GSQMRC Holds 2011 Awards Banquet

The Garden State Quarter Midget Racing Club held its annual awards dinner on Sunday, February 12 at the Nottingham Ballroom in Hamilton, New Jersey.   The afternoon event consisted of a dinner catered by Rosa’s Ristorante, a raffle table featuring items from various businesses and point trophy presentations. 

Special awards were presented to Cliff and Diane Krause for their support of the club and for their help in saving Lil’ Wall along with the big track, Wall Speedway.  The GSQMRC yearbook was also dedicated to the Krause Family.   Earle Krause, who also served as the emcee for the day, was honored for his work with the club.  Photographer Jim Smith from AARN received a plaque for keeping the kids’ pictures in the paper each week.  Finally, the club honored Howell Rescue Squad for their loyalty to the club and their help with each and every event at the track.

Seven drivers were given plaques for perfect attendance for the season:  Madison Pesavage, Glen Gargiulo, Brandon Traino, Justin Emmons, Patrick Gallagher, Ian Gillespie and Gary Weisgerber.

The club also had seven drivers who handed in their retirement papers at the end of the season: Jonathan Flagg, Brendon Bock, Christian Bock, Zack Haspel, Melissa Hyer, Brendan Hyer and Ryan Krachun.  Haspel and Krachun were in attendance and each gave a speech thanking their parents and family for support, their sponsors for all of the help and outlining their future plans in racing.  Zack is looking to moving into a Legend cars soon and Ryan will be racing in the Ford Focus series during the upcoming season.

Ken Traino, novice director, announced the graduating novices and handed each a plaque honoring their achievement:  Kevin Conti, Collin DuBois, Justin Emmons, Justin Rogers , Kyle Scisco, Chase Stangle, Jeff Stanislaski, Liam Tormey, Samuel Walsh and Edward Walter.

With eight racing divisions represented for points championships, only four drivers received first place points and stickers for the year. 

Young Dylan Mulholland took his second championship in the past two seasons in Junior Honda.  Dylan stayed consistent in the 4 points races he ran and finished third in the division trophy race.  Mulholland will not have the chance to go for a third Junior Honda championship in a row as he will have to move up to Senior Honda for the upcoming season. 

Jonathan Flagg took the Light Modified Championship for the 2011 season.  Flagg had a dominating performance on the year, winning all three of the division points race weekends and placing second in the Trophy race early in the season.  He will not be defending his championship as he retired at the end of the season.

Senior Honda, Light 160 and Light World Formula points trophies and stickers all went home with Brandon Grosso.  Grosso’s Senior Honda season started off on a slow note with a tenth place finish in the first points race of the season; he wrapped the championship up by reeling off 5 straight first place finishes in the remaining trophy and points races.    In Light 160, Brandon won all 5 points races and brought home a fifth in the trophy race.  Consistency won the day for Grosso in Light World Formula with 2 firsts, 2 seconds and a fourth in points races as well as a first in the trophy race during Jay Butler weekend at Lil’ Wall.

Louie Keraitis grabbed the first place hardware for the final three divisions – Heavy Honda, Heavy 160 and Heavy World Formula.  Three first place finishes in Heavy Honda and Heavy 160 helped push Keraitis to those two points championship while taking the win in all four Heavy World Formula points races propelled him to the top spot for that division. 

Final Points Standings by division:

Junior Honda

13 - Jeffery Stanislaski

12 - Sam Walsh

11 - Ryan MacConnell

10 - Justin Grosso

9 - Willow Wilson

8 - Justin Emmons

7 - Sean Vuksanic

6 - Stephen Puglisi

5 - Sierra Wilson

4 - Shawn Erm

3 - Shane Emmons

2 - Peter Hegel

1 - Dylan Mulholland - Points Champion

Senior Honda - Sponsored by Kaye Well Drilling

24 - Justin Rogers

23 - Cameron Michales

22 - GK Kellstrom

21 - PJ Spernal

20 - Gary Weisgerber

19 - Drew Gerber

18 - John Vuksanic

17 - Glen Gargiulo

16 - Madison Pesavage

15 - Logan Fraser

14 - Ryan Heim

13 - Ian Gillespie

12 - Ashley Walter

11 - Loren Poppe

10 - Nico Totaro

9 - Taylor Gerber

8 - Patrick Gallagher

7 - Justin Keraitis

6 - Madison Boyd

5 - Kyle Mulholland

4 - Jimmy Potts

3 - Anthony Payne

2 - Jonathan Flagg

1 - Brandon Grosso - Points Champion

Heavy Honda

9 - Cody Wright

8 - Liz Spernal

7 - Scott Lizo

6 - Travis Schwarz

5 - Miranda Carr

4 - Zach Haspel

3 - Brian Osborn

2 - Ryan Gerber

1 - Louie Keraitis - Points Champion

Light Mod

3 - Kyle Richards

2 - Shawna Winters

1 - Jonathan Flagg - Points Champion

Light 160- Sponsored by DRJ Catering

16 - GK Kellstrom

15 - Ryan MacConnell

14 - Shawna Winters

13 - Ian Gillespie

12 - Glen Gargiulo

11 - Ashley Walter

10 - Anthony Payne

9 - Ryan Heim

8 - Justin Keraitis

7 - Nico Totaro

6 - Loren Poppe

5 - Colin Bustard

4 - Kyle Mulholland

3 - Jake Nelke

2 - Jimmy Potts

1 - Brandon Grosso - Points Champion

Heavy 160

9 - Cody Wright

8 - Travis Schwarz

7 - Danny Leaper

6 - Zach Haspel

5 - Brian Osborn

4 - Brandon Traino

3 - Ryan Gerber

2 - Jack Ely

1 - Louie Keraitis - Points Champion

Light World Formula

7 - GK Kellstrom

6 - Shawna Winters

5 - Brandon Traino

4 - Jake Nelke

3 - Jack Ely

2 - Jimmy Potts

1 - Brandon Grosso - Points Champion

Heavy World Formula

4 - Danny Leaper

3 - Trevor Schwarz

2 - Zach Haspel

1 - Louie Keraitis - Points Champion