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!
BRL DSLM S1 R10 Recap
10 March 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 10
Dirt Super Late Model Series | Weedsport Speedway
Aiden Young with Gambler Motorsports claimed his 2nd feature win in a row tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Super Late Model Series at Weedsport Speedway ahead of Thomas Vickers and Stephen Spies. “I’m not the best at Weedsport.”, Young shared with us as the night came to a close, “I really hate the track but somehow we made the bottom work better than anyone else and just came through in the end.”
Aiden Young put down the fastest lap in qualifying at 14.521 starting the night off, but wasn’t able to hold off Gambler Motorsports teammate, Stephen Spies, who took the checkered flag in the heat event. John Wilson with Team CDR was able to hold of Young through the B Main consolation race wrapping up the preliminary events of the night as the drivers prepared for the 30-lap feature event.
Spies led the field around out of turn 4 with Thomas Vickers to his outside as the green flag was flown, and the field screamed into the first corner. Spies quickly cleared ahead of Vickers with Young running close behind in 3rd. The leaders started to break away from the rest of the field with Vickers trying to get his nose under Spies but unable to get a strong enough run to make it stick. Vickers tried several different lines looking for speed as Young closed in on the battle.
Going into lap 8, Vickers was able to get under Spies taking the lead away allowing Young to get alongside Spies with the first 10 laps behind them. Young was showing the dominate pace clearing around Spies and reeling Vickers back in as the laps quickly counted down. Spies made contact with the outside wall falling out of the leading pack and finding himself under pressure from Jason Dill in 4th place. Going into the 2nd half of the run, Young dove under Vickers challenging for the lead.
After several tense laps, Young was able to clear ahead of Vickers for the lead and was quickly closing on lap traffic with 10 laps remaining. Young was slowly pulling away from Vickers running low through the corners while most drivers were still running high seemingly finding speed the others couldn’t. Coming out of the final corner, Aiden Young took the checkered flag 1.3 seconds ahead of Thomas Vickers with Stephen Spies, Jason Dill, and John Wilson rounding out the top 5 tonight at Weedsport Speedway.
Thomas Vickers holds the lead in the point standings with 671 points, 3 points ahead of Jason Dill in 2nd place. Aiden Young sits in 3rd with 613 points, Michael Smith moves up to 4th with 530 points, and William Hargreaves rounds out the top 5 with 522 points. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Lanier National Speedway on March 17th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 8:50PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S14 R10 Recap
10 March 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 14 | Round 10
Dirt Street Stock Series | Weedsport Speedway
Kenny Kibbey with Nocturnal Gaming takes the checkered flag tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Weedsport Speedway ahead of Chris Davis and Aiden Young. “I’ve always loved Weedsport and I decided to make this one kind of my last race in this league here”, Kibbey commented at the end of the night, “I had a feeling the leaders were going to get together. I saw [Davis] looked to be faster than [Best] so it was only a matter of time before they started hitting each other and sure enough… and then everyone just moved up the track and I just squeezed through and just had to live to the end.”
Jason Best came into the night strong putting down the top lap in qualifying at 17.884 and securing the pole by taking claiming the checkered flag in the first heat event over Kenny Kibbey by 1.5 seconds at the line. Stephen Spies took the 2nd heat with and Billy Northcutt winning the B Main to finish up the preliminary events of the night leading up to the 30-lap feature event.
Best led the 15-car field around to take the green flag with Spies challenging for the lead off the jump. Best was able to hold it as Kibbey dove low getting a nose under Spies and taking 2nd place away. Northcutt followed Kibbey around pushing Spies further back under pressure from Aiden Young for 4th place. Kibbey and Northcutt made slight contact forcing Kibbey high resulting in several drivers running under him as he fell back to 6th before he was able to slot back into line behind Young.
Best continued to hold the lead going into lap 10 with Northcutt and Spies running side by side over 2nd place. Chris Davis had made his way up through the field and was looking to the inside of Northcutt as Spies cleared into 2nd. Northcutt stayed committed to the outside line which didn’t seem to be the optimal line as he was losing position as they crossed the halfway point of the race. Davis had closed the gap to Kibbey and was aggressively trying to get around Spies.
Spies made a rare mistake making contact with the inside wall with Davis directly behind him and unable to check up in time sending Spies around falling back to 13th going into the last 10 laps with Best still holding onto the lead. Northcutt and Young were battling over 3rd with Kibbey waiting patiently behind them with the laps quickly counting down. Davis and Best made contact battling for the lead which allowed Young to close up on them trying to split the leaders.
Contact between all 3 drivers slowed their momentum enough for Kibbey to sling past taking the lead with 4 laps to go. Davis recovered quickly and was going hard trying to get under Kibbey, but it was too little, too late as Kenny Kibbey came out of the final corner to take the checkered flag with Chris Davis, Aiden Young, Billy Northcutt, and Jeffery Hardin rounding out the top 5 tonight at Weedsport Speedway.
Billy Northcutt is well out of reach in the point standings going into the final round with 650 points, now 119 points ahead of Jason Best in 2nd place. Jeffery Hardin moves up to 3rd place with 563 points as William Hargreaves dropped another spot back to 4th after another no-show with 461 points and Chris Hill rounds out the top 5 with 457 points. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Lanier National Speedway on March 17th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 7:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S4 R3 Recap
07 March 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 3
Premier Series | Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Vincent Crow with Team Watson Racing claimed his 2nd win of the new season tonight in the MARSS Properties Vacation Rentals 200 with the Pretty Good Racing League at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ahead of Scott Eckrich and Cosmin Ioanesiu. “Stage win and the race win, I feel like I proved I’m not a hack. This race should’ve been called the ‘Vincent Crow’s not a Hack 500′”, Crow joked with us as the night came to a close, “It’s a really good feel-good win. Daytona was, I was blown out of my mind I won the race and now this race is like ‘Cool, I’m ready for Phoenix’.”
Tyler Graaf with GRAAFix eSports led the 42-car field around to take the green flag with Angel Jaime to his outside. Graaf jumped out to an early lead with much of the field spreading out using multiple lines around the corners. Scott Eckrich was making an unexpected push to the front, up to 7th in the first few laps, as he has been known for patiently moving up through the field last season. Only 10 laps into the run, Graff had pulled away from the rest of the field by 2.5 seconds with Creighton Carter running in 2nd place clearly saving his equipment for a longer run.
Cody Dempster was aggressively maneuvering around traffic up into 3rd with a large pack of drivers battling hard from 8th back past 30th place all running 2 and 3-wide as the drivers started to feel more comfortable. With the first 15 laps behind them, the front runners were quickly closing on Graaf up front who was quickly falling off the pace. Carter dove under Graaf and was able to clear into the lead with Dempster running close behind. Eckrich was up to 4th and broke away from the large pack of drivers as he started reeling in the leaders.
Dempster wasted no time going after the lead as the caution came out on lap 23 from contact between Will Farmer and Saif Faries resulted in a several drivers getting caught out. Dempster maintained the lead after completing his pit cycle with Eckrich in 2nd. Racing resumed with Eckrich staying alongside Dempster off the jump taking the lead away going into lap 27. Jaime was able to close in on Eckrich taking the lead for himself a few laps later with much of the field shuffling for position.
Vincent Crow was moving up toward the front on the field clearing around Dempster into 3rd and looking to challenge Eckrich for 2nd place. Cosmin Ioanesiu, last week’s winner at Auto Club Speedway, was quietly moving up through the field into 6th place as Eckrich was starting to drop back giving up positions to Crow and Dempster. The field continued making aggressive moves throughout to close out the first half of the night with Crow and Jaime battling hard over the lead.
Crow was holding the lead over Dempster as they crossed the halfway point in the race to secure the bonus stage points before handing the lead over to Dempster. Ioanesiu was maintaining a strong pace running up to 3rd and looking under Crow for 2nd with Colton Salek close behind. Cautions plagued the 2nd half of the race with drivers making more aggressive moves resulting in shuffling the running order around as differing pit strategies staggered the field. Crow was in control of the field over Ioanesiu with 30 laps remaining.
With drivers running into more problems, cautions helped Eckrich get back within reach of the lead with Mike Rasimas breaking into the top 5 going into the last 10 laps. Crow still had a strong hold on the race lead and broke away from the field with Ioanesiu in tow as Eckrich and Rasimas went side by side over 3rd place. One last caution came out restacking the field for a 3-lap shootout with Crow still in the lead. Vincent Crow held the lead unchallenged to take the checkered flag with Scott Eckrich taking 2nd place away from Cosmin Ioanesiu in the end. Colton Salek and Mike Rasimas round out the top 5 tonight at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Vincent Crow further extends his lead with 215 points with Jake Silvia now 36 points behind him. Cosmin Ioanesiu jumps up 5 spots into 3rd with 166 points, Thomas George drops back to 4th with 165 points, and Jeff Ward rounds out the top 5 with 163 points. The Pretty Good Racing League next heads to Phoenix Raceway for the “MARSS Properties Vacation Rentals 250K” on March 14th with all the action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL LM S21 R9 Recap
04 March 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 21 | Round 9
Late Model Series | Hickory Motor Speedway
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports claimed his 2nd win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series at Hickory Motor Speedway ahead of Mathew Thunhorst and Michael Goodman. “I was hoping we’d have a lot more green flag racing… A little bit lucky after last week not being able to finish the race for sure this is a better week”, Shepherd shared with us. When asked about the car change coming next week, he commented, “I’m excited that we’re getting the new body, the new car it’s got a few different specs on it a little bit more power. We’ll have to see how it is, I’m optimistic about it for sure but this has been a great car at least for league racing.”
J R Shepherd continued his streak taking the top spot again in qualifying putting down a 14.567 taking the 10 bonus points and starting in 10th place with Joe Segalla of Segalla Motorsports taking the pole from the Bootleg Racing League grid invert. Segalla came out of turn 4 to take the green flag and quickly cleared ahead of Stephen Spies who started to his outside. Spies was able to slot in behind Segalla off the jump with Joseph Snyder holding onto 3rd.
Lowell Jewell was on the outside trying under pressure from Jeffery Hardin running side by side for 4th as the two drivers came together bringing out an early caution and collecting several other drivers in the chaos to include Shepherd, Kenny Kibbey, and Aiden Young while Donny Moore and Mathew Thunhorst were able to weave through mostly untouched jumping far up through the running order. As racing resumed, the leaders again quickly single filed out with Segalla still in control of the field with the first 10 laps completed.
Spies was pressuring Segalla for the lead and similar to the earlier incident, the two made contact sending both drivers around giving control of the field to Snyder. The green flag came back out going into lap 17 with both Shepherd and Thunhorst closing in on the front of the field. Moore was up into 3rd with Jason Menda running in 2nd behind Snyder as the drivers started to get spread out for the first time of the night. Shepherd continued his charge to the front quickly overtaking Moore and set his sights on Menda with the first 25 laps behind them.
Shepherd made short work of Menda and Snyder taking the lead and running away with it as they came up on lap traffic while Thunhorst was back in 5th feeling the pressure with Shepherd having open track ahead of him to stretch out his lead going into the 2nd half of the night. The laps were quickly counting down with everyone spaced out around the track as Shepherd extended the gap ahead of Hoose to over 2 seconds with Thunhorst running in 3rd. A caution came out with 32 laps to go giving Thunhorst exactly what he needed closing the gap to Shepherd and giving him a perfect chance to get around Hoose into 2nd off the restart.
“[Shepherd’s] going to have to make a mistake which, well, I’d rather get a lottery number and see how that goes instead.”, Thunhorst shared with us briefly under the caution regarding how to get to the lead. As the race went back green, Thunhorst cleared around Hoose, but Shepherd had a great jump off the start and pulled out to a strong lead. Going into the final stretch, Shepherd was outpacing the rest of the field pulling away from Thunhorst as a late race caution came out on lap 98 bringing the race to an early end. J R Shepherd paced the field around to take the checkered flag with Mathew Thunhorst, Michael Goodman, Matt Shinoski, and Lowell Jewell rounding out the top 5 tonight at Hickory Motor Speedway.
J R Shepherd seems to have to the season championship locked in currently with 421 points, now 85 points ahead of Michael Goodman in 2nd place. Lowell Jewell holds onto 3rd place with 309 over Mathew Thunhorst 1 point behind. Donny Moore rounds out the top 5 drivers going into the final 2 rounds of the season. Next week, the Bootleg Racing League is going to tackle South Boston Speedway in the all-new Late Model Stock with all of the intense racing action brought to you live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSLM S1 R9 Recap
03 March 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 9
Dirt Super Late Model Series | I-55 Raceway
Aiden Young with Gambler Motorsports takes the checkered flag tonight by 0.005 seconds over his teammate, Stephen Spies, in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Super Late Model Series at I-55 Raceway with Jason Dill rounding out to podium finishers. “I don’t think I breathed on the last 10 laps”, Young commented as the night came to a close, “It was just fun racing there with [Spies] just trying to stay out of his door and just see if I couldn’t squeak him out at the end.”
Brandyn Proudfoot put down the fastest lap going into the evening at 11.938 leading the first heat out of the gate with Aiden Young to his inside. Proudfoot claimed the win fairly unchallenged by Young. John Wilson held off Stephen Spies to take the win in the 2nd heat and Thomas Vickers absolutely dominated the B-Main consolation event wrapping up the night’s preliminary races before the 30-lap feature.
Proudfoot led the field around to take the green flag getting a strong jump going into the first corner clearing ahead of Wilson and Young. Spies quickly maneuvered around Wilson and Young to take 2nd place away with Vickers aggressively pushing up into 3rd. Vickers saw his chance and dove low under Spies able to take 2nd place with the first 10 laps completed and was quickly reeling Proudfoot in for the lead. Vickers threw a quick slider on Proudfoot, but Proudfoot was able to counter with a crossover and maintained the lead going into the 2nd half of the night.
Young had caught the leaders and was pressuring Spies for 3rd. In a shocking upset, Vickers and Proudfoot came together knocking both drivers out of contention as the caution flag came out. Spies was in control of the field as racing resumed but Young was able to stay alongside him Gambler Motorsports teammate and the 2 drivers ran side by side without either lane having a clear advantage with the laps quickly counting down.
Jason Dill followed the leaders closely waiting for an opportunity to capitalize on as Spies and Young stayed door to door going into the final moments. In an amazing show of incredible skill, the leaders battled hard lap after lap without making contact while still able to outpace the rest of the field. Coming out of the last corner, Aiden Young was able to get a nose ahead to take the checkered flag over Stephen Spies by 0.005 seconds at the line. Jason Dill, Brandyn Proudfoot, and Thomas Vickers round out the top 5 tonight at I-55 Spedway.
Jason Dill is now leading in the point standings with 601 points, 7 points ahead of Thomas Vickers in 2nd place. Aiden Young sits in 3rd with 532 points, William Hargreaves is in 4th with 522 points, and Michael Smith rounds out the top 5 with 474 points. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Weedsport Speedway on March 10th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 8:50PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S14 R9 Recap
03 March 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 14 | Round 9
Dirt Street Stock Series | I-55 Raceway
Billy Northcutt with Dirt Panda takes the checkered flag tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at I-55 Raceway ahead of Stephen Spies and Jason Dill. “I would’ve been excited to see a caution there honestly and give [Best] a chance to get back in line and see what happened”, Northcutt commented at the end of the night, “Early on I jumped out to a little bit of a lead and with no cautions it just takes all the stress off and it’s easier to hit your marks and everything like that so I was able to stay out front and take the win on this one.
Billy Northcutt set down the fastest lap in qualifying putting down a 14.840 starting out front for the first heat of the night with Chris Davis running to his outside. Northcutt took the win and secured the pole position for the feature race later in the night. Jason Best took the 2nd heat win claimed the remaining front row feature slot. David Traylor held off Chris Hill and Brandyn Proudfoot to take the checkered flag in the B-Main consolation race wrapping up the evening’s preliminary events.
Northcutt opted to start from the outside lane as he came out of turn 4 to take the green flag. Northcutt had a good launch off the start pulling away from the field early on as Proudfoot was aggressively pushing up through the traffic on his way to the front. The top 3 were getting spread out with the middle of the field a hornet’s nest of activity with drivers all fighting for position running 2 and 3-wide with the first 10 laps behind them. Neville Ulph was under pressure from Proudfoot battling over 4th place.
Going into the 2nd half of the run, Northcutt had extended his lead out to almost 1 second over Best with lap traffic coming into view. Proudfoot overtook Ulph for 4th and went to work running down Davis 0.9 seconds ahead of him with 10 laps remaining with the field becoming spread out around the track. Davis was coming under pressure from Proudfoot in the final laps, but it was too little, too late for Proudfoot as Billy Northcutt came around to take the checkered flag with Jason Best, Chris Davis, Brandyn Proudfoot, and Neville Ulph rounding out the top 5 tonight at I-55 Speedway.
Billy Northcutt stretches out his lead in the point standings with 581 points, now 119 points ahead of Jason Best in 2nd place. William Hargreaves slips back to 3rd place after another no-show on the track with 461 points as Chris Hill moves up to 4th at 423 points and John Wilson rounds out the top 5 with 401 points. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Weedsport Speedway on March 10th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 7:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S4 R2 Recap
28 February 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 2
Premier Series | Auto Club Speedway
Cosmin Ioanesiu with Nexxus eSports took the checkered flag tonight in the Alex’s “Totally Legal” Race Engines 200 presented by Julesburg Farms with the Pretty Good Racing League at Auto Club Speedway ahead of Colton Salek and Thomas George. Talking about having to come from the back of the field after being caught up in an incident early in the 1st half of the night, Ioanesiu commented, “We got back on cycle with everybody and just methodically worked the car through the field and somehow got into a position to win it. Runs were made, blocks were thrown, wrecks were had, and somehow, we got a win. I’d say that sums up pretty good.”
Alex Graetz was in command of the 41-car field as the green flag came out with Tim Winecoff to his outside going into the first corner. Saif Faries was making an early charge for the lead diving low as he tried to find the speed to Challenge Graetz. Through the opening laps several drivers struggled to get into a groove and were sent sliding across the infield after misjudging corner exit bringing out early cautions with Graetz under pressure from Norm Pelletier.
Graetz continued to control the field until Cody Dempster took the lead away 22 laps into the night as the top 8 drivers pulled away from the rest of the field. Jeff Ward was making an aggressive move up to the front battling side by side with Faires for several laps as he tried to position himself to take advantage of the halfway point bonus points moving up to challenge Dempster. Ward kept the pressure up around several laps and were quickly approaching the fuel window as another caution came out from contact between Scott Eckrich and Ryan Rose battling over 10th place.
After cycling through pit road, racing resumed going into lap 36 with Dempster still in the lead. Chris Stofer and Colton Salek battled over 2nd as Ward started climbing back up to the leader from 6th place. Vincent Crow was finding a lot of speed along the highline and was quickly pushing up to 4th. Stofer secured 2nd place and immediately cleared around Dempster for the lead as Ward moved up to 3rd being pushed by Crow. The racing up front became intense approaching lap 50 as the drivers fought to get as many bonus points as possible with Ward sacrificing tire wear to jump out front crossing the line into the 2nd half before immediately falling back through the field.
Dempster reclaimed the lead as Ward continued to drop back with Stofer and Salek again battling for 2nd. Thomas George, last season’s points champion, was running in 5th making calculated moves as he quietly moved up toward the front of the field. Salek closed in on Dempster and made several attempts for the lead but wasn’t able to make anything stick with Crow moving up into 3rd and reeling the leaders in. The caution came out on lap 62 when Stofer got loose going down the backstretch giving the drivers an opportune chance to come down pit road within reach of the end in regard to the fuel window.
Salek won the race off pit road and took the lead from Dempster for the restart with 35 laps remaining. Dempster and Crow were able to take advantage as Salek dropped off the pace and started battling over the lead as the laps quickly counted down. Jake Silvia caught the battle and started pressuring Crow as Dempster cleared out front. Graetz rejoined the lead pack and was making aggressive low dives trying to make up any positions he could running in 5th behind Doug Roth.
Salek again started pushing for the lead as the front pack grew larger with time running out. Dempster had a strong hold of the lead with Silvia and Salek running single file tight on his bumper waiting for a mistake out of him going into the closing laps. Cosmin Ioanesiu was quickly climbing up through the lead pack and was up to 4th and quickly reeled Salek as Crow fell back to 5th and was under pressure from Michael Chrobok. Another caution came out with 19 laps to go restacking the field.
The drivers all came down pit road for tires with Dempster leading the field for the restart ahead of Silvia, Ioanesiu, and Salek. With 15 laps remaining in the night, racing resumed with Silvia stayed alongside Dempster for the lead. Salek tried to get under Ioanesiu for 3rd but couldn’t get clear running side by side for several laps until another caution halted the action again.
The green flag came back out going into the final 10 laps with dempster still in control of the field. Off the jump, Dempster was instantly under pressure as he went 3-wide with Silvia and Ioanesiu for the lead. The top 9 hard broke away from the rest of the field with the leading pack pushing their cars to the limit all scrambling to get as good of a finish as possible. Coming down the front stretch with 3 laps to go, Salek tried to force a 3-wide situation driving up between Silvia and Dempster resulting in both drivers sliding across the infield and handing the lead and race win over to Cosmin Ioanesiu taking the checkered flag under yellow flag conditions with Colton Salek holding onto 2nd. Thomas George, Vincent Crow, and Michael Chrobok round out the top 5 tonight at Auto Club Speedway.
Vincent Crow stretches out his lead with 136 points with Jake Silvia now 12 points behind him. Thomas George jumps up 4 spots into 3rd with 120 points, Jeff Ward is up 4 spots into 4th with 115 points, and Michael Chrobok rounds out the top 5 with 114 points. The Pretty Good Racing League next heads to Las Vegas for the “MARSS Properties Vacation Rentals 200” at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 7th with all the action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL LM S21 R8 Recap
25 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 21 | Round 8
Late Model Series | Southern National Speedway
Mathew Thunhorst with Forge Racing took his first checkered flag of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series at Southern National Speedway ahead of Aiden Young and Matt Hoose. “It was just craziness out there”, Thunhorst commented at the end of the night, “Got a couple bites at the apple and finally just got enough that I could get in there and try to work [Young] over and, you know, got it done.”
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports continued his top qualifying streak for the 8th week in a row setting down the fastest lap at 14.731 starting the night off in 10th place with the Bootleg Racing League grid invert with Kurt Smith leading the 24-car field around to take the green flag for the 100-lap feature event alongside Stephen Spies on the front row.
Smith jumped out to the lead with Spies tucking in behind him. Adam Schoen and Austin Boelke made contact trying ot get single filed out bringing out an early caution restacking the field to resume racing going into lap 7. Off the jump, Matt Hoose got under Spies to take away 2nd place before more contact further back in the field resulted in several drivers having to come down pit road for repairs very early in the night to include Shepherd who could avoid an incident directly ahead of him.
Smith continued to lead the field as the green flag came back out with 14 laps completed. Hoose was able to hold 2nd place as Spies found himself under pressure from Aiden Smith clearing around the outside to take 3rd. Tyler Shadduck was coming up through the field trying to get around the outside of Michael Goodman but unable to complete the move getting loose which allowed several drivers past him on the inside line pushing him back to 8th. Young got to the outside of Hoose and was trying to repeat the move he made on Spies a few laps earlier getting a nose to the outside of Smith in the lead.
Smith held the lead leaving Young nowhere to go other than the outside line with Hoose still to his inside. Hoose conceded the battle allowing Young to clear around with Hoose slotting in behind him holding onto 3rd. On lap 43, an incident involving several drivers in the back half of the field blocked up the track on the backstretch as the leaders were coming around unaware and Smith was collected bring an unfortunate end to his strong run and giving the lead to Young for the restart going into the 2nd half of the night.
Mathew Thunhorst was quietly moving up through the field throughout the chaotic race patiently avoiding incidents and was up 15 spots into 3rd. With 40 laps remaining, Thunhorst was pressuring Young for the lead as the 2 drivers pulled away from the rest of the field. In a shocking upset, Shepherd and Shadduck made contact ending the point leader’s night early as Young and Thunhorst continued to battle for the lead with 28 laps to go.
Going into the final 8 laps, Thunhorst got a nose to the inside of Young running side by side with both drivers trying to get their nose out front. After a few tense laps, Thunhorst cleared into the lead and started to pull away from Young. Coming around the last corner, Mathew Thunhorst took the checkered flag over 1 second ahead of Aiden Young in 2nd place. Matt Hoose, Justin Morton, and Lowell Jewell round out the top 5 tonight at Southern National Speedway.
J R Shepherd continues to lead in the point standings, even with an unfortunate end tonight, with 371 points. Michael Goodman holds onto 2nd place with 294 points. Lowell Jewell sits in 3rd with 273 points with Mathew Thunhorst sitting in 4th with 269 points. Justin Morton rounds out the top 5 in the point standings with 241 points going into the next round of the season. The Bootleg Racing League now heads over to Hickory Motor Speedway for the next round of Season 21 on March 4th with all of the intense racing action brought to you live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
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