ATQMRA Hitting Stafford on October 8 Fall Final Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic
October 3,2016: The American Three Quarter Midget Racing Association will be part of Stafford Speedway’s Fall Final on the track’s inner flat oval. The event was originally scheduled for Saturday the first of October but the rains in the area forced the speedway staff to postpone racing activities to the following weekend. The schedule of events will be the same as it was originally scheduled just happening a week late. The ATQMRA is proud to be part of such a premier Northeast racing event. A reminder to teams requiring tires for the rescheduled event need to pre-order them to ensure their availability.
The rain postponed the on-track activities but the excitement continues to build toward the organization’s first appearance at Stafford. The TQ Midget teams will be racing on Stafford’s flat inner oval that is similar in configuration to Wall Stadium’s inner fifth-mile oval. The configuration of the track will surely lend itself to exciting racing for the Lightweight open wheel cars that regularly see three four and five-wide racing on Wall’s flat track.
The wingless indoor style rules package similar to the Indoor rules used for the Sammons indoor series opens the door for many of the teams that have “Indoor Only” cars and engines to compete in this and the Season ending turkey Derby at Wall. The invaders will have their hands full with the racers of the ATQRMA who have honed their craft on the short tracks in recent years.
2015 ATQMRA Champion Buddy Sload won regularly in 2015 en route to his championship showing his short track prowess by winning on the ultra tight now shuttered Borgers Speedway in Saylorsburg Pa and was the first to visit victory lane in the club’s first race on Wall’s inner oval and returned to victory lane at Wall several times last season. Hungry for a win Sload will be aboard the Colin Martin Spitfire 16 that he raced to the 2015 Championship. Without a Victory this far in 2016 Sload will be aggressively working to put his name in the record books as the first TQ Midget winner at Stafford Speedway.
Flying Ryan Tidman is another ATQMRA stalwart driver with four Championships and a history of winning races. His short track prowess will be on display at Stafford. He is a proven winner on the stop and go tracks having earned wins at Borger’s Speedway and Wall as well as dominating the competition at Bethel Speedway. Tidman will be shooting for his first win of the season in his Boyd Racing 1B Laffler Chassis mount.
Heading into the event at Stafford the ATQMRA’s pair of feature winning driver’s Matt Janisch who won the 2016 Championship and Geoffrey Sutton have been the only drivers to visit victory lane this season. Janisch parked his Yuhas 48 in Victory lane on six occasions with three wins at Wall and a win at Bethel Speedway in short track competition in addition to his wins at Mahoning Valley Speedway in Pennsylvania.
The only other winner Geoffrey Sutton will be looking to carve his name into the record books with a win on Stafford’s flat track. Sutton won the club’s opener at Wall and bookended his season with a win in the final points race of the year at Wall in his Metz Racing Driver Development BGF Engine and Chassis 461. He also picked up a win in between at Wall and won the organization’s other 2016 race in New England at the Waterford Speedbowl.
With a tough field of young veteran racers with a race winning pedigree the ATQMRA is taking on all comers and will defend their territory ferociously.
Any teams that need tires for the race at Stafford need to Contact Buddy Sload and pre-order their tires. The ATQMRA normally has a stocked tire truck but the cancellation and rescheduling of the Fall Final created a scheduling conflict for the tire truck necessitating pre-ordering of tires. To order Tires please Contact Buddy Sload at 484-880-0907.
Next up for the ATQMRA will be the organization’s first trip to New England’s Stafford Motor Speedway for an open competition wingless race on that track’s inner oval. All cars will be run under a modified indoor style rules package on Saturday, October 8th. Gates open at 8:00 am with the first round of practice scheduled for 10:00 am. Racing will follow with heat races at 3:00 PM and Feature races for all divisions to begin at 4:30.
Heat Race lineups will be determined by a pill draw.
Feature lineup will be determined by a qualifier redraw.
30 lap Feature race
All competitors will be required to pay a $40.00 entry fee to the ATQMRA.
All cars must run an ATQMRA Spec right rear tire. Either an MG5/ USAC Focus tire in 13 inch or an LC5 for the ten-inch cars.
Race Procedures will be governed by the ATQMRA rule book.
Car specs will be per the ATQMRA rules with the exception of the engine rules which will be based on the indoor rules package.
TQ tread width will be a maximum of 55.5 inches for TQ Midgets competing and 59.5 inches for 600 Micro Sprints.
Wheel tethers, and spec mufflers are not required.
Bumpers and Rub Rails will accommodate ATQMRA and indoor rules to allow teams that don’t have bumpers and rub rails conforming to indoor specs to compete.
Car weights for TQ midgets will be 810 lbs for cars with 2003 and older engines.
TQs with 2004 and newer engines will be required to be a minimum of 835 lbs.
600 Micro Sprints minimum weight is 780 lbs.
The ATQMRA rule book can be downloaded at: www.atqmra.org. More information about the race day schedule can be found at: http://staffordmotorspeedway.com/event/44th-annual-napa-auto-parts-fall-final-oct-1-2-2016/
Sources: ATQMRA PR