SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Ryan Bartlett survived a late collision with challenger Andy Jankowiak and held off Anthony Sesely and Scott Kreutter earning the win in the 40-lap TQ Midget feature Saturday night inside the Syracuse Exhibition Center.
With his third-place finish Kreutter earned the Indoor Auto Racing Series TQ Midget championship.
“I came here this weekend thinking I would have been happy with a 10th-place finish,” Bartlett quipped. “I have been running these races for a long time and have probably not qualified for the feature as often as made it. The car was good, the track was challenging.”
Bartlett and Jankowiak tangled with three laps left, with Jankowiak flipping, only to land back on his wheels and continue racing on the restart.
Kreutter, whose Indy Kart Raceway sponsored the night of racing, secured his first Series title. Kreutter noted that the trophy, the Ted Christopher Memorial Cup, was particularly meaningful to him since the car he drove was the same one Christopher drove to victory in his final Series race prior to his untimely passing.
Tommy Catalano and Joey Bailey completed the top five in the TQ 40-lap feature.
Missy Bootes took advantage of a late race scramble that sent leader Dan Marsden into the outside wall and opened the door for her to pass Mike Perry for the lead half a lap into the resumption of the race to prevail. Bootes, a veteran Champ Kart racer, became the first female winner of an Indoor Auto Racing Series race.
Perry claimed second in the 20-lapper with Jon Keister third, Dan Kapusunski fourth and Logan Crisafulli fifth. Keister’s third place finish earned him the Indoor Auto Racing Series Champ Kart Series championship.
Scott Neary won the 20-lap Slingshot feature. Jared Silfee, Matt Mertz, Brett Bieber, and Bryan Preville completed the top five. Bieber, who had won both of the previous 2022 Series features, was crowned the 2022 Indoor Auto Racing Series Slingshot championship.
The finish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. Ryan Bartlett, 2. Anthony Sesely, 3. Scott Kreutter, 4. Tommy Catalano 5. Joey Bailey, 6. Andrew Nye, 7. Shawn Nye, 8. Joey Payne, 9. Tim Buckwalter, 10. Matt Roselli, 11. Jonathan Reid, 12.Matt Swanson, 13. Jeremy Haudricourt, 14. Briggs Danner, 15. Erick Rudolph, 16. Tyler Lindsay, 17. Trevor Catalano, 18. Andy Jankowiak, 19. Zack Bealer, 20. Ryan Tidman 21. Timmy Solomito, 22. Bobby Holmes, 23. Charlie Schultz, 24. Tyler Wagner.