NAPA Night Presented by Brice’s Auto Supply Kicks Off ATQMRA’s 2nd Half of Season
WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ- Brice’s NAPA Auto Supply, the official auto shop of the Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA, fueled by VP Racing Fuels, will be sponsoring this Saturday’s race at Wall Stadium Speedway.
All teams that enter the race will be given various products, sponsored by Brice’s Auto Supply, helping teams maintain their 750cc TQ Midgets as the series begins the second half of the racing season.
Another strong car count is expected led by championship points leader Kyle Taraska (#22 Personal Comfort). Taraska carried a lot of momentum into the summer break by winning the prestigious JJ Lane Memorial on June 25th. Taraska looks to hold off Buddy Sload (#36, Spitfire Chassis), the 2015 ATQMRA Champion, who is a favorite to win every week.
Through five points-paying events and six feature races (twin-20s for cumulative points on 6/4/22), Sload has earned three feature victories compared to Taraska’s two. The other feature win this season was earned by defending ATQMRA Champion Joey Bailey (#1B Boyd Chassis) in the series’ return to Evergreen Raceway this past May.
Zack Burd (#5z Burlington Chevrolet) will enter Wall Stadium with the RYNO Rookie of the Year points lead; a position he has held throughout the first half of the season. Burd continues to excel and work on his craft behind a TQ Midget, even traveling to Evergreen Raceway during the summer break to compete with the wingless East Coast TQ Midgets.
Burd will look to hold off a crop of RYNO Rookie contenders. These contenders include Rich Barlow, Chris Pelcher, and Mike Turton.
Barlow, the up-and-coming racer out of Beachwood, NJ, has been competing for top-10s on a consistent basis. Pelcher, who makes the long-trek from Pittsburgh, PA each weekend, is also knocking on the door to earn top-10 finishes alongside East Windsor, NJ’s Mike Turton.
Speaking of knocking on the door, Brianna Page (#76 Stavola, A&A Truck Parts) is inching ever closer to his first career feature ATQMRA victory. Page continues to run top-5 pace as the 2021 RYNO Rookie of the Year, looks to add to the prestigious history of the ATQMRA in 2022.
Jeff Kot (#95 Behrents Performance Warehouse) has already earned the “tough luck” award of the year. Two on-track incidents caused by none of his doing have greatly impacted his championship campaign in a negative way. Nonetheless, Kot’s #95 team has consistently shown a lot of speed and will be a contender this weekend.
Brick, NJ’s favorite father-son duo Cole and “The Rocket” Ronnie Mullen are also expected to be in attendance. Ronnie enters Wall Stadium this weekend after making the long trek to Lancaster, PA, and earned a top-10 finish with The Mighty TQ Midgets this past Saturday. Both Ronnie and Cole will continue to look to carry their momentum at NAPA Night this weekend.
Tyler Ferris (#33 Hamer Heating and Cooling) will be looking to run double duty on Saturday for Brien Hamer, in both his TQ Midget and Sportsman Modified. Ferris is another exciting young talent searching for his first career feature win in both divisions.
Michael Murray’s MJ12 Motorsports team will be back in action with a new invader. Zach Bealer, a veteran race driver that has driven several different forms of race cars during his driving career. Bealer has seen action steering 305 PASS MASS Sprint Cars, 600 Wingless and Winged Micro Sprints, Speedway Entertainment Speedstrs, and ATQMRA TQ Midgets on the Indoor Racing Series. In 2021 Bealer scored a PASS MASS sanctioned winged 305 Feature event win at the famed Bloomsburg Fairgrounds Speedway. (Courtesy of Tom Wenner Media Group).
Alan Mollot will be fielding two cars in the same race for the second time this season. Matt Janisch will pilot the #51J Yuhas Chassis while The Jerzy Jet Joey Payne will be back in action in Mollot’s #51 Lindblad Badger. Both teams are expected to be extremely competitive at Wall Stadium as always.
Veterans Steve Craig (#55 Craig Bulk Carriers) and Mark Yoder (#75 Ames Construction) will look to contend for their first victories of the season as well. Yoder currently sits 4th in the championship standings.
The star-studded lists of entrants for NAPA Night presented by Brice’s Auto Supply tentatively include:
1. #09 Rich Barlow, Beachwood, NJ
2. #5z Zack Burd, Maple Shade, NJ
3. #12 Zack Bealer, Lehighton, PA
4. #22 Kyle Taraska, Woodbridge, NJ
5. #33 Tyler Ferris, Hackettstown, NJ
6. #36 Buddy Sload, Glenmore, PA
7. #39 Ronnie Mullen, Brick, NJ
8. #44P Chris Pelcher, Pittsburgh, PA
9. #51 Joey Payne, Brick, NJ
10. #51J Matt Janisch, Nazareth, PA
11. #73 Cole Mullen, Brick, NJ
12. #75 Mark Yoder, Ephrata, PA
13. #76 Brianna Page, Brick, NJ
14. #95, Jeff Kot, Doylestown, PA
15. #723 Mike Turton, East Windsor, NJ
*Entry list subject to change
The Hoosier Tire Mid-Atlantic ATQMRA fueled by VP Racing Fuels returns to action this Saturday, July 30th at Wall Stadium Speedway, the official “Home Track” of the ATQMRA.
Sources: Kyle Taraska/ATQMRA PR
(#22 Kyle Taraska and #36 Buddy Sload battle for position- Sean Case Photo)
(#5z Zack Burd, RYNO Rookie of the Year Points Leader- Sean Case Photo)
(#76 Brianna Page leads a strong field of cars- Sean Case Photo)
(#33 Ferris vs #39 Mullen- Sean Case Photo)
(Zack Bealer to make his ATQMRA debut this Saturday for MJ12 Motorsports- Sean Case Photo)
(#51J Matt Janisch returned to racing action on June 25th at Wall Stadium- Tommy Lane Photo)
(The Class of the 3rd Annual JJ Lane Memorial on 6/25/22 sporting NAPA Auto Parts Hats courtesy of Brice’s Auto Supply- Sean Case Photo)