PGRL S3 R2 Recap

30 August 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 2
Premier Series | Daytona International Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing

Cody Dempster took the checkered flag tonight in the “The J Stands for Junked 200” presented by Thomas J George for Clown HQ Re-Election 2023 with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Wally Wilson and Jeff Ward. The Patriot Media and Marketing Services drivers were stealing the show tonight as Dempster jumped out front in the final moments to take the win, as Dempster shared with us afterwards, “Once we got together you know we were pretty dominate and just able to do what we needed to do and get where we needed to get to get all of the cars good finishes and a strong run for all of us.”

Isaiah Dupre led the 30-car field to the green flag as the action kicked off tonight around Daytona International Speedway. Greg O’Berry led the outside line and momentum was pushing him ahead into the lead going down the backstretch as the field struggled to get organized resulting in some early race chaos bringing a quick end to the night for many of the drivers. The Saif Faries jumped out front being pushed on the inside line by Michael Chrobok as the field settled into a groove going into lap 11 with O’Berry still leading the outside line.

The lead traded hands multiple times as the drivers shuffled using the highline to pull ahead before dropping down to lead the low line and then being overtaken by the new leader on the high side. Cody Dempster was quietly moving up through the field and into the top 10 with 15 laps completed while his teammate, Wilson, was battling for the lead being pushed by Brian Yaczik. Jeff Ward was running cautiously through the early stages to make sure he’d be in a position to go for the win when the checkered flag came out.

Dempster was continuing his charge to the front running in the top 5 with the first 20 laps completed. A coalition of the Patriot Media and Marketing Service drivers, to include Jordan Harnish, Grant Brown, Cody Dempster, Wally Wilson, and Pete Baskins, were organizing up front taking control of the field. With the Patriot Media drivers all running together on the low line, the high line fell apart and the majority of the field went single file to ensure they wouldn’t be off pace and left behind.

A caution flag came out on lap 32 from an incident between Yaczik and Dupre further back in the pack giving the field an opportune chance for their first pit stops safely under caution. Mike Rasimas rejoined the track in the lead with Jeff Ward up to 4th. Racing resumed going into lap 34 as the Patriot Media drivers quickly grouped back together quickly taking control of the field back from Rasimas. Going into the second half of the night, Thomas George was battling Norm Pelletier for the lead racing side by side with the Patriot Media drivers split up for the moment.

With 30 laps remaining, a smaller group of the Patriot Media drivers led by Grant Brown again changed to the front taking control of the field pulling away from the rest of the field while drivers were still struggling to get organized. Some drivers appeared to take notice and a group led by Michael Chrobok went to work breaking up the Patriot Media group trying to prevent them from taking advantage again. Woody Mahan was leading the top line being pushed by Ward as Chrobok dropped down into 3rd between Brown and Baskin with Dempster in control of the field.

As the laps counted down, the drivers started making more aggressive moves to be in a good position to go for the win in the end. O’Berry was leading the top line racing for the lead against a line of Patriot Media cars in control of the inside line led by Dempster with 20 laps to go. The top line seemed well organized compared to earlier in the night using the momentum to take the lead as both lines were inconvenienced by lap traffic forcing the inside line to lose ground.

Going into the final 10 laps, the Patriot Media drivers had broken apart again and lost more ground with O’Berry continuing to lead the field being pushed by Mahan and Dupre staying connected to each other. Dempster and Wilson found each other again and made a push for the lead with Ward running with them. O’Berry fell back to 4th before dropping in line behind Ward. A late race caution resulted in a 1 lap shootout with Ward in the lead as the green and white flags came out together. Wilson pushed Dempster out front as the field started wrecking from 4th place back. Cody Dempster took the checkered flag with Wally Wilson, Jeff Ward, Norm Pelletier, and Mike Rasimas rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight at Daytona International Speedway.

With tonight’s win, Cody Dempster jumped to the top of the point standings with 86 points. Mike Rasimas holds onto 2nd place with 78 points. Brian Yaczik fell back to 3rd with 72 points while Adam Jurski jumped up 2 spots into 4th with 70 points. Thomas George rounds out the top 5 in the points with 69 points. The Pretty Good Racing League now heads to Darlington Raceway for the “The Joy of Driving Darlington 250” on September 6th with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!