ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Tyler Thompson, Ryan Flores and Anthony Sesely were the winners of the Ironton Auto Body Triple Twenties of the Indoor Auto Racing Series Fueled By VP Race Fuels TQ Midget features Friday night inside the PPL Center.
Though three winners fashioned their wins in different ways, each won after vanquishing tough competitors.
Friday’s events were the first of two nights of Ironton Global Allentown Indoor Race action. TQ Midgets return Saturday night to run a 40-lap A-Main event along with the Champ Karts and Slingshots in a second night of action.
“I knew I had to take the bottom lane on the final restart,” Thompson declared after beating Scott Kreutter, 2022 Indoor Auto Racing Series Champion. “It was a tough race, my right hand was cramping up for the last couple of laps but I held him off.”
Finishing third through fifth were Shawn Nye, Ryan Bartlett and Ryan Susice.
Flores was dominant in the second Triple Twenty, holding off Andy Jankowiak and Mike Christopher, Jr. “The car was good all day and we got it a little better for the feature. That made the difference,” Flores noted, referring to the way he was able to maintain a car length lead over Jankowiak over the final two laps.
Third through fifth were Jeremy Haudricourt, Mike Christopher, Jr. and Tyler Wagner.
Sesely overpowered Timmy Catalano two laps into the feature, then held off a determined Briggs Danner to prevail. Sesely was driving the same car he won last season’s Syracuse Indoor Race and was able to extend a sizeable lead until a late race caution put Danner on Sesely’s back bumper. “I had a choice of two cars Ricky Kluth brought here and the 44 car I raced was by far the better of the two,” Sesely explained. “But in the final couple of laps I knew Briggs (Danner) was right there.”
Third through fifth were Joey Bailey, Tommy Catalano, and Steve Kemery.
Scott Kreutter set the E. Schneider & Sons Quick Time with a lap of 7.480. TQ Midget Heat races were won by Andrew Nye, Jeremy Haudricort, and Tommy Catalano.
Champ Karts and Slingshots each ran a 20-lap feature Friday night, the first of two each class will run this weekend.
New Englander Mike Perry, who has been an entrant in Indoor Auto Racing Series Kart racing events for over a decade, won the Champ Kart feature. To do it, Perry, who started up front, fought off challengers Dom Roselli, Jr., Missy Bootes, and Chase Keister in the middle stages of the race but it was Tyler Brown who raced by all of them to chase Perry to the finish.
“I haven’t been racing all that much the last few years, but always like to run these Indoor events,” said Perry. “Ten years I have been trying to win one of these things and tonight we got one.”
The Slingshot affair was taken by Brian Smith, like Perry a first time Indoor Auto Racing Series winner. Smith was destined for a third-place finish when leaders Brett Bieber and Louden Reimert collided with two laps to go.
Smith took over and ran out the final laps to win. Bieber, the leader, spun and Reimert was penalized by track officials, though he elected to pull off the track rather than restart at the back of the pack.
“I could see that something was going to happen between the two leaders and I just hoped could miss it if they did get together,” Smith said. “It was close but I got through.”