BRL NSCT S1 R9 Recap

02 December 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 9
National Sprint Car Trail | The Milwaukee Mile
Sim Racing Software: iRacing

James Tiernan continues his winning streak with another checkered flag tonight in the Silver Crowns with the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail at The Milwaukee Mile ahead of Justin Morton and Tyler Shadduck. “I think that’s the most up front passing we’ve seen on asphalt yet, just a 3-way battle almost the entire time.”, Tiernan commented at the end of the night, “It was an absolute blast that’s been my favorite race so far… [Morton] really showed up today and [Shadduck] was right up there with us the whole time too.”

Justin Morton secured the pole going into the night with a 4-lap average time of 27.793 in qualifying a led the field around to take the green flag with James Tiernan to his outside. Morton had a good launch off the start, but Tiernan stayed close and took advantage when Morton got loose to take away the lead on the 2nd lap. Tyler Shadduck closed in on the leaders and started to build up a gap between himself and Aiden Young in 4th. Stephen Spies and Joe Adams battled over 5th trading the position back and forth with Bruce Jones getting a nose between them and allowing Adams to hold the position.

Morton stayed glued to Tiernan’s rear bumper keeping the pressure high around the opening laps. Shadduck held pace with the leaders as the top 3 pulled away from the field by almost 3 seconds with 10 laps completed. The battle for the lead stayed intense with all 3 drivers running within 0.5 seconds with Spies looking to the inside several times but opting to stay in line behind Tiernan. Shadduck tried several times to make a run against Morton but couldn’t complete the move and the leaders continued to run single file as they reached the first signs of lap traffic going into the 2nd half of the night.

The leaders continued to run within 0.5 seconds each waiting for the driver ahead to make a mistake. Morton got a nose to the inside of Tiernan and minor contact between them bumped Tiernan up the track enough for both Morton and Shadduck to push him back to 3rd. Shadduck closed in tight on Morton looking for a gap to the inside but got loose allowing Tiernan to get alongside him to and gave Morton the first gap in the leading battle of the night. Shadduck and Tiernan closed back in on Morton with 20 laps remaining as Morton negotiated around lap traffic.

Tiernan saw an opportunity and dove beneath Shadduck to clear back into 2nd place as Morton struggled to maintain the 0.6 second gap between them. Again, reaching lap traffic, Morton was forced to check up enough for Tiernan to completely close the gap to the front and Tiernan immediately started aggressively looking toward the inside. Morton defensively ran a tight line trying to hold Tiernan off going into the final 10 laps.

Tiernan tried to dive low but got loose and slotted back in line behind Morton as the laps counted down. Tiernan again dove low and was able to make it stick quickly taking the lead away with Morton staying very close behind. Shadduck closed back in on the lead battle again and all 3 drivers were pushing hard going into the final moments. Coming out of the last corner, James Tiernan was able to hold of Justin Morton and Tyler Shadduck to take the checkered flag with Aiden Young and Joe Adams rounding out the top 5 tonight with the Silver Crowns at The Milwaukee Mile.

Aiden Young holds onto the lead in the overall point standings with 570 points. Justin Morton moved up into 2nd with 547 points as Bruce Jones slid back to 3rd with 534 points. Stephen Spies sits in 4th with 473 points and Rory Collins rounds out the top 5 drivers with 448 points. Justin Morton is the current points leader in the Silver Crowns with 221 points ahead of Aiden Young and Bruce Jones. The drivers of the Bootleg Racing League will be back to take on Hickory Motor Speedway in the Asphalt Sprints on December 16th with all of the intense action brought to you live at 10:30PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!