BRL DSS S11 R4 Recap

15 Apr 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 11 | Round 4
Dirt Street Stock Series | I-55 Speedway
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt
Sim Racing Software: iRacing

William Hargreaves with the Dirt Panda Racing Team led every lap to the checkered flag tonight with the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at the I-55 Speedway ahead of Brandyn Proudfoot and Billy Northcutt. “It’s a great track, I think it’s pretty racy all around really.”, Hargreaves commented after his photo finish win tonight, “My only hope was to defend that slider line. I knew [Proudfoot] was going to go for it, and I just had to send it down there as far as I could and hope it worked.”

William Hargreaves and Billy Northcutt started the night off matching fast laps at 14.565 in qualifying with the pole going to Hargreaves who led the field to the green from the front row inside of Brandyn Proudfoot in the first heat. After several attempts on the lead from Proudfoot, Hargreaves was able to hold him off and take the checkered flag. Billy Northcutt led the second heat with Chris Davis to his outside.

Northcutt cleared Davis quickly and instantly went on the defensive not giving Davis an opportunity to challenge him. John Wilson and Chris Hill started the B Main consolation race from the front row. A strong launch from Wilson set him off to a good start as the field single filed out. Wilson was able to outpace the rest of the field pulling away by over 0.7 before taking the checkered flag.

Hargreaves took the field to the green flag starting off the 40-lap feature event with Northcutt to his inside. Hargreaves wasn’t able to clear Northcutt as the drivers battled side by side around the first few laps before Northcutt slid back into 2nd to defend against Brandyn Proudfoot close behind in 3rd. Chris Davis started challenging for 3rd trading sliders with Proudfoot back and forth as the drivers passed the 10-lap mark.

Proudfoot was able to get to the outside of Northcutt but wasn’t able to clear as Proudfoot made contact with the outside wall and found himself back in another heated battle with Davis. The battle came to a head as Proudfoot got loose and fell behind Chris Hill before settling back in 5th ahead of Joe Segalla. Going into the second half of the event, Davis and Hill battled hard over 3rd and Hargreaves managed to pull away from Northcutt by over 2 seconds.

Davis and Hill came together with 10 laps to go unfortunately sending both drivers around and to the rear of the field. The gap of over 2.5 seconds that Hargreaves had built over Northcutt was taken away as the caution came out from that incident. Hargreaves ran the outside line to clear Northcutt, but Proudfoot took advantage of the restart to stay with the leader and quickly took 2nd place away. Proudfoot made a hard charge for the front, but it wasn’t enough in the end as they crossed the line slamming doors with Hargreaves crossed the line 0.029 ahead of Proudfoot.

William Hargreaves took the lead away from Johnny Ratley with his win tonight now with 317 points total. Brandyn Proudfoot moved up to 2nd place 7 points behind the leader. Billy Northcutt trails behind in 3rd at 290 points with Ratley and Bobby Hayes rounding out the top 5 in the points standings 4 weeks into the season. The drivers now set their sights to Cedar Lake Speedway on April 22nd with all of the mudslinging action broadcast live at 7:10PM EDT only on the Virtual Grip Network!

BRL DSS S11 R3 Recap

08 Apr 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 11 | Round 3
Dirt Street Stock Series | Volusia Speedway Park
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt

Johnny Ratley with the Dirt Panda Racing Team took the checkered flag for the first time this season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Volusia Speedway Park beating out William Hargreaves and Billy Northcutt. “It felt like the top was the place to be in the beginning”, Ratley told us after the race, “[The] last restart of the race, [Hargreaves] took the high side and then I was just grinning because I knew that bottom was coming in and I was able to sneak on by him.”

William Hargreaves stood at the top of the boards starting the evening off with a fast lap of 19.46 in qualifying beating Johnny Ratley by 0.02. Hargreaves swept the first heat of the night holding off Billy Northcutt pressuring from behind. Ratley took the win in the second heat beating Brandyn Proudfoot to the line. Jason Best took the win in the C Main consolation as Chris Hill got around Bobby Hayes taking 2nd place before the end. In the final consolation race, J R Shepherd took the win in the B Main event ahead of John Wilson.

Hargreaves and Ratley battled hard over the lead immediately going into the feature event with Northcutt and Proudfoot catching the lead in the first few laps. The battle intensified with no driver giving an inch as Hargreaves continued to hold onto the lead. Proudfoot slid back to 4th behind Northcutt with Ratley looking to the inside of Hargreaves giving the lead over to Ratley going into the second half of the race.

As the battle continued, more drivers caught up to the front with Jason Best and J R Shepherd joining the pack. The top six drivers pressured each other hard as Proudfoot struggled and dropped back to 5th behind Best. Best continued his forward momentum diving to the inside of Northcutt but wasn’t able to complete the move. With 10 laps to go Shepherd tried to use the low line to get around Proudfoot and was denied as Proudfoot slammed the door. Proudfoot tried to recover some positions throwing a slider on Best, but Best anticipated the move and completed a cross over retaking 4th with Proudfoot going high into the outside wall and dropping back to 7th behind Chris Hill.

Proudfoot threw a slider to move back up to 6th behind Shepherd but found himself too far back to make up much more ground. The final laps saw Hargreaves and Northcutt trading sliders back and forth battling hard over 2nd place with Hargreaves taking the position in the end as the Dirt Panda Racing Team crossed the line 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with Johnny Ratley taking the checkered flag.

Johnny Ratley now leads in the points standings with 241 points followed by William Hargreaves in 2nd only 8 points behind. Brandyn Proudfoot dropped back to 3rd in the points after struggling tonight 9 points behind Ratley. Billy Northcutt and Jason Best round out the top five drivers of the season with eight races remaining. The drivers now set their sights to the I-55 Speedway for the first time in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series on April 15th and all of the action can be seen live at 7:10PM EDT only on the Virtual Grip Network!

BRL DSS S11 R2 Recap

01 Apr 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 11 | Round 2
Dirt Street Stock Series | Weedsport Speedway
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt

Brandon Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports wins his second week in a row in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Weedsport Speedway beating Johnny Ratley and William Hargreaves to the finish line. “After about 20 to go… about from that point onwards”, Proudfoot commented about the hard-fought battle against Ratley running side by side through the second half of the feature event, “One restart I got a pretty good start over [Ratley] and I tried the inside but my, because I ran the top the whole night, my right rear wasn’t having any of it.”

Brandyn Proudfoot started the night off strong on the pole with a fast lap at 17.691 in qualifying. Proudfoot beat Johnny Ratley to the line taking the win in the first heat of the night. Jason Best led the field in the second heat with Chris Davis to his outside. The two drivers traded sliders early with Best taking the win in the end. Williams Hargreaves started the third and final heat of the night with Billy Northcutt to his outside. Hargreaves took the win as John Wilson kept the pressure on Northcutt but wasn’t able to make a pass before the checkered flag.

The C Main had Stephen Spies and Wilson on the front row as the green flag came out. Spies had a good launch off the start pulling away as Bobby Hayes and John Wilson battled over 2nd place. Hayes briefly cleared for the position before Wilson dove in deep and took it back holding it to the checkered flag. J R Shepherd led the B Main to the green flag with Wade Burris to his outside. Contact in the first turn collected 3 of the drivers shuffling the pack with Jackie Whaley coming home in 2nd place behind Shepherd.

Proudfoot and Best started the feature on the front row with Proudfoot being the only driver of the night to opt for starting on the outside line putting Best to his inside. Ratley, Hargreaves, and Northcutt wasted no time moving to the front to pressure Proudfoot who continued to be one of only a few drivers to run the high line. Ratley and Hargreaves battled hard over 2nd place with Northcutt waiting behind to take advantage lap after lap as the field entered the second half of the 40 lap event.

The battling behind him allowed Proudfoot to build up a gap over Ratley who cleared for 2nd place. Going into 10 laps to go, Ratley completely closed the gap up to Proudfoot and started making moves trying to take the lead away from the inside. Proudfoot relied on the momentum from the outside line to keep the lead exiting the turns staying just out of reach of a slider from Ratley as they ran side by side with the laps counting down. Hargreaves caught the battle in the final laps and had to checkup to avoid contact with Ratley coming home in 3rd with Proudfoot taking the win over Ratley by 0.183 at the line.

Brandyn Proudfoot takes off to an early lead for the season with 167 points, 9 points ahead of Johnny Ratley in 2nd place in the points standings. Rounding out the top 5 so far this season are William Hargreaves in 3rd place with 152 points, Billy Northcutt in 4th place with 138 points, and Chris Davis in 5th place with 125 points. The drivers now make their way over to Volusia Speedway Park for the third round of the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series on April 8th and all of the dirt slinging action will be broadcast live at 7:10PM EDT only on the Virtual Grip Network!

BRL DSS S11 R1 Recap

25 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 11 | Round 1
Dirt Street Stock Series | Eldora Speedway
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt

Brandyn Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports took the first win of the season in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Eldora Speedway ahead of Johnny Ratley and William Hargreaves. The second half of the race happened amidst dense traffic that Proudfoot and Ratley had to negotiate while battling over the lead. Proudfoot told us the traffic made for some great racing, “We have a little bit of a mixed community here at Bootleg Racing League. A lot of guys that do the asphalt program in the Grand National Series… a lot of those guys also tread over here. So, it’s kind of interesting because you get a mixed reaction [from the lap down cars when approaching].”

Johnny Ratley took the pole tonight with a fast lap of 19.146 and took the win in the first heat of the night after pulling away from the rest of the field by over 1.2 seconds. Brandyn Proudfoot won the second heat, but it was a much closer finish than what Ratley had. The third and final heat of the night came down to a battle between William Hargreaves and Billy Northcutt with Hargreaves taking the checkered flag. Chris Davis and Stephen Spies led every lap in each of their respective consolation races taking the checkered flag.

Johnny Ratley led the field to the green in the 40-lap feature event with Brandyn Proudfoot to this inside. Ratley had a strong start building up a gap between himself and Proudfoot as both drivers pulled away from William Hargreaves and Bill Northcutt battling over 3rd place. 10 laps into the race, Proudfoot was able to reel Ratley back in and started pressuring for the lead with a slider. The two leaders continued to throw sliders back and forth for several laps before Proudfoot settled back in behind Ratley with 20 laps remaining.

The second half of the race brought a new challenge as the leaders caught the rear of the field and started negotiating through heavy traffic. With only 10 laps to go, Ratley continued to lead until Proudfoot took control of the highline and used lap traffic to block Ratley behind him single file. This gave Proudfoot the chance he needed to pull away. Ratley went to work getting back up close to Proudfoot but there weren’t enough laps left for him to attempt a pass as Proudfoot crossed the finish line.

The drivers made a strong statement tonight going into the new season racing all 40 laps without a single caution flag thrown at Eldora Speedway. Johnny Ratley proved that he is able to challenge Proudfoot and showed the crowd that he doesn’t plan on letting Proudfoot run away with the championship this time around. Now the drivers with the Bootleg Racing League set their sights to Weedsport Speedway for the second round on April 1st broadcast live at 7PM EDT only on the Virtual Grip Network!

BRL DSS S10 R11 Recap

18 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 10 | Round 11
Dirt Street Stock Series | Knoxville Raceway

Brandyn Proudfoot took the checkered flag in the final round of the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Knoxville Raceway ahead of Jim Reavis and Brennan Myers closing out the season. “I kind of just tried to stay patient, stay up there, and I got up to like 6th and then I was able to actually get into a rhythm and really just start checking off boxes.”, Proudfoot told us about fighting the track in a very damaged car tonight, “It wasn’t so much the car more than it was the cushion. It was really, really aggressive especially there in turn one.”

William Hargreaves took the overall pole in qualifying and lead position in the first heat race with a fast lap of 22.566. The other heats would be led to the green flag by Jason Best at 22.579, Chris Davis at 22.582, and Brandyn Proudfoot at 22.585. Hargreaves started off the first heat with Lon Franks to his outside. Hargreaves held the inside line tight holding off Franks behind him and taking the win. Best had Jim Reavis to his outside as the second heat started and also choose the inside line as Stephen Spies challenged Reavis for 2nd off the launch but conceded and fell in behind Reavis in 3rd. Best took the win as Spies sent his car deep into the corner and took 2nd place away from Reavis as they crossed the line.

Davis had Eli Shaffer to his outside as the green flag came out over the third heat. Davis had a strong launch and cleared Shaffer going through the first corner, but Shaffer was putting him under pressure right away. After several failed pass attempts, Davis held onto the lead with Shaffer and Bobby Hayes banging doors coming around the final lap with Shaffer coming home in 2nd. Proudfoot started the final heat sharing the front row with J R Shepherd. With a later launch than expected, Proudfoot cleared Shepherd quickly but wasn’t able to pull away as we’ve seen from him throughout the season. Shepherd stayed with reach of Proudfoot but couldn’t get a strong enough run to challenge for the lead as Proudfoot took the checkered flag.

The C Main event began with Jackie Whaley and Brennan Myers on the front row. Whaley had an early launch quickly pulling ahead of the field as Myers was under pressure from Neville Ulph with Hunter Hill waiting close behind to take advantage from 4th place. Myers was able to clear into 2nd place with Hill tucking in behind and pinning Ulph to the inside with the high line becoming the more preferred line. Justin Simmons followed suit tucking in tight behind Hill as Ulph continued to fight from the inside. Whaley took the win ahead of Myers and Hill with Ulph able to hold onto 4th in the end and Simmons taking the final transfer spot to the feature.

The B Main event started with Reavis and Chris Hill on the front row. Reavis choose a low line as Chris Hill went high quickly closing the gap and getting into position to challenge for the lead. Reavis took notice and moved up to the higher line to block forcing Hill to try to run low to advance, but Hill couldn’t get enough speed coming out of the corners to make the pass. Reavis took the checkered flag with Hill, Glenn Townsend, Jeffrey Hardin, and Matt Shinoski claiming the rest of the transfer spots into the feature event.

The 19-car feature event field was led to the green by William Hargreaves with Jason Best to his outside. With a good launch, Hargreaves was able to clear Best off the start and moved up high. Chris Davis stayed low trying to make use of the inside line staying door to door with Best and clearing for 2nd as Lon Franks repeated the move on Davis and took 2nd for himself a lap later, but a caution came out when contact was made been Glenn Townsend and Neville Ulph in the middle of the field sending Ulph around and giving 2nd place back to Davis.

Off the restart, several cars throughout the field in different battles were making contact as the caution came back out with a few cars going sideways on track. Going back green for the 7th lap, Hargreaves opted to restart from the outside with a strong launch as Franks and Davis got around Best shuffling Best back to 4th. The third caution of the evening came out 8 laps into the event Shaffer and Hunter Hill came together and collected drivers coming up quickly from behind. The 9th lap started with Hargreaves getting another strong jump ahead of Franks as Franks tucked in behind Hargreaves and got around Davis who had to accept 3rd. Stephen Spies tried to make a pass around Davis to the inside, but Best gave Davis a hard shove from behind keeping Davis in 3rd.

Hargreaves and Franks pulled away from the field and battled over the lead ahead of Best in 3rd as they crossed the halfway point of the feature. Proudfoot was making a hard charge through the field up to 4th ahead of both Davis and Spies and closing quickly on Best. Shepherd was spun around in a battle, but the caution was not thrown out as Franks jumped ahead of Hargreaves after Hargreaves made contact with the outside wall losing all of his momentum and dropping back to 2nd. Proudfoot caught up to the leaders with 15 laps to go and quickly took 2nd place away from Hargreaves after more contact with the wall left his car damaged and forced him to pull into the pits ending his race early.

Proudfoot continually had the fastest lap times on track as he closed on Franks. With 10 laps to go, Proudfoot started pressuring Franks for the lead as the caution came out when Chris Hill and Brennan Myers came together along the outside wall sending Hill around. In a single file restart, Franks led the field to the green followed by Proudfoot and Best with only 9 laps remaining. Franks had a good launch but wasn’t able to shake Proudfoot who stayed on his bumper going high into the turn. Another caution halted the action when Davis over rotated on the start and came to a stop on track.

With 8 laps left, Franks again had a strong jump with Proudfoot close behind looking to the inside. Proudfoot cleared Franks with a slider, but when Franks went to pull off a crossover move, he made contact and both leading drivers were turned sideways in traffic causing a massive checkup in the field and several other collisions as the caution came out. With the timing of the caution, the lead was given to Proudfoot with Franks going into the pits with damage. Proudfoot was showing signs of damage with his car out of shape going through the corner, but another caution came out with 5 laps to go as several incidents happened throughout the field behind. Proudfoot stayed out again for the restart and was able to hold onto the lead as he took the checkered flag.

Brandyn Proudfoot officially became the season champion as the night came to a close, with 842 points, over William Hargreaves who put up a strong fight through the season coming in 2nd place. Season 11 starts next Friday as the Bootleg Racing League moves to Eldora Speedway resetting the point standings and giving all drivers a fresh start at the next championship battle starting on March 25th broadcast at 7:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!

BRL DSS S10 R10 Recap

11 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 10 | Round 10
Dirt Street Stock Series | Limaland Motorsports Park

Brandyn Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports took the win in a photo finish tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Limaland Motorsports Park beating out Lon Franks and Hunter Hill. “The first time I [saw] it I noticed whenever I’d wiggle on the back stretch, [Franks] was reacting to it and that was my first hint that he was kind of worried about my pace and the fact that I was behind him. So, I knew for a fact he was defensive but really it was just so hard to pass.”, Proudfoot commented as he talked us through the final few laps behind Lon Franks, “The top was just so, so dominate and even if the slightest window opened drivers would try to stick their noses in and I just tried to stay patient for as long as I could.”

Jason Best started the night off taking the pole in qualifying with a fast lap of 15.026 beating Jim Reavis by 0.011. William Hargreaves secured 3rd at 15.079 giving the front starting positions in the three heat races to these drivers. Best and Lon Franks battled hard over the lead in the first heat with Best able to hold Franks off all the way to the checkered flag. Reavis, similar to Best, held Stephen Spies off around all 6 laps in the second heat. In the third heat, Hargreaves took off to an early lead. Proudfoot started in the rear of the field and caught up to Jason Menda in 2nd place, beating him to the line by 0.131 and getting the last transfer spot into the feature.

J R Shepherd had a strong launch in the C Main event pulling away from the field by over 1.3 seconds as Jason Menda and Eli Shaffer battled hard banging doors over 2nd place. Hunter Hill took the checkered flag in the B Main event by over 2.5 seconds as Bobby Hayes and John Wilson battled side by side over 2nd and just behind them Matt Shinoski and Ryan Senneker battled side by side over 4th place.

Jason Best took the field to the green in the feature event with Jim Reavis to his inside struggling to find the speed down low. Lon Franks was pressuring for the lead along the high side as the pack went single file up along the wall. Lap 10 saw the first caution of the night as William Hargreaves threw a slider over Jim Reavis which resulted in Reavis catching the access gate on the outside of the track sending Reavis to the back. Best unfortunately got turned around shortly after the restart on lap 12 by getting pinched between Lon Franks and Brandyn Proudfoot which spun him to the inside of the track without bring out a caution. Franks luckily retained the lead on the restart as the field stacked back up.

The second caution came out on lap 13 as Bobby Hayes and Eli Shaffer came together coming out of turn four and both running hard into the outside wall. Franks was leading the field as the race restarted again with William Hargreaves and Proudfoot close behind single file. Franks led the field to lap 24 where they first encountered lap traffic. Chris Hazlip running in 17th went to the high side of turn three as the leaders were entering behind him and Franks couldn’t avoid getting turned around in the middle of the track bringing out the third caution.

Another strong launch from Franks as the leaders again went single file along the top as the caution came out on lap 26 as several cars got together in the middle of the pack. Proudfoot took advantage of the next restart jumping past Hargreaves and taking 2nd place as another caution came out on lap 28 when a checkup in the pack brought several drivers together. Again, a caution was thrown as the field tried to get going again with another checkup causing contact between drivers in the pack. As the drivers throttled into the next restart, Hargreaves and Franks came together in the front with Hargreaves going sideways in front of Proudfoot blocking the track. This incident collected most of the field behind them as drivers went every which way to try to avoid.

The eighth and final caution of the night came out with only 8 laps remaining as Ryan Senneker and Joe Segalla made contact going into turn three sending Segalla around on the track. Franks led the field to the green as they restarted on lap 33 as Proudfoot started challenging for the lead right away. Franks dove down low coming out of the final corner anticipating a slider from Proudfoot that didn’t come as Proudfoot held the high line and rode the momentum off the cushion to the checkered flag beating Franks to the line by 0.093.

Brandyn Proudfoot further built onto his commanding lead in the point standings now at a total of 761 points and 165 points ahead of William Hargreaves in 2nd place. Lon Franks holds onto 3rd place trailing behind Hargreaves by 45 points. Billy Northcutt sits 82 points behind Franks in 4th place ahead of Jason Best separated by only 15 points. Proudfoot is the unofficial season champion as we look to the final round next week at Knoxville Raceway on March 18th broadcast live at 7PM EST only on the Virtual Grip Network!

BRL DSS S10 R9 Recap

04 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 10 | Round 9
Dirt Street Stock Series | Dirt Track at Charlotte

Brandyn Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports took the win tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at the Dirt Track at Charlotte ahead of Carl Kilgore and William Hargreaves after an intense battle for the lead ended with unfortunate contact. The field was able to run the feature without a single caution flag being shown and Proudfoot commented, “Not many people on a track that black can go caution free and whenever everybody has their heads together, we as a community can definitely race caution free and yeah there’s some doors here and there but ultimately this community’s just so great.” Proudfoot finished up with a great show of sportsmanship telling us, “[This was] not the way I wanted it at all. Carl, it should’ve been your win or at the very least a good battle to the end there.”

William Hargreaves took the pole to start off the evening with a fast lap of 18.581 ahead of Carl Kilgore and Billy Northcutt. Brandyn Proudfoot, the defending champion qualified in 4th place at 18.661. This put Hargreaves and Proudfoot together in the first heat where they battled around all 6 laps with Hargreaves able to take the checkered flag ahead of Proudfoot by 0.120 coming across the line. The second heat was led out by Carl Kilgore with Lon Franks to his outside. Kilgore ran a defensive line to hold Franks at bay to take the win. The third and final heat of the evening had Billy Northcutt taking the lead from the top with Christopher Hill to his inside. Hill was under immediate pressure from John Heyn close behind him as Northcutt was able to pull away from the field. As Hill and Heyn fought on the top, Bobby Hayes snuck past in the last corner on the inside line to take 2nd place away from both drivers.

The C-Main started off with Jim Reavis leading the field and Hill again starting to the inside. Reavis had a strong launch off the green and held the lead running the high side as Hill fought back, but unable to keep pace Hill went on the defensive as J R Shepherd started pressuring for 2nd. Reavis was able to pull away as Hill and Shepherd race nose to bumper around the outside wall with Jackie Whaley in the #720 machine looking to their inside. Reavis took the win with Hill able to hold onto 2nd in the end. The B-Main was led to the green by Hunter Hill with Glenn Townsend to his inside. Townsend struggled getting suck low as Jason Menda got alongside him on the outside wall. The two drivers battled over 2nd place until contact was made coming out of the corner sending Townsend around and collecting several cars behind them as John Heyn and Stephen Spies benefited most from it as they moved up to 2nd and 3rd respectively from the chaos. Hill took the checkered with a strong lead followed by Heyn and Spies.

Hargreaves led the field to the green in the 40-lap feature event choosing to start on the outside line with Kilgore to his inside. A good launch throughout the field kept all 18 drivers stacked tight as they moved into lap 3 where Kilgore made contact with the outside wall in front of Proudfoot causing a checkup and a chain reaction knocking several drivers off their lines, but all were able to recover and continue on. Northcutt took advantage from the inside line taking away 2nd place as Proudfoot did the same along the outside moving up into 3rd. As the drivers pasted the halfway point, Proudfoot had cleared Northcutt taking 2nd place and Kilgore was back in the fight pressuring for 3rd place along the high side with Lon Franks following close behind.

The race had a 5-way battle for the lead as Kilgore, Proudfoot, Hargreaves, Northcutt, and Franks all tried different lines looking for speed as Kilgore held the cushion still crossing the line as the leader with Proudfoot in 2nd. With only 15 laps to go the lead battle was down to just Kilgore and Proudfoot while Hargreaves had fallen back over a second behind still in 3rd. Kilgore continued to run the cushion holding off Proudfoot until Proudfoot threw a slider on lap 32 that didn’t work out as the two drivers came together in the corner sending Kilgore to the inside of the track. Able to recover, Kilgore fought back up to 2nd place before the end with Brandyn Proudfoot taking the checkered flag.

Proudfoot further extends his gap in the point standings over Hargreaves now with 133 points between them with only two rounds remaining in the season making Proudfoot the unofficial season 10 champion. Lon Franks and Billy Northcut are still in a tight battle for 3rd in the point standings with only 8 points between them with a similar situation with Jason Best and Jim Reavis closely contesting for 5th place. Next week the Bootleg Racing League heads over to the Limaland Motorsports Park to settle these battles and being broadcast live on March 11th at 7PM EST only on the Virtual Grip Network.

BRL DSS S10 R8 Recap

25 Feb 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 10 | Round 8
Dirt Street Stock Series | Lanier National Speedway

Carl Kilgore IV of CFM E-Sports took his first win of the season in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Lanier National Speedway beating Brandyn Proudfoot and Lon Franks to the line using the high line to carry him ahead. Kilgore gambled on the outside line in the final laps of the race when most drivers were preferring the midline tonight and it paid off in the end as he tells us, “We knew it would come in sooner or later, or if it would come in at all, but I figured right on that last caution I went up to the top of the racetrack and I kind of felt the cushion up there. So, I done made my mind up that if someone got under me that I would go ahead and try it and [Franks] got under me coming out of [turn] 4 so we said what the hell, we’ll send it.”

As the clock ran down for qualifying, Carl Kilgore ran a fast lap of 16.273 at the last moment taking the pole away from Brandyn Proudfoot, who was on top of the boards with a 16.291, for the evening. Kilgore was able to hold the lead and pull away from the field in the first heat while Jason Best and Stephen Spies battled over 2nd place behind him with Spies taking the 2nd position in the end when Best went wide in turn four and got shuffled to the back of the pack. Brandyn Proudfoot took the green in the evening’s second heat race and was under immediate pressure from Jim Reavis from behind who stayed within a car length all the way to the checkered but wasn’t able to get around Proudfoot in the end.

Billy Northcutt had a good jump for the lead in the final heat of the evening ahead of Jackie Whaley with J R Shepherd just behind them and led all 6 laps without incident. J R Shepherd lead the field in the C Main but was under pressure from Hunter Hill to his outside and Jason Best close behind. In the end, Shepherd wasn’t able to make the inside line work as Hill beat him to the line by 0.021 for the win. Christopher Hill had a strong launch off the start in the B Main event with Chris Davis to his outside. Justin Simmons and Lon Franks battled side by side over 3rd place for the first two laps with Franks taking the position while Davis was able to use the outside to work around Hill on lap 5 as Franks tried to split the middle going 3-wide. Hill relented letting Franks by who then put Davis under pressure for the lead trying to use the inside line but wasn’t able to take the win as Davis came across the line only 0.015 ahead of him.

Carl Kilgore led the field as the green flag came out in the 40-lap feature event with Proudfoot immediately diving deep to the inside trying to get between Kilgore and the inside wall but wasn’t able to make the line work as Kilgore continued to lead lap after lap holding off the series’ previous season champion. As they crossed the line on lap 10, Proudfoot tucked in behind Kilgore to bid his time and wait for an opportunity to present itself.

As the battle for the lead continued past lap 20, Northcutt started to put pressure on Proudfoot for 2nd place with Stephen Spies waiting only a car length behind Northcutt ready to take advantage of the situation. The front six drivers were all lined up nose to bumper waiting to see who would move first when the caution came out for the first time of the night on lap 27 as Spies and Northcutt made contact going into turn 3 sending both drivers around as well as Jim Reavis behind them and dropping them back in the field. On the restart, a second caution came out almost immediately as the field got jammed up in turn two and Reavis was again spun around sending him to the rear.

Off the second restart, Kilgore held the race lead with Proudfoot trying to get around to his outside as Lon Franks dove below him to take away 2nd and then go after Kilgore himself. With only 10 laps to go, the lead pack went 3-wide as each driver tried a different line to gain the advantage which again went in favor of Kilgore to the outside as Proudfoot and Franks again started to battle over 2nd. The battle allowed Kilgore to pull away as he took the win tonight with over a 0.8 second lead over Proudfoot and Franks at Lanier National Speedway.

Brandyn Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports still leads in the points standings with 604 points ahead of William Hargreaves, who didn’t compete tonight, by 131 points which makes Proudfoot the unofficial season champion with only three races left in the season not leaving enough time for anyone to possibly unseat him. Lon Franks sits in 3rd with 407 points and Billy Northcutt is just behind him in 4th place with 399 points. Next week, the Bootleg Racing League set their sights to the Dirt Track at Charlotte for the 9th round on March 4th at 7:00PM EST broadcast live only on the Virtual Grip Network.

BRL DSS S10 R7 Recap

18 Feb 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 10 | Round 7
Dirt Street Stock Series | Fairbury Speedway

Lon Franks takes his second win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Fairbury Speedway beating Brandyn Proudfoot and Jason Best to the line after 40 very chaotic laps. Lon Franks started the evening in 3rd place behind Hargreaves and wasted no time claiming the lead for himself while the rest of the field battled over positions through 11 restarts as Fairbury proved to be a tough track to tame.

“I was trying my best. I was a little nervous every time we had a restart there. We had a lot of cautions.”, Franks told us after his victory tonight, “I knew every time we went green [Proudfoot] had at least one shot if not two to pull a slider which he did once or twice. I was just hoping. Hoping and praying.” Franks was able to get a good launch off each restart and guard against Proudfoot’s attempts to advance in the end making him the 3rd driver this season to have multiple wins, now tied at 2 wins with Proudfoot and Hargreaves.

The season championship is looking more certain for Brandyn Proudfoot as his luck holds out as the season goes on. Now sitting at 524 points, Proudfoot is now 51 points over William Hargreaves in 2nd place. Hargreaves started up front in 2nd but came home tonight in 17th place after getting caught up in an incident with only 3 laps to go. Only a severe upset will unseat Proudfoot from the lead over the remaining four rounds in the season.

BRL DSS S10 R6 Recap

11 Feb 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 10 | Round 6
Dirt Street Stock Series | Lernerville Speedway

Brandyn Proudfoot of Jim Beaver eSports takes his second win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Lernerville Speedway beating Lon Franks and William Hargreaves to the line. Hargreaves struggled as he was caught out of the preferred line on restarts and wasn’t able to battle with Proudfoot often, while Proudfoot was forced to drive defensively to hold off Franks at the end.

Proudfoot ran the top through the majority of the race but decided to change it up at the end. “I didn’t have the tires really to run the bottom because I stayed on the top real hard”, Proudfoot commented as he started running a slider line through turns one and two while the rest of the field ran high or mid lines around track. “A little bit of a defense, but also that’s where I thought the line was going there at the end.” Being able to read the track is a strong advantage that Proudfoot exploits each week for sure.

The season is now officially half completed, and Proudfoot takes the lead back from Hargreaves with 448 points over Hargreaves’ 437 points. Billy Northcutt, who didn’t compete tonight, still holds onto 3rd place with 341 points, but may be too far behind at this point in the season to battle for the championship without a serious upset for the two leading drivers. Proudfoot and Hargreaves head into the seventh round being the only drivers to have multiple wins so far this season.