Billy Pauch has scored well over 600 feature wins in his
career.And Friday night at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, Pauch
of Frenchtown, N.J., added one to his stellar list as he claimed
the TQ Midget/600 cc Micro Sprint feature, which served as a
preliminary for Saturday night’s Gambler’s Classic. It was
Pauch’s second career win indoors at Atlantic City. He has a
previous win in a 20-lap feature.
This time, though, Pauch beat one of the best on the indoor
circuit as Lou Cicconi Jr., who became the first driver to break
the eight-second bracket in Thursday’s qualifying, finished in
the second spot.
“Lou is always tough at these indoor races,” Pauch said.
“Boy, we sure did make a race out of it.”
Actually, Pauch was the talk of the night.
At the start of the first heat race, Pauch was involved in a
first turn skirmish, which ended with his car upside down. The
car was rolled on its wheels and Pauch proceeded to complete the
main event, earning a feature-qualifying spot in the process.
Pauch started in the third position behind front-row starters
Rudy Boetticher and Jeff Heotzler.
He ran in second until a lap three restart, which found
Heotzler regaining the runner-up spot. It was short-lived, as
Pauch got a great start on the lap five restart.
Boetticher got loose on the ninth round, which allowed Pauch to
grab the top spot.
Despite having the lead, it was far from over as Cicconi, who
started sixth in the 20-car field, moved into the runner-up spot
on lap 12 and pressured Pauch immediately.
A caution on lap 13 tightened the field and despite frequent
attempts to get the lead, Cicconi was unsuccessful.
Mike Lichty, in fact, got by Cicconi for the second position
on lap 18, but those spots were reversed on lap 23.
Cicconi made every threat to get the lead over the final two
laps, but Pauch didn’t waver in his victory.
Pauch can win the Behrent’s Bonus if he elects to start 12th
in Saturday night’s feature field and claims in the 40-lap
Gambler’s Classic.
The top 12 finishers will draw for their starting positions
during Saturday’s Ms. Motorsports 2009 page ant, which is taking
place at the AC Convention Center.
Cicconi, Heath Hehnly, Jon Holmquist, James Michael Friesen and
Mike Tidaback won heat races.
Nick Herriven, Andrew Berkholder, Norm Hynes and Tyler
Robertson won heat races for the Champ Karts.
Gary Hieber, Ricky Yetter and Billy Weaver won heat races for
the Briggs and Stratton Slingshots.
Action kicks up Saturday at 6:30 p.m. with Fanfest. The TQ/600
cc Micro Sprint Eliminator is scheduled at 7:30, followed by
four transfer races, Slingshot feature, Champ Kart feature and
the 40-lap Gambler’s Classic.
TQ Midget/600 cc Micro Sprint Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1.
Billy Pauch; 2. Lou Cicconi Jr.; 3. Mike Lichty; 4. Jeff
Heotzler; 5. Stewart Friesen; 6. Mike Tidaback; 7. Matt Janisch;
8. Joseph Lord Jr.; 9. Heath Hehnly; 10. Tim Proctor; 11. Ryan
Smith; 12. Chris Arnold; 13. James Michael Friesen; 14. Greg
Cable; 15. Amanda Quinones; 16. Rudy Boetticher; 17. Timex
Morgan; 18. Alex Bright; 19. John Payne; 20. Jon Holmquist.
Source: Len Sammons
Productions PR
Posted:
January 16, 2009
