ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Anthony Sesely enters the Indoor Auto Racing Series Fueled by VP season opener inside Allentown’s PPL Center as the man to beat.
A winner of two of three features and the series championship last season, Sesely is returning to action for the 2024 opener presented by Ironton Global Cloud Phone on January 5-6 at the PPL Center, with the same unbeaten No. 44 owned by Jeff Ulrich and Rick Kluth.
Sesely debuted the newly designed TQ Midget at the 2022 series finale in Syracuse, N.Y. with a come-from-behind victory. The Matawan, N.J. driver then won with that same car again at the 2023 season opener in Allentown.
Attempting to go even faster, the team debuted another TQ Midget for the annual Atlantic City Indoor Series race, but it didn’t have that same lucky four-leaf clover and he finished third in a Friday night COVID-19 rescheduled Gambler’s Classic.
Returning to their proven machine on Saturday in Atlantic City, Sesely won again – a remarkable third straight in that race car to clinch the championship. The win also made him a four-time Atlantic City Gambler’s Classic winner during the NAPA Auto Parts weekend.
With a double feature format set for Allentown, Sesely will seek a fourth straight win on Friday night and a drive for five on Saturday. Thanks to a special Ironton Auto Body challenge in place, should Sesely win on Friday and agree to start 10th on Saturday and win again he would earn $10,000 for the weekend sweep.
The sweep would be profitable, but it won’t come easy for Sesely with over 40 TQ Midgets entered with top drivers from eight states focused on putting an end to his win streak.
Ryan Flores is expected to among the top candidates to not only stop Sesely but pull off the weekend sweep. Since the series debut in Allentown in 2016, Flores is the only driver to win both nights when he won his first two of five Allentown wins on back-to-back nights.
In contention to win all three features last year, Flores finished a season best second to Sesely at last year’s PPL Center opener. Flores will be back with his No. 15 seeking to prove he’s once again the guy to beat in Allentown.
Andy Jankowiak, last year’s Friday night Gambler’s Classic winner in Atlantic City is another pre-race favorite. The Tonawanda, N.Y. driver, who finished second in the series points last year, finished a disappointing sixth in Allentown last year, but he is always fast in his home-built No. 57.
The eighth running of the Allentown event will feature three divisions of racing — TQ Midgets, Slingshots and Champ Karts with qualifying races and main events both nights.