Chris DeRitis Wins the Checkered Flag Fan Club Race at Sundance

The ATQMRA brought 20 cars to be the largest division at Sundance with Chris DeRitis taking over where he left off in 08 by winning the ATQMRA opener at Sundance Vacation Speedway in the Team Risqué Dart 66 that won the car owner’s championship in 08.  Heat races were won by Paul Lotier Jr. and Frank Fischer.  Mark Janisch took the feature win for 600 Micro sprints.  

 Paul Lotier Jr. and Austin Fehr waged an epic battle in the first heat race.  It was a battle between two of last years rookie contenders returning for their sophomore campaign.  Lotier dogged Fehr through the first three laps before taking the lead and holding Fehr off to take the win.  Matt Janisch was third with Tim Buckwalter, Tim Behmer and Robin Johnston rounding out the top six.

 The second heat was taken by Frank Fischer in the Spitfire 26 Spitfire House Car.  Matt Roselli got out to the early lead but was run down by Fischer on lap 2.  Fischer never looked back en route to the heat race win.  DeRitis came from fourth to finish second with Roselli third, Jeff Kot fourth, Alison Cumens and Mike Tidaback completed the top six qualifiers. 

 The feature saw pole sitter Austin Fehr jump out to the early lead.  Fehr lead the first five laps before falling to heavy pressure from heat race winner Paul Lotier Jr. on lap six.   Meanwhile DeRitis was lying in wait in third position methodically stalking the leaders.  Lotier who ran the fastest lap of the feature looked poised to follow up his 08 Turkey Derby Victory with a season opening victory in 09.  Working through lap traffic gave DeRitis the opportunity he needed to move past Lotier on lap 19 and go on to win by a margin of 2.214 seconds.

 Lotier finished second with Tim Buckwalter taking his Buckwalter Chassis car from 11^th to finish third.  Tim Behmer followed up his pole day fast lap with a solid fourth place finish.  Zack Martini was the hard charger of the race improving from his 18^th starting position to come across the line fifth. 

 Mark Janisch started 14^th in the Ted Jones 600 and won the Micro sprint class on the night for his career first victory and the first Victory for Ted Jones as an owner with the ATQMRA.

 ATQMRA News and Notes:  20 cars were signed into the pits at Sundance Vacation Speedway with 19 competing.  The Joe Csernak F8 was on hand but did not have a driver.  The Mike Roselli Prepared 66 Dart Chassis of Chris Deritis ran the fastest lap of the day in practice with a 13.136 second lap at 91.351MPH.  Billy Murphy ran his first race with the ATQMRA in the Dave Williams 00 finishing a disappointing 17^th after being strong early.  The Buckwalter 25 was debuted with impressive results finishing on the podium in third. 

 1 66Chris Deritis2 1B Paul Lotier Jr3 25Tim Buckwalter4 96 Tim Behmer5 46 Zack Martini6 48Matt Janisch7 73 Austin Fehr8 43Mike Tidaback9 79Ian Cummens10 13 Robin Johnston11 95 Jeff Kot12 04Rudy Botticher13 94 Bruce Leote14 14Matt Janisch15 69David Williams16 98 Matthew Roselli17 00 Billy Murphy18 26 Frank Fischer19 39 Alison Cummens 20 F8 DNS

 11B Paul Lotier Jr273 Austin Fehr348Matt Janisch425Tim Buckwalter596 Tim Behmer613 Robin Johnston779Ian Cummens804Rudy Botticher900 Billy Murphy1094 Bruce Leote

 126 Frank Fischer266Chris Deritis398 Matthew Roselli495 Jeff Kot539 Alison Cummens643Mike Tidaback714Mark Janisch869David Williams946 Zack Martini