PGRL S1 R2 Recap
22 Feb 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 1 | Round 2
Premier Series | Auto Club Speedway
Jeff Ward with Graafix LC Motorsports took the checkered flag in a one lap shootout tonight in the Going Back to Cali 200 presented by SnoopDawgyDon on Twitch.tv in the Pretty Good Racing League at the Auto Club Speedway beating Thomas George and Mike Rasimas to the line. Ward, who started in 21st place, took the lead from a caution with 7 laps to go jumping from 4th place when the two leaders at the time, Marc Cohn and Chad Mikosz, both got loose battling each other coming out of turn four.
“For the most part we got through there unscathed.”, Ward shared with us after claiming his win, “I just knew we had the tires. We had to get up there, we had like 13 laps to go, and I had one more chance there to make my move on those tires before they start to even out.” As many drivers tonight struggled with handling the car, Thomas George enjoys the Next Gen as he tells us, “They’re definitely more difficult to drive, but for me that’s a good thing. I like cars that drive like this.”
Tonight’s race raises a question: Is the Auto Club Speedway too tough to tame or is the NASCAR Next Gen Cup Car too difficult to recover from a spin? The main cause of cautions tonight were the cars getting loose coming out of the turns and drivers not being able to recover from the resulting spin often over correcting into the wall. Many drivers in the end decided to lock the car down rather than attempt to salvage positions in that situation so the drivers seem to be noticing an issue with the car handling when compared to the previous generation. Time will tell as we look to next week where the PGRL will head to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Memestonks Vegas 200.
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 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.
C2CRL Hometown Heroes W10 Recap
16 Feb 2022
Coast 2 Coast Racing League | Week 10
Hometown Heroes Series | Volusia Speedway Park
Blake Chapman with Kreitz Sim Racing took home the win tonight in a very chaotic 20 laps for the 305 Sprints with the Coast 2 Coast Racing League Hometown Heroes Series at Volusia Speedway Park ahead of Austin Marlatt and Connor Ross under a GWC finish. Randy Shreves was the points leader coming into the event but has potentially lost the lead to Chapman after finishing in 15th after getting caught up in an incident on lap 17. “Lots of big wrecks that happened in that race”, Chapman commented after the event, “The game plan coming in was just to stick it to the bottom even though the bottom maybe wasn’t the fastest way around the whole time. It helped me survive.”
Randy Shreves of LGR Motorsports claimed victory in the 360 Sprints tonight after leading all 25 laps ahead of Blake Chapman and John Heyn. With tonight’s win, Shreves all but secures the points championship over Nick Vickrey with only two rounds remaining in the season. Shreves talked with us after his dominating performance, “Definitely a tough race, always when you have [Chapman] behind you, John Heyn up front, definitely two of the best in the league and definitely just can’t make any mistakes.”
To end the night’s excitement, the Coast 2 Coast Racing League put on a special 100 lap Pro Late Model race with a 25-car field. Dylan Perry of Chip Bangers Racing took the checkered flag in the Mr. Plumber Toilet Bowl 100 beating out Aiden Young and Brandon Bender. All three top finishers went home this evening with a special engraved toilet bowl trophy from Mr. Plumber Atlanta for their outstanding run. Perry talked with us after his win, “The way the track was if you messed up a little bit it was going to be a make it or break it and [Young and I] were both just kind of hitting our marks and when that caution came out it just kind of fell my way after that i just had to hold on and hope I had enough.”
PGRL S1 R1 Recap
15 Feb 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 1 | Round 1
Premier Series | Daytona International Speedway
Norm Pelletier of Pelletier-McQuistion Simulations took home a hard-fought victory tonight at Daytona International Speedway for the inaugural season of the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of James Krahula and Mike Rasimas. Pelletier was also the biggest mover through the event starting in the back of the 45-car field in 35th place.
“I haven’t run a lot of laps in these cars. Didn’t know how it was going to drive on the superspeedway, but I liked it a lot.”, Pelletier commented after his win. He took us through his choice to hold the inside line around the last lap while other drivers were going high, telling us, “I definitely trusted [Krahula] more than the guys on the outside. I knew the outside; everyone was going to try to go 3-wide so the inside I felt like was more safe and more manageable. The outside I think was definitely faster, but possibly less likely to hold that and you’d have guys trying to attack you from all angles up there.”
The first race of the Pretty Good Racing League is in the books and Norm Pelletier gets to hold the title of the first ever winner as the season is off to a strong start. As is almost expected at Daytona, there were several “wrong place, wrong time” moments for a few unlucky drivers that shook up the field several times. The league opted to disable car damage for the event, we’ll have to see if they decide to continue with this as car damage tonight would have drastically changed the outcome. Next week, the league is heading to the Auto Club Speedway in California where all eyes will be on Pelletier to see if he can pull off a repeat performance.
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 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.
C2CRL Hometown Heroes W9 Recap
09 Feb 2022
Coast 2 Coast Racing League | Week 9
Hometown Heroes Series | Charity Event
Josh Gerlach won the night’s opening 30 lap event at the Dirt Track at Charlotte in the 360 Sprints “King of the Wing” Steve King Foundation Charity Event with the Coast 2 Coast Racing League ahead of Steve Goldner and Ross Korynta with Keith Jackson claiming the last transfer spot with a 10th place finish to move to the main event at Knoxville Speedway. Gerlach commented after his win, “We had a couple of close calls there. I think we were three wide a couple times, but, you know, came out all good.” Gerlach was able to masterfully run both top and bottom lines as he took away the lead in the first half of the event and ran away from the field through the remaining laps.
Blake Chapman took the win in a GWC finish at Knoxville Speedway ahead of Kyle Moonen and Randy Shreves in the 27-car field. Moonen started on the pole tonight and was the driver to beat as he has won the last two charity events. Shreves challenged for the lead early on and had taken it away from Moonen for a majority of the race, but Chapman surprised everyone when he dove to the bottom in the last moments of the race and jumped from 4th to 1st. “That bottom was really fast there at the end and I’m glad I found it before the other guys did.”, Chapman shared after the win. Patrick Spangler, who came home in 4th, took home the Gambler Motorsports’ Hard Charger Award moving up a shocking 19 positions through the night.
Proceeds from tonight’s action were donated to the Steve King Foundation who provides assistance to race car drivers, pit crew members, racing officials and track operating personnel or the immediate families of those individuals who are involved in dirt track racing and are seriously ill, severely injured or killed. The foundation will also contribute to organizations and facilities dedicated to improving the safety of the sport, when additional funds are available. Learn more about or donated to this foundation at http://www.stevekingfoundation.org
ASC S11 R7 Recap
07 Feb 2022
Autobahn Sportscar Challenge | Season 11 | Round 7
LMP2/GT3 Multiclass Event | Watkins Glen
Jeffrey Ooms has absolutely dominated for the third straight week in a row in the Prototype Class with the Autobahn Sportscar Challenge at Watkins Glen ahead of Carter Kundinger and Billy Smith II. Ooms crossed the finish line over 10 seconds ahead of Kundinger and at this point the other drivers don’t seem to have a response for his driving abilities. Ross Booth won the GT Pro Class ahead of Ryan Washeleski and Paul Gibson while Ryan Robertson took home the win for the GT AM Class beating out Kevin O’Keefe and Franco Margarella.
“It was mostly a survival race. The past couple of races have not been super good for me.”, Robertson, tonight’s GT AM winner shared with us, “This race was just trying to get the car home clean, not really fighting the [GT Pro] guys, like if I had the speed on them fine, but using them as a drafting partner.” Tonight’s winner in the GT Pro Class, Ross Booth, puts in a lot of work on and off the track. “I’m pretty confident going into each race. A lot of prep behind the scenes and just trying to put my best foot forward every single week.” Whatever he’s doing, you can’t deny the results.
Kundinger holds the lead in the points standings in the Prototype Class with a total of 134 points ahead of Smith trailing by only 5 points going into the next round. Ooms, who has only raced in the last three rounds, has already climbed up to 7th in the points with 81 and could potentially be in contention for the championship if his current winning streak continues through the rest of the season. Ross leads in the GT Pro Class with 237 points overall ahead of Paul Gibson and Bradlee Haley, who are tied for 2nd place with 218 points each. Robertson took the points lead away from O’Keefe tonight with his win, now leading by 3 points.
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.
Virtual Grip Network 