AFFORDABLE RACING TECHNOLOGY

Myerstown PA, July 10th, 2010:  TQ midget Superstars Matt Janisch and Paul Lotier Jr. finish one, two in the SpeedSTR National event on the super fast concrete of Shangri La II Speedway. After a week off,  the Cars and Stars of the International SpeedSTR series gathered for the North East regions first Pavement/Concrete race as well as the season's first National Event at the Shangri LA II Speedway.

The Pavement/Concrete National Events line qualifying races up by time from two practice sessions. Doug Rose (Syracuse, NY) in the Lowes DR1 set fast time of the day and would win dash number one. Matt Janisch driving the Valvoline VR1 was second quickest in qualifying and would conquer dash number two.

A redraw of the top 4 in each dash would set the line up for the feature event with Paul Lotier Jr. (Lebanon, PA) a former winner in the STR series drawing the pole position. Canadian standout Gabriel Richer (Les Coteaux, Qc, Canada) would start outside front row. Lotier Jr. set the early pace of the 18 car field followed by Richer and Janisch with a hard fought battle taking place for fourth between the 28 of Yannick Poirier (Beloeil Qc, Canada), DJ Macri (Waretown, NJ) and Rose. As Rose moved past Macri, Janisch would take over second from Richer and put pressure on race leader Lotier.

The only caution of the evening would fly on lap 11 bunching up the field. During the caution period, Rose would duck into the pits with brake issues and moments later point leader Mario Page (Hillsborough, NJ) would go pit side. On the ensuing restart Janisch would pounce on Lotier to take over the race lead and never look back as Macri would go to the high side around Poirier for 4th. Lotier would hold off challenges from Richer and Macri with Poirier rounding out the top 5. Janisch took the checkered flag and pulled the Valvoline VR1 into victory lane. " Rich did a great job with these cars, they are a blast to drive and the $800.00 payday is pretty cool too."

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Photo by Mojo © 2010

STR Notes:

Current Northeast region point leader Mario Page who had never raced on the pavement adapted quickly setting 5th quick time of the 18 competitors and running a solid 3rd in his heat race. Page ran strong most of the feature until pulling pit side near the end of the event. Page noted after the race " I had been curious to see how good these cars are on pavement, I was extremely impressed and like this series even more."

The STR ladies continue to impress everyone. Kaitie McCardle coming off a season best 4th last week on the dirt backed it up with a 7th on the concrete. Brittany Wixon scored her second top 10 in a row.

The STR's were prepared for a busy weekend of racing, but rain Friday evening washed out the event at the famed Oswego Speedway that was scheduled to be the first of 3 nights of racing. The weekend schedule included 2 nights on the Pavement/Concrete at Oswego and Shangri La II and the final night (Sunday) on the dirt at Dunn Hill.

The STR's are on the slate for All Star Weekend at the historic Cayuga County Speedway in Weedsport NY next weekend July 16th and 17th. Series creator, Rich Tobias will be competing in the Modified division aboard one of Jim Mahaney's cars.

Valvoline Synthetic VR1 dash 1 winner: Doug Rose

Valvoline Synthetic VR1 dash 2 winner: Matt Janisch

Bilstein Racing Shocks National Event Feature Results (20 laps):

1. Matt Janisch (Valvoline VR1, Hershey, PA) ($800.00), 2. Paul Lotier Jr. (Thompson Motorsports 5, Lebanon, PA), 3. Gabriel Richer (Groupe Richer Racing 10X, Les Coteaux, Qc, Canada), 4. DJ Macri (Johnny Muffler 28, Waretown, NJ), 5. Yannick Poirier ( Poirier Motorsports 28, Beloeil, Qc, Canada), 6. Gary Hieber Jr. (Bucks County International 66, Langhorne, PA), 7. Kaitie McCardle (McCardle Motorsports 11, Honeybrook, PA), 8. Daniel Nadeau (Nadeau Racing 54, Marieville, Qc, Canada), 9. Jeff Gallup (Gallup Racing 9, Baldwinsville, NY), 10. Brittany Wixon (Wixon Racing 15, Reading, PA), 11. Jean-Nicholas Gareau (Gareau Motorsports 53, St-Hyacinthe, Qc, Canada), 12. Mario Page (Izzi Trucking 10, Hillsborough, NJ), 13. Doug Rose (Amrose Motorsports ^DR1, Syracuse, NY), 14. Tyler Potts (THP Racing 12, Milford, NJ), 15. Kenney Johnson (Johnson Racing 46, CT),16. Scott Monroe (Monroe Motorsports 14, Leesport, PA), 17. Justin Thompson (Speedway Entertainment X, Myerstown, PA), 18. Gary Hieber Sr. (Scrappy's 56, Langhorne, PA).