Final ATQMRA Battle October 24th at Mahoning
(October 11, 2015) — The ATQMRA is heading to Mahoning Valley on Saturday, October 24th for the final round of the Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic Points Series. It is fitting that the season end where it started on April 25th when defending champion Matt Janisch earned the victory. After the feature at Mahoning, a new champion will be crowned and one of four names will be atop the standings. Wednesday October 21, 2015 at 7 pm the ATQMRA is having its annual Fall General Membership meeting for the purpose of the election of officers and to discuss rules proposals for the coming season. Everyone is reminded to start thinking about their yearbook ads for the annual banquet program book. The season finale will be the Annual Turkey Derby at Wall Stadium on the inner oval.
In an effort to help continue the momentum the ATQMRA has created in 2015 to carry over into the 2016 season the ATQMRA is waiving the membership fee for any team who wishes to compete in one of the remaining two races. Any memberships that are purchased between the race at Mahoning Valley and the Turkey Derby at Wall will be good for the 2016 season.
Ryan Tidman and Buddy Sload sit atop the standings separated by four points, which is one position on the track. As a practical matter, the championship battle will be between these two but Geoffrey Sutton and Matt Roselli have a mathematical shot but not much of one from a practical stance.
The season long battle between Sload and Tidman has stayed close the entire season. Both Sload and Tidman have three feature race wins on the season. Tidman has wins at Oswego, Bethel Motor Speedway and at Wall on the inner oval. Sload’s wins came at Borgers, and two wins at Wall on the inner oval. Sload got on a hot streak and rolled off a hat trick of wins doing them in consecutive races. He used the momentum of those victories to put himself atop the standings.
Tidman’s win at Wall in the penultimate race at Wall on September 19th at the tracks fan appreciation night leapfrogged Tidman to the top of the standings.
Heading into the finale at Mahoning the stage is set for an epic showdown. Tidman ran his first ATQMRA race in the Bob Watkins Rotax 91 machine in 2002 after a stellar karting career that included wins at Mahoning. Tidman earned his first ATQMRA Victory at Mahoning Valley Speedway in Lehighton in his family owned Badger in 2004 and has been a consistent winner at the circular track in ATQMRA Competition across the years.
Sload earned his first feature event victory at Mahoning Valley and has more recent success on the Mahoning quarter mile when he broke the Jansich stranglehold on Victory lane at Mahoning Valley in 2014.
Both drivers know the way to victory lane at Mahoning and will surely be in contention for the victory. Tidman is in the cat bird’s seat with his four-point margin, but the only way to assure a championship for either driver is a feature race win.
ATQMRA News and Notes: ATQMRA racers Geoffrey Sutton, Mike Glaser and Blu Metz took a trip North and West this Saturday to race with the NYPA TQ midgets at Chapel Hill Speedway in a limited open race on the 1/6 mile tight oval. Sutton faired best earning a fourth place finish after racing as high as second late in the race before spinning in lap traffic. Glaser rolled across the line a competitive sixth and Metz was a DNF. 2015 NYPA Champion Kyle Hutchinson earned the Victory in the Limited Open as well as getting the win in the NYPA make up feature. Second in the NYPA race was Vince Christiano Jr. followed by Jim Fleishman. The 88 car raced by Hutchinson is owned by legendary racer John Casey and maintained by Bill Davies and Can Am Champion Wayne Turnbull who plan to put a wing atop the 88 machine and invade Mahoning Valley on the 24th. Another ATQMRA racer who will be in contention at Mahoning on the 24th who spent Saturday racing in New York was Matt Janisch who charged to a fifth-place finish after spinning from second with a flat tire in the closing laps of the race.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015, the at 7 pm the ATQMRA is having its annual Fall General Membership meeting for the purpose of the election of officers and to discuss rules proposals for the coming season. Anyone with suggestions or proposals to help better the ATQMRA is encouraged to email their proposals to ATQMRA President Buddy Sload atbuddysload@gmail.com so they can be added to the meeting agenda.
The Meeting will be held at the Best Western Lehigh Valley at 300 Gateway Dr. Bethlehem, Pa 18017 (610) 866-5800. This is the same location as last year’s banquet and previous meetings.
2015 Points Standings
Updated September 21, 2015 With Drops
- Ryan Tidman 816
- Buddy Sload 812
- Geoff Sutton 728
- Matt Roselli 720
- Joey Bailey 548
- Mike Glaser 524 R
- Patrick Force 496 R
- Mark Yoder 344 R
- Don Zrinski 336
- Pat VanVarick 300 R
- Jeff Kot 300
- Jon Gambuti 268
- Matt Janisch 244
- Chad Parks 236
- Rob Vivona 236
- Mark Rogers 232
- Ronnie Mullen 208 R
- Avery Stoehr 192 R
- Steve Whitt 168
- Larry Hoagland 160
- Brianna Page 120 R
- Nick Ladyga 120 R
- Brett Conklin 112
- Shawn McCaughey 112 R
- Dylan Martin 92 R
- Bill Force Jr. 84
- Alison Cumens 80
- BJ Mcdonald 76
- Alex Greenzweig 72 R
- Chad Jones 68
- Kerry Irwin 60 R
- Jordan Tittle 60 R
- Kurt Bettler 60R
- Greg Richardson 52 R
- Bill Case 48 R
- Darren Schuler 32
- Andrew Krause 0 R
- Matt Guadagno 0 R
- Mark Janisch 0
- Anthony Sesely0
Owner Points
- 1B 816
- 16 732
- 98 720
- 46 652
- 02 548
- F8 524
- 18 496
- 51 440
- 46V 428
- 17 336
- 75Z 336
- 95 300
- 75Y 288
- 17V 240
- 48 240
- 06 236
- 53 236
- 27R 232
- 39 208
- 38 184
- 11 168
- 33 120
- 0 112
- 54 96
- 26 84
- 28 68
- 43 60
- ZT 60
- 4 52
- 27k 36
- 73 28
- 77 20
- 75J 4
- 48x 4
- 16
Sources: Blu Metz/ATQMRA PR