PGRL S4 R7 Recap
04 April 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 7
Premier Series | Richmond Raceway
Scott Eckrich emerged victorious in the Skitter Creek Motorsports Group 200, held at the Richmond Raceway. Despite starting in 17th position, Eckrich showed remarkable driving skills, making his way up the field and eventually taking the lead in lap 73 of the race.
The Skitter Creek Motorsports Group 200 was a thrilling race from the get-go, with drivers fighting for position and trying to establish an early lead. Jordan Harnish began the race on pole position, thanks to the Mahan Laboratories “You Finished Last” pole award. He held onto the lead for the first 36 laps, fending off challenges from Colton Salek and Brian Yaczik.
As the race progressed, the drivers were faced with frequent cautions, disrupting their rhythm and making it challenging to implement pit strategies. However, some drivers were able to capitalize on the chaos and make significant gains. Cody Dempster and Scott Eckrich were two such drivers, quickly moving up into the top 10 within the first 20 laps.
Eckrich’s impressive driving was on full display, and he continued to make his way up the field, overtaking Jake Silvia to claim second place behind Salek. By lap 73, Eckrich was finally able to make his move, overtaking Salek to take the lead. The race was not without drama, with several cautions threatening to upset Eckrich’s momentum.
However, Eckrich proved to be a skilled and determined driver, holding onto his lead through several restarts. As the final green flag was waved with just four laps remaining, Jake Silvia was hot on his heels, but Eckrich was able to maintain his composure and outpace the rest of the field to claim the win.
After the race, a delighted Eckrich expressed his satisfaction with his performance, saying, “Really happy to bring it together again. This is usually a really good track for me, so I’m glad I could get the result I felt like I could do here.” The win also put Eckrich at the top of the point standings, with a 31-point lead over Chrobok in second place.
Fans of the Pretty Good Racing League can look forward to the next event, the Get Dirty at Bristol, Get Clean with Mane ‘n Tail 125, which will take place at the Bristol Motor Speedway on April 11th. The event promises to be another exciting race, and fans can catch all the action exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network.
PGRL S4 R6 Recap
28 March 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 6
Premier Series | Circuit of the Americas
The “It’ll Be Something Grand Prix” presented by Brian Yaczik at the Circuit of the Americas was the place to be for racing fans. Woody Mahan had the pole position, thanks to his win of the Mahan Industries “You Finished Last” pole award. However, Colton Salek managed to steal the lead from him on the first lap, leaving Mahan struggling. Unfortunately, Mahan got into a collision with Jordan Harnish and both drivers fell out of the top 20.
Meanwhile, Vincent Crow took the lead on the second lap and began to pull away from Jake Silvia, who was in second place. Scott Eckrich started in 19th place, but he was already up to 8th by the fifth lap, ahead of Cody Dempster. Jeff Ward, who started in 24th place, was running in 10th at that point.
Crow had stretched his lead to more than 7 seconds by the tenth lap of the race, with Mike Rasimas in second place. Eckrich had climbed up to fourth place and was quickly closing the gap to third. Silvia and Rasimas were fighting for second place, with neither driver able to gain a clear advantage. Eckrich was pressuring both drivers as he closed in on them on lap 12.
Ward came down pit road on lap 12 with a unique pit strategy, dropping back to 13th as he rejoined the track. Eckrich made quick work of Silvia and Rasimas, overtaking both drivers and clearing into second place, still more than 9 seconds behind Crow. Thomas George broke into the top 10 as the race approached its halfway point.
The battle between Silvia and Rasimas continued to intensify, with both drivers fiercely competing for the last podium spot. Drivers began cycling through their pit stops on lap 17, with the exception of Ward, who had come down five laps earlier. Crow was still in the lead as the second half of the race began, claiming the PGRL stage points. Crow and Eckrich came down pit road together at the beginning of lap 18, followed by Rasimas and Silvia. Eckrich caught up to Crow on lap 20 and began to overtake him for the lead soon after in turn 20.
Ward caught the battle between Silvia and Rasimas, and the three drivers were aggressively swapping positions, fighting over third place. Ward came down pit road again before lap 24, opting for a two-stop strategy and falling back to 10th place under pressure from Thomas George with 11 laps to go.
In the closing moments of the race, Eckrich was putting down the fastest laps of any driver and extended his lead to more than 18 seconds over Crow, taking the checkered flag. Silvia was able to take third place away from Rasimas in the end. Crow held onto the points lead, finishing 12 points ahead of Eckrich at the end of the night.
Eckrich was thrilled with his performance and commented, “I love these technical tracks; it makes it kind of fun in the driver’s hands. You know, just like get out here, see what you got, wheel it as hard as you can.” Next week, the drivers head to Richmond Raceway for the “Skitter Creek Motorsports Group 200” on April 4th, with the action brought to fans live at 8:50 PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL LM S22 R1 Recap
25 March 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 22 | Round 1
Late Model Series | New Smyrna Speedway
Photograph by: Michael Goodman
Tyler Shadduck began the race on pole position, with Aiden Young starting alongside him. As the green flag dropped, Young settled into second place behind Shadduck, while Michael Goodman and Jason Menda engaged in a fierce battle for third, running side by side for the first five laps. Goodman eventually managed to secure the position.
On lap 14, the first caution was called due to contact between Rubin Altice and Steve Hilbert, which spun Hilbert around on the track. When the race resumed on lap 20, Menda and Goodman found themselves battling once again for third place, with neither driver willing to back down. Unfortunately, on lap 21, the two drivers made contact, causing a large pile-up on the track. Shadduck, who had been forced onto the grass to avoid a car that was trying to turn around on the track, had to pit to have his right front fender fixed. He rejoined the pack in eighth place.
As racing resumed on lap 27, Young was still leading, with Goodman in second place. However, on lap 29, the third caution was called after Mike Allen and Bruce Pearson collided coming out of turn three. When the green flag was waved again on lap 35, Shadduck was pushing aggressively through the pack to try and regain his position at the front. He quickly overtook Adam Schoen and Matt Hoose before setting his sights on Jeffrey Hardin for fourth place. On lap 54, Shadduck managed to clear Stephen Spies to take third place.
The fourth caution came out on lap 57 due to a collision between Joseph Snyder and Donny Moore, which resulted in Snyder spinning on the track and collecting several other drivers. Young was still leading when the green flag was waved on lap 62, but Shadduck was hot on his heels. Goodman managed to defend his position in third place, while Hardin moved up to fourth. Meanwhile, Menda was making a strong recovery from his earlier incident and had worked his way back up to sixth place.
On lap 65, the fifth caution was called when Spies and Hardin collided, causing another large pile-up on the front stretch. When the race resumed on lap 71, Shadduck used the restart to overtake Goodman and move into second place behind Young. The sixth caution was called on lap 73 after Menda and Schoen collided coming out of turn two, causing several drivers to spin.
With only 12 laps remaining, Young was working hard to defend his position against Shadduck, who was putting pressure on him. Menda attempted to overtake Shadduck for second place, but was unable to do so. In the end, Young managed to hold on to his lead and cross the finish line first, with Shadduck coming in second and Menda in third. Goodman was named the “Soup of the Day” driver, with an over-under set at fifth place. He ultimately finished the race in fourth place, while Matt Hoose rounded out the top five.
When interviewed after the race, Young said, “I just had to stay smooth… I wasn’t giving this one up. I just knew I had to stay focused and forget the mirror was even there.” Fans of the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series are no doubt looking forward to the next event with excitement and anticipation. Lowell Jewell finished the night in 15th place, but he had reason to celebrate nonetheless. His performance during the race earned him pole position for the next Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series event, which would take place on April 8th at 8:55PM ET at Myrtle Beach Speedway.
BRL SLM S21 R1 Recap
24 March 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 21 | Round 1
Super Late Model Series | New Smyrna Speedway
James Tiernan took the first win of the new season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at New Smyrna Speedway ahead of Aiden Young and Tyler Shadduck. “On the other broadcast, I called out all the late model guys to come over and try our stuff, so I figured I come over here”, Tiernan shared with us as he considers himself a primarily sprint car driver. Admitting that he never had to deal with pit strategies before tonight, he joked, “I’m surprised about how well I did after that pit cycle… Once I realized the people on the lead lap would kind of shuffle back through the pack even if they pit I was like ‘Oh, well, I should do that!'”
Tyler Shadduck with Refined Motorsports led the 22-car field around to take the green flag on opening night for Season 21 with Aiden Young to his outside. Off the jump, J R Shepherd was able to get under Young clearing up into 2nd as the front runners were aggressively going after positions early in the night. Young was able to slot into 4th behind James Tiernan while Shepherd kept the pressure up on Shadduck out front with the front 4 drivers breaking away from the rest of the field.
With the first 25 laps behind them, Shadduck began to build up a gap between himself and Shepherd as Tiernan moved up into 3rd and was challenging Shepherd for 2nd. Coming out of tour four on lap 30, Shepherd made contact with the outside wall and Tiernan was left with nowhere to go spinning Shepherd down to the infield dropping far back in the running order. Shadduck still had a strong hold on the lead with over 1 second back to Tiernan and another 2 seconds from Tiernan back to Young.
Lap traffic became an issue 50 laps into the night. Tiernan continued to pressure Shadduck trying to get his nose under the leader several times unsuccessfully with Shepherd multiple laps down from his earlier incident close on Tiernan’s bumper trying to get one of his laps back. Shepherd was able to tuck in behind Shadduck after Tiernan touched the outside wall losing enough momentum for Shepherd to quickly clear around him while Shadduck aggressively negotiated through dense traffic.
Tiernan was getting impatient as Shadduck struggled to keep pace leading to contact between the two drivers as Tiernan got around into the lead as they approached the halfway point of the run. Matt Hoose was the first car to come down pit road signaling to the rest of the field to come down in 2 or 3 car groups lap after lap with Tiernan regaining the lead as all drivers completed their pit cycle and resumed racing with 84 laps remaining. Shadduck was running in 2nd but found himself being challenged by Young as the laps counted down.
Young was patiently working on Shadduck when he got loose and made hard contact with the outside wall on lap 157 coming down pit road under caution for tires and rejoining the track still on the lead lap in 2nd place while Shadduck stayed out to take the lead and was running on almost 60 lap old tires. Off the jump, Young quickly single filed out behind Shadduck to block Tiernan’s advance in the first corner, but Tiernan made contact going into turn three sending Young around in the middle of the track.
Young was able to recover the spin and continue running in 3rd with 37 laps to go. Jeffery Hardin was having a quiet race patiently making his way up through the field and found himself closing on Young and the battle for the lead between Tiernan and Shadduck. Tiernan took the lead which allowed Young to dive low and follow him around into 2nd as Shadduck struggled on the older tires. Going into the final moments, James Tiernan was proving to be dominant tonight claiming the first win of the season with Aiden Young, Tyler Shadduck, Jeffery Hardin, and Mark Hertzog rounding out the top 5 tonight at New Smyrna Speedway.
James Tiernan starts the season off strong coming out of the night with the points lead ahead of Aiden Young and Tyler Shadduck. The drivers of the Bootleg Racing League will be back in 2 weeks to tackle Myrtle Beach Speedway on April 7th with the action going live at 8:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S4 R5 Recap
21 March 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 5
Premier Series | Atlanta Motor Speedway
Scott Eckrich with Loud Pedal Motorsports claimed his first win of the season tonight in the Everything Gets Better with Age 250 presented by GamingGuyL with the Pretty Good Racing League at Atlanta Motor Speedway ahead of Jeff Ward and Adam Jurski “This is one of those tracks where you can definitely undercut but with the aero the way it is if you get stuck behind somebody if you try to over cut it you just you don’t really get a lot of gains so you gotta get kind of luck on that front”, Eckrich shared with us regarding his pitting strategy “It’s a super fine line you gotta run to not blow the right rear off and also, you know, maintain the lead for those guys ripping the lip on the restarts and stuff”
Creighton Carter started off on the pole to take the green flag with Kevin Bartelt to his outside. Alex Graetz didn’t waste any time jumping out ahead to take the lead away from Carter going into the 2nd lap. Cody Dempster was aggressively pushing up through the field on his way to the front up 2 spots from his 6th place starting position and closing on Cosmin Ioanesiu. Graetz had extended his lead out to almost 2 seconds with the first 10 laps completed when he lost his car in the corner and went sliding across the infield handing the lead of the race over to Ioanesiu.
Saif Faires was making a hard charge through the field battling Bartelt for 3rd from his starting position back in 13th. Dempster continued his strong pace and had slowly reeled the leader in 30 laps into the run and was able to clear around Ioanesiu after several intense laps. The first driver to come down pit road was Thomas George on lap 40 trying to undercut the field as the rest of the field came down for their stops a few cars at a time over the next 10 laps as differing strategies split the field up.
George inherited the lead up 32 spots from his 33rd place starting position when the pit cycle was complete with Michael Chrobok in 2nd place almost 2 seconds behind him. Eckrich had cleared around Chrobok and was quickly closing on George with the fresher tires between the two drivers taking the lead away fairly effortlessly on lap 58. Eckrich was pushing his equipment trying to break away from Chrobok behind him building up a large gap between them to secure the bonus stage points going into the 2nd half of the night.
Chrobok and Jeff Ward battled over 2nd place as George was again the first to come down pit road looking to undercut the field again. The first caution of the night came out as Dempster lost control of his car going 90 laps into the run giving Eckrich, and many other drivers, an opportune chance to come down pit road while holding onto the lead for the restart. Racing resumed with 64 laps remaining with Eckrich jumping out to a strong lead ahead of Ward.
Ward was pressuring Eckrich for the lead with Ioanesiu close behind as the top 3 broke away from the rest of the field. Ward got to the inside of Eckrich but couldn’t complete the move with the laps quickly counting down. Going into the last 30 laps, the drivers started working through their last pit cycle. Eckrich was again one of the last cars to come down pit road rejoining the track in 12th. George’s early stop strategy that he’s been running all night put him up into 7th for the last stretch.
Eckrich was making quick work of traffic on his way back up to the front. Eckrich cleared around Adam Jurski into 2nd place and was closing on the rear bumper of Ward for the lead. Going into lap 151, Eckrich dove low to get under Ward to take away the lead and started pulling away from Ward. Coming out of the final corner, Scott Eckrich took the checkered flag 1.9 seconds ahead of Jeff Ward. Adam Jurski, Michael Chrobok, and Will Farmer Jr round out the top 5 tonight at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Vincent Crow holds onto the lead in the point standings with 312 points with Michael Chrobok in 2nd place trailing 17 points behind. Scott Eckrich moves up 2 spots into 3rd with 294 points, Thomas George sits in 4th with 278, and Adam Jusrki rounds out the top 5 with 276 points. The Pretty Good Racing League next heads to Circuit of the Americas for the “It’ll Be Something Grand Prix presented by Brian Yaczik” on March 28th with all the action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL LM S21 R11 Recap
18 March 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 21 | Round 11
Late Model Series | Five Flags Speedway
Joseph Snyder with Rougarou Racing took his first win in the series and the final checkered flag of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series presented by Gargamel’s Kitchen at Five Flags Speedway ahead of Mike Holloway and Michael Goodman. “All I worked on this week was saving tires and I guess it paid off there because the guys I let by early, they kind of lost their tires and I got back into it”, Snyder shared with us as drivers were putting their cars on the trailers.
Michael Goodman threw down the quickest lap in qualifying clocked at 16.679 starting the night off in 10th from the Bootleg Racing League grid invert with Kevin Nunn sitting on the pole. “It’s a little bit of pressure”, Nunn commented before returning to his car to grid up, “I did learn a lot last week since I had the front tire blow at 82 laps, so I know I’m going to try to conserve a bit more this time around.” Coming out of turn 4, Nunn had a strong launch and quickly went single file ahead of Donny Moore.
Most of the field shuffled to get slotting in single file in the opening laps looks to preserve their equipment with so many laps ahead of them. Mathew Thunhorst was running back in 10th and was patiently taking one position after another as he moved up through the field. Moore took advantage of a mistake made by Nunn on lap 16 to overtake for the lead resulting in Nunn getting stuck on the outside and dropping far down in the running order. Snyder looking under Moore but could make it work allowing Lowell Jewell to take a look under Snyder pushing him back to 8th before slotting back in line behind Michael Goodman.
Thunhorst was up to 5th with the first 30 laps completed as Moore continued to lead the field around with Jewell tight on his bumper. Lowell saw his chance and dove low taking the lead going into lap 35 with Todd Liston following him through. Thunhorst took advantage of the situation to get around into 3rd place. Thunhorst started to turn up the aggression getting around Liston for 2nd and closing on Jewell only 40 laps into the night. Going into lap 42, Thunhorst secured the lead and started to break away from the rest of the field with Jewell and Liston still running 2nd and 3rd.
Matt Hoose was up 5 spots running in 4th and quickly closing on Liston going into the 2nd half of the night with Snyder close behind making a strong recovery. Liston was able to get a nose under Jewell with Hoose following him through pushing Jewell back to 4th with Stephen Spies closing the gap with a group of cars following him as the field merged back together from 2nd place back to 10th. Thunhorst had nearly a 3 second lead going into lap 60 as Hoose overtook Liston for 2nd.
With the laps quickly counting down, Thunhorst had extended his lead out to over 5 seconds with 25 laps remaining. Hoose still held onto 2nd place with Michael Goodman now running in 3rd. Spies was under pressure from Snyder making a strong charge back to front of the pack. Snyder continued his impressive pace making quick work of the drivers ahead clearing into 2nd place with 14 laps to go. Going into the final 10 laps, the gap between Snyder and Thunhorst was shrinking quickly.
Snyder continued to push in the final moments gaining on Thunhorst fast closing by 0.4 seconds each lap. Snyder caught Thunhorst in turn 3 making contact just as the caution flag and white flag came out together when Thunhorst had to check up unexpectedly with his right front tire giving out. Joseph Snyder lead the drivers around the final lap under caution to take the checkered flag with Mike Holloway, Michael Goodman, Kurt Smith, and Mathew Thunhorst round out the top 5 tonight at Five Flags Speedway.
J R Shepherd ran away in the point standings taking the season championship tonight with 471 points. Michael Goodman held onto 2nd place with 419 points. Lowell Jewell secured 3rd place with 377 points over Mathew Thunhorst with 344 points. Joseph Snyder rounds out the top 5 drivers with 342 points going into the final round of the season. Next season for the Bootleg Racing League kicks off at New Smyrna Speedway on March 25th with all of the intense racing action brought to you live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSLM S1 R11 Recap
17 March 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 11
Dirt Super Late Model Series | Lanier National Speedway
Aiden Young with Gambler Motorsports took the final checkered flag tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Super Late Model finale at Lanier National Speedway ahead of teammates John Heyn and Stephen Spies. “I was just having fun, having a blast out there kind of looking at the rear view looking at my teammates battle it out,” Young shared with us as the night came to a close.
Aiden Young threw down the fastest lap in qualifying at 13.178 jumping to the top of the timing and scoring boards ahead of his Gambler Motorsports teammates Stephen Spies and John Heyn. The 3 chased each other through the heat with Young able to take the win securing the pole for the upcoming feature event. Spies followed it up by winning the B Main consolation race to wrap up the preliminary events before the 30-lap feature event began.
Young took the green flag and again found himself being hunted by his teammates as the 3 Gambler Motorsports drivers pulled away from the rest of the field to battle amongst themselves for the lead. Spies looked to the inside of Young several times but wasn’t able to make anything of it before being forced to run defensively as Heyn started looking around him for 2nd.
The battling over 2nd place allowed Young to start to pull away with the lead with Spies and Heyn trying both high and low lines looking for speed. Going into the 2nd half of the night, Heyn and Spies were still battling each other for position as Young took advantage of the situation to run away with the lead… Young was almost 1 second ahead of the rest of the field with 10 laps to go.
On lap 25, Heyn threw a slider to clear ahead of Spies forcing Spies to checkup hard to avoid serious contact. Coming around to take the white flag, Aiden Young completed the final lap unchallenged taking the checkered flag with John Heyn, Stephen Spies, John Wilson, and Michael Smith rounding out the top 5 tonight at Lanier National Speedway.
Jason Dill walks away with the season championship tonight with 725 points after fight through mechanical issues. Aiden Young was able to move up to 2nd place with 697. Thomas Vickers fell back to 3rd with 671 points, Stephen Spies jumped up to 4th with 594 points, and Michael Smith rounds out the top 5 with 592 points. The Bootleg Racing League has closed the doors on dirt racing but is coming back next week on the asphalt for the new Super Late Model Series on March 24th for 200 laps of action at New Smyrna Speedway with all of the action brought to you live at 8:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S14 R11 Recap
17 March 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 14 | Round 11
Dirt Street Stock Series | Lanier National Speedway
Billy Northcutt with Dirt Panda claimed the final checkered flag in a bittersweet moment for the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Lanier National Speedway at Lanier National Speedway ahead of John Heyn and Jason Best. “Anytime that I can win in here… it’s just a blast for me and for my family and everybody who watches so yeah that was definitely a great way to go out on that”, Northcutt shared with us as the night came to a close, “That track’s always just been probably my best track, the one I’ve run the most laps at… kind of feels like that hometown track, you know.”
“I don’t think anything will compare to the fun and camaraderie that we had here so if I jump right into something else, I feel like I would just hate it… I kind of want to miss it before I start jumping into all that”, Northcutt commented in regards to future plans within sim racing as the finality of the moment started to set in, “When I joined this league to run I told my mom that I was never going to win in here because everyone was too good and she never got to see me race in it, but here we are. I won a lot of races in here and it was really a lot of fun and I’m going to miss it.”
Billy Northcutt came into the evening strong throwing down the fastest lap in qualifying at 16.458 and dominating the first heat to secure the pole in the upcoming feature event. John Heyn showed the field why he’s known as “The Professor” as he took the field to school claiming the checkered flag in the 2nd heat over Chris Hill. Jason Best broke away from the field to take the win in the B Main consolation race wrapping up the preliminary events of the night.
Leading the field out of turn 4, Northcutt took the green flag for the final time as the field roared into the first corner with Northcutt quickly cleared ahead of Heyn. Chris Davis was running side by side with Hill over 3rd place claiming the position going into lap 3 with Best looking to follow him through. Aiden Young and Jeffery Hardin battled hard over 6th place directly behind the battle between Best and Hill.
Best secured 4th and immediately went after Davis in 3rd diving low. Hill fell back further as he found himself in a 3-wide battle for 4th. Best cleared into 3rd as Young moved up into 5th and was looking to challenge Davis ahead of him. Hill cleared Hardin for 6th moving forward as the field crossed the halfway point of the night. Northcutt had more than a 1 second lead over Heyn with another full second from Heyn back to Best with all of the action happening from 4th on back through the field.
Stephen Spies was working on making up for a rough start to the night climbing up from the back of the field trying to working his way around Hunter Hill for 10th. Young closed the gap to Davis and was pressuring looking for a way to get under Davis for 4th but Davis was defending well going into the final laps. Best was slowly reeling Heyn in setting his sights on 2nd place with 5 laps remaining. Taking the white flag, Billy Northcutt had a commanding lead over the field taking the checkered flag 1.3 seconds ahead of John Heyn. Jason Best, Chris Davis, and Aiden Young round out the top 5 tonight at Lanier National Speedway.
Billy Northcutt finished up the final season of the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series as the season champion with 734 points. Jason Best held onto 2nd place with 603 points. Chris Hill moved up into 3rd place with 520 points as Jeffrey Hardin dropped back to 4th with 519 points and Aiden Young rounds out the top 5 with 514 points. The Bootleg Racing League has closed the doors on dirt racing but is coming back next week on the asphalt for the new Super Late Model Series on March 24th for 200 laps of action at New Smyrna Speedway with all of the action brought to you live at 8:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S4 R4 Recap
14 March 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 4
Premier Series | Phoenix Raceway
Adam Jurski with Steel Horse Racing takes the checkered flag tonight in the MARSS Properties Vacation Rentals 250k with the Pretty Good Racing League at Phoenix Raceway ahead of Scott Eckrich and Vincent Crow. “I just had to believe there wouldn’t be a caution, which I wasn’t 100% sure there wouldn’t be at the very end there, but things just played out”, Jurski shared with us at the end of the night, “It kind of got strung out single file up front and it was fairly easy to drive to the front, so I can’t complain about that.”
Clarence Bonner with Apex Simsport led the 30-car field around to take the green flag with Alex Graetz to his outside. Bonner was able to clear out ahead of the field off the jump, but Graetz stayed close behind and started challenging for the lead only 4 laps into the run with Ryan Rose closing the gap to the leaders. Cody Dempster was making a hard charge toward the front early up to 4th going into lap 16 with multiple drivers running very aggressively early on.
Many of the rookie drivers were charging up through the field while familiar names from previous seasons were showing restraint patiently running further back in the running order seemingly knowing something that wasn’t apparent to the others. An incident in the middle of the field brought the first caution of the night with 24 laps behind them allowing everyone an early pit stop for tires that most drivers took advantage of. Going back to green on lap 28, Dempster quickly overtook Ryan Rose for the lead off the jump.
Michael Chrobok was pushing up quickly to challenge Dempster for the lead coming up to the halfway point taking control of the field on lap 57. Mike Rasimas was working hard to reel Chrobok back in pressuring the leader but wasn’t able to make anything of it before getting loose and falling back over 1 second behind Chrobok who was able to claim the bonus stage points just in time as a caution came out a few laps later halting the action with the majority of drivers opting to come back through pit road.
Chrobok was still in control of the field to take the green flag starting off the 2nd half of the night going into lap 85 ahead of Thomas George. Chrobok was able to defend the lead going forward as the familiar names decided it was time to go to include Scott Eckrich, Woody Mahan, Jeff Ward, and Mike Rasimas finding themselves running single file in 3rd through 6th place directly behind George and Chrobok. George was starting to struggle a bit as Eckrich, Mahan, and Ward all cleared around George with around 50 laps to go.
Going into the last 30 laps, Ward got out of shape and made hard contact with the outside wall bringing out another caution. Chrobok made a rare error on pit road costing him time and falling back to 4th as he rejoined the track. Eckrich was in control of the field as racing resumed jumping out to a strong lead with Chrobok going 3-wide over 2nd place overtaking both Rasimas and Brian Yaczik for the position.
A late race caution came out when Yaczik lost his car from contact with the apron sending himself around in turn 4. The top 7 drivers stayed out on track with Adam Jurski being the first driver in line with fresh tires running in 8th as the green flag came back out for the final time with 8 laps remaining. Eckrich had another strong start but Jurski was carving through the field quickly closing on the leader. Adam Jurski was able to take the lead away from Scott Eckrich going into final 2 laps and ran away with the lead to take the checkered flag with Vincent Crow, Jordan Harnish, and Mike Rasimas rounding out the top 5 tonight at Phoenix Raceway.
Vincent Crow holds onto the lead in the point standings with 276 points. Michael Chrobok jumps up 4 spots into 2nd with 229 poitns after a strong run tonight. Thomas George reclaims 3rd with 222 points, Adam Jurski leaps up 6 spots into 4th with 215 points after tonight’s win and is now tied with Scott Eckrich in the points rounding out the top 5. The Pretty Good Racing League next heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the “Everything Gets Better with Age 250 presented by GamingGuyL” on March 21st with all the action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL LM S21 R10 Recap
11 March 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 21 | Round 10
Late Model Series | South Boston Speedway
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports took another win tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series at South Boston Speedway ahead of Kenny Kibbey and Matt Hoose. “Definitely a new car, completely different than the old limited late model”, Shepherd commented at the end of the night, “The gameplan from the beginning was just to try to run a decent pace and not abuse that right front.”
J R Shepherd continues his streak of qualifying at the top of the boards with a fast lap put down at 15.173 starting the night off in 10th with the Bootleg Racing League grid invert giving control of the field over to Bryan Dehn to take the green flag. Ruben Altice started alongside Dehn on the outside and was able to slot in behind the leader off the jump, but an opening lap caution took away his strong start as multiple drivers came together going into the first corner blocking the track.
Several drivers were caught up in the incident, but drivers such as Kenny Kibbey and Shepherd slipped through to take the green flag from 4th and 5th going into lap 8 with Dehn still in control of the field. As racing resumed, Altice wasn’t as lucky with Joseph Snyder getting a nose under him off the jump with Shepherd and Donny Moore both lining up to follow him through. Kibbey was able to get down behind Snyder knocking Altice further and further back until Altice was able to drop down in front of Todd Liston in 6th.
Matt Hoose was up to 11th from starting 23rd and was quietly moving up through the field with the first 20 laps completed. Kibbey struggled to get around Moore as Dehn, Snyder, and Shepherd started to pull away with the lead building over 1 second between themselves and Moore. The laps started to quickly count down as the drivers settled into their grooves and got more comfortable with the new Late Model Stock with the field starting to spread out around the track.
Shepherd cleared into 2nd place on lap 33 and set his sights to Dehn as Kibbey worked to slowly reel the leaders in. Dehn was negotiating through dense lap traffic with Shepherd pressuring him going into lap 40. Shepherd was aggressively looking under and was able to eventually get his nose to the inside and take the lead away on lap 43 with Snyder trying to take advantage and get 2nd place away. Kibbey had caught the battle for 2nd and patiently waiting for an opening before clearing around Dehn into 3rd.
Going into the 2nd half of the night, Shepherd was starting to walk away with the lead as Kibbey dove under Snyder for 2nd over 1 second behind the leader. Jeffery Hardin was one of the drivers caught up in the opening incident and was now making his way back up through the field up to 7th showing a strong pace. Shepherd continued to pull away from Kibbey lap after lap with lap traffic at all points around the track. Hardin continued his push to the front climbing up to 6th and pressuring Stephen Spies ahead.
With 20 laps remaining, Hardin was looking to the inside of Spies, but lap traffic forced him to stay single file. Their battle caught the back of Snyder and they both quickly made their way around moving Spies up into 4th going into the final laps. Hardin saw an opportunity on lap 95 and got his nose to the inside pulling ahead of Spies securing 4th. Going into the last 4 laps, contact between Altice and lap traffic resulted in 3rd, 4th, and 5th place getting collected on the front stretch bringing out the caution and ending Hardin’s great charge up through the field.
J R Shepherd had stretched his lead out to over 3 seconds before the caution came out and took the checkered flag under yellow flag conditions with Kenny Kibbey, Matt Hoose, Joseph Snyder, and Lowell Jewell rounding out the top 5 tonight at South Boston Speedway.
J R Shepherd is the unofficial season 21 champion currently with 471 points, 100 points ahead of Michael Goodman in 2nd place. Lowell Jewell holds onto 3rd place with 345 over Mathew Thunhorst with 345 points. Joseph Snyder rounds out the top 5 drivers with 301 points going into the final round of the season. Next week, the Bootleg Racing League is heading to Five Flags Speedway on March 18th to close out the season with all of the intense racing action brought to you live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
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