By: Blu Metz
PHOTO CREDITS: Alex Borland Race Media / Robert J Clark
(9/5/2015) Oswego, NY
Young Joey Bailey of Helmetta, NJ inherited the lead in the ATQMRA Bud Classic at Oswego Speedway on the white flag lap and held off a hard charging Jon Gambutti to cement the Victory. Bailey followed a heated battle between Matt Janisch and Ryan Tidman before both were sidelined after the white flag was shown. Heat races were won by Janisch and Tidman. Gambutti finished second with Geoffrey Sutton on the podium in third. $175 was paid to each car that competed at Oswego with Bailey pocketing $350 for the win. Next up for the ATQMRA is a trip to Wall Stadium for wingless racing on the facility's inner oval on Saturday September 19th with the season points finale at Mahoning Valley Speedway in Lehighton on Saturday October 24th.
Following their dominant victories in the heat races the ATQMRA Bud Classic shaped up to be a showdown between Reigning ATQMRA Champion Matt Janisch in his own 48 TQ midget and the multiple Championship winning Flying Ryan Tidman in the Boyd Racing 1B. The pair of racing Engineers did not disappoint. Pole Sitter Mark Yoder and Joey Bailey led the field into the first turn with Bailey leading the initial circuit only to relinquish the lead to Matt Janisch who charged from his sixth starting position to take the lead on lap four. Bailey maintained second until lap seven when Tidman took over the runner up position.
Tidman worked to put himself into a position to overtake Janisch until a lap 12 caution flew for a tangle between Mike Glaser of Jackson, NJ and The Flying Chiropractor Greg Richardson from Nearby Rochester, NY. Both would have their Classic races cut short by the incident.
The ensuing restart let the tires cool down and gave Tidman the opportunity he needed. The Janisch car picked up a push after the caution allowing Tidman to make the decisive move and take the lead. From here it looked like Tidman would cruise to victory. Still running second Janisch would take the white flag and have his engine expire entering the first turn. He would roll to a stop at the top of the second turn. Tidman would spin entering the third turn on the same lap with the caution flag falling. This handed the lead over to the youngster, Joey Bailey, for a green white checker shootout with Hotrod Jon Gambutti.
Bailey an Engineering Student in his freshman year at Fairleigh Dickinson University had his hands full with a hard charging Supermodified racer and past ATQMRA Champ Hotrod Jon Gambutti hot on his tail. Gambutti in the Alan Mollot badger 51 applied pressure and appeared to have the edge in speed but Bailey held on to earn his first ATQMRA Bud Classic Victory at Oswego Speedway. Gambutti settled for second with Geoffrey Sutton crossing the line third. Current Point leader Buddy Sload would finish fourth with Jeff Kot rolling across the line fifth. Tidman would recover to finish sixth with Janisch seventh. Chad Parks had one of his best ATQMRA finishes rolling across the line eighth.
Heading into the final lap Bailey was running third and didn't expect to get the victory. Joey said, "We don't like to win them this way but we will take it." Bailey went on to thank his Father Russ for providing him a well prepared car and the Zuzallo family for giving him the opportunity to race their lightening fast 02.
In winning the heat race Janisch set a new track record by lapping the Oswego inner loop in 14.322 seconds.
The ATQMRA Next heads to Wall Stadium for some short track racing on the Wall Stadium inner oval on Saturday September 19th. The flat track has reduced the speeds of the cars but the level of competition has increased. The short track style of racing has garnered the club positive attention from the media and is helping increase car counts. The final Points paying race for the ATQMRA will be on October 24th at Mahoning Valley Speedway where the 2015 ATQRMA Champion will be crowned.
ATQMRA News and Notes: Sixteen cars were on hand for the Classic at Oswego. Making his first TQ midget start was Sprint car racer Bill Case in the Metz Racing 46v. Local Racer Greg Richardson picked up the former Justin Mapes Casey's 03 and 04 NYPA Championship winning car.
Past ATQMRA Champion Joey Payne had a good weekend of racing. He didn't take part in the ATQMRA Classic since he was busy winning the Iron Mike Scrivani Memmorial NEMA Midget race at Monodnock. On Sunday Joey was the hard charger of the race in moving from his 24th starting position to finish third, missing second by a nose in the Oswego Supermodified Classic.
2014 ATQRMA Rookie of the year Geoffrey Sutton backed into a podium finish of third at Oswego and made his Modified Stock car debut on Sunday at Chemung Speedrome a good one by racing from an 18th start to finish tenth in the Paul Hartwig Modified. Sutton incidentally made his debut at the former track of his namesake Geoffrey Bodine in the type of car that made Bodine famous, a Modified
Alison Cumens who won an ATQMRA Classic a few years back started the ISMA Supermodified feature from the pole position but had her chances of victory end with a blown engine.
Rookie of the year contender Patrick Force gained four Markers on rookie point leading Mike Glaser tightening that battle heading into the penultimate race at Wall.
While the ATQMRA isn't paying a front loaded purse they are paying a generous purse through the field. Teams taking a green at the Classic at Oswego received $175 for their efforts.
Matt Roselli seemed snake bitten at Oswego for the Classic, He had a fast car all day but a series of maladies prevented him from earning a good finish.
Mark Yoder made his first trip to Oswego with his Hyper Hugger and was thrilled with its performance on the big track running very competitive laps but was relegated to a DNF in the final tally.
Mark Janisch, noted engine builder and Father of ATQMRA Superstar Matt made his Oswego Speedway debut in the Janisch's 2014 Championship winning car. He ran some fast laps but was a DNS for the feature.
Heat Races were won by Matt Jansich and Ryan Tidman
1 02 Joey Baliey
2 51 John Gambutti
3 46 Geoffrey Suton
4 16 Buddy Solad
5 95 Jeff Kot
6 1B Ryan Tidman
7 48 Matt Janisch
8 06 Chad Parks
9 98X Matt Roselli
10 75Y Mark Yoder
11 18 Patrick Force
12 F8 Michael Glaser
13 4 Greg Richardson
14 46V Bill Case
15 48x Mark Janisch
16 53 Bj MacDonald