successful drag racing career Mike Glaser of Jackson, NJ won the 2015 ATQMRA Rookie of the year title with a fourteenth place finish. Glaser ran very well in his heat race but struggled in the feature. After a spinning and dumping the car on its side he was able to recover to finish fourteenth out of the 19 cars at the event earning enough points to best his fellow Rookie of the year candidate Patrick Force.
Buddy Sload ran away with the first heat race besting McCaughey Jeff Kot Tidman, and Jansich with Mark Rogers earning the final transfer position.
Thee second heat saw a continuation of the impressive laps posted by Mahoning Valley Speedway Modified Star Kris Graver in the Janisch 48x that won the 2014 ATQMRA Championship. He posted the second fastest lap in practice being bested by only the Sload racing 53 driven by BJ MacDonald. Graver was followed across the line by 2013 ATQMRA Rookie of the year Joey Bailey, Pat VanVarick, Mike Glaser, 2015 NEMA Lites Champion Anthony Payne making his first ATQMRA Start, and BJ MacDonald.
ATQMRA News and Notes: 2015 NEMA Lite Midget Champion Anthony Payne made his first start with the ATQMRA at Mahoning Valley Speedway. Payne is the son of multi-time ATQMRA and NEMA midget Champion and Supermodified Star Joey Payne and the grandson of Joe Payne Sr. who is considered royalty in ATQMRA circles. This makes Anthony a third generation of Payne racing with the ATQMRA. His night was cut short after turning impressive laps in the immaculately prepared Laffler Chassis car when he tangled with a lap car. 2015 NYPA Champion Kyle Hutchinson took on the ATQMRA regulars and was running competitive laps on the tricky Mahoning Valley circle when he was involved in a tangle on an aborted restart ending his day. Top running ATQMRA Racer Matt Roselli who is always a threat to win at Mahoning Valley had his day cut short by an uncharacteristic engine failure in practice.
Heat Race 1
1 16 Buddy Sload
2 17v Shawn McCaughey
3 95 Jeff Kot
4 1B Ryan Tidman
5 48 Matt Janisch
6 27 Mark Rogers
7 51 Avery Stoehr
8 88 Kyle Hutchinson
9 18 Patrick Force
dns 98 Matt Roselli
Heat Race 2
1 48x Kris Graver
2 02 Joey Bailey
3 17 Pat VanVarick
4 F8 Mike Glaser
5 45 Anthony Payne
6 53 BJ McDonald
7 75Y Mark Yoder
8 46 Geoffrey Sutton
9 46v Kristian Aleixo
Feature 25 laps
1 16 Buddy Sload
2 48 Matt Janisch
3 1B Ryan Tidman
4 48x Kris Graver
5 02 Joey Bailey
6 17v Shawn McCaughey
7 53 BJ McDonald
8 46 Geoffrey Sutton
9 75Y Mark Yoder
10 27 Mark Rogers
11 95Jeff Kot
12 17 Pat VanVarick
13 51 Avery Stoehr
14 F8 Mike Glaser
15 18 Patrick Force
16 45 Anthony Payne
17 46v Kristian Aleixo
18 88 Kyle Hutchinson
dns 98 Matt Roselli