BRL DSS S11 R3 Recap

08 Apr 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 11 | Round 3
Dirt Street Stock Series | Volusia Speedway Park
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt

Johnny Ratley with the Dirt Panda Racing Team took the checkered flag for the first time this season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Volusia Speedway Park beating out William Hargreaves and Billy Northcutt. “It felt like the top was the place to be in the beginning”, Ratley told us after the race, “[The] last restart of the race, [Hargreaves] took the high side and then I was just grinning because I knew that bottom was coming in and I was able to sneak on by him.”

William Hargreaves stood at the top of the boards starting the evening off with a fast lap of 19.46 in qualifying beating Johnny Ratley by 0.02. Hargreaves swept the first heat of the night holding off Billy Northcutt pressuring from behind. Ratley took the win in the second heat beating Brandyn Proudfoot to the line. Jason Best took the win in the C Main consolation as Chris Hill got around Bobby Hayes taking 2nd place before the end. In the final consolation race, J R Shepherd took the win in the B Main event ahead of John Wilson.

Hargreaves and Ratley battled hard over the lead immediately going into the feature event with Northcutt and Proudfoot catching the lead in the first few laps. The battle intensified with no driver giving an inch as Hargreaves continued to hold onto the lead. Proudfoot slid back to 4th behind Northcutt with Ratley looking to the inside of Hargreaves giving the lead over to Ratley going into the second half of the race.

As the battle continued, more drivers caught up to the front with Jason Best and J R Shepherd joining the pack. The top six drivers pressured each other hard as Proudfoot struggled and dropped back to 5th behind Best. Best continued his forward momentum diving to the inside of Northcutt but wasn’t able to complete the move. With 10 laps to go Shepherd tried to use the low line to get around Proudfoot and was denied as Proudfoot slammed the door. Proudfoot tried to recover some positions throwing a slider on Best, but Best anticipated the move and completed a cross over retaking 4th with Proudfoot going high into the outside wall and dropping back to 7th behind Chris Hill.

Proudfoot threw a slider to move back up to 6th behind Shepherd but found himself too far back to make up much more ground. The final laps saw Hargreaves and Northcutt trading sliders back and forth battling hard over 2nd place with Hargreaves taking the position in the end as the Dirt Panda Racing Team crossed the line 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with Johnny Ratley taking the checkered flag.

Johnny Ratley now leads in the points standings with 241 points followed by William Hargreaves in 2nd only 8 points behind. Brandyn Proudfoot dropped back to 3rd in the points after struggling tonight 9 points behind Ratley. Billy Northcutt and Jason Best round out the top five drivers of the season with eight races remaining. The drivers now set their sights to the I-55 Speedway for the first time in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series on April 15th and all of the action can be seen live at 7:10PM EDT only on the Virtual Grip Network!