By ohnson 
When you scan the field at any of the three Indoor Auto Racing Championship events in Allentown, Trenton, or here in Atlantic City, you will find it effortless to spot a multitude of asphalt modified drivers achieving success among the field of sturdy TQ Midgets.
On the dirt modified front, however, apart from Erick Rudolph, who won the Battle of Trenton and is frequently regarded as one of the most significant threats to win at any of the three indoor events, you don’t witness many others stepping up to the challenge.
Joining him this weekend as some of the sole competitors from the northeastern dirt circuit are Mike Illes and Mike Maresca, along with Ryan Bartlett and Richie Pratt Jr.
Pratt, who finished 17th in his qualifier and Bartlett who achieved an excellent 5th place, are not yet qualified for Saturday’s Gambler’s Classic and will have to race their way in during the last chance qualifiers this afternoon. On the contrary, Illes is definitely in the show and Maresca is not far behind him.
Illes, from Medford NJ, claimed victory in the fourth and final TQ Midget qualifier on Friday evening, automatically securing his position in the A-Main along with Justin Bonsignore, Ted Christopher and Zane Zeiner.
Alongside the four qualifier winners, the top five in the overall point standings for the evening are also locked in to the Gambler’s Classic, but that list was not available at the time of press.
“Being locked in simply means I’ll sleep much better tonight,” Illes said on Friday evening in Boardwalk Hall. “It also means not having to fix the race car. My team basically told me not to wreck it, so I’m delighted to be locked in. I think this is the first time we’ve been locked in in seven or eight years, which is fantastic.”
For Illes, a long-time Bridgeport Speedway Big Block Modified competitor, race weekends are now rare as the former winner at the speedway recently sold all of his Big Block Modified equipment. Illes and his team are now concentrating on TQ Midget racing and only TQ Midget racing.
“We sold all of my Big Block stuff, so this is the only racing I’m doing,” Illes stated. “This is it, just this TQ stuff in the winter and maybe a couple of outdoor TQ shows in the spring and summer, but this is really all on our schedule, so we aim to succeed.”
Looking at his indoor season, which so far has only encompassed one event, Illes has been fast in his Lafler Chassis ride numbered 711, but he has encountered one problem at both Trenton and again last night in Atlantic City that undoubtedly requires fixing: his power steering.
“Allentown we actually skipped, but Trenton was quite good though,” Illes said regarding his 12th place run. “We actually had no power steering in the car for that race and with about 15 laps to go, I had nothing left in my gas tank and couldn’t do anything. We do have power steering in this car for this race, which really helped a lot tonight, but it only lasted about 10 laps, so I was still quite exhausted.”
Locked in to the Gambler’s Classic with a genuine chance to win, Illes merely wants to “survive” and keep his equipment intact throughout the 40-lap main event on Saturday night and, of course, fix that troublesome power steering issue he has been dealing with.
“We’re in for tomorrow, so I just want to survive,” Iles commented. “Survive and get the power steering fixed.”
Maresca, who now calls Fayetteville NY his hometown, was another dirt modified driver who truly caught people’s attention during Friday’s qualifying action in Atlantic City.
The driver of the Rez Racing, St. Lawrence Radiology No. 7 Big Block on a regular basis, this winter marks the first time the young campaigner has attempted indoor events and it has been going well for him in Atlantic City as Maresca steered his recently established No. 07 TQ ride to a 5th place finish in the third A-Qualifier on Friday.
“This is amazing to come out here and run these for the first time,” Maresca stated. “I can’t thank my Dad, Tom, Dylan and the Martins enough for coming out and assisting me tonight. Without them, I wouldn’t be in this car and also Mark Laffler helped me a great deal, so without them, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to go out and perform like that. This is very cool.”
Maresca said he is content just to be in the vicinity, let alone being in the top half of the 78-car field present this weekend, paying tribute to fellow Big Block Modified driver Erick Rudolph for his achievements on the indoor side.
“Erick (Rudolph) dominates this stuff,” Maresca said. “Just to go out and even be close to him and have a competitive car means a lot. Hopefully, we are in the show, or at least quite close. Either way, we came down here and are having an absolute blast. We’re definitely going to keep doing this.”
Perhaps even more impressive is that Maresca has no prior indoor experience leading up to this weekend, apart from a few short laps at Allentown. The Clarkson University student missed the Battle of Trenton due to school tests and had some extremely unfortunate luck at the Allentown Indoor race in PPL Center.
“We didn’t go to Trenton because I had some tests that week for school that I obviously couldn’t miss,” Maresca recalled. “In Allentown, we actually had a different car, not this one. My throttle got stuck and I hit the wall quite hard. This car we picked up on Saturday and just worked on it throughout the week.”
The new ride, numbered 07 and formerly driven by asphalt modified standout Patrick Emerling, has proven highly strong for Maresca and his team, qualifying 11th fastest right out of the box on Friday afternoon.
“We went through everything on the car this week. Mark (Lafler) inspected it and Patrick (Emerling) assisted us a lot too because this is his car we have here this weekend,” Maresca noted. “So, we just worked hard on it, came down on a whim, kept persevering, gained some speed from it, qualified 11th and then ran quite well in the qualifier, so we are extremely happy.”
Maresca’s sole goal for Saturday’s racing is to simply have a good time, keep the car undamaged, and most crucially, secure a spot in the Gambler’s Classic.
“On Saturday, I’m just going to continue doing what I’m doing,” Maresca said on Friday night. “We just want to keep having fun. I’m going to drive the car as hard as I can and hopefully avoid any trouble. So that’s the plan. Having fun is truly what it’s all about.”
Saturday’s qualifying action in Boardwalk Hall commences promptly at 12:30 pm with the main event program starting at 7 pm this evening.