Photo Credit: Sean Case
Staff Report | May 18th, 2019
BETHEL, NY- Buddy Sload wins at Bethel Motor Speedway after leading wire to wire to claim his second feature victory of 2019.
After nearly a one month break, the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels held its second event of the season the 1/4 mile oval of Bethel Motor Speedway.
Photo Credit; Sean Case
Two clean heat races started off the evening where both Joey Bailey and Ryan Tidman claimed victory respectively. Tidman’s heat was won in his newly built in-house chassis by the Boyd Family, which has shown great speed throughout the early stages of 2019. The top-4 finishers from each heat would redraw for position, shaking up the top-8 positions for the feature line up. After the redraw, Tim Proctor who was making his first start of 2019 drew the pole.
Bethel’s Scout Night was honored by a beautiful National Anthem Ceremony performed by various troops from the area. The ceremony also featured the ATQMRA starting line up displayed on the speedway’s front stretch in front of a near capacity crowd. It didn’t take long to receive the command to fire engines prior to taking the green flag.
At the drop of the green flag, points leader and third place started Buddy Sload wasted no time powering to the inside of pole sitter Tim Proctor, making a clean pass for the lead in turn 1.
In the opening laps of the feature, the event featured its only caution as Geo Sutton spun off the exit of turn 2. Sutton would immediately return to the racing action and recover for a respectable 6th place finish. Sload would lead the field back to green during the event’s only restart.
Much like the opening round at Mahoning, Buddy Sload established himself as the hunted. However, it was Joey Bailey yet again establishing himself as the hunter. Bailey methodically worked his way up through the field from the 8th place starting position, making daring moves all along the way. Although he nearly reached the rear bumper of Sload on the final lap, it simply wasn’t enough to pass him for the victory.
Buddy Sload is now two for two this season winning back to back feature victory’s at Mahoning and Bethel, establishing himself as a championship favorite early in 2019.
In victory lane, Buddy Sload dedicated his victory to the mother of former ATQMRA Rookie of the Year and current Spitfire Racing team member Mike Glaser. Mike’s mother, Micki, unfortunately passed away early Thursday morning. On behalf of the entire ATQMRA, we extend our sincere condolences to the Glaser family and will keep them in our thoughts during this difficult time.
Other notables in the event should include the finishes of Tim Proctor and Richie Davidowitz, who finished 4th and 5th respectfully in their first starts of the season.
The Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels heads to New Jersey’s Wall Stadium Speedway this Saturday, May 25th for a Memorial Day Weekend shootout at the shore.
Photo Credit: Sean Case
Heat 1 Results
#51B Joey Bailey
#75 Mark Yoder
#98 Tim Proctor
#36 Buddy Sload
#39 Ronnie Mullen
#73 Cole Mullen
Heat 2 Results
#1B Ryan Tidman
#51 Geoffrey Sutton
#25 Richie Davidowitz
#95 Jeff Kot
#55 Paul Dodorico
#16 Kyle Taraska
Feature Results
#36 Buddy Sload
#51B Joey Bailey
#1B Ryan Tidman
#98 Tim Proctor
#25 Richie Davidowitz
#51 Geoffrey Sutton
#95 Jeff Kot
#75 Mark Yoder
#39 Ronnie Mullen
#55 Paul Dodorico
#73 Cole Mullen
#16 Kyle Taraska