BRL DSS S10 R9 Recap

04 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 10 | Round 9
Dirt Street Stock Series | Dirt Track at Charlotte

Brandyn Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports took the win tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at the Dirt Track at Charlotte ahead of Carl Kilgore and William Hargreaves after an intense battle for the lead ended with unfortunate contact. The field was able to run the feature without a single caution flag being shown and Proudfoot commented, “Not many people on a track that black can go caution free and whenever everybody has their heads together, we as a community can definitely race caution free and yeah there’s some doors here and there but ultimately this community’s just so great.” Proudfoot finished up with a great show of sportsmanship telling us, “[This was] not the way I wanted it at all. Carl, it should’ve been your win or at the very least a good battle to the end there.”

William Hargreaves took the pole to start off the evening with a fast lap of 18.581 ahead of Carl Kilgore and Billy Northcutt. Brandyn Proudfoot, the defending champion qualified in 4th place at 18.661. This put Hargreaves and Proudfoot together in the first heat where they battled around all 6 laps with Hargreaves able to take the checkered flag ahead of Proudfoot by 0.120 coming across the line. The second heat was led out by Carl Kilgore with Lon Franks to his outside. Kilgore ran a defensive line to hold Franks at bay to take the win. The third and final heat of the evening had Billy Northcutt taking the lead from the top with Christopher Hill to his inside. Hill was under immediate pressure from John Heyn close behind him as Northcutt was able to pull away from the field. As Hill and Heyn fought on the top, Bobby Hayes snuck past in the last corner on the inside line to take 2nd place away from both drivers.

The C-Main started off with Jim Reavis leading the field and Hill again starting to the inside. Reavis had a strong launch off the green and held the lead running the high side as Hill fought back, but unable to keep pace Hill went on the defensive as J R Shepherd started pressuring for 2nd. Reavis was able to pull away as Hill and Shepherd race nose to bumper around the outside wall with Jackie Whaley in the #720 machine looking to their inside. Reavis took the win with Hill able to hold onto 2nd in the end. The B-Main was led to the green by Hunter Hill with Glenn Townsend to his inside. Townsend struggled getting suck low as Jason Menda got alongside him on the outside wall. The two drivers battled over 2nd place until contact was made coming out of the corner sending Townsend around and collecting several cars behind them as John Heyn and Stephen Spies benefited most from it as they moved up to 2nd and 3rd respectively from the chaos. Hill took the checkered with a strong lead followed by Heyn and Spies.

Hargreaves led the field to the green in the 40-lap feature event choosing to start on the outside line with Kilgore to his inside. A good launch throughout the field kept all 18 drivers stacked tight as they moved into lap 3 where Kilgore made contact with the outside wall in front of Proudfoot causing a checkup and a chain reaction knocking several drivers off their lines, but all were able to recover and continue on. Northcutt took advantage from the inside line taking away 2nd place as Proudfoot did the same along the outside moving up into 3rd. As the drivers pasted the halfway point, Proudfoot had cleared Northcutt taking 2nd place and Kilgore was back in the fight pressuring for 3rd place along the high side with Lon Franks following close behind.

The race had a 5-way battle for the lead as Kilgore, Proudfoot, Hargreaves, Northcutt, and Franks all tried different lines looking for speed as Kilgore held the cushion still crossing the line as the leader with Proudfoot in 2nd. With only 15 laps to go the lead battle was down to just Kilgore and Proudfoot while Hargreaves had fallen back over a second behind still in 3rd. Kilgore continued to run the cushion holding off Proudfoot until Proudfoot threw a slider on lap 32 that didn’t work out as the two drivers came together in the corner sending Kilgore to the inside of the track. Able to recover, Kilgore fought back up to 2nd place before the end with Brandyn Proudfoot taking the checkered flag.

Proudfoot further extends his gap in the point standings over Hargreaves now with 133 points between them with only two rounds remaining in the season making Proudfoot the unofficial season 10 champion. Lon Franks and Billy Northcut are still in a tight battle for 3rd in the point standings with only 8 points between them with a similar situation with Jason Best and Jim Reavis closely contesting for 5th place. Next week the Bootleg Racing League heads over to the Limaland Motorsports Park to settle these battles and being broadcast live on March 11th at 7PM EST only on the Virtual Grip Network.