Staff Report | Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022
Photos: Ed Malik, EJ O’Rourke
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ- Buddy Sload continued to his winning ways this past weekend, earning the season opening feature victory at Wall Stadium Speedway.
For the first time in several years, the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA fueled by VP Racing Fuels opened their championship points season at Wall Stadium Speedway, NJ. With thirteen cars in the pits and a dozen taking the green, the ATQMRA put on a clean, lightning fast feature finishing just shy of six minutes in length.
Prior to the feature, defending and Two-Time Champion Joey Bailey (#1B, Boyd Chassis) won the opening heat of the evening. Jeff Kot (#95, Behrents Performance Warehouse) won the second heat of the afternoon. With the first three points paying events being a full redraw for qualified cars, Kyle Taraska (#22, Personal Comfort) led the field to the point.
Taraska was fast out of the gate, clearing outside pole sitter Mark Yoder (#75, Ames Construction) off of turn two. The #22 machine would try to pull away, but teammate Bailey and Buddy Sload (#36, Spitfire Chassis) battled hard for second, but also kept Taraska honest through the process.
Sload would throw his car in under Bailey entering the third corner; a move that paid great dividends for car #36 as Taraska lost momentum battling lapped traffic. Sload would get a 2-for-1 deal on the Boyd Speed Shop cars grabbing the lead in turn one on the ninth lap of the event. Bailey worked hard to follow Sload through, but a tangle between the #22 and #1B would send Bailey into the gravel exiting the second corner. Bailey never lifted and made a miraculous save to maintain the third position!
While the leaders tangled, Jeff Kot raced wheel to wheel in an intense battle with official ATQMRA sophomores Brianna Page (#76, Stavola) and Tyler Ferris (#33, Hamer Heating & Cooling) for fourth.
Even as Sload earned the lead, he could not really pull away from Taraska. As the top-2 battled, Bailey’s #1B came to life, making up a near two second gap to the leaders with only half the feature remaining.
Bailey gave it everything he had, clearing Taraska for second with two to go. Bailey would reach the back bumper of Sload entering turn three of the last lap! But the bump and run wasn’t enough, as Buddy Sload prevailed returning to a familiar victory lane at Wall Stadium Speedway!
Teammates Joey Bailey and Kyle Taraska would round out the podium respectively. After being the victim of a bad pill draw, heat race winner Kot charged through the field and earned a respectable fourth. Tyler Ferris rounded out the top five in a strong 2022 debut.
2021 RYNO Rookie of the Year Brianna Page finished in sixth, while this weekend’s RYNO Rookie of the Race Zack Burd finished in seventh. The Burd Racing team made great improvements in speed and consistency over two weeks of testing to prepare for opening night.
Mark Yoder, Paul Dodorico and Rich Barlow would respectively round out the top-10 finishers. This was Barlow’s first career ATQMRA top-10 finish in his fourth official start.
Chris Pelcher and Mike Turton, who made his first career ATQMRA start, rounded out the twelve car field.
Steve Craig experienced engine issues in practice disallowing him to take the green flag. Craig will receive last place points for the race as he made an honest attempt to start the event.
The Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA fueled by VP Racing Fuels will return to action on Sunday, May 15th, 2022 as the series makes its anticipated return to Evergreen Raceway in Drums, PA!
RACE RESULTS:
25 LAP FEATURE:
1. #36 Buddy Sload
2. #1B Joey Bailey
3. #22 Kyle Taraska
4. #95 Jeff Kot
5. #33 Tyler Ferris
6. #76 Brianna Page
7. #5z Zack Burd
8. #75 Mark Yoder
9. #55 Steve Craig
10. #09 Rich Barlow
11. #44P Chris Pelcher
12. #723 Mike Turton
13. #55C Steve Craig -DNS
FEATURE FAST FACTS:
Time of Race: 5:34.120
Leader(s): 2
Lap Leader(s): #36 Sload (17), #22 Taraska (8)
Cautions: 0
RYNO Rookie of the Race: #5z Burd (7th)
Hoosier Hot Lap: #1B Bailey (12.986)
VP Hard Charger: #36 Sload (+5)
Next race: Evergreen Raceway (May 15th)
HEAT RACE 1 (8 LAPS):
1. #1B Joey Bailey
2. #33 Tyler Ferris
3. #75 Mark Yoder
4. #55 Paul Dodorico
5. #5z Zack Burd
6. #723 Mike Turton
7. #55C Steve Craig DNS
HEAT RACE 2 (8 LAPS):
1. #95 Jeff Kot
2. #36 Buddy Sload
3. #76 Brianna Page
4. #22 Kyle Taraska
5. #44P Chris Pelcher
6. #09 Rich Barlow