BRL SLM S17 R8 Recap

14 May 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 17 | Round 8
Super Late Model Series | Lanier National Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing

Kenny Kibbey with Nocturnal Gaming took the checkered flag tonight for his second win of the season with Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at Lanier National Speedway ahead of Mathew Thunhorst and Michael Goodman. “I really pushed the limit, but I made sure I never spun my tires. I never really spun my tires the entire race.”, Kibbey explained as to how he was able to pull away from Thunhorst in the final moments, “That was really going to be key to keeping the rear tires underneath me.”

The green flag came out over the track as Michael Goodman jumped out to a strong lead with James Lowe behind him. Austin Boelke had trouble early on sliding into the inside wall coming down the front stretch, but with no caution thrown Boelke was shuffled to the rear of the field. Goodman got loose giving Lowe a chance to get along side of him along the outside, but Goodman was able to correct his car and hold the lead. Kibbey took the opportunity taking 2nd place from Lowe with Justin Morton following through pushing Lowe back to 4th only 12 laps into the night.

Mathew Thunhorst was up to 5th running behind Lowe in the rear of the lead battle as the top 5 drivers pulled away from the rest of the field running single file with Goodman still in the lead. Morton got the inside of Kibbey 30 laps in trying to take away 2nd place, but instead Kibbey took the situation to challenge Goodman for the lead. As Kibbey took the lead, Morton tried to follow on the outside as Thunhorst moved into 4th. Morton was not able to overtake Goodman and Thunhorst closed up the gap forcing Morton to stay on the outside line falling back in the pack.

Going into the second half of the night, Kibbey continued to lead with Thunhorst close behind. Goodman found a gap between Thunhorst and Donny Moore to secure 3rd place. Kibbey and Thunhorst pulled far ahead of the rest of the field with Thunhorst pressuring for the lead. The leaders built a gap of over 2 seconds ahead of Goodman holding 3rd place with Moore, Lowe, Morton, and Boelke following single file behind him. Going into 20 laps remaining, Kibbey had built a gap between himself and Thunhorst of around 0.7.

The gap continued to expand going into the final 10 laps to over 1 second as Kibbey started negotiating through lap traffic. Thunhorst showed signs that his tires were well worn and started dropping off as Kibbey set some of the fastest lap times of the night in the final few laps to take the checkered flag for his first win of the season with Thunhorst, Goodman, Moore, and Morton rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight at Lanier National Speedway.

Kibbey stretched out his lead in the point standings now at 308. Justin Morton stays in 2nd place 14 points behind the lead. Austin Boelke struggled tonight early on but recovered enough by the end to hold onto 3rd place in the standings now 24 points behind Kibbey. Mathew Thunhorst and Michael Goodman round out the top 5 drivers with three rounds remaining. The Bootleg Racing League now heads to Martinsville Speedway on May 21st with all of the action broadcast live at 8:55PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!