Staff Report | Monday, June 21st, 2021
WATERFORD, CT- Buddy Sload and the #36 Spitfire Racing team earned the victory in the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels feature this weekend at The New London-Waterford Speedbowl. This was Sload’s third feature victory in a row.
Brianna Page #76 A&A Truck Parts, Stavola Companies team led the field to the green. An exciting initial start with three and even four wide action saw Ryan Tidman break out to the lead down the frontstretch and into turn 1.
Tidman, making his debut in the Mollot #51S entry, set quick time in practice and was a top contending car throughout the afternoon.
“Flyin” Ryan’s moment on top of the mountain was short lived, as Sload powered around him for the lead as the field exited turned two heading down the backstretch.
While the leaders consisting of Sload, Tidman, Joey Bailey and Jeff Kot strung themselves out up front, tight two-wide racing remained mid-pack.
Steve Craig and Brianna Page battled for fifth, Kyle Taraska, Jake Trainor and Ken Moody Jr. remained in tow. It would be Taraska and the #22 Chick-fil-A, Personal Comfort breaking free of the pack next as he began his hunt to chase down the leaders.
Steve Craig’s day ended prematurely as his engine began to expire. Another week of showing a lot of speed and a lot of promise, ended in frustration for the veteran from Levittown, PA.
RYNO Classifieds Rookie Contender, and NEMA Lite superstar Jake Trainor made the long trip back from Indianapolis Raceway Park after competing in the rebirth of Thursday Night Thunder, to make his ATQMRA debut at Waterford this weekend.
Unfortunately, Trainor’s day also ended early due to an expired engine and left a hefty amount of oil on the racing surface. This led to a lengthy caution and also a restart just prior to halfway with 14 laps remaining.
On the restart, Joey Bailey was a man on a mission from third staying hot on Sload’s tail on the restart, powering to the inside of Tidman to move up to second.
Taraska, trying to make up for lost time due to being boxed in on the start, raced wheel to wheel with the Behrents Performance Warehouse Machine of Jeff Kot down the backstretch into turn three. Kot was able to power around Taraska on the outside and maintain the fourth position.
Ken Moody Jr was putting one of his best runs together since his ATQMRA debut last month. Unfortunately, a mechanical issue caused his car to come to a halt outside of the racing groove. This would bring out the final caution with about 8 laps to go, setting up a single file restart.
On the restart, Sload resumed his dominance. The leaders remained single file in their positions. Brianna Page put a nice run together taking advantage of Taraska’s mistake in turn 2, to move herself into the top 5 with three laps remaining. Page was the top finishing RYNO Classifieds Rookie of the Race and earned back-to-back top-5’s at Waterford dating back to last October.
In the end, it was Buddy Sload putting the “speed” in “The Speedbowl” earning the hat trick by claiming the ATQMRA feature victory this weekend.
Joey Bailey remains consistent, earning his third, second place finish in the last three starts during the 2021 points season. Ryan Tidman, Jeff Kot and Brianna Page rounded out the top five.
Kyle Taraska, Ken Moody Jr., Jake Trainor and Steve Craig rounded out the field.
For the second time in his career, Buddy Sload earned a hat trick, with his first coming in 2015. Sload dedicated this victory to his father “Big Bud,” and was able to give him his requested Father’s Day gift, a trophy from Waterford. “Big Bud” is home recovering from some recent health issues that did not permit him to take the trip to Connecticut this weekend. We wish him a speedy recovery and are excited to have him back at the track very soon.
The Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA powered by VP Racing Fuels will be back in action this Saturday, June 26th, at Bethel Motor Speedway for the Joe Payne Sr. Memorial.
25 Lap Feature Results:
1. #36 Buddy Sload
2. #1B Joey Bailey
3. #51S Ryan Tidman
4. #95 Jeff Kot
5. #76 Brianna Page
6. #22 Kyle Taraska
7. #01 Ken Moody Jr.
8. #25 Jake Trainor
9. #55C Steve Craig