BRL SLM S19 R4 Recap

15 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 19 | Round 4
Super Late Model Series | Concord Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing

Austin Boelke with Different Path Motorsports took the checkered flag tonight under caution flag conditions in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at Concord Speedway ahead of Kenny Kibbey and Donny Moore. Talking about some of the struggles getting around the track tonight, Boelke shared with us, “It’s so easy to overheat the tires in these cars and it’s so hard once you’ve overheated them to get them back into that optimal temperature range, pressure-wise, and that where the grip is as soon as you overheat them they just continue to get hotter and hotter and hotter and then you’re just going to slide around more.”

Austin Boelke led the 19-car field with Donny Moore to his outside as the green flag came out over Concord Speedway. Boelke cleared ahead off the jump as the field single filed out with drivers settling in for a long run. 10 laps into the night, J R Shepherd was up to 4th while Mathew Thunhorst, Kenny Kibbey, and Justin Morton were struggling to move forward running in the back end of the top 10. Mark Hertzog made a move to the inside of Moore for 2nd place but had to lift and back out causing a checkup almost resulting in Shepherd getting into the back of him.

The laps continued to count down and the drivers were still struggling to make moves. With 30 laps behind them, Thunhorst got his nose to the inside of Chris Davis for 5th with Kibbey following him around. As Morton stuck his nose inside, Davis tried to shut the door and contact was made sending both drivers hard into the inside wall and collecting several drivers behind them bringing out the caution flag. The field stacked back up with Boelke still leading and racing resumed going into lap 39.

Shepherd was stuck to the outside of Hertzog off the restart battling side by side for several laps until contact between the two sent Shepherd into the outside wall. Shepherd was able to recover and continue racing but fell back to 9th behind Jeffrey Hardin. As the drivers crossed the halfway point of the night, Boelke still had a solid hold on the lead ahead of Moore. Thunhorst was pressuring Hertzog for 3rd but struggled to get beneath him as Kibbey actively looked for a way around Thunhorst.

Kibbey got impatient and went to the outside of Thunhorst to try something different with 45 laps remaining. Kibbey wasn’t able to complete the pass but the battle for 4th slowed both drivers enough to give Hertzog a breather in 3rd. Thunhorst closed the gap and again tried to get beneath him not able to make anything out of it allowing Kibbey to try the outside again. Thunhorst and Kibbey ran side by side for lap after lap until Thunhorst conceded falling in behind Kibbey.

Boelke was closing quickly on lap traffic ahead going into lap 67 with a 0.6 second lead ahead of Moore. Shepherd was cautiously negotiating through the field back up to 6th behind Thunhorst. While everyone was struggling to make passes, Kibbey was put in a 3-wide situation on the outside of Hertzog with lap traffic to his outside and contact was made throwing Todd Liston into the outside wall bringing out another caution with 20 laps to go. The restart saw Thunhorst and Shepherd on the outside lane with Kibbey to his inside.

Moore spun his tired on the restart checking up the outside lane letting Shepherd get to his inside behind Kibbey as Hertzog jumped up to 2nd place. Contact between Shepherd and Thunhorst sent Thunhorst around in the middle of the track collecting several drivers in the process. Thunhorst was forced to come down pit road for repairs restarting from 13th as the green flag came back out with 11 laps to go. Boelke again got a great jump as Kibbey dove beneath Hertzog for 2nd.

Going into the final stretch, Kibbey was to the outside of Boelke going for the lead running side by side as a caution came out in the last laps as the front stretch turned into a parking lot of cars. With that, Austin Boelke claimed the checkered flag under caution flag conditions with Kenny Kibbey, Donny Moore, J R Shepherd, and Jeffrey Hardin rounding out the top 5 tonight at Concord Speedway.

J R Shepherd holds onto the lead in the point standings tonight with 180 points. Mathew Thunhorst sits in 2nd place with 173 points over Justin Morton with 168 points. Kenny Kibbey moved up to 4th with 144 points and Donny Moore rounds out the top 5 with 144 points. Next week, the drivers of the Bootleg Racing League head out to Irwindale Speedway for the 5th round of Season 19 on October 22nd with all of the action broadcast live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!