Matt Janisch of Nazareth, Pa kept his streak of outdoor wins going on Saturday night at Borger's Speedway earning his third consecutive victory in his Yuhas Chassis 48. Heat races were won by Buddy Sload and Joey Bailey. Bailey is home resting comfortably after taking a nasty flip at the beginning of the feature. Next up for the ATQMRA is a trip to Wall stadium for the first sanctioned race on the flat inner oval on Saturday July 18th with a host of new and old faces coming to try the flat track.
Janisch came out on top in the thirty lap affair but the race wasn't decided until the closing laps. You would normally expect to read Janisch had the dominant car and ran away with the race but that wasn't the case at Borger's this time.
The front row of Rob Vivona and Mike Glaser brought the field down to the Joe Agnello green flag with Vivona charging into the lead on the outside with Buddy Sload following into second on the outside. Contact between Sload and Vivona caused a multi car pile up on the exit of the first turn. A complete restart put Sload and Geoffrey Sutton on the front row. Sload was able to get the jump on the outside and was crossed over coming out of the fourth turn by Sutton. As the field crossed the start/finish line side by side through the field incidental contact between Ryan Tidman and point leader Joey Bailey sent Bailey flipping the remainder of the straight away. Bailey was later transported to the hospital for observation and is now home resting comfortably.
The ensuing restart was again a front row of Sload and Sutton with Sload taking the lead in the Colin Martin 16 Spitfire. Sutton was able to close in but wasn't able to make a move for the lead before loosing a coolant line on lap six an apparent result of an earlier incident. From that point on Sload was in total control of the race holding off the advances of second place Pat VanVarick and Janisch. 2014 Borger's Speedway Champion Larry Hoagland in the Fred Bittner 54 worked his was from deep in the field to fourth.
Second place wasn't the place to be in this race. First Sutton was relegated to a DNF from second then VanVarick had a fuel delivery issue sideline him in the closing laps. This put Janisch into second with three laps remaining. Sload who looked to be on cruise control out front had a rear gear failure that ended his bid to sweep the night handing the lead and the win to Janisch.
This marks the end of the Ryan Tidman winning streak that saw him win both Oswego and Bethel with Point leader Bailey finishing second to him. Janisch continued his outdoor undefeated streak in the Yuhas 48. The car hasn't been beat outdoors and was extremely fast indoors. Janisch won the club opener at MahoningValley and the unsanctioned event at Chapel HillNew York and completed the Hat trick at Borger's on Saturday. In Victory Lane Janisch said, "Sometimes all you have to do is finish."
A host of new faces raced with the ATQMRA at the first sanctioned race at Borger's Speedway that is under new management for the 2015 season. Larry Hoagland who was the 2014 Borger's Speedway TQ/600 Champion made his first ATQMRA start of his long racing career in the Fred Bittner Hyper Hugger an impressive one. After starting deep in the pack Hoagland used his savvy to pick his way to the front and earn a second place finish in his first outing. Hoagland who is a Pleasant Valley Graduate and hails from nearby Bangor, Pa calls Borger's Speedway his home track.
Rookie Dylan Martin was impressive behind the wheel of the Pat VanVarick 17 Hyper TQ midget in earning a podium finish in his first ATQMRA start and only his second start in a TQ midget.
Chad Jones made his first start of the season in his 28 Jones Belt Drive creation that was very quick indoors. Jones is a multi feature winning driver in the Mahoning Valley Dirt Modified Division and dabbles in the world of TQ midgets. His feature was ended early as a result of contact with the outside wall.
ATQMRA Rookie Report: The battle at the top of the Rookie point stangings remains a close one with Mike Glaser earning a fourth place finish at Borger's Speedway. This allowed him to open up a few markers on his closest rival Patrick Force who was relegated to a DNF. Only 44 markers separate the two top rookies with a lot of racing to be done before it is decided.
Mark Yoder who is a winning driver at Borger's on the pavement in his 600 Micro Sprint in seasons past made his debut with his brand new Hyper Hugger TQ midget running fast laps in his initial shake down run of the car. He expects to run a number of races with the ATQMRA the remainder of the season.
Next up for the ATQMRA is a trip to a track that is a stalwart on the 60 year old organization's schedule but it will be raced in a completely new way. The ATQMRA will be racing the inner flat oval at Wall Stadium on Saturday July 18th. A host of new names will be coming into the fold for the event that should prove interesting. Pit gates will open at 1:00 pm with an early happy hour practice for the TQ's to adjust to the inner oval from 2:00 to 3:00.
Featrue (30 Laps)
1. 48Matt Janisch
2. 54 Larry Hoagland
3. 17v Dylan Martin
4. F8 Mike Glaser
5. 16 Buddy Sload
6. 17 Pat Van Varick
7. 18 Patrick Force
8. 38 Nick Ladyga
9. 28 Chad Jones
10. 46v Rob Vivona
11. 75 Mark Yoder
12. 02 Joey Bailey
13. 1B Ryan Tidman