BRL SLM S17 R7 Recap

07 May 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 17 | Round 7
Super Late Model Series | The Bullring at Las Vegas
Sim Racing Software: iRacing

Justin Morton with Total Downforce Racing claimed his 2nd win in a row tonight with the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at The Bullring at Las Vegas ahead of Mathew Thunhorst and Kenny Kibbey. “The car was actually really good tonight probably the best driving car we’ve had all season.”, Morton commented. With his second win in a row Morton is within reach of contesting for the championship, and he shared his thoughts on that, “Kicking myself at the start of the season for having a bad start, but it is what it is, and I’ll see what I can do to make the best out of it.”

Kurt Smith took the green flag for the field with Michael LeMieux to his outside. Austin Boelke wasted no time from 3rd taking the inside line to overtake LeMieux for 2nd. Mathew Thunhorst and Kenny Kibbey went three wide forcing Lemieux to the far outside to get positions where they could with the track being very difficult to pass around. Kibbey found himself in position to get to the inside of Boelke and quickly took 2nd place away with Justin Morton and Thunhorst tucking in behind shuffling Boelke back to 5th ahead of Joe Segalla as the front runners then set their focus on Smith still holding the lead.

Kibbey was able to dive below Smith and Smith was shuffled back as Kibbey, Morton, Thunhorst, and Boelke quickly overtook pushing Smith back to 5th. Kibbey tried to pull away from the field, but Morton and Thunhorst kept pace staying close behind with Boelke choosing to save early in 4th to attack later on in the race. Morton got under Kibbey taking away the lead 20 laps into the race leaving a gap for Thunhorst to follow knocking Kibbey back to 3rd.

40 laps into the race Kibbey got back to the inside of Thunhorst reclaiming 2nd position as Boelke slid going through the corner after contact with Smith sending Boelke to the rear of the field. The caution flag came out from the incident placing Kibbey on the outside line with Thunhorst in the position to take 2nd place back to his inside. This also placed James Lowe behind Thunhorst in position to get himself in the battle for the lead. Thunhorst retook the position, but Kibbey slid down in time to hold onto 3rd ahead of Lowe with Donny Moore rounding out the top 5 as the drivers crossed into the second half of the race.

The leading battle split with Morton and Thunhorst battling while pulling away from the battle between Kibbey and Lowe as the drivers settled into a groove with the laps counting down. Jason Menda was trying to get inside of the top five and started pressuring Moore who was leading the majority of the field over 3 seconds behind the leaders. With 30 laps remaining, Menda was able to take away the inside line overtaking Moore and running away with 5th place. Boelke had climbed back into the top 10 working over car after car trying to recover what he could before the end.

Coming up on 20 laps to go, another caution was thrown out over the field bringing Kibbey back into a good place to take 2nd place away from Thunhorst. Morton continued to lead as the green flag came out and racing resumed. Thunhorst cleared ahead of Kibbey holding 2nd. Boelke fought from the outside getting into 7th before finding an opening on the inside line and aggressively continued his climb through the field going into the final 10 laps. Boelke overtook into 5th place as Thunhorst chased Morton across the line with Morton taking the checkered flag by a mere 0.202 ahead of Thunhorst at the line.

Kenny Kibbey still leads in the point standings with 268 points. Justin Morton closed the gap to the lead to only 10 points with Austin Boelke close behind with 249 points. Mathew Thunhorst and Joe Segalla round out the top 5 drivers of the season going into the final 4 rounds. The Bootleg Racing League now heads over to Lanier National Speedway on May 14th with all of the action broadcast live at 8:55PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!

BRL SLM S17 R5 Recap

23 Apr 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 17 | Round 5
Super Late Model Series | North Wilkesboro Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing

Mathew Thunhorst took the checkered flag for the second week in a row tonight with the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway ahead of Austin Boelke and Justin Morton. “It was kind of a chess match… just kept working at him working at him and [Boelke] wasn’t leaving a whole lot open”, Thunhorst commented in regard to his battle for the lead, “Trying to avoid mistakes, trying to focus on [Boelke] having [Morton] and [Kibbey] right behind me the whole time.”

Donny Moore led the field to the green to start off the night’s action with Austin Boelke taking advantage as he made a quick clear over Jeffrey Hardin to take 2nd place away. Kenny Kibbey and Mathew Thunhorst followed on Hardin’s bumper running single file with Justin Morton behind them. Thunhorst was able to take away the inside line to overtake Kibbey into 4th place with Morton holding tight on Thunhorst forcing Kibbey to settle back into line back in 6th going into the 10th lap.

The top 8 drivers started to pull away from the field with Michael Goodman and Joe Segalla running at the tail of the lead pack. 15 laps into the race, Boelke dove deep to the inside and pushed Moore to the outside line shuffling him back as Boelke claimed the lead ahead of Thunhorst. Moore tried to hold on from the outside, but wasn’t able to as he fell back to 6th ahead of Goodman before rejoining the pack. Michael Lemieux caught the lead pack and started battling with Segalla over 8th place.

Stephen Spies followed Lemieux’s advance and overtook both drivers, pushing Segalla back to 10th behind Lemieux going into the 30th lap of the evening. Adam Schoen made a hard charge to the lead pack and was able to clear ahead of Spies. Boelke continued to hold the lead over Thunhorst who followed close behind patiently waiting for his opportunity. Going into the second half of the 100-lap event, drivers aggressively pushed trying to get track position before tire wear became an issue.

Boelke, Thunhorst, Morton, and Kibbey ran single file in the front pulling away from the field by over 2 seconds as Thunhorst started making more aggressive attempts to take away the lead but unable to hold the momentum to get under Boelke. Hardin found himself running alone in 5th place in the middle of a 3 second gap between Kibbey in 4th and Schoen in 6th. The laps continued to count down with Boelke holding off Thunhorst with 30 laps remaining as the lead pack had caught up to lap traffic.

After an intense stretch, Thunhorst was able to get into the inside of Boelke with 18 laps remaining. Boelke fought back from the outside but couldn’t maintain and settled into 2nd ahead of Morton as Thunhorst started to pull away. Going into the final 10 laps, Thunhorst had built the gap to over one second ahead of Boelke as Kibbey continued to pressure Morton for 3rd. Kibbey wasn’t able to capitalize on Morton before Thunhorst took the checkered flag and became the first repeat winner of the season.

Kenny Kibbey maintains his lead in the point standings with 191 points followed by Justin Morton, up from 3rd place now 13 points behind the lead. Austin Boelke moved up into 3rd place with 176 points with Michael Goodman and Mathew Thunhorst rounding out the top 5 drivers this season. The Bootleg Racing League heads over to Southern National Speedway for the next round of the season on April 30th with all of the action broadcast at 8:55PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!

BRL GN S9 R10 Recap

12 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 9 | Round 10
Grand National Series | Irwindale Speedway

Austin Boelke with Different Path Motorsports came home with his first win of the season tonight with the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series at Irwindale Speedway ahead of Justin Morton and Mathew Thunhorst. Boelke took the lead on the second lap and maintained it for the remainder of the race protecting the outside line for 99 of the 100 laps. “It feels really good. It’s been a long time coming since I’ve won another oval race. I haven’t won a single one this entire season, so it’s been really nice.”, Boelke commented amidst victory celebrations, “It feels really good to be in victory lane again.”

Rubin Altice led the field to the green at the start of the evening with Austin Boelke to his outside. The outside line around Irwindale Speedway is the preferred line giving the advantage to Boelke right away and Boelke took the lead away on the 2nd lap with Mathew Thunhorst close behind overtaking Altice as well. J R Shepherd started further back in the field and was struggling to find his way forward and settled into 8th place behind James Lowe to wait for an opportunity for forward progression.

Kurt Smith lost his car coming out of turn four on the 8th lap bringing out the first caution of the night. The restart put Boelke to the inside of Thunhorst, but a strong launch gave Boelke a chance to clear Thunhorst and continued to lead. Shepherd moved from 8th to 5th behind Justin Morton quickly as the inside line couldn’t find the speed below him and were forced to fall back. Every driver scrambled to get single file along the outside wall to hold onto what positions they could.

Jeffrey Hardin and Ryan Senneker battled over 10th place when contact between them sent Senneker around in the middle of the track on lap 24 and brought out the second caution. Boelke again led the field on the restart from the inside line with Thunhorst to his outside. Another great launch cleared Thunhorst as Boelke held onto the lead along the wall. Jason Menda was caught out and started dropping back to 6th from 3rd able to quickly slide into line ahead of James Lowe causing a checkup behind. Shepherd still held onto 5th as the field lined back up around the track.

The top 5 drivers were pulling away from the rest of the pack as they approached the halfway point in the race and the 3rd caution of the night came out when Todd Listen got loose coming out of turn two. Listen was able to recover but had dropped below the speed threshold on track bringing out the caution. Boelke again launched early enough to slid up in front of Thunhorst for the lead. This time Shepherd found himself stuck to the inside and made a quick move to clear Menda for 4th place that caused a hard checkup from Menda sending him back to 7th.

Kenny Kibbey made contact with the wall coming through turn four soon after the restart which gave Shepherd the chance to take 3rd place away. Thunhorst took notice as he showed signs of his patience running thin with Boelke with a tap to Boelke’s rear bumper as Shepherd quickly closed the gap between himself and Thunhorst. The top 5 drivers again pulled away from the field albeit with obvious signs of tire wear amongst the lead pack. On lap 68, the stewards threw out the 4th caution of the night. Chris Wolfson made contact with the outside wall going into the turn three and made hard contact with the track exit sending himself spinning back into traffic collecting several other drivers behind him.

Boelke again cleared Thunhorst off the restart to take away the outside line. Shepherd was stuck on the inside as Morton closed the door and Shepherd slid in behind in 4th place. With 25 laps remaining, drivers all throughout the field were showing more aggression battling for every position. Thunhorst also felt the pressure as he tried to get around the inside of Boelke but couldn’t hold it giving Morton 2nd place. Shepherd tried to slam the door on Thunhorst, but Thunhorst secured 3rd as Shepherd made contact with the wall and had to drop back holding onto 4th place.

The 5th caution was thrown out as Senneker spun to the inside of the track coming out of turn four. The restart had Thunhorst in 3rd place to the inside of Shepherd as Boelke cleared Morton for the lead. Shepherd stayed tight on Morton to deny Thunhorst a way up to the wall. Thunhorst battled for several laps but eventually had to concede and slide in behind Shepherd. There was heartbreak on the final lap for Shepherd as Thunhorst dove to the inside trying to get a nose ahead, but contact was made between the two championship contenders that sent Shepherd around dropping him back to 14th as Boelke took the checkered flag. Boelke became the only driver this season to claim a win other than Thunhorst and Shepherd with his near flawless run tonight.

Mathew Thunhorst leads in the point standings now by 15 points over J R Shepherd. Justin Morton holds onto 3rd with 369 which is closer to Shepherd than Shepherd is to Thunhorst with only 15 points separating them. Austin Boelke is in 4th place with 330 points after tonight’s win and Adam Schoen is tied with Ruben Altice for 5th, both at 303 points. The final round of the season will take place at New Smyrna Speedway next week and Shepherd has an uphill battle to close the gap in the standings. Catch the action live on March 19th at 8:55PM EST only on the Virtual Grip Network!

BRL GN S9 R9 Recap

05 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 9 | Round 9
Grand National Series | Martinsville Speedway

J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports took his 4th win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series at Martinsville Speedway beating Adam Schoen in the drag race out of turn four crossing the line ahead by only 0.020. Kenny Kibbey took 3rd with Mathew Thunhorst finishing in 4th. “Extremely close race there at the end. Just first off, Adam ran an amazing race tonight so, you know, [if] that last caution hadn’t come out there’d been no way that anybody could’ve challenged him.”, Shepherd commented. “I just decided I had two bad weeks in a row where late restarts got me, and I wasn’t going to let this one do it.”

Donny Moore led the field to the green starting the night off with Adam Schoen to his outside. Schoen wasted no time diving deep to the inside and took the inside line and the lead away from Moore. Kenny Kibbey found himself stuck on the outside with Jason Menda and J R Shepherd not giving him any space to move down into but was able to maintain a strong pace until tucking in between Shepherd and Justin Morton in 6th.

Contact between Ryan Senneker and Bruce Pearson coming through turns one and two on lap 7 resulted in Senneker facing the wrong direction on track but didn’t bring out a caution as Schoen continued to lead the field. Menda and Rubin Altice made contact door to door on the 11th lap going into turn one when Menda got loose. As both drivers recovered Shepherd took advantage to take 4th away from Menda. Menda then got shuffled as several drivers followed Shepherd through with Menda finding himself in 9th.

Schoen and Moore, who was still holding onto 2nd, were able to pull away from the rest of the field as Altice refused to give up the inside line in 3rd but wasn’t able to keep pace with the leaders ahead. Shepherd decided to make his move on Altice diving deep below Altice going into turn one on lap 21. Altice tried to pinch Shepherd down, but the two drivers came together with Altice going high up the track and found himself dropping back on the outside of a long line of tightly packed cars to his inside.

30 laps into the race, Schoen still had a dominate lead with Donny Moore dropping back lap after lap and Shepherd still 2 seconds behind in 3rd. Kibbey, Morton, and Thunhorst followed single file in 4th through 6th position another second behind Shepherd. Shepherd caught up to Moore still running 2 seconds behind Schoen as they approached lap 50 putting pressure on Moore for 2nd place.

The first caution of the night came out on lap 56 when Todd Liston and Joe Segalla came together as Segalla went for a pass on the inside and Liston got loose chasing his car to the inside and into Segalla giving both drivers significant damage. Stacking back up, Shepherd now found himself starting directly behind Schoen with Moore to the outside as they came to the green. With a strong launch, Moore stayed alongside Schoen with Moore getting a nose ahead as they cross the line. Moore couldn’t hold the outside however as Schoen started to gain with Shepherd protecting the inside to take away 2nd.

Coming through turn four on lap 68, Morton was sent hard into the outside wall sending him to the pits as the race stayed green. Shepherd stayed close behind Schoen with Kibbey and Thunhorst all within one second of Schoen going into lap 75 as the rest of the field couldn’t keep pace dropping back over 2 seconds from the lead battle. Schoen started to again pull away from Shepherd with 20 laps to go as he consistently ran the faster lap over everyone else on track.

With 15 laps to go, the second caution of the night came out. James Lowe was running behind Jason Menda when an unfortunate wheel hop in turn three sent Lowe spinning around in the middle of the track. The field stacked back together and with Shepherd and Thunhorst both on the outside line in 2nd and 4th respectively. Schoen led the field to the green with Kibbey behind him and 10 laps remaining. Schoen had a strong launch but wasn’t able to get ahead of Shepherd as they stayed door to door. Schoen cleared Shepherd with 6 laps to go but Shepherd again tried the outside line not willing to follow Schoen to the checkered.

As the white flag came out, Shepherd had the led over Schoen with neither driver willing to back off. When the checkered flag waved it was Shepherd in the lead ahead of Schoen by 0.020 in the closest finish of the season with Kenny Kibbey taking 3rd followed across the line by Mathew Thunhorst. “Just unfortunate that that caution came out because that was going to be an extremely, extremely good win for [Schoen].”, Shepherd shared with us after the win.

This closes the points battle with Thunhorst now leading by only 4 points over Shepherd with two weeks remaining. Next week, the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series heads over to Irwindale Speedway to continue the epic battle between Thunhorst and Shepherd. All of the action will be broadcast live on March 12th only on the Virtual Grip Network.

BRL GN S9 R8 Recap

26 Feb 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 9 | Round 8
Grand National Series | Lanier National Speedway

Mathew Thunhorst took the checkered flag for the 5th time this season in the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series at Lanier National Speedway with over a second lead ahead of Justin Morton and Kenny Kibbey. “I just got really fortunate with [Morton] and [Shepherd] battling and that allowed me to get out there.”, Thunhorst commented about the struggles tonight and coming out on top, “See if I can give these ARCA cars, which are my favorite cars on the service, a proper send off in the championship here so, you know, definitely makes me feel better because I thought [Shepherd] was going to win here and, you know, with all the hard racing things got messed up and I got fortunate enough to get out front there.”

Joe Segalla started the evening off on the pole and led the field to the green flag with a strong start ahead of Stephen Spies with Justin Morton, Mathew Thunhorst, and J R Shepherd sitting in 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively as the drivers scrambled to get down to the inside line quickly going single file. Going into lap 13, Shepherd tried to overtake Thunhorst on the inside, but both drivers got loose going through the corners and neither driver had the advantage. As they battled over the next 4 laps, Thunhorst actually tried to advance around the outside of Morton for 3rd as their battle caught Morton’s rear but couldn’t hold the outside line and slid back to 6th behind Mike Holloway.

As the laps counted away, Spies struggled to find a way to get the lead away from Segalla. The first caution of the night came out on lap 25 as Chris Davis spun his car to the inside trying to set up a pass on Bruce Pearson for 13th place. Off the restart, Segalla was still able to hold off Morton as Spies was stranded on the outside line and dropped back quickly to 5th but was saved by the second caution of the night on lap 35. Adam Schoen spun out going through turn 3 and wasn’t able to get straightened out before the stewards threw out the caution.

Segalla got another strong start off the restart and held the inside line making Morton try to use the outside line to advance. The two drivers were door to door for 15 laps while Shepherd and Thunhorst were stuck behind waiting to see how the battle ended as neither line seemed to have the advantage. Segalla finally had to concede the battle when his tires spun going into turn 3 which sent him into Thunhorst. The contact was minor and helped recover Segalla from the spin as the lead battle began anew between Morton and Thunhorst and Segalla found himself stuck to the outside and was shuffled back in the field.

Justin Morton’s tires were showing signs of excessive wear from the battle with Segalla as Thunhorst made his way to the front on lap 59 and began to build up a gap ahead. Shepherd tried to follow Thunhorst on the inside line but found himself stuck in a battle with Morton instead and Thunhorst continued to pull away before Shepherd was able to overtake Morton. Spies then also tried to use the inside line with Jason Menda and Kenny Kibbey in tow overtaking Morton one after another dropping Morton back to 6th. With 25 laps to go, Kibbey made a pass on Menda and Morton took advantage of the opportunity sending his car in deep to move back up to 5th. Morton then dove deep again on Kibbey for 4th and was scored ahead as they battled when the 3rd caution of the night came out.

Spies lost the rear end coming out of turn 2 with only 21 laps remaining taking him out of contention for a podium finish and bringing out the caution. The 3rd restart had Morton in 3rd place sitting behind Mathew Thunhorst on the inside line and Shepherd out on the outside line in 2nd. Morton made sure to stay tight on Thunhorst denying Shepherd the inside line and taking 2nd for himself with 10 laps to go. Kibbey saw the opportunity and dove in tight behind Morton battling Shepherd for 4th as Shepherd struggled to hold the outside line. Neither driver was willing to concede until the final 2 laps of the race when Shepherd had to defend against Menda from behind. With all of the battles going on behind him, Thunhorst was again able to pull away and crossed the line with over a second lead on Morton.

Thunhorst continues to stretch his lead in the point standings with 317 points over J R Shepherd now by 7 points while Justin Morton sits close behind in 3rd place with 299 points. Shepherd’s chances to retake the points lead are quickly running out as the season moves into the 9th round at Martinsville Speedway where Donny Moore will start on the pole after finishing this evening in 8th place, the final inversion spot for the Bootleg Racing League’s grid, and you can catch all of the action broadcast live on March 5th at 8:55PM EST only on the Virtual Grip Network.

BRL GN S9 R7 Recap

19 Feb 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 9 | Round 7
Grand National Series | Myrtle Beach Speedway

Mathew Thunhorst claims his 4th win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series at Myrtle Beach Speedway ahead of Justin Morton and Austin Boelke. With this win, Thunhorst now has the most wins of any driver this season with Shepherd taking the remaining 3 wins of the season. Thunhorst took the lead from Morton on lap 65 by pinching Morton from the outside line. Shepherd came home in 4th tonight as he struggled trying to get by Morton which led to him losing a long battle with Austin Boelke.

Even if there is a buffer, I got to race like [Shepherd] is right behind me still. Four points sounds like a big buffer in this league, but it’s not. So, you know, just got to make sure to protect and pad that point lead whenever I can.”, Thunhorst commented after his win tonight, “Got lucky enough to get a little bit of breathing room, so if I make a mistake, you know, I can have the room to not lose the championship lead, but still got to be aggressive. Still got to go out there and try to earn this thing.”

Mathew Thunhorst holds onto the points lead for the fourth week in a row now at 277 points and 4 points over J R Shepherd in 2nd place. Justin Morton still sits in 3rd with 260 points with Austin Boelke close behind with 255 points. If either Thunhorst of Shepherd fail to finish a race before the end of the season, both Morton and Boelke are still within reach to jump to the front with a 30-point swing. Tim Shinoski came home in 9th tonight and moves into 5th place in the point standings with 218 points.

BRL GN S9 R6 Recap

12 Feb 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 9 | Round 6
Grand National Series | Southern National Speedway

J R Shepherd of Different Path Motorsports comes away tonight with his third victory of the season in the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series battling Mathew Thunhorst and Justin Morton across the line after a late race caution lined the field back and went green with only 7 laps to go. Austin Boelke led the first 56 laps until Shepherd was able to get the better jump off a restart and claim the lead for the remaining laps of the event.

“This is one of those tracks that you really wish you had lane choice on the restarts”, Shepherd commented. The outside line seemed to be the preferred lane for making passes late in the race. “If you’re starting on the outside and you get any kind of a decent restart it’s a huge advantage and it was tough. I was just waiting for [Thunhorst] to be able to poke to the outside there.”

Mathew Thunhorst holds the lead in the point standings with 237 points as we pass the halfway point in the season. Shepherd follows closely behind trailing by only 1 point after his win tonight. Justin Morton sits in 3rd with 221 points with Austin Boelke in 4th with 217 points. James Lowe rounds out the top 5 in the points and is very much within reach of the championship with a little luck as he currently stands at 202 points, 35 points off the lead.

BRL GN S9 R5 Recap

05 Feb 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 9 | Round 5
Grand National Series | South Boston Speedway

Mathew Thunhorst took home his third season victory tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series at South Boston Speedway beating J R Shepherd and Justin Morton to the line after a close battle between the top four drivers to include James Lowe, who caught the lead battle two separate times throughout the race. Morton took the lead early on in the race and held off Shepherd and Thunhorst for 94 laps until Thunhorst was able to take advantage of a mistake to jump from 3rd to the lead in a three wide battle.

“That was really intense”, Thunhorst exclaimed after the event. Tonight’s winner says it’s all about knowing when to make moves and when to hold back, “You try to take opportunities when they show and when they don’t show you don’t try to send it and that’s kind of the big lesson I’ve learned over the seasons.” That showed tonight as he patiently waited in 3rd behind Shepherd to take advantage late in the race.

Thunhorst holds the points lead with his win tonight with 198 points, now 2 points over Shepherd and 9 points over Kenny Kibbey, who finished in 5th. Morton holds onto 4th place with 183 points and Austin Boelke, who came away with a 6th place finish, slides back to 5th in the standings 3 points behind. With a very close call between Shepherd, Thunhorst, and Lowe almost taking all of them out of the race near the end, we’ve seen how quickly any of these drivers could potentially fall out of championship contention with one mistake.