BRL SLM S19 R5 Recap
22 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 19 | Round 5
Super Late Model Series | Irwindale Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Mathew Thunhorst took the checkered flag tonight with the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at Irwindale Speedway ahead of Justin Morton and J R Shepherd. “I kind of noticed a change about lap 55 [or] 60 where she start getting real tight… at that point I was able to adjust and that’s when I started pulling away a little bit”, Thunhorst shared with us before explaining how the outside works at Irwindale, “More banking means more speed and so it’s one of those things where you gotta kind of get used to getting close to the wall and if you can manage it really well here you’re going to succeed.”
J R Shepherd took the pole in qualifying with a 4-lap average time at 17.579 and started tonight from 10th with the field invert. Todd Liston led the 16-car field to the green flag with Steve Hilbert to his outside. Liston had a strong jump off the start but an unexpected checkup in the outside line caused contact sending Matt Hoose into the inside wall bringing out an early caution as the field restacked to take the green again going into lap 6. Liston had another good jump off the start as racing resumed.
Joseph Snyder and Adam Schoen battled side by side over 2nd with neither driver willing to back off. Justin Morton was trying to make the inside line work behind Snyder for 4th place with Thunhorst directly behind him. Austin Boelke and J R Shepherd were following Jeffrey Hardin along the high line running in 7th and 8th as the field started to sort themselves out mostly single file. 20 laps into the night, Schoen made a move for the lead diving beneath Liston and was able to make it stick clearing ahead of Liston going into lap 22 with Thunhorst directly behind following him through.
Morton took advantage of the situation diving in behind Thunhorst to clear into 3rd. Shepherd was directly behind the battle but struggled to clear around Liston as the caution flag came back out when Hardin and Boelke came together in the corner further back in the field. Hardin spun and the drivers behind him couldn’t avoid causing a pile up with several cars. Schoen was in control of the field to the inside of Thunhorst as the green flag came back out. Schoen cleared for the lead off the jump, but Thunhorst stayed tight on his rear bumper before diving low to take the lead away with 35 laps completed.
Morton was able to get to the outside of Schoen and take away 2nd place before Schoen was able to slot back into line blocking Shepherd in 4th. Going into the 2nd half of the night, Shepherd continued to struggle to find a way around Schoen as Thunhorst and Morton started to pull away with the lead and the field split into multiple small battles spread around the track. Thunhorst had a 0.6 second lead over Morton and Shepherd was slowly reeling Morton in after clearing into 3rd with 40 laps remaining.
On lap 76, Thunhorst reached the first of the lap traffic quickly putting two lapped drivers between himself and Morton over 2 seconds behind him further extending his lead out going into the final moments. In the end, no one was able to challenge Mathew Thunhorst for the lead as he took the checkered flag 3.8 seconds ahead of Justin Morton with J R Shepherd, Adam Schoen, and Joseph Snyder rounding out the top 5 tonight at Irwindale Speedway.
J R Shepherd holds onto the lead in the point standings tonight with 228 points. Mathew Thunhorst sits in 2nd place with 219 points over Justin Morton with 215 points. Donny Moore moved up to 4th with 179 points and Joseph Snyder rounds out the top 5 with 76 points. Next week, the drivers of the Bootleg Racing League head out to Nasville Fairgrounds Speedway for the 6th round of Season 19 on October 29th with all of the action broadcast live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL NSCT S1 R4 Recap
21 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 4
National Sprint Car Trail | Eldora Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
James Tiernan absolutely dominated the field tonight in the non-winged 360 dirt sprints with the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail at Eldora Speedway ahead of Bruce Jones and Aiden Young. “Really good run there, the top was there the entire time and just ran away with it”, Tiernan commented after his near perfect race tonight, “There was one time I kind of did more of a slider line than I’d liked and nearly stepped on my wheelie a little bit but mostly just smooth sailing.”
James Tiernan held the top of the timing and scoring tower with a 4-lap average time at 15.414 with the non-winged 360 dirt sprints in qualifying securing the pole and advancing straight to the 30-lap feature event. Terry Landis beat out Rory Collins in the heat by over 1.2 seconds at the line. Tiernan took the green flag for the feature with Justin Morton to his outside to kick off the night’s main event.
Tiernan jumped out to an early lead pulling ahead of Morton by over 1 second in the opening laps while Morton had Stephen Spies, Brandyn Proudfoot, and Aiden Young directly behind him keeping the pressure high. Proudfoot was driving a very low line compared to the other drivers and was able to clear ahead of Spies into 3rd with an aggressive slider move that Spies couldn’t defend against. Proudfoot immediately went after Morton for 2nd place forcing Morton off his preferred line.
Morton fell back to 4th as Spies followed Proudfoot along the high line using the momentum to hold Morton’s pass attempts at bay lap after lap. Passing the halfway point of the event, Tiernan had completely checked out with a gap of over 4 seconds ahead of Proudfoot who still had the battle between Morton and Spies directly behind him. With 11 laps remaining, Spies was able to pull away from Morton and closed back in on Proudfoot ahead as the caution came out when Proudfoot made contact with the outside wall and spun across the track coming to a stop on the inside wall.
Tiernan took the green with 10 laps to go with Spies directly behind him for the single file restart. Proudfoot fell back to 7th from the incident. Again, Tiernan had a great jump off the start pulling away from the field. Bruce Jones tried to take 3rd from Morton as they went nearly 4-wide with Young and Terry Landis getting involved. Spies made contact with the outside wall but was able to recover in 4th behind Young and Jones.
Going into the final laps, Proudfoot closed back up on the battle with contact between the drivers shuffling the group around. James Tiernan took the checkered flag in the end with Bruce Jones, Aiden Young, Brandyn Proudfoot, and Justin Morton rounding out the top 5 tonight at Eldora Speedway.
Aiden Young, Stephen Spies, and Bruce Jones are in a 3-way tie for the lead in the overall point standings with 160 points each. Justin Morton and Rory Collins round out the top 5 drivers. James Tiernan claimed the lead in the dirt sprints point standings with 76 points from tonight ahead of Bruce Jones and Aiden Young. The drivers of the Bootleg Racing League head over to Gateway Motorsports Park on October 28th in the silver crowns with all of the intense action brought to you live at 10:30PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S13 R5 Recap
21 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 13 | Round 5
Dirt Street Stock Series | Eldora Speedway
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Brandyn Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports took the checkered flag tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Eldora Speedway ahead of the Dirt Panda teammates William Hargreaves and Billy Northcutt. “It was just an extremely fun race and there was a lot of pack racing from the front to the back”, Proudfoot shared with us before notifying the viewers that he will be absent for every other race for the rest of the season due to other responsibilities conflicting with the racing schedule.
Billy Northcutt held the fastest 4-lap average time in qualifying at 19.539 before leading the first heat of the night to the green flag. Northcutt was able to pull away to claim the win while Chris Davis was running defensively in 2nd holding off Brennan Myers and John Wilson behind him. Adam Carlisle and Brandyn Proudfoot shared the front row for the start of the 2nd heat. Carlisle and Proudfoot battled side by side around each lap allowing Jason Best to dive beneath both making it a 3-car drag race to the line with Carlisle taking the checkered flag in the end.
Thomas Vickers and J R Shepherd were on the front row as the green flag came out for the 3rd and final heat event of the night. Vickers pulled out to a strong lead and took the checkered flag ahead of Shepherd. Myers took the green flag in the C Main consolation race. Jason Dill was able to close the gap to Myers and got beneath him going 3-wide for the lead as William Hargreaves got a nose into the fight. Dill was able to reach the line first to take the win. Proudfoot had a great launch off the start of the B Main consolation race pulling away from Wilson in 2nd and taking the checkered flag.
Northcutt took the green flag to kick off the 40-lap feature event with Carlisle to his inside. The battle for 2nd went 4-wide with Davis, Best, Carlisle, and Shepherd all fighting for the same spot until Shepherd made contact with the outside wall and collected multiple drivers behind him bringing out the caution with 4 laps completed. Northcutt had another great jump off the restart pulling away from Davis and Carlisle battling over 2nd. Going into lap 10, Northcutt, Davis and Best went 3-wide over the lead as the field was aggressively fighting for any position early into the run. Davis and Proudfoot starting swapping sliders back and forth as Vickers closed in on the leaders.
Going into the 2nd half, Vickers and Hargreaves for involved in the battle for the lead as Proudfoot started to pull away from Davis. Hargreaves did well to close the gap to Proudfoot as the two had a 0.6 second gap ahead of Davis in 3rd. Best, Northcutt, and Vickers closed in on Davis going into the final 10 laps with Best looking beneath Davis. Best threw a slider but wasn’t able to clear Davis as contact between the two drivers sent Best around and ended his night. Off the restart, Brandyn Proudfoot jumped out to a good lead over William Hargreaves in the final laps to take the checkered flag with Billy Northcutt, Thomas Vickers, and J R Shepherd rounding out the top 5 tonight at Eldora Speedway.
William Hargreaves holds onto the points lead with 369 points ahead of Billy Northcutt in 2nd place 9 points behind. J R Shepherd jumped up to 3rd place with 317 points, Adam Carlisle fell back to 4th with 303 points, and Jason Best rounds out the top 5 drivers with 247 points. Going into the next round, the drivers will take on the Lucas Oil Speedway on October 28th with all of the dirt slinging action broadcast live at 7:10PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S3 R9 Recap
18 October 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 9
Premier Series | Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Michael Chrobok with Loud Pedal Motorsports take the checkered flag tonight in the Galloping Horses 200 presented by Mane ‘n Tail at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Cody Dempster and Thomas George. “It was just a matter of running that 2nd to last stint close enough on fuel so you could make it to the end and then getting a little bit of an undercut on [Eckrich] and then getting the clean air up front and then kind of manage that gap to [George]”, Chrobok commented while celebrating his win.
Rich Jette took the green flag in control of the 22-car field and jumped out to a strong lead ahead of Chance Manning. Jordan Harnish struggled going into the first corner sliding up the track and fell from 2nd back to 19th. Jette was pulling away as Greg O’Berry and Cody Dempster overtook Manning pushing him back to 4th with Jonathan Cogswell directly behind him. 10 laps into the run, Jette had extended his lead out to almost 2 seconds, but Dempster was chipping away at the gap lap after lap.
Michael Chrobok broke into the top 10 and was making calculated moves through the field following Thomas George along the inside line. With only 15 laps behind them, several drivers were struggling with loose conditions and Dempster was able to overtake Jette for the lead with the rest of the field close behind. Time Winecoff lost his car on lap 17 coming out of turn 2 and had his night ended early as several drivers made hard contact unable to avoid Winecoff sideways on the backstretch bringing out the caution flag.
The entire field took the opportunity to come down pit road with Cody Dempster rejoining the track still in the lead. Dempster had a great launch off the start followed by Jette. George had a slower start falling back a few spots to 7th before slotting in line behind Manning and Chrobok was able to clear under Cogswell for 3rd. Jette took the lead back from Dempster and Wally Wilson climbed up into the top 5 running in 4th. On lap 35, Dempster was again able to close back in on Jette to take the lead away as Jette got loose chasing his car down to the apron before collecting himself back up to continue running from 5th.
A few laps later, Dempster had a similar situation falling back to 3rd allowing Chrobok to take the lead with Brian Yaczik in 2nd place. Going into lap 40, George was at the bottom of a 3-wide battle with Dempster and Manning when he clipped the apron and came back up the track. As Dempster and Manning moved up the track to avoid contact but Manning overcorrected and came back down into George sending himself around with only minor damage and bringing out the caution. George and Dempster were able to recover in 3rd and 4th while Manning fell back to 14th.
Chrobok was in control of the restart with Yaczik to his outside going into lap 45. Yaczik was able to overtake for the lead running along the highline with Dempster behind him as Saif Faries pushed up into 3rd with Dempster dropping back to 5th behind Wilson. Faries and Wilson battled each other around Yaczik and into the lead with Wilson claiming the position in the end. Wilson immediately started to pull away with the lead stretching the gap well over 2 seconds after only a few laps in clean air.
The front pack led by Dempster completely closed the gap to Wilson going into lap 60 similar to what happened to Jette early in the night. Dempster and Yaczik split around Wilson to overtake the lead with Wilson showing clear signs of tire wear and falling back further into the field. Yaczik cleared ahead of Dempster for the lead with George diving low for 2nd. Scott Eckrich was quietly moving up through the field throughout the night and was up to 4th pressuring Chrobok and George ahead.
Going into the second half of the night, Harnish was making a nice recovery back inside of the top 10 running behind Adam Jurski while Yaczik continued to hold the lead ahead of George. Chrobok saw an opening on lap 70 when George had to recover from getting loose and dove beneath him to take away 2nd place. Chrobok was able to close the 0.5 second gap to Yaczik and take the lead away with Eckrich moving around George into 3rd. The top 4 drivers had a 1.5 second lead ahead of Dempster in 5th with 56 laps remaining.
Going into lap 85, Eckrich was able to clear around both Yaczik and Chrobok holding the race lead for the first time of the night. Chrobok came down pit road on lap 91 with George under the green flag with Eckrich and Yaczik going down on the following lap. Chrobok was in control of the field again as the pit cycle completed with George in 2nd. Yaczik and Dempster were battling over 4th place ahead of Eckrich going into the final 40 laps. As the laps counted down, George and Yaczik were both closing in on Chrobok for the lead while Dempster and Eckrich ran further back seemingly pacing themselves to save their equipment for later in the run.
On lap 112, Yaczik was trying to make a pass high around George for 2nd place when George made contact with the apron sending him back up the track making hard contact and sending Yaczik hard into the inside wall resulting in night ending damage to his right front suspension. George was able to recover from the incident and continue running in 4th behind Eckrich and Dempster. Chrobok had more than 2 seconds between himself and Eckrich with less than 20 laps remaining. Eckrich got loose in the final moments falling back to 4th before the end as Michael Chrobok took the checkered flag with Cody Dempster, Thomas George, Scott Eckrich, and Jordan Harnish rounding out the top 5 drivers tonight at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Thomas George holds onto the lead with 353 points over Brian Yaczik with 337 points. Michael Chrobok holds onto 3rd place with 316 points. Cody Dempster sits in 4th with 296 points as Woody Mahan rounds out the top 5 with 278 points. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 25th for the High, Wide, and Handsome 200 presented by The Joy of Driving with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL SLM S19 R4 Recap
15 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 19 | Round 4
Super Late Model Series | Concord Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Austin Boelke with Different Path Motorsports took the checkered flag tonight under caution flag conditions in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at Concord Speedway ahead of Kenny Kibbey and Donny Moore. Talking about some of the struggles getting around the track tonight, Boelke shared with us, “It’s so easy to overheat the tires in these cars and it’s so hard once you’ve overheated them to get them back into that optimal temperature range, pressure-wise, and that where the grip is as soon as you overheat them they just continue to get hotter and hotter and hotter and then you’re just going to slide around more.”
Austin Boelke led the 19-car field with Donny Moore to his outside as the green flag came out over Concord Speedway. Boelke cleared ahead off the jump as the field single filed out with drivers settling in for a long run. 10 laps into the night, J R Shepherd was up to 4th while Mathew Thunhorst, Kenny Kibbey, and Justin Morton were struggling to move forward running in the back end of the top 10. Mark Hertzog made a move to the inside of Moore for 2nd place but had to lift and back out causing a checkup almost resulting in Shepherd getting into the back of him.
The laps continued to count down and the drivers were still struggling to make moves. With 30 laps behind them, Thunhorst got his nose to the inside of Chris Davis for 5th with Kibbey following him around. As Morton stuck his nose inside, Davis tried to shut the door and contact was made sending both drivers hard into the inside wall and collecting several drivers behind them bringing out the caution flag. The field stacked back up with Boelke still leading and racing resumed going into lap 39.
Shepherd was stuck to the outside of Hertzog off the restart battling side by side for several laps until contact between the two sent Shepherd into the outside wall. Shepherd was able to recover and continue racing but fell back to 9th behind Jeffrey Hardin. As the drivers crossed the halfway point of the night, Boelke still had a solid hold on the lead ahead of Moore. Thunhorst was pressuring Hertzog for 3rd but struggled to get beneath him as Kibbey actively looked for a way around Thunhorst.
Kibbey got impatient and went to the outside of Thunhorst to try something different with 45 laps remaining. Kibbey wasn’t able to complete the pass but the battle for 4th slowed both drivers enough to give Hertzog a breather in 3rd. Thunhorst closed the gap and again tried to get beneath him not able to make anything out of it allowing Kibbey to try the outside again. Thunhorst and Kibbey ran side by side for lap after lap until Thunhorst conceded falling in behind Kibbey.
Boelke was closing quickly on lap traffic ahead going into lap 67 with a 0.6 second lead ahead of Moore. Shepherd was cautiously negotiating through the field back up to 6th behind Thunhorst. While everyone was struggling to make passes, Kibbey was put in a 3-wide situation on the outside of Hertzog with lap traffic to his outside and contact was made throwing Todd Liston into the outside wall bringing out another caution with 20 laps to go. The restart saw Thunhorst and Shepherd on the outside lane with Kibbey to his inside.
Moore spun his tired on the restart checking up the outside lane letting Shepherd get to his inside behind Kibbey as Hertzog jumped up to 2nd place. Contact between Shepherd and Thunhorst sent Thunhorst around in the middle of the track collecting several drivers in the process. Thunhorst was forced to come down pit road for repairs restarting from 13th as the green flag came back out with 11 laps to go. Boelke again got a great jump as Kibbey dove beneath Hertzog for 2nd.
Going into the final stretch, Kibbey was to the outside of Boelke going for the lead running side by side as a caution came out in the last laps as the front stretch turned into a parking lot of cars. With that, Austin Boelke claimed the checkered flag under caution flag conditions with Kenny Kibbey, Donny Moore, J R Shepherd, and Jeffrey Hardin rounding out the top 5 tonight at Concord Speedway.
J R Shepherd holds onto the lead in the point standings tonight with 180 points. Mathew Thunhorst sits in 2nd place with 173 points over Justin Morton with 168 points. Kenny Kibbey moved up to 4th with 144 points and Donny Moore rounds out the top 5 with 144 points. Next week, the drivers of the Bootleg Racing League head out to Irwindale Speedway for the 5th round of Season 19 on October 22nd with all of the action broadcast live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
Vice City 400 Recap
14 October 2022
Endurance League Events | Vice City 400
ARCA Stock Cars | Homestead-Miami Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Jacob Fyfe of the Integrity Racing League claimed a hard-fought victory tonight in the Vice City 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway put on by Endurance League Events ahead of Mathew Thunhorst of the Bootleg Racing League and Blake Gordon of the FUEL Racing League. “The big thing tonight was really managing your tires and just trying to go just fast enough to stay ahead of Blake and Matt there and everybody who up there for the front for the majority of the race which was the real challenge of the night”, Fyfe commented after claiming his $100 prize winnings.
Michael Chrobok took the green flag to start off the night leading the 41-car field into turn one. Brian Young stayed side by side with Chrobok as they complete the first lap taking the lead away with Chrobok falling back to 3rd behind Jalen Battle. After the first 10 laps were behind him, Chrobok seemed to settle in and was able to run Young back down before reclaiming the lead. Young conceded the battle and slotted in line behind Chrobok going forward in the early stages of the night.
Mathew Thunhorst started in the rear of the field and had climbed through the traffic up over 20 positions into 16th making a consistent charge to the front along with Chad Mikosz up 23 positions in 12th. Katlyn Heydt was running in 17th clearing around Sam Nieto as she was showing her speed around the track. Chrobok continued to hold the lead ahead of Blake Trawick running closely behind him as Young fell back to 4th behind Battle. The vast majority of the field was still running close together with 25 laps behind them.
Going into lap 47, Chrobok was the first to come down pit road under green flag conditions as Trawick took control of the field ahead of Battle. Thunhorst had climbed up into 3rd with Heydt directly behind him. On lap 53, Chrobok was able to catch and clear around Battle in the lead getting back on the lead lap after his stop as much of the field had yet to make their pit stops. The caution flag came out on lap 56 caused by confusion between multiple drivers merging on and off the track giving the leaders an opportune time to come down pit roads without sacrificing positions.
Battle won the race off pit road ahead of Heydt and Thunhorst as the drivers stacked back together to take the green going into lap 61. Jacob Fyfe pushed up into 2nd place behind Battle as the drivers settled back in for a long run with Mikosz directly behind him as Thunhorst, Blake Gordon, and Heydt battled over 4th. With the first 100 laps completed, Fyfe was still out front of the field with Thunhorst running in 2nd. Heydt and Battle had a fierce battle over 5th resulting in Battle getting loose and making hard contact with the outside wall forcing him to pit for suspension repairs. Mikosz and Nieto were running 3rd and 4th respectively.
Chrobok again was the first car down pit road on lap 104 for the 2nd green flag pit cycle. Fyfe and Thunhorst in the lead pulled away from Mikosz and Heydt battling over 3rd by more than 1 second. Lap 114 brought a change for the lead as Thunhorst was able to clear around the inside of Fyfe. Fyfe was the first of the leading pack to come down pit road soon afterwards on lap 116 with Thunhorst coming down on the following lap. Heydt who had yet to make her pit stop inherited the race lead going forward. Fyfe and Thunhorst were both able to pass Heydt as they rejoined the lead lap in 12th and 13th place with Heydt pushing the limits of her fuel window. Heydt made her stop on lap 123 falling back outside of the top 10.
As the pit cycle completed through the field on lap 125, Chrobok was the leading car ahead of Nieto by over 3 seconds with Fyfe and Thunhorst running together in 3rd and 4th. Heydt was again pushing up through the field closing the gap to John Quinn in 8th. A caution came out on lap 129 as Battle and Heydt came together taking both drivers out of contention for the night. As drivers cycled through pit road under the caution and gridded back up, Davis Grantham and Brandon Wengerd were on the front row to take the green flag going into lap 134.
Off the jump, Wengerd, Chrobok, and Thunhorst went 3-wide over 4th place as Fyfe and Nieto pushed ahead into 2nd and 3rd behind Grantham. Fyfe wasted no time going after the lead taking control of the field going into lap 137 with Thunhorst securing 4th and pressuring Nieto for 3rd. Gordan closed the gap to Fyfe quickly after taking the 2nd position and was working over the leader trying to find an opening to take advantage of going into the last 100 laps of the night as the sun had completely set in the distance and the track lights had come on.
Thunhorst was running conservatively giving up a few spots falling back to 8th behind Mikosz. Chrobok was back into the top 10 and was continuing a hard charge back to the front of the field battling with Michael Strohl. Long green flag runs and different pit strategies had the field spread out around the track as the laps continued to count down into the night with Fyfe still holding the lead ahead of Trawick. DJ Stagner moved up into 3rd with Gordon and Nieto close behind him rounding out the top 5. Fyfe came down pit road to start off a 2-stop strategy to the end on lap 190, 1 lap after Nieto made his stop. The following lap saw another caution as Neito made contact with Samuel Fontaine by misjudging his closing speed on fresh tires.
Racing resumed with 67 laps remaining as Fyfe cleared out into the lead off the jump. Thunhorst was back inside of the top 5 and Stagner got incredibly loose shooting to the infield. Stagner was able to recover the car without contact and continued racing from 18th. The leading drivers were all running nose to tail as the top 6 drivers started to pull away from the rest of the field with Chrobok in the back of the group tight on the rear bumper of Strohl.
Gordon went for the lead on lap 210 diving deep beneath Fyfe who was able to battle back from the outside and hold the position. Fyfe continue to lead the field as the majority of drivers seemed content to follow the car ahead of them and check off laps for the time being knowing that there would be one more required fuel stop before the end. Going into lap 231, several drivers started coming down pit road with many of them losing control of the car trying to get slowed down.
Fyfe rejoined the track in 16th, but still the leader when the pit cycle came to completion throughout the field, ahead of Thunhorst and Trawick. The field was spread out all around the track with the laps counting down. The closest battle in the closing laps was between Fyfe and Thunhorst for the lead. Thunhorst was able to stay close to a car length away from Fyfe for several laps keeping the pressure up but not able to close the gap completely. Going into the final stretch, Jacob Fyfe was able to pull away from Mathew Thunhorst by over 1 second to take the checkered flag with Blake Gordon, Blake Trawick, and Chad Mikosz rounding out the top 5 tonight at Homestead!
BRL DSS S13 R4 Recap
14 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 13 | Round 4
Dirt Street Stock Series | I-55 Raceway
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Adam Carlisle took the checkered flag tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at I-55 Raceway ahead of William Hargreaves and Billy Northcutt. “I figured at some point somebody might try to go to the top and see what the top is like and when [Hargreaves] moved up that kind of gave me the opportunity to kind of try to run the line that I wanted and we kind of just went back and forth the whole race from there until that last caution”, Carlisle commented at the end of the night, “My only thought was race your race and do what you know how to do and hopefully it works out.”
William Hargreaves stood on top of the timing and scoring boards with a 4-lap average time of 14.940 taking the pole in the first heat with J R Shepherd to his outside as the green flag came out. Hargreaves pulled away from the field to take the checkered flag in the end. Adam Carlisle dominated the second heat to take the win. Brandyn Proudfoot led the third heat to the green flag but had trouble in the final laps as Jason Best took the lead and the checkered flag. Billy Northcutt and Thomas Vickers battled over the lead in the fourth and final heat race of the night with Northcutt taking the win. Stephen Spies and Thomas Vickers won the consolation events leading up to the 40-lap feature.
Hargreaves cleared out ahead of the field as the green flag came out with Best and Carlisle battling over 2nd place close behind. Shepherd and Northcutt ran side by side over 4th with Chris Davis looking to force a 3-wide situation peaking to the middle of the other two. Carlisle kept the pressure high on Hargreaves as the laps counted down with the leaders reaching the first signs of lap traffic approaching the halfway point of the night. Northcutt cleared around Best for 3rd place further back with Best, Davis, and Vickers all going after the 4th position.
Carlisle started looking to the inside of Hargreaves with 15 laps remaining, but Hargreaves was able to hold him back running along the outside wall as Northcutt closed in on the battle for the lead. The top 3 drivers had pulled away from the rest of the field and Carlisle was aggressively throwing his car to the inside trying to make it work gaining slowly on Hargreaves. Going into the final 5 laps, Carlisle had his nose ahead scoring as the leader as a late race caution came out griding the drivers back up for a 5-lap shootout to the end.
Carlisle jumped out to a good lead off the green flag with Northcutt looking to the inside of Hargreaves who was still committed to the high line. Adam Carlisle pulled away from the Dirt Panda drivers battling behind him to take the checkered flag tonight with William Hargreaves, Billy Northcutt, Thomas Vickers, and Chris Davis rounding out the top 5 tonight at I-55 Raceway.
William Hargreaves holds onto the points lead with 298 points ahead of Billy Northcutt in 2nd place 16 points behind. Adam Carlisle jumped up to 3rd place with 263 points, J R Shepherd holds onto 4th with 251 points, and Zachary Loomis rounds out the top 5 drivers with 227 points. Going into the next round, the drivers will take on the Eldora Speedway on October 21st with all of the dirt slinging action broadcast live at 7:10PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S3 R8 Recap
12 October 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 8
Premier Series | Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Scott Eckrich with GRAAFix LC Motorsports dominated the night to take the checkered flag tonight in the Make It Stop 125 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Thomas George and Brian Yaczik. “This race track, this year, this car, is the hardest track we’ve been to yet by probably a pretty considerable margin”, Eckrich shared with us as the night came to a close, “There was a lot of fine management about how you had to hit your bumps and stuff not to destroy the car and how to get speed and not throw it sideways off of it and there was a whole lot of time to be gained if you could get the minor stuff down.”
Greg O’Berry led the 17-car field to the green flag with Michael Chrobok to his outside. O’Berry and Chrobok quickly single filed out ahead of the field going through the first corner. Cold tires caught a few drivers off guard in the opening laps with drivers such as Chance Manning sliding through a chicane losing a lot of time. Scott Eckrich and Jeff Ward were quickly pushing up through the pack up to 7th and 8th respectively with only 3 laps completed while O’Berry still held the lead ahead of Chrobok.
Only 8 laps into the night, Eckrich and Brian Yaczik came down pit road together for fuel and rejoined the track in 11th and 12th place with O’Berry still holding off Chrobok for the lead. Cody Dempster and Woody Mahan were battling aggressively over 3rd. Dempster was able to move up to 2nd when Chrobok came down pit road on lap 10 and made a move for the lead 1 lap later with Jeff Ward close behind moving into 2nd and pressuring Dempster. Harley Moss was quietly making his way up through the field running in 3rd and closing on the leaders with 15 laps completed.
Ward got alongside Dempster a few times before Dempster aggressively slammed the door shut going through the backstretch chicane regaining the lead. Eckrich was back up to 4th running almost 9 seconds behind the leaders as the field became spread out around the course as a result of different pit strategies. Dempster made his fuel stop going into lap 22 handing the lead over to Moss with Eckrich in 2nd already within 1.5 seconds. Dempster rejoined the course in 8th behind Mahan who was battling with Chrobok ahead.
As the drivers crossed the halfway point of the night, Moss came down pit road and Eckrich took the lead over 14 seconds ahead of Thomas George in 2nd place. Moss came back on track in 5th with Dempster close behind and the two drivers started battling side by side making slight contact as Dempster cleared ahead. With 25 laps remaining, Eckrich had extended his lead out to over 24 seconds ahead of George with Yaczik maintaining 3rd place ahead of Ward. Dempster was struggling falling back to 6th behind Moss and pulling away by 2 seconds.
Several drivers started coming down pit road on lap 33 including Eckrich in the lead for the final fuel stop. George came down on the following lap as Eckrich regained the lead with a 27 second gap ahead of George rejoining the track in 2nd place. Going into the final 15 laps, Eckrich continued to lead with George 20 seconds back and Yaczik another 11 seconds behind George. Ward got to the inside of Moss going into turn 1, but contact was made when Moss got loose sending both drivers around blocking the track for a moment. Ward was the first to get corrected and continued running in 4th.
Dempster was able to clear ahead of Moss before Moss could get his car spun back around in the right direction and fell back to 6th place. With 9 laps remaining, Eckrich caught the curb wrong in the chicane on the back stretch and spun himself around on the track but had a strong enough lead ahead of George to get his car faced back in the right direction and back up to speed with over a 7 second lead. Scott Eckrich led the remaining laps to take the checkered flag tonight in the Make It Stop 125 at Charlotte with Thomas George, Brian Yaczik, Cody Dempster, and Michael Chrobok rounding out the top 5 drivers.
Thomas George took the lead away from Brian Yaczik tonight by 2 points with 312 points overall. Michael Chrobok holds onto 3rd place with 267 points. Cody Dempster moved up into 4th with 256 points as Woody Mahan slid back one spot to 5th with 253 points rounding out the top 5. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 18th for the Galloping Horses 200 with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL SLM S19 R3 Recap
08 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 19 | Round 3
Super Late Model Series | USA Speedway
Photograph by: Michael Goodman
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Kenny Kibbey with Nocturnal Gaming took his first win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at USA Speedway ahead of Mathew Thunhorst and J R Shepherd. “This place was a lot harder to pass at than I expected it to be”, Kibbey commented as the night came to a close, “The longer you ride behind somebody in these super late models the harder and harder it gets to pass unless you can force the driver in front to burn their tires up.”
Mike LeMieux was in control of the 20-car field as the green flag came out with Adam Schoen to his outside. LeMieux had a good jump off the start as Jason Menda dove beneath Schoen challenging for 2nd. Justin Morton tucked in behind Menda with Kenny Kibbey running close behind in 5th. Schoen got loose coming out of the turn four making contact with Morton causing significant damage as the field restacked under caution with 10 laps completed. Morton was able to stay on the lead lap but was restarting from 19th place.
LeMieux continued to hold the lead with Menda and Kibbey running directly behind him as the top 3 drivers started to pull away from the rest of the field. J R Shepherd struggled to push through the field running in 6th behind Donny Moore with Mathew Thunhorst having his own troubles from 9th. 20 laps into the run, Morton was starting to climb back up clearing around Tim Shinoski for 16th. Menda took advantage when LeMieux made a mistake on corner entry quickly diving low and clearing into the lead with Kibbey following him around into 2nd before LeMieux was able to get his car back down on the low line.
Thunhorst cleared into 7th just as Shepherd made the move around the outside of Moore for 5th keeping a car between himself and Thunhorst. Morton moved up a few more spots into 13th and was starting to work over Jeffrey Hardin. With 40 laps behind them, Kibbey made an attempt for the lead, but Menda slammed the door almost catching Kibbey’s nose in the process. Kibbey backed off and settled back in behind Menda for a few more laps. Going into the 2nd half of the night, Kibbey made another attempt, and this time was able to clear around Menda for the lead and quickly started to pull away.
Kibby was still in control of the field with 40 laps remaining with Shepherd up to 4th ahead of Thunhorst. Morton had gotten back into the top 10 and was running in 8th. As the laps counted down, Shepherd found himself stranded to the outside of LeMieux with Thunhorst keep the gap tight not giving Shepherd a space to drop down into. Shepherd fought LeMieux for several laps before he had to concede and drop in behind Thunhorst almost clipping the nose of Joseph Snyder in the process. Thunhorst and Shepherd quickly dove under LeMieux up into 3rd and 4th. Thunhorst immediately went after Menda taking away 2nd place but Shepherd wasn’t able to follow him through this time still behind Menda in 4th.
Thunhorst closed the gap to Kibbey in the lead going into the final 15 laps as Shepherd had to fight Menda from the outside to hold onto 3rd. A miscommunication between several drivers in the midfield caused a large pile up down the front stretch and bringing out the caution as half of the field found themselves in a parking lot. As the drivers restacked, it was Kibbey, Thunhorst, and Shepherd running up front. Kibbey had a good jump as the green flag came back out and Thunhorst slotted in ahead of Shepherd. Kenny Kibbey was able to hold of Mathew Thunhorst around the last 5 laps to take the checkered flag tonight at USA Speedway with J R Shepherd, Jeffrey Hardin, and Donny Moore rounding out the top 5 finishers.
J R Shepherd took the lead in the point standings tonight with 139 points. Mathew Thunhorst moved up to 2nd place with 135 points over Justin Morton with 127 points. Donny Moore holds onto 4th with 106 points and Jospeh Snyder rounds out the top 5 with 103 points. Next week, the drivers of the Bootleg Racing League head out to Concord Speedway for the 4th round of Season 19 on October 15th with all of the action broadcast live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL NSCT S1 R3 Recap
07 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 3
National Sprint Car Trail | Limaland Motorsports Park
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Brandyn Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports took the checkered flag by 0.019 in a drag race to the line in the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail tonight at Limaland Motorsports Park in the dirt midgets ahead of Stephen Spies and Aiden Young. Proudfoot shared with us after packing up for the night, “Yeah, I did not think I was going to get [Stephen Spies], but I managed to pop a wheel stand and shoot her straight to the line and got him by a hair.”
John Heyn took the pole in qualifying with a 4-lap average lap time of 12.295 and advanced straight to the feature event along with Stephen Spies, Preston Cranmer, Grady Wade, Aiden Young, and Brandyn Proudfoot. Terry Landis and Justin Morton shared the front row to take the green flag for the 12-lap heat event. Landis and Morton started to pull away from the field as they battled over the lead with Landis holding it through the opening laps. Steve Goldner caught the leaders and got to the inside of Morton for 2nd 5 laps into the run.
Morton jerked right to avoid contact with Goldner and couldn’t recover before making contact with the outside wall as Bruce Jones jumped up into 2nd place with Brennon Lacy up to 3rd. Landis continued to control the field going into the final few laps and took the checkered flag with Jones and Lacy rounding out the top 3 finishers. Pole sitter, John Heyn, shared his thoughts going into the feature event, “Passing going to definitely be difficult. I think as the race goes on, I think you’ll see things widen out almost like what we saw earlier towards the end of the heat race.”
Heyn had Spies to his outside as the green flag came out for the 30-lap main feature event. Heyn had a strong jump off the start with Spies crossing over to dive beneath him clearing out into the lead going into lap 4. Spies held the lead with Heyn close behind through the first half of the night with minor incident happening further back in the field as the drivers started to spread out around the track. Proudfoot climbed up to 3rd place and was pressuring Heyn as Young made contact with the outside wall falling back to 4th.
Cranmer was having a rough night falling back to 13th after minor contact with John Wilson sent him around in traffic going into the final 10 laps. Proudfoot was one of the few drivers committed to running the bottom line staying to the inside of Heyn with Spies still out front. A late race caution with 3 laps remaining restacked the leaders single file and Heyn mistimed the jump making contact with the rear of Spies sending himself around and fell back to 11th after running up front all night.
Proudfoot dove beneath Spies as the green came back out but couldn’t clear far enough for a slider. Coming out of the final corner Proudfoot and Spies had a drag race to the line side by side with Brandyn Proudfoot taking the checkered flag by 0.019 over Stephen Spies in the end. Aiden Young, Bruce Jones, and Stevin Goldner round out the top 5 finishers tonight at Limaland Motorsports Park in the 3rd round of the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail.
Stephen Spies leads in the Dirt Midget point standings with 72 points with Brandyn Proudfoot 1 point behind. Justin Morton leads the Silver Crown standings with 76 points over Aiden Young with 72 points and also in the Asphalt Sprints with 76 points ahead of Stephen Spies with 72 points. The drivers of the Bootleg Racing League take a week off before jumping into their non-winged dirt 360 sprints at Eldora Speedway on October 21st with all of the intense action brought to you live at 10:30PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
Virtual Grip Network 