BRL Dirt Shootout Recap
16 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | 2nd Annual Dirt Shootout
Dirt Street Stock Series | I-55 Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Thomas Vickers with Richard Murtaugh Racing took the checkered flag tonight in the 2nd Annual Bootleg Racing League Dirt Shootout presented by Senneker Steel Erectors Inc. at the I-55 Speedway ahead of Brandyn Proudfoot and William Hargreaves. Vickers commented on the pressure of having Proudfoot chasing him down throughout the 40-lap feature event, “You just gotta stay focused on what’s ahead not really worry about what’s behind you or you’ll start missing marks and stuff like that.”
Thomas Vickers threw down the fastest lap of the night at 11.912 in qualifying before leading the first heat race to the green flag and was able to maintain the lead all the way to take the win over Stephen Spies. John Heyn held off J R Shepherd to take the checkered flag in the 2nd heat and Brandyn Proudfoot pulled away to take the final heat win of the night. Justin Morton and William Hargreaves won their respective consolation races leading into the 40-lap feature event at the I-55 Speedway.
Vickers took the green to the inside of Heyn and was able to quickly clear into the lead off the jump. The opening laps were rough for several drivers having their night ended early to include Jeffrey Hardin and Jason Menda after being caught out from various incidents around the track. After the first 10 laps, Vickers still had control of the field, but Proudfoot had moved up into 2nd and was closing in on the leader. Shepherd and Heyn were running side by side battling over 3rd place with Heyn ultimately holding the position. Hargreaves was up to 5th and pressuring Shepherd for 4th as the drivers crossed the halfway point of the night.
Hargreaves dove low with Billy Northcutt directly behind him forcing Shepherd back to 6th in the end. Proudfoot continued to chase Vickers around the track as the leaders pulled away from the rest of the field building over a 3 second gap ahead of Heyn in 3rd. Morton and Spies caught the rear of Shepherd and started challenging Shepherd for 7th place as Jason Dill overtook into 6th. Kenny Kibbey climbed back into the top 10 after being caught in two separate incidents early in the run. Morton and Spies came together with 8 laps remaining bringing out the caution and reducing the gap to the leaders back to zero for a single file restart.
Vickers had a great jump as the green came out with Proudfoot struggling to match his pace. Hargreaves had gotten around Heyn for 3rd but wasn’t able to keep up with the leaders who again started to pull away. Proudfoot threw everything he had at the track, but it proved to be not enough in the end as Thomas Vickers took the checkered flag tonight with Brandyn Proudfoot, William Hargreaves, John Heyn, and J R Shepherd rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight in the 2nd Annual Senneker Steel Shoot at the I-55 Speedway.
PGRL S3 R4 Recap
13 September 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 4
Premier Series | Kansas Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Woody Mahan with Loud Pedal Motorsports took the checkered flag tonight in the It’s Pretty Good 200 at Kansas Speedway with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Scott Eckrich and Michael Chrobok. “I feel great, to be honest with you right now. That was awesome.”, Mahan shared with us as the night came to a close at Kansas Speedway, “I was very confident that I was going to make it on fuel… I knew that once the tires started to wear [we were] gaining on people”
Cody Dempster led the 28-car field out of turn four to take the green flag and cleared ahead of James Moore going into the first turn as drivers started moving up toward the preferred line up along the outside wall. Brian Yaczik was quickly pushing up through the field already within the top 10 from a starting position near the back of the field as the drivers put the first 10 laps behind them. Scott Eckrich almost had his night ended early and had to nearly come to a stop to avoid Christopher Dewald who got loose and made contact with Jonathan Cogswell collecting several other drivers and that essentially created a parking lot coming out of turn two with drivers scattering in all directions on the backstretch.
As racing resumed, Michael Chrobok pushed forward into the 2nd place running on the low line with Yaczik following him closely while the field went 3 wide in several battles as drivers started experimenting with different lines. The caution came back out on lap 26 when Eckrich lifted to avoid a checkup ahead catching Chance Manning off guard directly behind him. Eckrich was sent around with minor damage to his right rear that he was able to take care of while nearly the entire field came down pit road for fuel and tires with Adam Jurski, who did not opt to take a pit stop, taking control of the field for the restart.
Mike Rasimas was battling with Chrobok for 2nd behind Jordan Harnish approaching the 50-lap mark before Chrobok used the inside line to get a nose ahead of Harnish clearing for the lead. Rasimas got to the outside of Harnish pushing him back to 3rd and Chrobok stretched his lead out to over 0.5 on the field. Eckrich was holding 13th place 1 lap off the leaders after his earlier incident and trying to make up what he could still early enough on in the night to have a decent finish for points.
Vincent Crow climbed back up to the front getting around Rasimas and closing on Chrobok quickly taking the lead away coming out of turn four going into lap 56. The 21 drivers still on track had become spread out around the track with Yaczik the last driver on the lead lap from 11th place. Eckrich moved up into 12th, the first car off the lead lap and in a great position for a potential caution later on in the night to have another chance to go after the win as the field crossed the halfway point.
Crow seemed to use up his tires prematurely allowing Chrobok to close back in on his bumper pressuring for the lead again as the caution flag came back out on lap 72 for a minor one car incident further back on track giving Eckrich the wave around back onto the lead lap for the restart. Crow won the race off pit road maintaining the lead with Chrobok in 3rd behind Woody Mahan. Chrobok and Harnish battled for 3rd place while Eckrich cautiously pushed up through the field up to 8th making consistent forward progression as the laps counted down going into the final stretch.
With 35 laps remaining, Chrobok was running side by side with Mahan fighting over the lead as Yaczik watched for 3rd place. Mahan was defending hard against Chrobok aggressively fighting for the lead as Eckrich moved up into 4th with a surprise move clearing Harnish and Manning. Going into the final 10 laps, Eckrich had cleared ahead of Chrobok for 2nd place and was reeling Mahan in for the lead. As the white flag came out, Mahan still held a 0.5 second lead over Eckrich and Woody Mahan took the checkered flag in the It’s Pretty Good 200 at Kansas Speedway with Scott Eckrich, Michael Chrobok, Isaiah Dupre, and Brian Yaczik rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight.
Brian Yaczik holds on to the lead in the point standings with 160 points altogether. Woody Mahan jumped up 3 spots to 2nd place, now only 10 points behind the lead after tonight’s strong run. Thomas George slid back to 3rd with 135 points ahead of Michael Chrobok who also jumped up 3 spots into 4th place with 133 points. Adam Jurski rounds out the top 5 drivers of the season after four rounds with 126 points. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Bristol Motor Speedway on September 20th for the Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Month 250 with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL SLM S18 R11 Recap
10 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 18 | Round 11
Super Late Model Series | Myrtle Beach Speedway
Photograph by: Michael Goodman
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Kenny Kibbey with Nocturnal Gaming passed nearly the entire field on his way to the front to take the checkered flag tonight in his return to the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at Myrtle Beach Speedway ahead of J R Shepherd and Justin Morton. “It’s tough when you’re racing against championship guys like that”, Kibbey commented after his impressive win tonight, “Hopefully we can just keep putting together runs… Yeah, looking forward to coming back and racing just about every week.”
Austin Boelke led the 18-car field to the green flag with Justin Morton to his outside. J R Shepherd started in 3rd and quickly dove beneath Morton off the jump. The two drivers ran side by side while Morton tried to utilize the outside line but was eventually forced to concede the position to Shepherd after 3 intense laps. As the field single filed out around the track, Shepherd and Morton closed back in on Boelke in the lead with Joseph Snyder directly behind them as the top 4 started to pull away from the rest of the pack.
20 laps into the night, Kenny Kibbey was making a hard charge to the front already up to 5th, from a 15th place starting position, and was closing on the leaders quickly. Shepherd saw his opportunity on lap 25 getting his nose to the inside of Boelke and started battling for the lead over several laps before clearing ahead of Boelke on lap 27. Morton dove his car in behind Shepherd before Boelke could close the door as Kibbey ran close behind in 4th. Kibbey was able to get to the inside of Boelke before Morton cleared to ensure that the door remained open as Boelke was pushed back to 4th place.
Shepherd continued to hold the lead ahead of Morton and Kibbey as the top 3 broke away from the field as the drivers approached the halfway point of the night. Kibbey was pressuring Morton for 2nd place trying to force a mistake out of Morton while Shepherd wasn’t able to build a gap behind him as we’ve seen him do in previous rounds this season. Boelke dropped further back, still running in 4th, defending his position from Adam Schoen and Snyder closing on his bumper. Lap 52 saw Kibbey aggressively dive beneath Morton forcing an opening allowing him to quickly overtake for 2nd place.
Kibbey wasted no time going after the lead again aggressively throwing his car to the inside and getting a nose ahead of Shepherd before clearing into the lead with 43 laps remaining. Shepherd looked to the inside of Kibbey to pull off a crossover but couldn’t close in on Kibbey enough to complete the move settling into 2nd ahead of Morton. Kibbey took full advantage of the open track ahead of him stretching out his lead. In the final 30 laps, Kibbey had built up a commanding gap ahead of Shepherd and was negotiating through lap traffic with the drivers respectfully clearing the preferred line for the approaching leaders.
Going into the final 10 laps, Morton continued to pressure Shepherd for 2nd place, but Shepherd was defensively holding the inside line tight while Kibbey had completely checked out and was well over 1 second ahead of the rest of the field. Morton made a few peaks to the inside of Shepherd to have the door slammed shut again and again as Kenny Kibbey took the checkered flag tonight in the final round of Season 18 ahead of J R Shepherd, Justin Morton, Austin Boelke, and Jeffrey Hardin rounding out the top 5 finishers at Myrtle Beach Speedway.
J R Shepherd took the season championship tonight with 424 points overall over Justin Morton with 415 points. “It was a tough season for sure”, Shepherd commented on the championship before giving his competitor praise, “[Morton’s] one heck of a driver. Very, very clean and there’s several times tonight he could’ve just shoved it to the inside and he chose not to, so it shows the type of driver he is. That’s a person you want to see succeed and I promise you, you will.” Austin Boelke finished the season out in 3rd place with 400 points while Michael Goodman and Kurt Smith finished in 4th and 5th place respectively with only 8 points between them. Next week, on September 17th, is the 7th Annual Stone River Shootout where the race winners from the past year in the Bootleg Racing League will pilot the ARCA stock cars around Hickory Motor Speedway with all of the action broadcast live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S12 R11 Recap
09 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 12 | Round 11
Dirt Street Stock Series | Knoxville Raceway
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
William Hargreaves with Dirt Panda took his 5th win of the season and defended the title of season champion tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Knoxville Raceway ahead of J R Shepherd and Kevin Davis. “Yeah, that’s pretty cool, huh?”, Hargreaves joked around with us after taking the Season 12 championship, “It’s more than just winning championships or even just winning races here I like it in this league. They’re hard to come by.”
Billy Northcutt came into the final round of Season 12 with the fast lap in qualifying clocked at 22.692 ahead of his teammate, William Hargreaves, by 0.052. Brandyn Proudfoot struggled to find the speed early on and put down a time over 0.1 off the pole. Northcutt led every lap to take the first heat win of the night while Hargreaves and Proudfoot battled over the lead through the second heat with Hargreaves taking the checkered flag by 0.152 over Proudfoot at the line. Zachary Loomis finished out the heats taking the win ahead of Cody Shaw. Thomas Vickers and Jason Best claimed the wins in the consolation races leading into the main feature.
Northcutt and Hargreaves shared the front row as the 18-car field took the green flag at Knoxville for the 40-lap feature event. Both Dirt Panda drivers stayed side by side around the first lap while the field spread out three wide in several spots fighting for positions early. Hargreaves got a nose ahead of Northcutt as the two continued to battle over the lead with 5 laps behind them. Proudfoot was aggressively pushing to the front running tight behind Northcutt on the high side. Hargreaves was able to clear ahead of Northcutt on lap 12 for the first time of the night.
Zachary Loomis had gotten around Proudfoot for 3rd and was pressuring Northcutt for 2nd place while Proudfoot fell back further into the field being overtaken by Kevin Davis and Cody Shaw with significant damage to his front suspension after contact with the outside wall. As the drivers crossed the halfway point of the night, Northcutt closed back in on Hargreaves’ rear bumper and Proudfoot fell back as far as 11th place still trying to wrestle the damaged #22 General Tire machine around the track. The leaders pulled away from the rest of the field by over 1 second as the battle between the Dirt Panda drivers heated up.
J R Shepherd was leading the majority of the field from 3rd place with Davis looking to his inside but unable to make complete the move. With 9 laps remaining, Proudfoot was forced to come down pit road for repairs throwing out any chance of reclaiming the series championship. Hargreaves started to build a gap between himself and Northcutt going into the final 5 laps, but as the leaders were negotiating through lap traffic Northcutt made contact with Grady Wilson sending Northcutt around on track with 2 lap to go. Hargreaves took the green flag for a 2-lap shootout to the checkered flag. William Hargreaves had a great launch off the start and pulled away to take the win and the season championship with J R Shepherd, Kevin Daivs, Cody Shaw, and John Wilson rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight at Knoxville Raceway.
With tonight’s victory, William Hargreaves officially defended his championship title with 775 points against Brandyn Proudfoot’s 743 points and Billy Northcutt’s 729 points. J R Shepherd finished 4th in the point standings with 685 points with Jeffrey Hardin rounding out the top 5 this season with 557 points. Next week is the 2nd annual running of the BRL Dirt Shootout on September 16th with the drivers jumping into the Pro Late Models around I-55 Speedway to put on a show you won’t want to miss going live at 7:10PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S3 R3 Recap
06 September 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 3
Premier Series | Darlington Raceway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Brian Yaczik with Loud Pedal Motorsports claimed his first victory of the season tonight in the “The Joy of Driving Darlington 250” with the Pretty Good Racing League at Darlington Raceway ahead of Jeff Ward and Thomas George. “We had the gap and the pace, and it was going to be smooth sailing”, Yaczik shared with us regarding his strong lead before the late race caution, “You always know there’s a risk of a caution at the end of these things so you kind of factor that in, so I wasn’t really trying to drive stupid aggressive.”
Jonathan Cogswell was in control of the 28-car field alongside Saif Faries on the front row as the green flag came out and the track came alive. The field quickly went single file as Drew Carroll moved up a few spots off the start and closed in on Cogswell’s rear bumper. Carroll was able to get around to the inside of Cogswell to take the lead away early on going into lap 9. Jeff Ward and Scott Eckrich, both drivers being previous season champions and must start every race from the back of the field, were making fast moves through the field both drivers up around 10 spots each.
Cogswell continued to drop back further into the field as Jordan Harnish and Chance Manning had gotten around him put him back to 4th. 15 laps into the night, Harnish got loose and lost all of his progress as the caution came out allowing many drivers to come down pit road very early on. Eckrich was one of the drivers who chose to stay out on track and was in 7th place for the restart. Trouble soon found the current points leader, Cody Dempster, sending him hard into the inside wall as well as making slight contact with Ward sending Ward into Eckrich. Eckrich was forced down pit road for repairs to his right front from the incident.
Woody Mahan was in control of the field as the running order settled and the green flag again came out over the field going into lap 26. Manning made a quick move to the inside to take the lead away while more drivers had bad luck down the front stretch far enough off the racing surface to not bring out the caution. Carroll and Manning battled back and forth over the lead for several laps with Carroll holding the position 30 laps into the run. Going forward, the field started to spread out around the track as the drivers settled into a groove making more calculated moves for position as opportunities presented themselves.
Ward had broken into the top 10 for the first time in the night with almost 50 laps completed. Brian Yaczik was running in 3rd and slowly reeling the leaders in. Yaczik was able to clear ahead of Thomas George for 2nd place on lap 54 as he continued to push to the front. Lap 63 showed Yaczik making his move for the lead. Manning battled him for it from the outside, but eventually was forced to concede falling back to 2nd place ahead of Carroll as Ward quietly moved further up through the field running in 6th. As the race approached the 100-lap mark, Yaczik had run away with the lead and Ward got up to 3rd running over 2 seconds behind the lead while drivers throughout the field started making the first round of pit stops under green flag conditions.
Lap 99 saw Ward losing the car trying to get slowed down for pit road entry spinning around and losing a lot of time on his stop a dropping back several spots in the field as he rejoined the track. Rich Jette was the final driver to come down pit road as the cycle completed on lap 112 with Goerge in control of the field ahead of Yaczik and Michael Chrobok. Ward was running in 9th still working to slowly make up the positions he lost with his earlier mistake. Yaczik caught up to George and took away the lead with 66 laps remaining with both drivers having to take drastic action to avoid contact with a lap car that got loose directly ahead of them.
Ward came down pit road under the green on lap 126 in an attempt to regain track position by jumping the field as the pit cycle began again and rejoined the field in 13th place 2 laps behind the leaders. Several drivers took notice of Ward’s strategy and began coming down pit road in small groups lap after lap. With 40 laps remaining, Yaczik was still running in the lead stretching his fuel run out further while George was in 4th as the last car on the lead lap. Ward was running in 5th and 1 lap behind the leaders. Yaczik came down pit road on lap 148, well within the fuel window to finish out the race without needing to stop again.
Yaczik’s stop put Ward back on the lead lap and running in 3rd still behind George. Yaczik was back in 7th and quickly moving up through the field as Woody Mahan, the leader at the time, came down pit road giving the race lead to George over 12 seconds ahead of Ward with 30 laps to go. George had to give up the lead soon thereafter for his final pit with Ward coming down on the following lap. Chrobok inherited the lead from them with Yaczik closing the gap quickly now in 2nd place. Yaczik reclaimed the lead on lap 158 with George the final driver on the lead lap in 9th place. The different pit strategies had separated most of the drivers around the track going into the last 25 laps.
A late race caution came out with 19 laps remaining restacking the field together and drastically changing the ending of the race. The majority of the drivers chose to come down for a final set of tires as Ward rejoined the lead lap. Yaczik was still in control of the field as the green flag came back out with 14 laps to go but contact between Carroll and Chrobok resulted with another caution as Chrobok got sent around. This gave Ward, who stayed out through the last caution to rejoin the lead lap, an opportunity to get fresh tires to be on an even playing field with Yaczik for the last stretch.
The green flag came out for the final time with 9 laps to go. Yaczik maintain control of the field with Ward up to 5th off the jump. George was pressuring Yaczik for the lead and Ward was aggressively pushing through the pack as the leaders went side by side. Yaczik cleared himself back into the lead while Ward struggled to get around Manning for 3rd. Ward took 3rd going into the last 3 laps as George continued to look to the inside of Yaczik but wasn’t able to complete the move. The battling between the leaders allowed Ward to close the gap as the white flag came out. George made hard contact with the outside wall allowing Ward to clear into 2nd as Brian Yaczik took the checkered flag tonight at Darlington Raceway. Jeff Ward, Thomas George, Chance Manning, and Woody Mahan rounded out the top 5 finishers.
Brian Yaczik jumped up two positions into the points lead with 124 points. Thomas George moved up three spots into 2nd with 108 points ahead of last week’s leader, Cody Dempster, in 3rd with 101 points. Adam Jurski stays in 4th with 99 points ahead of Woody Mahan by 1 point rounding out the top 5 drivers in the points standings. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Kansas Speedway on September 13th with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
Virtual Spotlight #02 – Justin Morton
The latest season of the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series saw Justin Morton’s #9 machine rising to the top competing against the likes of J R Shepherd all the way to the very end. With 28 official iRacing wins, including a 12-hour Sebring event, and more than 75 iRacing league wins in his career, Justin has proven himself to be a serious competitor across the sim racing community. Justin currently races with the Bootleg Racing League, The Majors Series, and FUEL.
Justin first got serious in the sim racing world when he joined a league of drivers in Assetto Corsa that he still runs with to this day. However, his first experiences with sim racing go even further back, he explains, “Dad got into NASCAR around the time Jeff Gordon was making waves and I took to watching it along with him. Around 2001 he built a USB racing wheel, or whatever the port would have been at the time, out of a junk yard wheel and some wood along with bungee cords for some resistance on the wheel. I was hooked and, with Dad being a very tech savvy guy, he got me NASCAR Racing Season 2002 along with a Thrustmaster NASCAR Pro Force Feedback.”
Although he feels fairly well balanced across all racing disciplines, Justin still favors short track oval racing if he had to choose one, but he admits that the dirt midgets are the most fun to him. Open wheel are his weak point as he adds, “I feel I can be pretty quick in the cars, but they have to be driven on such a sharp edge I normally find some way to screw it up.”
With such a long career of accomplishments, Justin narrowed down a few of his favor moments over the years. “Winning the Majors America Pro Championship with the FORGE team. [It] was a hard-fought championship all season and we managed to come away with the win. A close second would be winning a full season, full distance races, truck league. [I] had a season long back and forth with another talented driver and it pretty much went down to the final race.”
Although the #9 has been a steadfast in his career for years, he admits that it wasn’t his first choice. “My first number choice used to be #15, but the league I was running in at the time had retired the number for a member that passed away. [I] floated around with a few numbers from #44 to #11 and eventually ended up liking the #9 being a Chase Elliott fan and kinda got dubbed as Chase Elliott with all the oval races I came up just short of winning like he was doing at the time.”
Within the Bootleg Racing League, Justin admits to having several drivers he would consider to be direct competition each week. “I would say I have four competitive rivals with Mathew Thunhorst, J R Shepherd, Kenny Kibbey, and Austin Boelke. Such a tight group at the top of BRL and every one of them races fair and clean and makes it really fun.” Within the Majors, he points out the rivalry between FORGE and EVOLV. FUEL brings Thomas Bressi to mind, “He’s on an absolute heater of a streak finishing first and second in 10/11 races and leads the championship going into the final 3 by quite a bit.”
We’d like to thank Justin Morton for taking the time to speak with us giving us a chance to get to know him a little better and we here at the Virtual Grip Network wish him luck in his sim racing career. His racing talent is out there for all to see every Saturday night with the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at 8:55PM ET broadcast live only on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S3 R2 Recap
30 August 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 2
Premier Series | Daytona International Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Cody Dempster took the checkered flag tonight in the “The J Stands for Junked 200” presented by Thomas J George for Clown HQ Re-Election 2023 with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Wally Wilson and Jeff Ward. The Patriot Media and Marketing Services drivers were stealing the show tonight as Dempster jumped out front in the final moments to take the win, as Dempster shared with us afterwards, “Once we got together you know we were pretty dominate and just able to do what we needed to do and get where we needed to get to get all of the cars good finishes and a strong run for all of us.”
Isaiah Dupre led the 30-car field to the green flag as the action kicked off tonight around Daytona International Speedway. Greg O’Berry led the outside line and momentum was pushing him ahead into the lead going down the backstretch as the field struggled to get organized resulting in some early race chaos bringing a quick end to the night for many of the drivers. The Saif Faries jumped out front being pushed on the inside line by Michael Chrobok as the field settled into a groove going into lap 11 with O’Berry still leading the outside line.
The lead traded hands multiple times as the drivers shuffled using the highline to pull ahead before dropping down to lead the low line and then being overtaken by the new leader on the high side. Cody Dempster was quietly moving up through the field and into the top 10 with 15 laps completed while his teammate, Wilson, was battling for the lead being pushed by Brian Yaczik. Jeff Ward was running cautiously through the early stages to make sure he’d be in a position to go for the win when the checkered flag came out.
Dempster was continuing his charge to the front running in the top 5 with the first 20 laps completed. A coalition of the Patriot Media and Marketing Service drivers, to include Jordan Harnish, Grant Brown, Cody Dempster, Wally Wilson, and Pete Baskins, were organizing up front taking control of the field. With the Patriot Media drivers all running together on the low line, the high line fell apart and the majority of the field went single file to ensure they wouldn’t be off pace and left behind.
A caution flag came out on lap 32 from an incident between Yaczik and Dupre further back in the pack giving the field an opportune chance for their first pit stops safely under caution. Mike Rasimas rejoined the track in the lead with Jeff Ward up to 4th. Racing resumed going into lap 34 as the Patriot Media drivers quickly grouped back together quickly taking control of the field back from Rasimas. Going into the second half of the night, Thomas George was battling Norm Pelletier for the lead racing side by side with the Patriot Media drivers split up for the moment.
With 30 laps remaining, a smaller group of the Patriot Media drivers led by Grant Brown again changed to the front taking control of the field pulling away from the rest of the field while drivers were still struggling to get organized. Some drivers appeared to take notice and a group led by Michael Chrobok went to work breaking up the Patriot Media group trying to prevent them from taking advantage again. Woody Mahan was leading the top line being pushed by Ward as Chrobok dropped down into 3rd between Brown and Baskin with Dempster in control of the field.
As the laps counted down, the drivers started making more aggressive moves to be in a good position to go for the win in the end. O’Berry was leading the top line racing for the lead against a line of Patriot Media cars in control of the inside line led by Dempster with 20 laps to go. The top line seemed well organized compared to earlier in the night using the momentum to take the lead as both lines were inconvenienced by lap traffic forcing the inside line to lose ground.
Going into the final 10 laps, the Patriot Media drivers had broken apart again and lost more ground with O’Berry continuing to lead the field being pushed by Mahan and Dupre staying connected to each other. Dempster and Wilson found each other again and made a push for the lead with Ward running with them. O’Berry fell back to 4th before dropping in line behind Ward. A late race caution resulted in a 1 lap shootout with Ward in the lead as the green and white flags came out together. Wilson pushed Dempster out front as the field started wrecking from 4th place back. Cody Dempster took the checkered flag with Wally Wilson, Jeff Ward, Norm Pelletier, and Mike Rasimas rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight at Daytona International Speedway.
With tonight’s win, Cody Dempster jumped to the top of the point standings with 86 points. Mike Rasimas holds onto 2nd place with 78 points. Brian Yaczik fell back to 3rd with 72 points while Adam Jurski jumped up 2 spots into 4th with 70 points. Thomas George rounds out the top 5 in the points with 69 points. The Pretty Good Racing League now heads to Darlington Raceway for the “The Joy of Driving Darlington 250” on September 6th with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL SLM S18 R10 Recap
27 August 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 18 | Round 10
Super Late Model Series | Langley Speedway
Photograph by: Michael Goodman
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports took his 5th checkered flag of Season 18 in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at Langley Speedway ahead of Michael Goodman and Kurt Smith. “That was a tough race, at the beginning at least, having to start on the outside but had some things work out for sure”, Shepherd shared with us as the track settled down at the end of the night, “Once I got the lead it was just about running a line to try to conserve the tire temperature and try not to let it get too hot.”
Todd Liston with Indy Autosports was in control of the 18-car field as the green flag came out over Langley Speedway and racing commenced. There was a lot of shuffling throughout the field as drivers scrambled to take advantage in the early stages of the night. Justin Morton and Austin Boelke, both championship contenders, essentially started from the back of the field. Morton dropped back because of technical issues around the first lap and Boelke received an EOL penalty from the previous race at Martinsville Speedway. This gave J R Shepherd a strong advantage in the points race already running up in the top 5 with 10 laps completed.
Donny Moore briefly took the lead away from Liston until minor contact between them sent Moore spinning into the infield grass. Liston voluntarily ran a passthrough down pit road taking responsibility for the incident and handing the race lead over to Michael Goodman. Shepherd saw his opportunity and aggressively dove from 3rd place to get beneath Goodman and took control of the field going into lap 18. Morton and Boelke had climbed up through the field together into the top 10.
As the drivers crossed the halfway mark of the night, Morton and Boelke were up to 6th and 7th respectively while Shepherd continued to lead ahead of Goodman and Kurt Smith. Jammes Lowe was holding 8th place and kept the pressure up on Boelke while the top 8 drivers started to break away from the rest of the field. Shepherd was running away with the lead taking advantage of the open track ahead of him as Smith was struggling to find a way to get under Goodman for 2nd.
With 30 laps remaining, Shepherd had reached the first signs of lap traffic cautiously negotiating around them while maintaining the gap between himself and Goodman. Morton was up to 5th with Boelke still following closely behind him. With 15 laps to go, a checkup in the pack caused Smith to make contact with Goodman forcing several drivers to scramble around the front stretch trying to avoid. Goodman and Smith were able to recover but Jeffrey Hardin was caught up in it and sent into the outside wall bringing out the caution late in the night.
Shepherd quickly cleared back into the lead off the restart with 10 laps remaining. Goodman held onto 2nd ahead of Smith with James Lowe up to 4th as Morton and Boelke slipped back to 7th and 8th behind Bryan Dehn. Another caution was thrown going into lap 95 when Chris Davis and Bruce Pearson had minor contact and Pearson ended up sideways on the track and, since the Bootleg Racing League does not do GWC finishes, the driver again restacked for a one lap shootout to the checkered flag. As the green flag came out for the final time, Shepherd jumped out ahead of the field again and took the win with Michael Good, Kurt Smith, Joseph Snyder, and James Lowe rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight at Langley Speedway.
J R Shepherd holds the lead over Justin Morton in the point standings tonight with 385 points over Morton’s 377 points. Austin Boelke holds onto 3rd place with 363 points. Donny Moore stays in 4th place with 340 points and Kurt Smith rounds out the top 5 in the points with 334 points. The drivers of the Bootleg Racing League now set their sights to Myrtle Beach Speedway for the final round of Season 18 on September 11th with all of the action broadcast live at 8:55PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S12 R10 Recap
26 August 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 12 | Round 10
Dirt Street Stock Series | Limaland Motorsports Park
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
William Hargreaves with Dirt Panda claimed his 4th win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Limaland Motorsports Park ahead of Zachary Loomis and Billy Northcutt. “[Northcutt] definitely wasn’t going away there and he almost had me on the second caution restart for sure”, Hargreaves shared with us after battling his teammate for the win, “Even the first one he probably could’ve threw a slider if he really, really wanted to.”
William Hargreaves sat at the top of the boards with a fast lap at 15.156 in qualifying as the night started out. Brandyn Proudfoot qualified dead last in the field as he struggled to sort out mechanical issues with his machine. Hargreaves took the win in the first heat ahead of Chris Davis, Billy Northcutt won the second heat ahead of Zachary Loomis and J R Shepherd took the third and final heat win of the night beating Grady Wade across the line. Jeffrey Hardin and Thomas Vickers won each of the consolation races as the 16-car field stacked back up for the 40-lap feature event with Brandyn Proudfoot going home early in a shocking upset for the points leader.
Hargreaves led the field out of turn four as the green flag came out over the track with Northcutt to his outside. Shepherd jumped off the start and got alongside Northcutt while Hargreaves was able to clear into the lead. Hargreaves and Northcutt were able to break away from the field as Davis and Shepherd battled over 3rd with Shepherd falling back to 5th behind Loomis. Shepherd continued to fall back in the field under pressure from Dylan Corey behind him with 10 laps completed.
Loomis joined the battle for the lead going into the second half of the night while Shepherd and Davis battled again over 4th. John Wilson was quietly making his way up through the field up to 7th battling with Cody Shaw. The Dirt Panda teammates ran side by side for the lead with Northcutt trying to make the inside line work while Loomis ran close behind Hargreaves to prevent Northcutt from rejoining the high line. Loomis was able to take away 2nd place forcing Northcutt to slide up in front of Davis in 4th. Wilson had cleared ahead of Shepherd into 5th closing quickly on Davis.
Wilson was running directly through the slick on the track clearing ahead of Davis with Northcutt now in his sights with 10 laps remaining. Vickers and Davis came together with only 6 laps to go bringing out the caution and restacking the field for a single file restart. Hargreaves had a strong jump off the green and started to break away from Loomis while Wilson was under pressure from Shaw going into the final lap. William Hargreaves took the checkered flag ahead of Zachary Loomis with Billy Northcutt, John Wilson, and Dylan Corey rounded out the top 5 finishers tonight at Limaland Motorsports Park.
Brandyn Proudfoot continues to lead in the point standings with 701 points after not making the feature tonight while William Hargreaves closed the gap to the leader almost completely only 9 points behind at the end of the night. Billy Northcutt holds onto 3rd with 666 points, J R Shepherd sits in 4th place with 612 points, and Jeffrey Hardin moves up into 5th with 525 points. The drivers of the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series now head to Knoxville Raceway for the final round of season 12 on September 9th with all of the dirt slinging action broadcast live at 7:10PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S3 R1 Recap
23 August 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 1
Premier Series | Watkins Glen International
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Scott Eckrich with GRAAFix LC Motorsports started the new season off strong taking the checkered flag in the My Name Isn’t Glen 110 presented by The Joy of Driving with the Pretty Good Racing League at Watkins Glen International ahead of Mike Rasimas and Thomas George. “It was an exciting race. There was lots of action to have right off my nose, but we were able to keep it clean and bring it home”, Eckrich commented as the night came to a close, “The temperature was dropping. The tires were getting better. It kept going faster and faster and we just kept pushing it and I was just hoping we wouldn’t mess up.”
Cody Dempster with Total Advantage Academy was in control of the 29-car field as the green flag came out and the drivers sped into the first corner with a few drivers to include Harley Moss starting the night off on the wrong foot overshooting the corner entry and making hard contact with the wall. Scott Eckrich was quickly pushing through the field up 16 positions going into the second lap with Jeff Ward only a few places behind him. Mike Rasimas was up 2 spots to 2nd place and was closing in on Dempster in the lead with 4 laps completed.
Going into lap 6, Eckrich broken into the top 10 ahead of Brian Yaczik. Adam Jurski was holding onto 3rd place running around 1 second behind Rasimas and matching pace with the leaders as the top 6 drivers were building a gap ahead of the rest of the field with Chance Manning running in the back of the lead pack. Eckrich was in 7th and slowly reeled the leaders in lap after lap with 10 laps completed. Yaczik was leading the next large group of drivers 8 seconds behind Eckrich as Ward still struggled to get himself into the top 10, running in 12th place behind Saif Faries.
Going into lap 15, the field seemed to settle into a groove with Eckrich overtaking Jurski for 6th after Jurski fell off the back of the leading pack. Dempster continued to control the field ahead of Rasimas and Carroll. Ward climbed up to 10th and was running over 18 seconds behind the leader. Eckrich cleared ahead of Thomas George into 4th and was within 2 seconds of Dempster with 25 laps remaining and quickly approaching the fuel window. Manning was the first driver to go down pit road with 23 laps to go in an attempt to undercut the rest of the field. Dempster led the majority of the field down pit road on the following lap while Rasimas stayed out in the lead with Eckrich in 2nd.
Going into the second half of the night, Rasimas and Eckrich both came down pit road while an incident coming out of the pits caught several drivers sideways in turn one including Ward taking a hard hit from Chris Lanini who wasn’t expecting to find a parking lot as he rejoined the track and ending Ward’s night early. Rasimas held onto the lead ahead of Dempster as the pit cycle completed with Eckrich running in 3rd. Dempster got loose going through turns two and three getting sent around and collecting Manning as Eckrich moved up into 2nd with 16 laps left. Dempster and Manning were able to recover soon thereafter and continue racing in 6th and 7th respectively.
Eckrich closed up tight on Rasimas’s bumper keeping the pressure high as the laps counted down. Thomas George was running in 3rd 7 seconds behind the battle for the lead. Eckrich quickly overtook for the lead and slowly started to pull away from Rasimas with 14 laps remaining. Scott Eckrich continued to stretch his lead out further going into the final moments of the night taking the checkered flag 8.28 seconds ahead of Mike Rasimas. Thomas George, Brian Yaczik, and Adam Jurski rounded out the top 5 finishers tonight at Watkins Glen International.
Scott Eckrich starts the new off strong in the point standings taking home the first win while Jeff Ward ended his night early and finished in 22nd place putting a lot of distance between the two prior season champions. The Pretty Good Racing League now heads over to the iconic Daytona International Speedway for the “The J Stands for Junked 200 presented by TJG for Clown HQ 2023” on August 30th with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
Virtual Grip Network 