Photo credit Eric Storch Photography
Staff Report | Monday, May 17th, 2021
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ- Kyle Taraska of Woodbridge, NJ, took the checkered flag in his Chick-fil-A, Personal Comfort TQ Midget in Saturday’s Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels feature.
Joey Bailey and the #1B Boyd Racing Team entry earned the victory in the first heat. Paul Dodorico and the Martha Baker D.M.D, CheckerWon Manufacturing Spitfire Chassis earned his first career ATQMRA heat victory in the second qualifier, outdueling one of the pre-feature favorites Buddy Sload.
The action got hot and heavy at the drop of the green flag, when Joey Bailey missed his mark and made contact with pole-sitter Ryan Tidman and his #51 Lindblad Badger. Bailey went for a spin, and Buddy Sload’s #36 Spitfire Chassis went for spin to avoid Bailey, ultimately tipping on his side. The incident derailed Sload’s efforts by ending his evening prematurely.
Ryan Tidman kept a commanding lead, fighting off a strong field through a series of restarts in the early portion of the race.
Backing up his fastest lap in practice, Jeff Kot and the Behrents Performance Warehouse TQ Midget made a power move, out-dueling leader Tidman from the outside lane on a restart giving him the lead just prior to halfway.
With Kot the leader, Kyle Taraska sliced and diced his way between the Alan Mollot owned entries of Tidman and #51S Geoffrey Sutton from fourth to second, setting up the stage for the two drivers to battle for the finish.
As Kot continued to lead with two laps remaining, and Taraska closing, contact was made between Kot, Taraska and the lapped vehicle of rookie Robert Willis and the #27 Supreme Manufacturing Machine.
Willis was blacked flagged for the incident, for not holding his line around the leaders as stated in the ATQMRA rulebook. Willis chopped the nose off Kot, causing the 95 machine to check up. Taraska ran over the left rear of Kot. Kot returned to the pit area with a flat left rear tire, and fought hard to salvage his efforts with a seventh place finish.
The late race caution set up a green-white-checkered finish with Taraska as the leader with Tidman and Sutton breathing down his neck. Taraska was able to hang on and capture the victory, his second consecutive at Wall Stadium Speedway.
Ryan Tidman finished second with Geoffrey Sutton in third. Joey Bailey recovered from an early spin in fourth, and Mike Glaser’s Aqua Solutions team rounded out the top five finishers.
#76 A&A Truck Parts TQ midget by Brianna Page put a nice sixth place finish together, leading the RYNO Classifieds Rookie Contenders.
Jeff Kot recovered to his previously noted seventh place finish, and veteran Steve Craig finished in 8th. Heat race winner Paul Dodorico finished 9th, the last car on the lead lap.
A crop of RYNO Classifieds Rookie Contenders made up the next round of finishing positions. Ken Moody Jr, Robert Willis, Tyler Ferris and Chris Pelcher respectively finished 10th-13th. Buddy Sload rounded out the 14 car field.
The Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels returns to Wall Stadium this Saturday, May 22nd for the third race of the 2021 season.
Race Results:
Heat 1:
#1B Joey Bailey
#51 Ryan Tidman
#95 Jeff Kot
#22 Kyle Taraska
#33 Tyler Ferris
#76 Brianna Page
#44P Chris Pelcher
Heat 2:
#55 Paul Dodorico
#36 Buddy Sload
#51 Geoffrey Sutton
#55C Steve Craig
#2 Mike Glaser
#01 Ken Moody Jr.
#27 Robert Willis
Feature:
#22 Kyle Taraska
#51 Ryan Tidman
#51S Geoffrey Sutton
#1B Joey Bailey
#2 Mike Glaser
#76 Brianna Page
#95 Jeff Kot
#55C Steve Craig
#55 Paul Dodorico
#01 Ken Moody Jr.
#27 Robert Wills
#33 Tyler Ferris
#44P Chris Pelcher
#36 Buddy Sload