PGRL S2 R1 Recap

17 May 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 2 | Round 1
Premier Series | Kansas Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing

Mike Rasimas with Graafix LC Motorsports took the first checkered flag of the season in a one lap shootout with the Pretty Good Racing League in the Goodbye Fast Repairs 200 presented by SpeedMafia at Kansas Speedway ahead of Jeff Ward and Shane Parish. “I was just trying to drive to my limits. I didn’t have that much practice this week and I was kind of trying to learn the car as I went.”, Rasimas admitted after the claiming his win, “By halfway through I sort of figured stuff out I figured out how to run low if I need to and exactly how to run that high line.”

Mike Rasimas took the green flag for the field with Tommy Rhyne to his outside. Rasimas had a very strong jump off the start pulling far ahead of the field. James Krahula followed along the inside line overtaking into 2nd place with Danny Gutierrez trying to do the same taking 3rd away from Shane Parish. There was a lot of aggressive position shuffling throughout the field as the drivers scrambled in the early stages of the race. Several drivers were caught out in these moves sliding down to the infield and falling to the rear of the 35-car field as the green flag stayed out.

20 laps into the night Gutierrez was leading the field with Parish, Greg O’Berry, Rhyne, and Rasimas rounding out the top 5. Some familiar names from last season started making their way into the top 10 including Jeff Ward, Thomas George, Brian Yaczik, and Michael Chrobok. Approaching lap 50, Chrobok and Rasimas battled over 2nd place with Gutierrez still holding the lead. Yaczik moved up into 5th behind Parish. Gutierrez was having a strong run staying out of reach of Chrobok pressuring from behind him.

On lap 54, Norm Pelletier got loose coming out of turn four and was sent uncontrollably sliding through the infield and back out on the track in turn one into traffic collecting several drivers in a large incident bringing out the caution flag and potentially ending the night early for several drivers. Rasimas took the lead on the restart with Yaczik trying to clear Gutierrez from the inside but couldn’t complete the pass and went back single file in 3rd place. Chrobok and O’Berry made contact down the back stretch, not causing any race ending damage, but bringing the caution flag out again as the field restacked.

Entering the second half of the race, many drivers were feeling the frustration of fast repairs being taken away from the league after the completion of the last season as they continued to run out laps with damage taking away from overall speed and maneuverability. Rasimas continued to lead ahead of Yaczik with Gutierrez, Parish, and Krahula in the top 5. Ricky Hardin was one of the biggest movers in the race running in 9th, up 24 positions from where he started.

With 30 laps remaining, Gutierrez and Yaczik battled over the lead. Parish moved up into 3rd with Rasimas and Mahan following close behind. Rasimas made a strong charge to the front and reclaimed the lead with Ward running behind him. Yaczik moved back into 3rd and started closing on Ward quickly to challenge for 2nd as Rasimas started pulling away from the field. Rasimas took the checkered flag ahead of Ward, Parish, Yaczik, and Gutierrez in a one lap shootout coming out of a caution with one lap remaining.

Mike Rasimas took the first win of the season with some very strong drivers from last season having unfortunate luck tonight, including Scott Eckrich who was out for technical issues, giving Rasimas a nice lead in the point standings going forward. The first race for the league without the traditional one fast repair caught many drivers out with only 24 drivers still running as the checkered flag was thrown. The Pretty Good Racing League will be back on the track May 31st for more intense racing in the Wake Up for the Finish 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway with all of the action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!