Wall Township, NJ. Saturday April 29, 2017, 2015 ATQMRA Champion Buddy Sload has returned to his winning ways in the Colin Martin Spitfire 36 by earning back to back feature victories first at the club opener, then backing it up with a win Saturday at Wall Stadium in wingless competition on Wall's inner oval on Wall Stadium's Fan Fest Night. Rob Vivona rolled across the line second with Matt Roselli third. Roselli and Ryan Tidman earned heat race victories. Ronnie the Rocket Mullen was the highest finishing Acro Rookie of the year candidate. Fellow Rookie Jon Keller went for a rough ride onto his lid in the feature. The Brice's NAPA Auto Parts Clean Start Buckets were handed out to teams at the event.
The luck of the draw put Matt Janisch in the Alan Mollot Lindblad Badger along Side Mark Yoder in his Hyper Hugger on the front row. Janisch was able to power into the lead on the initial start with Joey Bailer following him in Second. Bailey pressured Janisch for the lead before overtaking him on lap 7. Bailey opened up a margin on second when the red flag was flown for a tangle between two rookie candidates exiting the fourth turn sending Jon Keller over onto his lid ending his day early.
At the time of the red flag just prior to half way Ryan Tidman and Matt Jansich tangled on the back straight away sending Janisch upside down. Jansich and Tidman were able to continue. This put Sload on the outside pole for the restart alongside Bailey. On the restart, Bailey launched into the lead and held serve until lap 22 when Sload and Bailey made contact entering the third turn in what was deemed a "Racing Incident" bringing out the caution for a spinning Bailey.
Eighth starting Rob Vivona in the lone 600 Micro Sprint in the field slowly picked his way forward to move into the second position for the restart. Sload was able to maintain the advantage and park the 36 Spitfire in Victory lane for his second feature win in so many races in 2017. Vivona trailed Sload in Second with a hard charging Matt Roselli rounding out the Podium. Ryan Tidman rebounded from the lap 12 incident to notch a fourth place finish with Geoffrey Sutton rounding out the top five.
Mark Yoder Rolled across the line sixth with Janisch rebounding from the earlier flip to finish seventh. Jeff Kot was eighth in the Behrents Performance Yuhas Chassis 88 with the top Rookie of the race Wall Stadium's own Ronnie the Rocket Mullen ninth. Austin Fehr rounded out the top ten with Joey Bailey coming back from the late race spin to finish eleventh.
The ATQMRA was once again part of Wall's popular on track Fan Fest where teams were able to meet and mingle with fans and friends. For the first time Father and Son Ronnie and Cole Mullen raced on track together with the old man besting the kid in the debut of Ron's brand New BGF Chassis and Motor 39 car.
Each of the teams received a NAPA Bucket containing hand cleaner carburator cleaner and car polishing products from Brice's NAPA Auto Parts for the third consecutive year. A special thanks to Bill Brice, The ATQMRA's Race Director, for helping to keep the organization looking good.
The first heat race was won by Matt Roselli in his family owned Laffler Chassis 98. The second heat was won by a fellow Laffler Chassis mount the Boyd Racing 1B driven by Flying Ryan Tidman.
The VP Racing Fuel that powers the ATQMRA,s next event at Wall Stadium on This coming Saturday May 6th for round 3 of the season.
Heat 1
1 98 Matt Roselli
2 75 Mark Yoder
3 36 Buddy Sload
4 51 Matt Janisch
5 46v Rob Vivona
6 88 Jeff Kot
7 32 Dave Golbatuk
8 20 John Keller
9 39 Ronnie Mullen
Heat 2
1 1b Ryan Tidman
2 2 Joey Bailey
3 46 Geoffry Sutton
4 73 Austin Fehr
5 73 Cole Mullen
6 67 Joey Payne III
7 f8 Kerry Irwin
8 1 Kyle Taraska
Feature
1 36 Buddy Sload
2 46v Rob Vivona
3 98 Matt Roselli
4 1b Ryan Tidman
5 46 Geoffry Sutton
6 75 Mark Yoder
7 51 Matt Janisch
8 88 Jeff Kot
9 39 Ronnie Mullen
10 73 Austin Fehr
11 2 Joey Bailey
12 f8 Kerry Irwin
13 73 Cole Mullen
14 32 Dave Golbatuk
15 67 Joey Payne III
16 1 Kyle Taraska
17 20 John Keller