BRL DSS S12 R1 Recap

17 June 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 12 | Round 1
Dirt Street Stock Series | Eldora Speedway
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt
Sim Racing Software: iRacing

Brandyn Proudfoot took the first win of the season tonight with the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Eldora Speedway ahead of Johnny Ratley and William Hargreaves. “Towards the end [Ratley and Hargreaves] definitely had my number, but I held on there just enough”, Proudfoot commented as the night came to a close, “[The] grip was just starting to go away towards the end, like I said. Used everything up probably in the first I’d say 25 [or] 30. The last 10 it was all [Ratley and Hargreaves] reeling me in. The only reason they didn’t pass me is they were battling each other I do believe.”

William Hargreaves took the pole to start off the season opener event as he put down a fast lap clocked at 19.587 beating Johnny Ratley’s time by 0.001. Hargreaves shared the front row in the first heat race with his teammate Billy Northcutt and had Brandyn Proudfoot directly behind him in 3rd. Hargreaves jumped out ahead of the pack as the green flag came out. Northcutt held onto 2nd running the inside line with Proudfoot running along the outside wall behind Hargreaves. The three drivers stayed stacked tightly together until the final corner where Proudfoot dove low beneath both Hargreaves and Northcutt to jump out ahead and take the win in the final moments with Northcutt coming in 2nd place.

Ratley opted to start the second heat from the outside alongside J R Shepherd as the green flag came out over the field. Ratley cleared for the lead and ran a defensive line trying to prevent Shepherd from being able to throw a slider against him. Ratley held the lead and took the checkered flag, and the drivers came back out on track for the C Main consolation event lead out by William Hargreaves. Hargreaves cleared ahead of Hunter Hill quickly off the start, but Hill stayed close to his bumper running along the outside wall.

Jeffrey Hardin and DV Runkle battled over 3rd place with Cody Jones looking to take advantage of the situation. As the drivers came around the final lap, Hargreaves took the win ahead of Hill and Runkle took 3rd place over Hardin and Jones behind him. The B Main consolation event was led to the green flag by Jason Menda with Chris Hill to his inside. Menda had a great launch off the start as the field went mostly single file along the high side. Menda’s car got upset in the corner and Hill and Hayes closed up on him as they went 3 wide at the halfway point in the race. Hayes had to drop back into 3rd while Hill stayed alongside Menda challenging from the low side. Hayes dove low beneath Hill but couldn’t complete the pass before Menda took the win over Hill.

Proudfoot came back to the track to lead the feature event to the green flag with Ratley to his inside. Proudfoot and Ratley stayed side by side off the start. 4 laps into the run, Proudfoot was finally able to clear ahead of Ratley as Hargreaves and Northcutt were both running low with Shepherd staying high close behind Ratley. Hargreaves got alongside Ratley as they went 3 wide over the lead again, but the momentum from the outside line kept Proudfoot in the lead with 10 laps completed.

A caution came out as the drivers crossed into the second half of the race with Proudfoot still leading over Ratley. Proudfoot had started to pull away and now found himself back alongside Ratley as he took the green flag and racing resumed. Proudfoot had a good jump and cleared for the lead quicker this time around. Hargreaves, Northcutt and Shepherd were battling over 3rd and Joe Segalla dove low trying to take 7th place away from Menda as the field entered the final 10 laps of the night.

Ratley and Hargreaves continued to battle for 2nd while Proudfoot again pulled away from the field. Shepherd was challenging Northcutt for 4th but couldn’t find the speed to complete the pass. Ratley and Hargreaves slowly started to reel Proudfoot back in and Ratley was able to get alongside Proudfoot in a few failed pass attempts going around the final laps. Ratley threw the car low in the final corner but wasn’t able to clear Proudfoot before Proudfoot took the checkered flag with Ratley, Hargreaves, Northcutt, and Shepherd rounding out the top 5 drivers tonight at Eldora Speedway.

Brandyn Proudfoot and Johnny Ratley come out of the first round of the season tied for the lead in the point standings both with 80 points. William Hargreaves has 76 points at the end of the night followed by Billy Northcutt with 72 points and J R Shepherd with 68 points. The drivers of the Bootleg Racing League now set their sights to Weedsport Speedway for the next round on June 24th with all of the dirt slinging action broadcast live at 7:10PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!