June 25, 2016 Wall Stadium, NJ
Matt Janisch of Nazareth, Pa has won his fair share of ATQMRA races across the years and earned himself a championship in 2014. Since the second race of the season nobody else has visited victory lane. Janisch earned four ATQMRA feature race wins in a row. Janisch earned the win over second running Buddy Sload with Geoffrey Sutton rounding out the podium. Heat Races were won by Matt Roselli in his New Laffler Chassis mount with Rookie of the year Candidate Mark Yoder picking up the win in the other qualifier. Popular Wall racer Ronnie the Rocket Mullen took a wild ride in the feature but is ok after being checked out at the Jersey Shore Medical Center. The ATQRMA sees action next back at Wall on July 16.
The feature saw a front row of Tim Proctor and Ronnie Mullen take the green flag but before a lap could be completed contact between Buddy Sload and Jeff Kot sent Kot Spinning into the infield slowing the field.
On the second attempt it was Tim Proctor charging into the lead with Joey Bailey in tow with Matt Roselli in third. Proctor would surrender the lead to Bailey entering the first turn on lap three. Bailey looked strong but his time in front of the pack was short lived when an electrical gremlin reared its ugly head relegating him to a DNF in the final tally. Bailey who won the ATQMRA's last race on the high banks showed the prowess to contend on Wall's flat inner oval as well.
While side by side racing was happening throughout the pack Janisch was methodically picking his was to the front. Janisch was sharp as usual after having run four races in the last week Winning Bethel last Saturday with the wing on and running third and fourth in Speedstr competition in between. Proctor resumed command when Bailey fell out only to be overtaken by Janisch on lap eight.
Janisch in his Yuhas Chassis Mark Janisch powered combination would run off the fastest lap of the day and cruised to the win by 2.5 seconds over a battle between Buddy Sload and Geoffrey Sutton for second and third. When Sutton charged from his 12th starting position into third behind Sload the two had spirited battle swapping cross over moves with inside and outside passes for the second position. Sload came out on top in the battle for second with Sutton third. Tim Proctor rolled across the line fourth with Rookie of the year hopeful Mark Yoder crossing the line fifth.
The feature race was stopped on the thirteenth lap when Popular Wall Racer Ronnie the Rocket Mullen of nearby Brick Township went flipping down the back straight away. Following a precautionary trip to the hospital Mullen was bruised and sore but uninjured otherwise. His Classic Competition Dart Chassis did its job and kept the driver safe.
The first heat race was won by Matt Roselli who charged from his fourth starting position to earn the qualifier win over Jeff Kot, Matt Janisch, Anthony Payne and Ronnie Mullen with Mark Rogers picking up the last qualifying spot.
The second heat saw Mark Yoder work from his fourth starting position to take the lead in the waning laps. Yoder had a strong day at Wall earning his first ATQMRA Heat Race win and ran a strong fifth in the feature. Yoder Bested Jeff Kot followed by Janisch Anthony Payne, and a pair of Wall Regulars in Ron Mullen and Mark Rogers.
Next up for the ATQMRA is back at the Speedway by the Shore Wall Stadium for some more exciting short track racing on Wall's inner flat oval. Racing on the inner track and speedway management has helped to create resurgence in participation in the outdoor TQ ranks with the club drawing an eighteen car per race average. As teams have adapted to the flat track racing without wings the racing has improved and many drivers have demonstrated the ability to make passes on the outside and race side by side.
Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic ATQMRA Feature (25 Laps): 1. 48 Matt Janisch 2. 16 Buddy Sload 3. 461 Geoffrey Sutton 4. 98t Tim Proctor 5. 75Y Mark Yoder 6. 98 Matt Roselli 7. 27 Mark Rogers 8. 1B Ryan Tidman 9. 95 Jeff Kot 10. 11 Steve Whitt 11. 75Z Don Zrinski 12. 45 Anthony Payne 13. 46 Kerry Irwin 14. F8 Mike Glaser 15. 67 Joey Payne III 16. 39 Ronnie Mullen 17. 02 Joey Bailey
Heat Race 1: 1. 98 Matt Roselli 2. 02 Joey Bailey 3. 1B Ryan Tidman 4. 461 Geoffrey Sutton 5. 98t Tim Proctor 6. 16 Buddy Sload 7. 75z Don Zrinski 8. F8 Mike Glaser 9. 11 Steve Whitt
Heat Race 2: 1. 75y Mark Yoder 2. 95 Jeff Kot 3. 48 Matt Janisch 4. 45 Anthony Payne 5. 39 Ron Mullen 6. 27 Mark Rogers 7. 67 Joey Payne III 8. 46 Kerry Irwin
ATQMRA News and Notes: Matt Janisch, the 2005 ATQMRA Rookie of the year as well as 2014 Champion had a busy week racing a SpeedSTR to a third and fourth place finish on dirt demonstrating his throwback ability to adapt to both pavement and dirt. Blu Metz of the Metz Racing Driver Development Team took his 46 TQ to the Weatherly Hill climb on June 12th and Blasted up the paved mountain road making both rights and lefts timing 48th overall against 92 competitors. The ATQMRA has seen an uptick in the payouts teams receive from each event. Mark Ludwig was on hand as race Director for his first event in that position with the ATQMRA taking over for Bill Brice moving forward. Teams are reminded that they have an opportunity to put their cars on display in front of the crowd at Pocono for the IndyCar weekend on August 20 and 21st. The Application for putting a race car in the show can be found at http://www.theclassicracingtimes.com by clicking on Applications and filling out the Pocono Sun and Show Application.