WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ
Buddy Sload leads Spitfire Racing in a 1-2 finish to earn his first career Turkey Derby victory at Wall Stadium Speedway.
Sload and Spitfire teammate Jeff Kot were class of the field for much of the morning, earning the fastest two times in the morning group qualifying session. Their efforts guaranteed both drivers to start within the first three rows after the redraw. Sload would draw the 3rd place pill, while Kot drew the 6th place pill. ‘Flyin’ Ryan Tidman drew the pole position and led the field to green for the 30-lap feature. In total the top-10 qualifiers of the 18 car field redrew for starting position.
From third, Sload wasted no time making a daring move to the inside of Tidman for the lead. Sload certainly had his hands full however, as multiple cautions for various on-track incidents preceding to multiple double-file restarts.
The ‘Jerzy Jet’ Joey Payne entered the event as one of the favorites to win it. Two incidents plagued his efforts, one of which was in turn 4 soon bringing out the first caution of the afternoon. The second followed with on-track contact with his son Joey Payne III in turn one, which ultimately ended his afternoon. This was the first event in 2018 that Joey, Joey III and Anthony Payne were on track competing with each other.
In the meantime, Jeff Kot raced his way into the second position, racing wheel to wheel with Sload on multiple restarts. Just when it looked like it could be Kot’s afternoon after clearing Sload on the high side in turn 2 on the restart, a breathtaking incident took place with Geoffrey Sutton flipping end over end in turn 1. To the delight of everyone in attendance, Sutton walked away unharmed. The incident caused a brief red flag period.
It was determined by race control that Kot and the field did not complete a full lap prior to issuing the red flag. Per the ATQMRA rulebook, the field was reset to the prior lap, earning Sload the first position on the proceeding restart.
On the restart Sload would edge teammate Kot, and never looked back. Sload and Kot would race bumper to bumper all the way to the finish, however Kot would fall just short in earning victory after an impressive outing on his behalf.
Buddy Sload went on to win Turkey Derby XLV, with Jeff Kot finishing runner up earning Spitfire Racing a dominant 1-2 finish. 2018 ATQMRA Champion Matt Janisch would finish third, followed by 2018 5x ATQMRA feature winner Joey Bailey in fourth, and making is only appearance of 2018 was Briggs Danner rounding out the top-5.
Finishing behind Danner was fellow invader Kyle Reinhardt who earned a 6th place finish, 5x ATQMRA Champion Ryan Tidman held onto 7th after starting from the pole, Kyle Taraska and the Berkeley College entry finished 8th, while Richie Davidowitz and Cole Mullen rounded out the top-10 respectively.
Another notables from the event include the mechanical woes of drivers Steve Craig and ‘The Rocket’ Ronnie Mullen. After running a fast enough lap to earn a spot in the final group of qualifying, Craig experienced a mechanical failure, forcing him to not making the grid for the feature event. While Mullen made it out on to the track for pace laps, a rear suspension failure plagued his efforts prior to the drop of the green flag.
Turkey Derby XLV officially concludes the 2018 ATQMRA season. Through 14 sanctioned events, the series experienced 8 different feature winners and a championship battle that came down to the closing laps of the final points event earlier this season.
The ATQMRA would like to formally thank title sponsor Hoosier Mid-Atlantic and presenting sponsor VP Racing Fuels for their support during our 2018 campaign. Furthermore, we thank associate sponsors Diversified Machines INC, Pastor Bob Menshener of Racing with Jesus Ministries, the RPM Podcast and Bob Emmons of MNO for their contributions as well. Bob is currently recovering from a surgery, and the ATQMRA family looks forward to his return to the racetrack in 2019.
Time Trial Results
#36 Buddy Sload 13.024
#17 Jeff Kot 13.100
#48 Matt Janisch 13.103
#02 Kyle Reinhardt 13.184
#51B Joey Bailey 13.195
#48X Briggs Danner 13.229
#16 Kyle Taraska 13.241
#1B Ryan Tidman 13.292
#51 Joey Payne 13.374
#73C Cole Mullen 13.389
#25 Richie Davidowitz 13.407
#55 Paul Dodorico 13.425
#55C Steve Craig 13.576
#98 Matt Roselli 13.590
#39 Ronnie Mullen 13.632
#12 Anthony Payne 13.637
#461 Geoffrey Sutton 13.702
#67 Joey Payne III 13.751
Top 10 Redraw
#1B Ryan Tidman
#48X Briggs Danner
#36 Buddy Sload
#48 Matt Janisch
#73C Cole Mullen
#17 Jeff Kot
#02 Kyle Reinhardt
#51 Joey Payne
#51B Joey Bailey
#16 Kyle Taraska
Feature Results
#36 Buddy Sload
#17 Jeff Kot
#48 Matt Janisch
#51B Joey Bailey
#48X Briggs Danner
#02 Kyle Reinhardt
#1B Ryan Tidman
#16 Kyle Taraska
#25 Richie Davidowitz
#73C Cole Mullen
#67 Joey Payne III
#55 Paul Dodorico
#12 Anthony Payne
#461 Geoffrey Sutton
#98 Matt Roselli
#51 Joey Payne
#39 Ronnie Mullen
#55C Steve Craig