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Twelfth Gambler’s Classic Completes Sesely Weekend Sweep; Holds Off Lichty, Cicconi At End After Leading From Start To Finish
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (Jan. 25) – Anthony Sesely’s domination of Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City continued Saturday night when Sesely powered his No.16 600 Micro Sprint to a convincing victory in the climatic Gamblers Classic 40-lap main event. It was Sesely’s second straight win in the prestigious race and his third straight inside Boardwalk Hall.
“This is unbelievable,” Sesely, of Matawan, N.J., said. “It is what racing is all about.”
Sesely led all 40 of the laps after drawing the pole position, a draw earned as one of the previous night’s top eight feature finishers, a race he also won.
Brett Michalski ran second initially before Matt Janisch moved up. A succession of cautions shuffled the running order. Mike Iles emerged as the runner-up through the halfway mark but back in the pack, Lou Cicconi, Jr., and Mike Lichty, two drivers who had been fast the previous night as well but had unsatisfactory results, were working their ways forward.
As the race progressed, Lichty got by Cicconi for second spot with five laps to go and held off a return challenge to preserve the position. The final sixteen laps of the race ran off non-stop and this allowed hard charging Shawn Nye to finish up fourth. Iles slipped to fifth.
Anthony Colandro of Islip Terrace, Long Island, N.Y. passed Douglas Stearly on the last lap after wild side by side battle saw Stearly spin off turn two. Jonathan Cash of Mechanicsville, Va., moved to second and then held off a trio of New Englanders in DJ Shaw, Mike Perry and Glen Meisenhelder.
In the 25-lap Snyder’s-Lance Slingshot feature, Simon Egan of Stroudsburg, Pa., moved into first place after Ben Whitaker, who led the first fourteen laps after starting from the pole position, suddenly slowed and pulled out of the race with mechanical problems. Egan had started back in 16th position.
Joe Kata, gridded 22nd at the start, moved by Tyler Johnston on the twenty second lap to claim a fast closing second to Egan. Johnston settled for third with Tom Arntz fourth and Matt Stangle completed the top five.
The $1,500 win for Egan was his second at Boardwalk Hall and the fourth for the 2001 Slingshot nicknamed ‘Old Faithful’ by its owner Randy Smith. Randy’s son Ryan also won twice in the No.55 car inside Boardwalk Hall.
The race was the finale of a two night NAPA Know How Atlantic City Indoor Race Weekend. Friday night’s 30-lap TQ Midget race was won by Anthony Sesely of Matawan, NJ.
Indoor racing continues on February 7-8, 2014 at Sun Bank Center in Trenton, N.J. with the running of the first annual PRC / Angela’s House Battle Of Trenton. The race concludes the Fatheadz Eyewear TQ Midget Series produced by Len Sammons Motorsports Productions.
TQ Midget Feature (40 Laps): 1. Anthony Sesely, 2. Mike Lichty, 3. Lou Cicconi Jr., 4. Andrew Nye, 5. Mike Iles, 6. Andy Jankowiak, 7. Jimmy Blewett, 8. Zane Zeiner, 9. Matt Janisch, 10. Pat Bealer, 11. Rob Neely, 12. Randy Cabral, 13. Glen Reen, 14. Rob Vivona, 15. Erick Rudolph, 16. Brett Michalski, 17. Shawn Nye, 18. Chad Jones, 19. Mack DeMan, 20. Jonathan Reid, 21. Rowan Pennink, 22. Matt Roselli, 23. Earl Paules, 24. Donny Lia, 25. Joey Payne, 26. Ted Christopher.
Champ Kart Feature (25 Laps): 1. Anthony Colandro, 2. Jonathan Cash, 3. DJ Shaw, 4. Mike Perry, 5. Glen Meisenhelder, 6. Joseph Pacovich, 7. Damon Schuster, 8. Brian Sullivan, 9. Ryan Swartz, 10. Richard Davidowitz, 11. James Hayden, 12. Todd Crenshaw, 13. Chris Daley, 14. Avery Stoehr, 15. Ron Midford, 16. Alex Colasanto, 17. Max Handley, 18. Douglas Stearly, 19. Dave Farrington Jr., 20. Daniel ‘DJ’ Doyle, 21. Todd Root, 22. Danny Bouc, 23. Justin Gumley, 24. Justin Bonsignore.
Slingshot Feature (25 Laps): 1. Simon Egan, 2. Joe Kata, 3. Tyler Johnston, 4. Tom Arntz, 5. Matt Stangle, 6. Tiffany Wambold, 7. Jerry Schott Jr., 8. Brett Bieber, 9. John Gilroy, 10. Danny Spellmon, 11. Ben Whitaker, 12. Jimmy Spellmon, 13. Frank Yankowski, 14. Jesse Hartman, 15. Nick Shaw, 16. Carl Bittenbender, 17. Kurt Bettler, 18. Kyle Lick, 19. Eddie Strada, 20. Matt Carman, 21. Lydia Rueckheim, 22. Gary Hieber, 23. Demetrious Drellos, 24. Matt Massone.
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