ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Lou Cicconi, Jr., Tim Adams and Danny Shirey claimed 20-lap TQ Midget/600 c.c. Micro Sprint qualifying features during Friday night’s qualifying action for the Gamblers Classic at Boardwalk Hall.
Adams took the lead from Frank Polimeda and claimed the opener over Mike Iles and Erick Rudolph. The second race saw 17-year-old supermodified ace Shirey hold off James Friesen and Johnny Payne. Cicconi held off veteran sprint-car racer Stevie Smith to claim the nightcap, with Pat Bealer third.
Dirt modified legend Billy Pauch set fast time with a lap of 9.217 seconds.
Matt Carman, Gary Hieber and Tiffany Wambold topped slingshot qualifiers, with Timmy Solomito, Coby Cressinger, Larry Stolzenberg and Tammy Smith taking kart victories.

• The charge of “cookie-cutter race cars” could not be leveled at the Gamblers Classic field Friday and Saturday at Boardwalk Hall.
The rules balanced the 750 c.c. shaft-drive TQ midgets against the 600 c.c. chain-drive micro sprints by giving the latter a 50-pound weight break. TQ midgets made up 18 of the 26 starters and the top-three finishers.
The TQs remain undefeated in feature races since the Atlantic City series was revived under promoter Lenny Sammons in 2003.

• The rules read, “No wild bodies. Officials’ decision is final.”
Nevertheless, Orange County modified champion Jeff Hoetzler’s TQ ran with a flat panel down the left side that might have come off a dirt late model. Hoetzler started third, but dropped down the order before pitting on lap 24.

• The Lindblad chassis used by winner Mike Tidaback and third place Tim Adams have the traditional “mini-supermodified” look made famous by Rollie Lindblad’s Badger full midgets in the 1970s.

• Power estimates for the superbike-sourced 750 c.c. Suzuki engines, by their users, were around 130 horsepower. Winner Tidaback’s engine was built by ATQMRA stalwart Rudy Botticher. Frank Polimeda claimed no more than 70 horses for his two-cylinder, two-stroke 597 c.c. Polaris snowmobile engine, but he passed almost 30 cars for position during his run through the C, B and A mains. He did get to run at the 600 c.c. weight limit.  

• Not quite Chili Bowl numbers, but impressive. From more than 100 midget entries, 98 cars signed in, 90 took time, and 72 survived the Friday night heats, consolations, and triple 20-lap qualifying features to run in Saturday’s program.

• Ken Schrader flipped Allan Mollat’s TQ in his Friday night feature and was restarted but pulled out. The car was assigned to dirt late model star Rick Eckert for Saturday action but didn’t qualify.