BRL LM S22 R7 Recap

13 May 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 22 | Round 7
Late Model Series | Irwindale Speedway
Photograph By: Michael Goodman

The Bootleg Racing League Late Model Invitational Series Season 22 Round 7 presented by Gargamel’s Kitchen at Irwindale Speedway was an exciting and intense race that saw plenty of drama, close racing, and unexpected twists and turns.

Michael Goodman started the race on the pole position, with Jeffery Hardin starting in 9th, Aiden Young starting in 11th, Matt Hoose starting in 14th, and Mike Holloway starting in 15th. Chris Davis quickly moved up to 2nd, clearing ahead of Mark Hertzog on the 6th lap of the race. However, he got loose as he cleared ahead, forcing Hertzog to lift and fall back to 4th behind Jason Menda.

With passing being a tough task at Irwindale Speedway, most drivers were forced to run single file along the high line just to maintain their positions. Despite this, Aiden Young was aggressive in using the inside line to try and move forward in the field, managing to move up to 8th place.

However, the first caution of the night came out on lap 37 when Menda and Hertzog made contact as Hertzog was trying to reclaim lost positions from earlier in the night. Goodman was in control of the field as racing resumed on lap 43, with Bruce Pearson battling with Lowell Jewell over 3rd, with Jewell managing to hold onto the position.

Young saw the success Jewell had and got in behind him to clear up into 4th. By the halfway mark of the race, Goodman had stretched out his lead to over 1 second ahead of Davis.

Lap 59 saw the second caution of the night when Joe Segalla had to check up to avoid getting into the back of Stephen Spies and was hit from behind by Mike Allen, collecting Joseph Snyder in the resulting slide.

As racing resumed on lap 65, Young was up to 3rd and trying to take 2nd place away from Davis, but had to lift to avoid sliding up into him. Pearson had contact with Kurt Smith on lap 70 and slid onto pit road sideways, while further up in the field a checkup caught Mike Holloway out, sending him hard into the outside wall and flipping him onto his roof, bringing out the third caution of the night.

Goodman led the field around again to take the green flag on lap 76, with Menda quickly pushing back up through the field and battling with Hardin after recovering from his earlier incident with Hertzog. Menda aggressively slid his car up the track to overtake Davis for 2nd place.

After a failed crossover from Davis, Davis tried to slot up behind Menda, but Jewell had already filled the gap. Davis came up and brought out a caution on lap 85, pinching Jewell into the outside wall and sending Davis around, collecting several drivers in the chaos as Davis fell back to 16th.

Racing resumed on lap 91, with Menda making several attempts on the lead, but Goodman running a defensive line to block him. Another caution came out with 7 laps remaining from contact between Jeffrey Kemper and Jewell.

The green flag came back out for a 2 lap shootout to the checkered flag. Michael Goodman with 8 Ball Motorsports led every lap of the race, taking the checkered flag and earning a well-deserved victory. Menda was able to hold off Hardin, coming home with 2nd place after an amazing recovery, while Hardin finished in 3rd.

With Hardin leading in the point standings for Loose Luggs, he now sits 10 points ahead of Joseph Snyder. The next event is on May 20th at 8:55PM with the action brought to you exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!