Staff Report | Monday, November 8th, 2021
Photo Credit: Sean Case
BETHEL, NY- Joey Bailey is your 2021 Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels Champion, his second consecutive. Buddy Sload charged from the back of the pack to win his seventh feature of the season. Brianna Page earned the season long RYNO.co Rookie Contender’s title.
It was a long, cold November night at Bethel Motor Speedway this Saturday, but it was well worth the wait as the stars of the ATQMRA shined in treacherous racing conditions.
The evening of racing kicked off very similar to how it ended, with Joey Bailey (#1B, Boyd Chassis) and Buddy Sload (#36, Spitfire Chassis) earning their respective heat victories. Through the handicapping system, Mark Yoder (#75, Ames Construction) led the field to green for the 30 lap feature.
Sload, from eighth, jumped to third by the time the field crossed the line to complete the first lap, while the championship contenders battled with three wide action throughout the top-5.
The hard charging Jeff Kot (#95, Behrents Performance Warehouse) charged a little too hard battling with ‘Flyin’ Ryan Tidman (#51T, Yuhas Chassis) when he not only saved his car but saved his season after getting extremely loose off of turn 4 in the opening laps. However, Kot kept his car straight, clean and competitive as he continued and went the distance.
Tidman looked to take advantage of the opportunity to jump ahead of friendly rival, Kot, on the track and in the points in the final stages of the 2021 season.
While Yoder gave up the lead early to Sload, he held his own strong in second throughout the early stages, with RYNO.co Rookie Contender Brianna Page (#76, Stavola Companies/ A&A Trucking) in third.
Kyle Taraska (#22, Chick-fil-A/ Personal Comfort) would soon enter the conversation with teammate and championship leader Bailey in third. Taraska nearly forced a three wide scenario to overtake both Page and Tidman in a battle for third, prior to overtaking Mark Yoder for second.
For much of the middle stages of the race, Sload led the field with Taraska in second, and Bailey in third. Taraska would have contact with lapped-car Chris Pelcher (#44P), as Bailey took advantage of the opportunity to jump into second.
Bailey made a late charge to get Sload, but Buddy Sload would hang on to earn his seventh victory of the season.
After dominating the 30 lap feature that went clean and green wire to wire, Sload was quick to dedicate the victory to the Brice and Erm Families, and all of those impacted in the the tragic passing of Shawn Erm earlier this week.
Joey Bailey’s Motorsports resume continues to blossom by earning his second consecutive Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels Championship. In a “dream come true” season, Bailey earned 2 victories (Bethel 7/10, Waterford 10/16) and an average finish of 2.4. While this may be Bailey’s second championship as a driver, this is his first racing for the Boyd Family. Donna and Lenny Boyd are once again car owner champions in the ATQMRA for the fifth time, and the first time since 2017.
Brianna Page and Tyler Ferris took it down to the wire in the season long RYNO.co Rookie Contender Standings. Ultimately, a broken front axle derailed the super-fast Ferris (#33, Hamer Heating and Cooling) while running second in his heat race. Ferris did an amazing job to keep his car off the wall, but it was a long trip back to New Jersey for the #33 team with their Rookie Championship run ending prematurely.
Ferris’ issues opened the door wide open for Page. Brianna progressed nicely over the course of the season running more and more competitive towards season’s end. After winning the strongest ATQMRA rookie class in years, Page will look to end her year strong at Turkey Derby XLVIII later this month.
Back to the action from the 30-lap feature at Bethel- Sload as noted earned his seventh victory of the season.
Joey Bailey clinched his championship by taking the green flag, but made another statement run by finishing 2nd. Kyle Taraska rounded out the podium earning the Boyd Speed Shop a 2-3 finish. Taraska carries a lot of momentum into Wall Stadium to defend his Turkey Derby XLVII championship.
Ryan Tidman finished 4th and jumped ahead of Jeff Kot to earn 2nd in championship standings with his finish. After starting on the pole, Mark Yoder earned an extremely respectable fifth place finish.
Jeff Kot recovered to finish 6th, which was enough to edge ahead of Sload and Taraska to finish the season third in overall points.
While many focused on the championship, another major storyline was the ATQMRA debut of Tanner VanDoren for MJ12 Motorsports. VanDoren, at the age of 13, and fresh off his Eastern States Sportsman Championship at Orange County Speedway, jumped up from 14th to 7th in his asphalt debut. VanDoren did not even sit in his #12 Dent Zones, Dave Orange powered TQ Midget until the morning of the race. While VanDoren’s future in TQ Midget’s remains unclear, expect to see VanDoren back behind the wheel in the ATQMRA not before too long after this weekend’s performance.
RYNO.co Rookie Champion Brianna Page earned 8th. Avery Stoehr in Phil DiMario’s #23 Badger finished 9th in his second start of the season, and Paul Dodorico made his return to the ATQMRA to round out the top-10.
Tyler Wagner finished 11th, Steve Craig finished in 12th, Bill Force Jr. finished 13th and Chris Pelcher rounded out the running cars in 14th. Tyler Ferris will be credited with a 15th place finish after failing to take the green in the feature, due to his on-track incident in his heat race.
The Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic powered by VP Racing Fuels will officially conclude its 2021 campaign at Wall Stadium Speedway, for the annual Turkey Derby XLVIII on Saturday, November 27th, 2021. Practice for the non-points event will be held this Saturday, November 13th, from 10:00 AM- 3:00 PM with pits opening at 9:00 AM.
Race Results:
Heat 1:
1. #1B Joey Bailey
2. #75 Mark Yoder
3. #55 Paul Dodorico
4. #23 Avery Stoehr
5. #22 Kyle Taraska
6. #32 Tyler Wagner
7. #26 Bill Force Jr.
Heat 2:
1. #36 Buddy Sload
2. #51T Ryan Tidman
3. #76 Brianna Page
4. #95 Jeff Kot
5. #12 Tanner VanDoren
6. #55C Steve Craig
7. #44P Chris Pelcher
8. #33 Tyler Ferris
Feature:
1. #36 Buddy Sload
2. #1B Joey Bailey
3. #22 Kyle Taraska
4. #51T Ryan Tidman
5. #75 Mark Yoder
6. #95 Jeff Kot
7. #12 Tanner VanDoren
8. #76 Brianna Page
9. #23 Avery Stoehr
10. #55 Paul Dodorico
11. #32 Tyler Wagner
12. #55C Steve Craig
13. #26 Bill Force Jr.
14. #44P Chris Pelcher
15. #33 Tyler Ferris