If Rudolph Wins at Atlantic City He Moves Closer to $10,000 Bonus
Erick Rudolph Heads to A.C. Boardwalk Hall with Chance to Keep Vahlco $10,000 Bonus Hopes Alive; A.C. Win would Set Up Big Payday in Trenton VP Fuels Series Finale
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (January 7, 2016) — If winning is everything, then the stakes for success just got raised by ten thousand dollars for Ransomville, N.Y. TQ (Three Quarter) Midget driver Erick Rudolph.
Rudolph, winner of the Indoor Auto Racing Championship Series Fueled By VP Racing Fuels opener January 2 in Allentown, Pa., became eligible to receive a $10,000 bonus prize posted by Vahlco Racing Wheels. All Rudolph has to do is win the Saturday night 14th Annual NAPA AUTO PARTS TQ Midget feature in Atlantic City – and the Saturday night, February 27th Battle Of Trenton main event.
“I’m the only one with a chance to win it,” said Rudolph, who won the 2015 Gambler’s Classic race in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall and the February, 2014 Battle Of Trenton event in Trenton’s Sun Bank Center.
“But these races are tough to win. It depends on how you qualify, and on which gear you choose to run. The car I run in Boardwalk Hall will be set up the same as it was for the Allentown race,” Rudolph revealed.
With over 90 TQ Midget entries expected in Atlantic City, winning the Valhco Perfect Performance Bonus won’t be easy.
“I would say any of the drivers who made the invert in Allentown would be the guys to beat in Atlantic City,” Rudolph reasoned.
They included Ryan Flores, Mike Lichty, Jimmy Blewett, Anthony Sesely, Ted Christopher, Lou Cicconi, Jr., and Andy Jankowiak. All but Flores are past Indoor race winners in the LSMP series events.
Cicconi was in contention for the win in Allentown before his car, owned by rival Ted Christopher, overheated.
Cicconi himself will be fielding a five-car team for the NAPA Know How TQ Midget Boardwalk Hall events. Drivers Alex Bright, Jeff Strunk and Russ Gamester, who ran the all new designed Cicconi-owned cars in Allentown will be joined by Midwestern Sprint Car driver John Ivy – and nationwide Sprint, Midget, and NASCAR K&N Series sensation Rico Abreu.
“The cars ran well overall,” Cicconi said. “Alex (Bright) qualified, Strunk was in a top three spot before he got spun and Russ was quicker as the day went along,” Cicconi said.
“These are all new cars, we learned a lot about them in Allentown and with the addition of Rico and John (Ivy), we’ll be contenders,” Cicconi predicted.
The Atlantic City race meet is the second of three events in the Indoor Auto Racing Championship Series Fueled By VP Racing Fuels run under the Len Sammons Motorsports Productions (LSMP). Racing in Trenton, N.J. on February 26 and 27 completes the Series.
The weekend schedule for Atlantic City calls for the TQ Midgets, Slingshot and Champ Karts to hit the track for time trials on Friday afternoon, setting the stage for Friday night’s racing action.
A newly designed points system will be used to reward the TQ Midgets for time trial performance and finishing position in Friday night’s qualifying races. The top 80 TQ Midgets from time trials will be split into four 20 car, 20 lap events. The winners of those events and the top five combined point earners from time trials and the races will lock themselves into Saturday night’s A-Main.
On Saturday night, the TQ Midgets will run six heat races and three b-mains to fill out the 24 car starting field for the 40 Gambler’s Classic A-Main.
The Champ Karts and Slingshots will run preliminary qualifying features on Friday night, final last chance races Saturday afternoon and feature races Saturday night. Both classes will run 25-lap feature races with 24 starters to take the green flag.
Tickets for the Atlantic City event are available from the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall Box office, all Ticketmaster offices and online at www.ticketmaster.com. To order by phone, call Ticketmaster at 1-800-736-1420 or 1-800-745-3000.
Tickets for the series finale in Trenton, NJ the weekend after the Daytona 500 are available online at www.comcastix.com or by phone at 1-800-298-4200. Tickets may also be purchased at the Sun National Bank Center Box Office on Monday through Friday from 10 am until 5:30 pm and on Saturday from 12 noon through 4 pm.
All ticket prices do not include facility charges and tickets increase $5 on the day of the event.
Contact 609-888-3618 for more information.
Sources: Steve Barrick/Ernie Saxton Communications, Inc.