Janisch Champ, Yoder Rookie of the Year Crowned at Jubilant Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA Banquet
Sunday, February 5, 2017: The ATQMRA held its annual Championship Banquet at the popular Valley Forge Casino in King of Prussia, Pa with the strongest turnout for the annual affair in recent memory. Seven Past ATQMRA Champions were on hand to celebrate the crowning of Matt Janisch as the ATQMRA’s 2016 Champion and to present Mark Yoder as the 2016 Rookie of the year. Each driver in the top ten in points received a Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Point Fund check and the top 3 in season long passing points received their awards from MNO’s Bob Emmons. ATMQRA President Buddy Sload outlined plans for an exciting 2017 season and handed out the professionally prepared annual program books that commemorated the successful 2016 season.
The annual banquet celebrated the second Championship in the last three years for Matt Janisch. Matt said he was humbled by having his name on the ATQMRA’s list of Champions for a second time and to have his name included with the greats that have won championships with the organization over the years. Janisch Joins the late Tony Romit, Speedy Dave Thomson, and Joey Payne as two-time Champions with the organization.
Janisch had a season for the ages earning six feature wins in the ten points paying events hosted by the ATQRMA including 3 wins at Wall Stadium two at Mahoning Valley and parked his Yuhas Chassis 48 in Victory lane at Bethel. When the Champion wins 60% of the races run and has a worst finish of third place on the season earning the season ending Championship trophy is a fore drawn conclusion. Janisch set the bar high heading into the 2017 season.
Janisch thanked his father for providing the horsepower to earn the championship and went on to thank Jimmy Yuhas for building a great car and Lowbed Johnson for his continued support.
For his efforts in addition to the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Point fund, Janisch pocketed the lion’s share of the MNO Hard Charger award money that was earned by garnering passing points throughout the season. Janisch earned $500 for his efforts with Ryan Tidman taking $300 and Geoffrey Sutton third taking home an additional $200 from MNO’s Bob Emmons. Emmons announced at the banquet that MNO will be coming back on board with increased support for the 2017 season on a weekly basis.
Flying Ryan Tidman earned second in the standings by virtue of his consistent finishes all season long in the Boyd Racing 1B. The team seemed to have the Laffler 1b figured out for the Turkey Derby leading many laps only to finish second to Matt Roselli also in a Laffler Chassis.
The Metz Racing Driver Development Program’s house car driver Geoffrey Sutton placed third in the standings and was the only driver aside from Janisch to earn a Victory in 2016. Sutton opened and closed the season with points paying wins at Wall Stadium picking up one in between on the flat inner oval as well as winning the organization’s return to the Waterford Speedbowl.
Jeff Kot piloted his Behrent’s Performance Lindblad Badger to fourth in the final tally earning a handful of heat race wins during the season and always running at the front of the pack.
2016 Rookie of the Year Mark Yoder had a stellar rookie season with the ATQRMA placing fifth in the season-long points battle in his Hyper Hugger TQ Midget. Yoder who is a long time Dirt track racer in the Micro Sprint world always had an eye toward the pavement racing that dates back to the 70s when his father raced with the TQ midgets at the indoor races at Atlantic City. Yoder competed regularly with his micro Sprint against the TQs indoors and at Borger’s Speedway during its last few seasons of pavement racing when he decided to try pavement racing full time for the 2017 season.
Joey Bailey had a snakebit season having a fast car all year long but bad luck reared its ugly head on many nights when he looked poised to earn a victory. The highlight of Bailey’s season came at the organization’s first ever trip to Stafford Springs Speedway where he became the first TQ midget feature winner at the venerable Speedway earning the win in that nonpoints open competition ATQMRA event.
ATQMRA President Buddy Sload drove the Colin Martin 16 Spitfire to a seventh-place points finish following his Championship year in 2015. Sload opened the season with several weeks of drive train issues that quickly took him out of Championship contention. Sload seemed to turn the corner as the season progressed and is looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the Legendary Colin Martin Spitfire number 36 car that was impeccably prepared by BJ Macdonald.
Matt Roselli ended the season in victory lane at the ATQMRA’s annual Turkey Derby at Wall Stadium in his family owned and prepared Laffler Chassis car. Roselli placed eight in the standings.
2015 ATQMRA Rookie of the Year Mike Glaser followed up his successful Rookie season in 2016 to earn a ninth-place points finish by running consistent all season.
Joey Payne III put together his own program to make 2016 his first season of full-time competition with the ATQMRA in his own number 67 Drinan TQ Midget. A streak of early season bad luck that led to consecutive DNF’s took Payne out of contention for the coveted Rookie of the year title but rebounded to find speed as the season progressed. Arguably his best outing was at the club’s fastest track at the Waterford Speedbowl where he was poised to win his heat race when a broken fitting ended his bid for the checker early. Payne will only get better for the 2017 campaign.
A very special thank you goes out to ATQMRA Racer Jeff Kot for his continuing hard work keeping the ATQMRA looking professional with his expert work on the organization’s website. Kudos to Jeff for knocking it out of the park with another stellar ATQRMA Annual Program book that every member is proud to hold in their hand.
The location of the annual banquet and the decision to pay Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic Point fund money back through the top ten in the points standings led to the largest crowd at an ATQMRA banquet in recent years. The level of comradery at the affair was high with everyone enjoying a good time at the Casino following the banquet.
ATQMRA President Buddy Sload announced during his State of the ATQMRA Speech that the organization would be returning to the Valley Forge Casino for the 2017 banquet with plans to have the event follow shortly after the final points race. An aggressive schedule of 17 races is slated for the 2017 season including the organization’s return to the venerable Riverhead Speedway on Long Island as well as a return to Chemung Speedrome. The organization has five races at the club’s “Home Track” Wall Stadium, opens the season at Mahoning Valley and returns to Bethel Speedway. The ATQMRA will bring Midget Racing back to the grounds of Pocono International Speedway on a temporary course the weekend of August 20th with a two-day event in conjunction with the Indy race
Sources: Blu Metz/ATQMRA PR