BRL DSS S10 R11 Recap

18 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 10 | Round 11
Dirt Street Stock Series | Knoxville Raceway

Brandyn Proudfoot took the checkered flag in the final round of the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Knoxville Raceway ahead of Jim Reavis and Brennan Myers closing out the season. “I kind of just tried to stay patient, stay up there, and I got up to like 6th and then I was able to actually get into a rhythm and really just start checking off boxes.”, Proudfoot told us about fighting the track in a very damaged car tonight, “It wasn’t so much the car more than it was the cushion. It was really, really aggressive especially there in turn one.”

William Hargreaves took the overall pole in qualifying and lead position in the first heat race with a fast lap of 22.566. The other heats would be led to the green flag by Jason Best at 22.579, Chris Davis at 22.582, and Brandyn Proudfoot at 22.585. Hargreaves started off the first heat with Lon Franks to his outside. Hargreaves held the inside line tight holding off Franks behind him and taking the win. Best had Jim Reavis to his outside as the second heat started and also choose the inside line as Stephen Spies challenged Reavis for 2nd off the launch but conceded and fell in behind Reavis in 3rd. Best took the win as Spies sent his car deep into the corner and took 2nd place away from Reavis as they crossed the line.

Davis had Eli Shaffer to his outside as the green flag came out over the third heat. Davis had a strong launch and cleared Shaffer going through the first corner, but Shaffer was putting him under pressure right away. After several failed pass attempts, Davis held onto the lead with Shaffer and Bobby Hayes banging doors coming around the final lap with Shaffer coming home in 2nd. Proudfoot started the final heat sharing the front row with J R Shepherd. With a later launch than expected, Proudfoot cleared Shepherd quickly but wasn’t able to pull away as we’ve seen from him throughout the season. Shepherd stayed with reach of Proudfoot but couldn’t get a strong enough run to challenge for the lead as Proudfoot took the checkered flag.

The C Main event began with Jackie Whaley and Brennan Myers on the front row. Whaley had an early launch quickly pulling ahead of the field as Myers was under pressure from Neville Ulph with Hunter Hill waiting close behind to take advantage from 4th place. Myers was able to clear into 2nd place with Hill tucking in behind and pinning Ulph to the inside with the high line becoming the more preferred line. Justin Simmons followed suit tucking in tight behind Hill as Ulph continued to fight from the inside. Whaley took the win ahead of Myers and Hill with Ulph able to hold onto 4th in the end and Simmons taking the final transfer spot to the feature.

The B Main event started with Reavis and Chris Hill on the front row. Reavis choose a low line as Chris Hill went high quickly closing the gap and getting into position to challenge for the lead. Reavis took notice and moved up to the higher line to block forcing Hill to try to run low to advance, but Hill couldn’t get enough speed coming out of the corners to make the pass. Reavis took the checkered flag with Hill, Glenn Townsend, Jeffrey Hardin, and Matt Shinoski claiming the rest of the transfer spots into the feature event.

The 19-car feature event field was led to the green by William Hargreaves with Jason Best to his outside. With a good launch, Hargreaves was able to clear Best off the start and moved up high. Chris Davis stayed low trying to make use of the inside line staying door to door with Best and clearing for 2nd as Lon Franks repeated the move on Davis and took 2nd for himself a lap later, but a caution came out when contact was made been Glenn Townsend and Neville Ulph in the middle of the field sending Ulph around and giving 2nd place back to Davis.

Off the restart, several cars throughout the field in different battles were making contact as the caution came back out with a few cars going sideways on track. Going back green for the 7th lap, Hargreaves opted to restart from the outside with a strong launch as Franks and Davis got around Best shuffling Best back to 4th. The third caution of the evening came out 8 laps into the event Shaffer and Hunter Hill came together and collected drivers coming up quickly from behind. The 9th lap started with Hargreaves getting another strong jump ahead of Franks as Franks tucked in behind Hargreaves and got around Davis who had to accept 3rd. Stephen Spies tried to make a pass around Davis to the inside, but Best gave Davis a hard shove from behind keeping Davis in 3rd.

Hargreaves and Franks pulled away from the field and battled over the lead ahead of Best in 3rd as they crossed the halfway point of the feature. Proudfoot was making a hard charge through the field up to 4th ahead of both Davis and Spies and closing quickly on Best. Shepherd was spun around in a battle, but the caution was not thrown out as Franks jumped ahead of Hargreaves after Hargreaves made contact with the outside wall losing all of his momentum and dropping back to 2nd. Proudfoot caught up to the leaders with 15 laps to go and quickly took 2nd place away from Hargreaves after more contact with the wall left his car damaged and forced him to pull into the pits ending his race early.

Proudfoot continually had the fastest lap times on track as he closed on Franks. With 10 laps to go, Proudfoot started pressuring Franks for the lead as the caution came out when Chris Hill and Brennan Myers came together along the outside wall sending Hill around. In a single file restart, Franks led the field to the green followed by Proudfoot and Best with only 9 laps remaining. Franks had a good launch but wasn’t able to shake Proudfoot who stayed on his bumper going high into the turn. Another caution halted the action when Davis over rotated on the start and came to a stop on track.

With 8 laps left, Franks again had a strong jump with Proudfoot close behind looking to the inside. Proudfoot cleared Franks with a slider, but when Franks went to pull off a crossover move, he made contact and both leading drivers were turned sideways in traffic causing a massive checkup in the field and several other collisions as the caution came out. With the timing of the caution, the lead was given to Proudfoot with Franks going into the pits with damage. Proudfoot was showing signs of damage with his car out of shape going through the corner, but another caution came out with 5 laps to go as several incidents happened throughout the field behind. Proudfoot stayed out again for the restart and was able to hold onto the lead as he took the checkered flag.

Brandyn Proudfoot officially became the season champion as the night came to a close, with 842 points, over William Hargreaves who put up a strong fight through the season coming in 2nd place. Season 11 starts next Friday as the Bootleg Racing League moves to Eldora Speedway resetting the point standings and giving all drivers a fresh start at the next championship battle starting on March 25th broadcast at 7:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!