BRL GN S8 R11 Recap
18 Dec 2021
Bootleg Racing League | Season 8 | Round 11
Grand National Series | New Smyrna Speedway
J R Shepherd took his Different Path Motorsports Ford to victory lane beating out Justin Morton and James Lowe tonight at the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series season finale at New Smyrna Speedway. Shepherd wasted no time getting to the front and controlling the field throughout the race after starting in 6th place. Morton and Lowe stayed close, but couldn’t manage to challenge for the lead as Shepherd maintained a sizable gap ahead of the rest of the field.
With the completion of this 100 lap event, Shepherd officially became the season champion over Mathew Thunhorst who wasn’t able to attend. Thunhorst’s absence tonight also allowed Justin Morton to take away 2nd place in the point standings, knocking Thunhorst back to 3rd. Kenny Kibbey and Austin Boelke finished 4th and 5th respectively in the points as the 8th season of the BRL Grand National Series concludes to close out racing in 2021.
Shepherd spoke with us after claiming his win, “Just wish that [Thunhorst] had been here tonight so [I] would’ve been able to race him because you never know what could happen. It could’ve went really bad tonight. There’s a lot of guys here and a really competitive field. So, it’s nice to get this, but just wish it’d been a little different circumstances.”
BRL DSS S9 R11 Recap
by Ryan Senneker
17 Dec 2021
Bootleg Racing League | Season 9 | Round 11
Dirt Street Stock Series | Volusia Speedway Park
Brandyn Proudfoot of Jim Beaver eSports walked away tonight with the checkered flag and the season championship from the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock season finale at Volusia Speedway Park finishing ahead of Jim Reavis and J R Shepherd. Proudfoot struggled early in the evening to find his groove qualifying 5th and losing to Reavis in his heat race. Starting in 5th for the feature event, Proudfoot didn’t secure the lead position until halfway through the race and was never able to pull away from the field as he has been known to do once out front.
Going into the evenings event, Billy Northcutt was holding onto the lead in the point standings ahead of Proudfoot by 3 points. The two drivers stayed near each other on track keeping the pressure high as whichever driver finish ahead of the other would have become the season champion. Unfortunately, in a surprise upset, Northcutt was involved in an incident with only 5 laps remaining that ended his night after a long, hard fought season against Proudfoot. A disappointing end to an epic championship battle between these two drivers.
“Jim [Reavis] was right on me, as soon as I got out front and he seen what line I was running”, Brandyn Proudfoot told us about fighting for the lead. “I tried going everywhere in [turns] three and four. I tried the bottom. I tried the top, that just about killed me. It’s like I said in the beginning about saving those tires, I used them about seven laps early and I was able to use them to get in front of him, but by no means was I getting away.”
C2CRL Hometown Heroes Recap
by Ryan Senneker
15 Dec 2021
Coast 2 Coast Racing League | Week 1
Hometown Heroes Series | Volusia Speedway Park
Blake Chapman of Vanderpool Racing took the checkered flag at the A&J Custom Creations 305 Sprint Series from the Coast 2 Coast Racing League Hometown Heroes Series 20 lap feature event around Volusia Speedway Park ahead of Nick Vickrey and Donovan Ross. Vickrey controlled the field for the first half of the race until Chapman overtook him with a well timed slider. “I didn’t think these things had enough horsepower to go all the way around up there by the wall. That’s why I went to the slider line and once I was catching [Vickrey] I knew that I had to just throw it in there and hope I cleared him.”
Lane Snook of BandyBuilt Racing took a very emotional victory over Jeff Flaro and Blake Chapman in the Icon Sim Sports 360 Sprint Series 40 lap event for the “David Mason Snook Memorial Race”. The race began with several laps in a four wide “Missing Man” formation in honor of David Snook, Lane Snook’s brother, who passed last September. With the faster line tonight along the top being more hazardous than most drivers were willing to risk, Snook drove that line to perfection and took the lead with only four laps to go leaving it all out on the track.
Stephen Spies took home the win in the 30 lap feature event of the Pro Late Model Series ahead of Brandon Templeton and Nick Vickrey with an exciting one lap shootout after a late race caution stacked the field back up on the final lap. Spies ran the inside line through the entire race perfectly being able to pull away from Templeton lap after lap. “I was going to stay down there until somebody proved they could get try to go around me. I don’t normally like running those tracks on the wall so this was well suited for me.”
BRL GN S8 R10 Recap
by Ryan Senneker
11 Dec 2021
Bootleg Racing League | Season 8 | Round 10
Grand National Series | The Bullring at Las Vegas
Austin Boelke of Different Path Motorsports took the checkered flag tonight ahead of Mathew Thunhorst and J R Shepherd at the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series at the Bullring at Las Vegas. At a track that is notoriously easy to make mistakes around, Boelke drove to perfection not presenting Thunhorst and Shepherd with the opportunity they were looking for to take away the inside line. A late race caution re-stacked the field with Shepherd in 2nd and Thunhorst to the inside, behind Boelke, in 3rd and that was exactly what Thunhorst needed to get around Shepherd.
Austin Boelke celebrated his second win of the season, but unfortunately is not in the running for the championship as he is currently in 5th place in the point standings. Shepherd still holds the top spot over Thunhorst by 6 points. In a surprise upset, Thunhorst told us that he will not be competing in the final round and will be spending time with family through the upcoming holidays which makes Shepherd the unofficial season champion. Justin Morton is 3rd in the standings, but trails behind the lead by 22 points. Shepherd shared with us that he is disappointed that they won’t have a chance for a final battle together.
“There was a lot of pressure from behind from Justin [Morton] especially at the start.”, Austin Boelke tells us. “Huge pressure from behind and honestly it just feels really gratifying to hold [Shepherd] off again… two or three weeks ago he passed me at Lanier.” Next week, the Bootleg Racing League heads to New Smyrna Speedway for the final round of the season. “It’s not one of my best tracks. I like the track. It’s fun to drive, but usually whenever I go there I just have the worst luck because I can’t gain any spots, I can’t really lose any spots, and if there’s any luck to be had it’s usually bad luck.”
BRL DSS S9 R10 Recap
by Ryan Senneker
10 Dec 2021
Bootleg Racing League | Season 9 | Round 10
Dirt Street Stock Series | Limaland Motorsports Park
Brandyn Proudfoot of Jim Beaver eSports dominated the field at the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series event at Limaland Motorsports Park ahead of Eli Shaffer and Jim Reavis taking home the checkered flag for the seventh time this season. A string of cautions kept the 18 drivers battling close to each other throughout the 40 laps at this tight track, but Proudfoot had the speed where it counted after each restart and lead every lap to victory lane.
Although this win closed the gap in the point standings, it wasn’t enough to secure Proudfoot the lead. Billy Northcutt still holds the top spot by only 3 points going into the last race of the season. With a points race this close, the championship will come down to which ever driver finishes ahead of the other regardless of whether or not either of them is the race winner next weekend.
Proudfoot and Northcutt now set their sights to Volusia Speedway Park for their final battle of the season. “It depends on how it breaks down”, Proudfoot explains to us about his chances of taking the championship. “[I] definitely think it’s going to be interesting. I know, at least from a track experience stand point, whenever it gets super slick like this I think [Northcutt] and [Hargreaves] will have an edge on me… they have a track break down fresh in their minds.”
The only thing certain at this point is that Volusia is going to be one exciting race.
PLMDS – Fall Nationals Finale Recap
by Ryan Senneker
08 Dec 2021
Pro Late Model Dirt Series | Series Finale
Fall Nationals | Lanier National Speedway
Ryan Underwood with Team VLR has won the Pro Late Model Dirt Series Fall Nationals Grinch 30 Series Finale at Lanier National Speedway and took the Carrier Fall Nationals Championship after an intense battle with Ethan Toedter. With such tight and aggressive racing all throughout the 16 car field, all of the drivers presented an impressive showcase of the talent this league can bring to the track to close out the series with Ryan Underwood coming out on top.
With only a five point split between Underwood and Toedter, the battle between these two championship competitors began in the first heat race. Toedter took that win with Underwood riding his rear fender across the finish line. Getting into the feature Toedter held the lead through the first 18 laps with Underwood trying different lines looking for any opportunity to challenge Toedter. The second caution of the night gave Underwood that chance as he anticipated Toedter’s jump and utilized the top line to stay along side Toedter and, on the 19th lap, took the lead for the remainder of the event.
“I knew [Toedter] was going to be hard to get around with how short the race was. I needed him to make a mistake and I was waiting for that top line to come in [around] one and two and it finally came in just enough to get side by side with him and all I had to do was kind of block him from being able to slide up to the moisture.”, Underwood told us as he was celebrating his win. “He beat me in the heat and he had the better start spot and I knew it was just going to be a race between me and him, whoever could win it or finish ahead of the other person.”
ASC S11 R2 Recap
by Ryan Senneker
06 Dec 2021
Autobahn Sportscar Challenge | Season 11 | Round 2
LMP2/GT3 Multiclass Event | Road Atlanta
Daniel Neice celebrates a hard earned victory at the second round of the Autobahn Sportscar Challenge 1 hour event at Road Atlanta ahead of Carter Kundinger and David Williams. Williams claimed the lead early on and was dominating the field for the first half, but unfortunate technical issues gave him an extended pit stop that sent him back to the mid pack. A hard charge in the second half got him back to a podium position in the end, but it wasn’t enough for him to reclaim the lead from Neice. Jordan Lacey won the GT Pro class and Ian Lake took home the win for the GT AM class.
The constant threat while maneuvering through traffic was always on the minds of the leading drivers as nightfall took away a lot of visibility and made passes more unpredictable. “That was a crazy race.”, Kundinger told us. “The traffic has it’s good moments and it has it’s bad moments. My second place tonight came down to staying out of everything.” With an impressive charge through the field, Williams went from 11th to 3rd in the second half of the Prototype class. “I actually pulled off a top 3, I’m actually very shocked and pleased with that, but also upset. You know, I threw away another what should have been an easy win.”
Lacey had a strong, consistent run tonight in the GT Pro class with a car that could go the distance. “The setup I was using really played to my driving style so I was able to really throw it over the curves as much as I could and it was really quick on the straights too. So it worked out in my favor.” Looking forward, the drivers of the Autobahn Sportscar Challenge set their sights on the Mosport event at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in two weeks. “I love Mosport”, Daniel Neice told us, “I feel like I’m very, very comfortable there.”
BRL GN S8 R9 Recap
by Ryan Senneker
04 Dec 2021
Bootleg Racing League | Season 8 | Round 9
Grand National Series | Martinsville Speedway
Kenny Kibbey drove his Nocturnal Gaming Chevrolet all the way to victory lane after leading every lap at the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series 100 lap event around Martinsville Speedway ahead of J R Shepherd and Mathew Thunhorst. Kibbey started in 2nd place behind Donny Moore and wasted no time securing the lead for himself and maintained a comfortable gap ahead of the competition even through a restart after a caution in the second half. Shepherd and Thunhorst had a titanic battle over 2nd place, but Shepherd never allowed Thunhorst the opportunity to take away the inside line.
Securing his second win of the season, Kibbey moves into 3rd place in the point standings and closes his gap to 18 points behind J R Shepherd who is the current leader. Thunhorst still holds onto 2nd only 7 points behind Shepherd. Justin Morton finished tonight in 7th place and drops back to 4th in the points now 2 points behind Kibbey. With only two events remaining to determine the season champion, there is a mere 20 point split between these top 4 drivers as we head to The Bullring in Las Vegas next weekend and finally crowning our new champion at New Smyrna Speedway the following weekend.
“We’ve had a few rough weeks last couple, a few races that kind of got away from us. It’s a great shot in the arm to be back in victory lane.”, Kenny Kibbey told us about dominating the entirety of the event ahead of such a competitive field of drivers. “The challenge each week has been to kind of get used to the setup that’s been made for us and sometimes it works out for me and sometimes it doesn’t.”
BRL DSS S9 R9 Recap
by Ryan Senneker
03 Dec 2021
Bootleg Racing League | Season 9 | Round 9
Dirt Street Stock Series | Dirt Track at Charlotte
Brandyn Proudfoot brought the Jim Beaver eSports street stock to victory lane after a hard fought battle against William Hargreaves and Billy Northcutt at the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock feature event at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. The night’s race was more chaotic than usual as several cautions kept the battle up front intense through tight restarts and many opportunities to challenge Proudfoot for the lead.
With his sixth win of the season, Proudfoot is still in 2nd place in the point standings behind Billy Northcutt by 18 points after missing last week’s race. Hargreaves holds onto 3rd place and J R Shepherd took 4th place away from Jason Best who dropped back to 5th. At this point in the season with only two events remaining the season championship is shaping up to be an epic two way battle between Northcutt and Proudfoot heading to Limaland Motorsports Park and finally concluding at Volusia Speedway Park. This is the closest points battle the dirt racers of BRL have seen in a long time.
Never able to shake Northcutt and Hargreaves, Proudfoot is always conscious of his competition. “It’s always in your mind when you’re in the lead that you gotta be careful who’s coming behind you. Definitely hearing the engines a little bit made me worry” Looking forward to the final two events, Proudfoot still maintains his usual easy going attitude telling us, “I’m just happy to race here with the guys. Does it make it exciting that I missed a race and the points race is very close, closest that it’s been in a few seasons? Absolutely. But it’s honestly just about coming back and trying to make every race that I can and racing with the guys. That’s all there is to it.”
ASC S11 R1 Recap
by Ryan Senneker
22 Nov 2021
Autobahn Sportscar Challenge | Season 11 | Round 1
LMP2/GT3 Multiclass Event | Daytona International Speedway
David Shutt with the PG13 Misfits Racing Team made a strong statement as he absolutely dominated the competition and took home the win for the LMP2 Prototype class tonight after controlling the field through the first round of the Autobahn Sportscar Challenge around the Daytona International Speedway ahead of Daniel Neice and Billy Smith II. Paul Gibson led the GT Pro class to the checkered flag and Ryan Robertson took the win in the GT AM class.
The first 30 minutes of the race were intense as the 58 car field took the green flag aggressively trying to gain any possible positions early on. After only 6 laps the LMP2 class drivers were dealing with traffic as they caught the rear of the GT drivers causing problems as misunderstood intentions ended the night early for a few unlucky drivers, including David Williams. The last hour around Daytona was much calmer as drivers found their comfortable grooves and were struggling with their own equipment rather than other drivers on track.
“Especially at the start, it was a chaotic first 45 minutes or so with just people spinning, taking each other out. It was just a race of survival at the end of the day.”, said Ryan Robertson, the GT AM winner. “My goal was just to stay in contact with the leader until it started getting a little crazier in the end”, explained Paul Gibson, winner in the GT Pro class, about getting the lead away from Jordan Lacey in the last few moments of the race. “We all just started dropping off with different interactions with traffic so it was just kind of down to me and [Jordan] Lacey there in the end.”
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