Bethel, NY June 20, 2016
When the ATQMRA hit the quarter mile oval at Bethel Motor Speedway Current point leader Matt Janisch was riding a two race win streak after winning on Wall's inner oval and Mahoning prior to that. His win at Bethel gives him three in a row at three completely different tracks. Heat Races were won by Johnny Hotrod Gambutti and Tim Proctor. Next up for the ATQRMA is a trip to Wall for some wingless racing on that track's inner oval on Saturday June 25th.
The feature had Tim Proctor and Ronnie Mullen take the green flag. It looked similar to the start of the heat race with Proctor jumping into the lead. A lap four caution was brought out by Geoffrey Sutton and put Buddy Sload on the outside Pole with Proctor. The result was again the same. Proctor jumped into the lead and looked to be on his way to his first ATQMRA win. In the mean time Janisch was methodically working his way through the field from his eleventh starting position.
Janisch moved into second on lap eleven and began to attempt to real in Proctor. Without the aid of a caution Janisch was aided by Proctor being held up negotiating lapped traffic, Janisch made the decisive move with two laps to go entering the third turn and lead the final two circuits to get the win over a second finishing Proctor Followed by Buddy Sload Jon Gambutti and Matt Roselli.
Unfortunately Proctors banner day ended on a down note as his car was found to be over the limit on tread width. A dejected Proctor said following the race he changed the right rear tire and didn't re-check his width. Apparently the replacement wheel was of a slightly different offset leading to the disqualification.
The first heat race saw a front row of Tim Proctor and Mike Glaser bring the field to the green with Proctor powering into the lead. Proctor took off and left the rest of the field in his dust easily outdistancing second finishing 2015 champion Buddy Sload followed by Matt Roselli, Jeff Kot Joey Bailey and Mark Yoder to earn a position in the handicap for the feature.
The second heat race saw a front row of Rookie of the Year hopefuls Ronnie the Rocket Mullen and Joey Payne III take the green with Mullen rocketing into the lead. Mullen opened a gap on second running Jon Gambutti before a caution fell for a spinning Bill Force Jr. On the restart Gambutti quickly took the lead with Ryan Tidman Janisch Geoffrey Sutton and Mullen crossing the line ahead of Payne who earned the last transfer spot.
Next up for the ATQMRA is a trip to Wall for some wingless racing on Wall's inner oval that has been extremely competitive. Janisch will be looking to make it four wins in a row on Saturday June 25th.
ATQMRA News and Notes: The ATQMRA was accompanied by the vintage Division of the ATQMRA that had a number of cars from the history of the organization on hand to do some vintage racing. Drew Fornoro driving the Robert Noll owned Wherle 02 that was one of the winningest cars in the history of the ATQMRA won the four stroke division feature with Tom Arntz winning the two stroke division.
Feature (25 Laps) 1. 48 Matt Janisch 2. Buddy Sload 3. 51 Jon Gambutti 4. 98 Matt Roselli 5. 1B Ryan Tidman 6. 95 Jeff Kot 7. 75 Mark Yoder 8. 461 Geoffrey Sutton 9. 11 Steve Whitt 10. 39 Ron Mullen 11. 67 Joe Payne III 12. F8 Mike Glaser 13. 97 Chris Hirt 14. 06 Chad Parks 15. 02 Joey Bailey 16. 98T Tim Proctor (DQ Tread width) 17. Bill Force Jr. (DNS)
Heat Race 1. 98T Tim Proctor 2. 16 Buddy Sload 3. 98 Matt Roselli 4. 95 Jeff Kot 5. 02 Joey Bailey 6. 75 Mark Yoder 7. F8 Mike glaser 8. 97 Chris Hirt 9. 06 Chad Parks
Heat Race 2 1. Jon Gambutti 2. 1B Ryan Tidman 3. 48 Matt Janisch 4. 461 Geoffrey Sutton 5. 39 Ronnie Mullen 6. 67 Joey Payne 7. 11 Steve Whitt 8. 46 Bill Force Jr.