Friday Night Three Quarter Midget, 600 Micro Sprint Features Won by Ted Christopher and Erick Rudolph; Field Takes Shape For Tonight’s (Saturday) 10th Annual Gamblers Classic
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Ted Christopher of Plainville, Ct., and Erick Rudolph of Ransomville, N.Y., were the winners of the Friday Atlantic City Indoor Race feature events before an enthusiastic crowd.
Christopher won for the third time in the Boardwalk Hall; he is tied with Joe Payne and Lou Cicconi as two- time Gamblers Classic winners and will have the opportunity Saturday to sweep the 2012 Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall Three Quarter Midget events and become the only three-time Gamblers Classic winner.
Rudolph ran away with the 600cc Micro Sprint feature when he took the race lead at the one-third distance and survived several caution flag situations that negated big leads. The win was the first indoors for Rudolph, an accomplished talent on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Racing Series.
In the TQ 30-lap main event, Christopher out dueled Payne in a classic nose-to-tail fight to the finish. Payne had led the early laps of the race before ‘TC’ out muscled Payne on one of the numerous early race, side-by-side restarts.
Finishing a close third was Matt Janisch, Bethlehem, Pa., who started seventh in the race and avoided several accidents in front of him to take the spot ahead of Ryan Smith, Kunkletown, Pa., and ninth starting Rudolph, winner of the earlier 600cc Micro Sprint race thirty minutes earlier.
Lou Cicconi Jr. perennial favorite, was involved in an early race mishap, went to the rear of the field as a penalty and, with no serious damage present, peddled his way home for a solid sixth place effort. Mike Lichty, who had started from thirteenth spot, Glen Reen, Tim Ice, who started nineteenth, and Bobby Holmes rounded out the top ten TQ feature finishers.
In the 600 Micro 20-lapper, once Rudolph was in the clear, the battle royale was for second place with Lou Cicconi taking the spot off the final turn of the last lap of the 20-car, 20-lap tussle. Mike Dicely and Kyle Hieber, who was making his first 600 Micro start indoors, completed the top five.
Rob Vivona, rookie Brett Michalski, Steve Walters, Randy Oswald and Justin Moench rounded out the Micro Sprint ten finishers.
Jason Ormsby rode out a spectacular crash on the first lap of the 600 Micro feature in which he overrode another competitor’s car’s wheel and flipped high in the air. He was not hurt in the wreck that put his car out of commission.
Champ Karts competed in three heat races, setting the front portion of the starting lineup for tomorrow’s feature. Bobby Timmons, Ryan Kendall and Nick Hadden were the winners.
Slingshot heat race winners were Eddie Strada and Ryan Raidline; the remainder of Slingshot qualifying takes place tomorrow prior to their feature event.
TQ Midget time trials saw Joe Payne, Ted Christopher, Jon Gambuti, Todd Hoddick and Erick Rudolph setting the top five fastest times. A pair of non-qualifier heat races for TQs were won by Mike Osite and Paul Lotier, Jr.
Ryan Smith, Ted Christopher, Bobby Holmes and Lou Cicconi, Jr. were the winners of the four Friday TQ-Midget qualifying races.
The busy day of racing served to assemble most of the starting lineups for the Champ Kart and Slingshot feature races Saturday. The two support classes raced in a series of qualifying races Friday to winnow the Champ Kart entries and the Slingshot hopefuls down to who won the Champ Kart heat races and won the Slingshot trial events.
TQ MIDGET FEATURE (30 Laps): 1. Ted Christopher; 2. Joe Payne Jr., 3. Matt Janisch; 4. Ryan Smith; 5. Erick Rudolph; 6. Lou Cicconi Jr., 7. Mike Lichty; 8. Glen Reen; 9. Tim Ice; 10. Bobby Holmes; 11. Shaun Carrig; 12. Tim Buckwalter; 13. Mike Fedorcak; 14. Billy Pauch Jr.; 15. Jon Gambuti; 16. Frank Fischer; 17. Steve Craig; 18. Timex Morgan; 19. Mike Tidaback; 20. Todd Hoddick; 21. Ryan Tidman; 22. Joe Lord Jr.
600 MICRO FEATURE (20 Laps): 1. Erick Rudolph; 2. Lou Cicconi Jr., 3. Matt Janisch; 4. Mike Dicely; 5. Kyle Hieber; 6. Rob Vivona; 7. Brett Michalski; 8. Steve Walters; 9. Randy Oswald; 10. Justin Moench; 11. Jack Conover Jr., 12. Steven Bracall; 13. Steve West; 14. Johnny Gearhart; 15. Sierra Weaver; 16. Philip Durham; 17. Butch Valley Jr., 18. Timmy Neal; 19. Jason Ormsby; 20. Jimmy Weiss.
Sources: AARN