BRL OUTLAWS S39 R3 Recap

05 April 2025
Bootleg Racing League | Season 39 | Round 3
Outlaw Modified Series | Five Flags Speedway

On Saturday, April 5th, the Bootleg Racing League’s Outlaw SK Modified Invitational Series rolled into Five Flags Speedway for round 3 of season 39, and the fireworks started early. James Lowe came into the night with a slim 2-point lead in the standings, but he’d have to work for every inch to keep it.

Tre Blohm started the race from the pole with Tim Corder to his outside. Lowe rolled off 5th, but it didn’t take long for him to start climbing forward. Right from the drop of the green, drivers were aggressive, and that meant more cautions than we’ve seen so far this season. The race quickly turned into a stop-and-go affair of short green flag sprints.

Lowe worked his way up to 3rd in the opening laps with Chris Davis hot on his heels, keeping the pressure high. Meanwhile, out front, Blohm had built a solid gap over Jeffery Hardin in 2nd, but Hardin had his hands full trying to hold off Lowe and Davis as they closed in. Then things got messy on lap 29 — Davis tried to dive under Lowe but ran out of room, triggering contact that took out both drivers and collected Todd Cousins, who had nowhere to go. That incident scattered the field and shook up the running order.

On the restart, Todd Liston made his move, jumping into the 2nd spot and setting his sights on Blohm at the front. But chaos wasn’t done with Lowe’s night. Just past halfway, Lowe was tapped again — this time by Chris Haizlip — and went spinning, once again involving the same trio of drivers from the earlier crash. Cousins retired from the race after the second tangle, while Lowe managed to recover in 11th, and Davis fell back to 15th.

Blohm kept control of the race until lap 71, when Jeffery Hardin got a great jump on a restart and used the momentum to dive under Blohm, taking the lead a lap later. As Blohm started slipping through the pack, John Wilson stepped up into 2nd and was clearly faster than Hardin, but had no room to make a move. That changed with 16 laps to go when Wilson finally found his opening and grabbed the lead — only for another caution to freeze the action shortly after.

With 11 to go, the final restart proved decisive. Wilson led the field back to green, but Todd Liston pounced. He slipped under Hardin, who then tagged Wilson’s rear bumper and sent him into the wall. The chain reaction allowed Liston to sneak by both and take the lead. Wilson recovered, but the damage was done. Liston held the top spot through the final laps and crossed the line to take his first win of the season in a wild, hard-fought race.

Lowe, despite being caught in multiple incidents, showed grit and fought his way back to a 5th place finish, just enough to hang on to the championship lead — now just 4 points ahead of Liston heading into round 4.

The Bootleg Racing League is back in action next Saturday, April 12th, when the series heads north to Oxford Plains Speedway. Catch every lap live starting at 7:40PM ET, only on the Virtual Grip Network!