BRL DSLM S1 R6 Recap
10 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 6
Dirt Super Late Model Series | Limaland Motorsports Park
Thomas Vickers dominated the track tonight to take the checkered flag in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Super Late Model Series at Limaland Motorsports Park ahead of Aiden Young and Brandyn Proudfoot. “That high side was there the whole race, I was just hoping it was going to stay there. I’m a lot better at running the high side here than running that low line or midline”, Vickers commented at the end of the night.
Thomas Vickers threw down the fastest lap in qualifying at 12.274 beating out William Hargreaves and Aiden Young by more than 0.1 seconds at the line. Vickers dominated the first heat of the night securing the pole for the 30-lap feature event while Hargreaves battled Brandyn Proudfoot to take the 2nd heat win. Jason Dill held off John Heyn and claimed the checkered flag in the B Main consolation race wrapping up the preliminary events of the night.
Vickers opted to take the green flag from the inside lane. Getting a great jump off the start, Vickers cleared out ahead of Hargreaves while Proudfoot battled Aiden Young for 3rd. Aiden Young went low getting his nose to the inside of Hargreaves with Proudfoot trying to follow him through. Young was able to clear into 2nd, but Hargreaves shut the door on Proudfoot for a few more laps until Proudfoot was able to get around the outside moving up into 3rd. Heyn took advantage of the battling to close in on the leaders and started pressuring Hargreaves with the first 10 laps completed.
Vickers extended his lead out to over 1.7 seconds while Hargreaves tried to battle back against Proudfoot. Going into lap 14, Vickers quickly caught lap traffic slowing his pace when contact between Dill and Heyn resulted in contact bringing out the caution and dropping Heyn to the rear of the field going into the 2nd half. As the green flag came back out, Vickers again quickly cleared out front and started walking away from the rest of the field. Dill was up to 3rd and looking to challenge Young with Proudfoot directly behind him.
Young, Dill, Proudfoot, and Hargreaves were running single file waiting for the others to make a mistake with Proudfoot being the first to make a move diving under Dill to take 3rd place away going into the final 10 laps. Coming around the final lap, Thomas Vickers took the checkered flag over 2 seconds ahead of Aiden Young with Brandyn Proudfoot, William Hargreaves, and Jason Dill rounding out the top 5 tonight at Limaland Motorsports Park.
William Hargreaves is quickly closing the door on the season championship with a commanding lead at 444 points, 64 points ahead of Jason Dill in 2nd place. Aiden Young, Thomas Vickers, and Stephen Spies round out the top 5 drivers going into the 2nd half of the season. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Fairbury Speedway on February 17th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 8:40PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S14 R6 Recap
10 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 14 | Round 6
Dirt Street Stock Series | Limaland Motorsports Park
Blaise Rachels took the checkered flag tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Limaland Motorsports Park ahead of Dirt Panda teammates William Hargreaves and Billy Northcutt. “I was worried at the beginning and the more I got comfortable I was just in and out of my line and I started walking away”, Rachels commented as the night came to a close.
William Hargreaves with Dirt Panda came out strong going into the evening throwing down the fastest lap in qualifying at 15.217 and followed it up by taking the win in the first heat race. Blaise Rachels took the 2nd heat win and Billy Northcutt won the 3rd and final heat going into the last chance qualifiers. Brandyn Proudfoot and Chris Davis took the checkered flag in their respective consolation events leading up to the 30-lap feature with Hargreaves taking the green flag with Rachels to his outside.
Hargreaves cleared out into the lead as Northcutt tried to challenge Rachels for 2nd place in the opening laps. Jason Best stayed tight on the battle for 2nd waiting to take advantage while Proudfoot was quietly moving up through the field into 5th. Going into lap 7, Rachels made an aggressive move to the inside of Hargreaves to take away the lead and was able to defend the position as Hargreaves tried for a crossover but couldn’t make it stick. Northcutt saw his chance and started battling with his Dirt Panda teammate for 2nd place with Rachels slowly pulling away from the field.
Going into the 2nd half of the night, Hargreaves and Northcutt continued to battle each other side by side. Proudfoot had cleared up into 4th but had a lot of ground to make up to close in on the leaders with the laps quickly counting down. Rachels was able further stretch out his lead to almost 1 second with open track ahead of him. Coming out of the final corner, Blaise Rachels took the checkered flag over 1.5 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. William Hargreaves was able to take 2nd place ahead of his Dirt Panda teammate Billy Northcutt while Brandyn Proudfoot and Jason Best rounded out the top 5 tonight at Limaland Motorsports Park.
William Hargreaves holds a dominate lead in the point standings with 461 points, 23 points ahead of Billy Northcutt in 2nd place. Jason Best moves up to 3rd place with 323 points knocking Kyle Jared back to 4th. Aiden Young rounds out the top 5 in the point standings going into the 2nd half of the season. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Fairbury Speedway on February 17th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 7:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL LM S21 R5 Recap
04 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 21 | Round 5
Late Model Series | North Wilkesboro Speedway
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports claimed his first win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway ahead of Mathew Thunhorst and Austin Boelke. “There were some guys who had a ton of speed, and it was really important to try to get that lead and try to get clean air early”, Shepherd commented at the end of the night, “When you’re at a track like this, it’s very line sensitive especially getting into the corner. If you’re just a few feet to the left or to the right of the line getting in you’re going to be slower through the center and not able to get that run.”
J R Shepherd continued his streak jumping to the top of the timing and scoring boards in qualifying with a 4-lap average time put down at 19.136 with Joseph Snyder securing the pole for the feature event with the Bootleg Racing League grid invert. Lowell Jewell had a good jump from the outside line to take the lead away as the green flag came out. Joe Segalla followed Jewell around the outside moving up into 2nd taking advantage of Snyder’s slow start. Austin Boelke saw the opportunity and tried to follow Segalla through but contact between Boelke and Snyder resulted in both drivers running up into the outside wall and falling to the rear of the field.
Jewell continued to hold the lead ahead of Segalla as the field started to get settled in. Shepherd was up to 3rd early making good use of the chaotic start putting pressure on Segalla with bad luck striking Donny Moore in the middle of the field with contact between Moore and Mike Allen sent Moore to the rear of the field for a restart with the first 10 laps completed. As racing resumed, Shepherd took 2nd place away from Segalla with Segalla finding himself stranded on the outside line.
Michael Goodman saw the door open and closed up on the rear bumper of Shepherd to clear around Segalla into 3rd. Boelke had climbed back up through the field and had gotten under Segalla with Mathew Thunhorst directly behind him while Shepherd took the lead away from Jewell. Goodman had closed the gap to the leaders and was pressuring Jewell for 2nd place as Boelke and Thunhorst started to reel the battle in.
Goodman cleared around Jewell for 2nd as Boelke and Thunhorst reached their battle and Jewell fell back to 5th before slotting back in line behind Thunhorst while Shepherd used the battling to stretch his lead out to over 1 second ahead of Goodman. As the drivers started to get spread out around the track everyone seemed to settle in to put some laps behind them with a few select battles happening. Thunhorst continued to pressure Boelke for 3rd trying to force a mistake as both drivers were gaining on Goodman ahead of them.
Thunhorst was able to take 3rd away from Boelke as they closed in on the rear bumper of Goodman with Thunhorst instantly looking to make the pass as Shepherd further extended his lead out to over 2 seconds. Going into lap 39, Thunhorst completed the pass with Goodman shutting the door on Boelke holding onto the last podium position. Going into the 2nd half of the night, the field had completely spread out around the track with Shepherd still leading by 2.4 seconds over Thunhorst. Boelke was up to 3rd with Goodman running in 4th ahead of Jewell.
The long green flag run continued as Shepherd was outpacing his competitors leading ahead of Thunhorst by over 3 seconds while cautiously negotiating through lap traffic with the majority of the field still spread out. Matt Hoose had reeled Jewell in and was pressuring for 5th, but Jewell was not leaving any opening for Hoose to take advantage of going into the final laps. Coming out of the final corner, J R Shepherd took the checkered flag with Mathew Thunhorst coming home in 2nd unable to close the gap. Austin Boelke, Michael Goodman, and Lowell Jewell round out the top 5 finishers tonight at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
J R Shepherd continues to lead in the point standings with 242 points. Mathew Thunhorst jumped up to 2nd place with 190 points. Michael Goodman takes away 3rd with 179 points with Lowell Jewell moving up into 4th with 174 points. Kenny Kibbey rounds out the top 5 in the point standings with 160 points going into the next round of the season. The Bootleg Racing League now heads over to Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway for the next round of Season 21 on February 11th with all of the intense racing action brought to you live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSLM S1 R5 Recap
03 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 5
Dirt Super Late Model Series | Kokomo Speedway
Thomas Vickers with Apex Industries absolutely dominated the field tonight to take the win in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at Kokomo Speedway ahead of William Hargreaves and Stephen Spies. “It was a pretty good race, I like this track a little bit”, Vickers commented as the night came to a close, “It’s all about throttle control and trying to keep the car off the wall.”
Thomas Vickers came out on the track strong tonight setting a 4-lap average time at 12.096 and led the first heat race around to take the green flag. Vickers claimed an easy win securing the pole for the upcoming feature event later in the night while John Wilson won the remaining heat and Jeffrey Davisson beat Jason Dill to the line to take the checkered flag in the consolation race.
Vickers came around to take the green flag kicking off the night’s main event as William Hargreaves took advantage of a bad start from Wilson to quickly take away 2nd. Wilson continued to struggle as Stephen Spies cleared around into 3rd. With 5 laps completed, Vickers had already extended his lead out to over 2.5 seconds ahead of Hargreaves seeming to be untouchable as the race went on. 10 laps into the night, the top 3 drivers had sizable gaps between them as Davisson and Dill battled again further back in the field as they had earlier in the consolation event.
Vickers had reached lap traffic approaching the halfway point of the race and was making quick work weaving through without losing pace. Hargreaves wasn’t having as easy of a time getting through traffic with allowed Spies to start reeling his in going into the final 10 laps with Vickers 5.5 seconds out ahead of the rest of the field. Coming out of the final corner, Thomas Vickers dominated the night to take the checkered flag with William Hargreaves, Stephen Spies, Jason Dill, and Jeffrey Davisson rounding out the top 5 tonight at Kokomo Speedway.
William Hargreaves took the lead in the point standings with 370 points over Jason Dill in 2nd place with 314 points. Aiden Young fell back to 3rd place with 299 points with Stephen Spies and Thomas Vickers rounding out the top 5 drivers going into the 6th round of the season. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Limaland Motorsports Park on February 10th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 8:40PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S14 R5 Recap
03 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 14 | Round 5
Dirt Street Stock Series | Kokomo Speedway
William Hargreaves with Dirt Panda claimed the win tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Kokomo Speedway ahead of Billy Northcutt and John Wilson. “Was some great racing tonight, a lot of green flag laps and that’s a lot of what contributed to probably me being able to stay out front”, Hargreaves shared with us at the end of the night, “I didn’t think I’d be able to get around [Loomis] like I did there but unfortunately he hit the wall and it just kind of opened the door for me there.”
Zachary Loomis set the fastest 4-lap average time during qualifying tonight at 14.941 and led the first heat around to take the green flag. Loomis was able to pull away from the field to take the first checkered flag ahead of Billy Northcutt. William Hargreaves and Kyle Jared won the remaining heats with Stephen Spies and David Traylor won their respective consolation races leading up to the 30-lap feature event.
Loomis had Hargreaves to his outside as he took the green flag and quickly cleared out front while Hargreaves was under pressure from both Jared and Northcutt in the opening laps. Going into lap 5, Hargreaves saw his chance and threw a slider to take the lead away from Loomis with Northcutt trying to do the same but unable to clear into 2nd place. Jared stayed close behind the battle waiting for an opening to take advantage of with John Wilson applying pressure from 5th.
The battling allowed Hargreaves to extend his lead out to almost 1 second with 10 laps completed while Northcutt and Loomis traded sliders for 2nd. Negotiating through lap traffic, Northcutt cleared Loomis with Jared moving up into 3rd. Wilson was aggressively looking for a way into 4th as Loomis continued to drop back with a battle starting between Northcutt and Jared up ahead. Jared and Northcutt came together in the corner sending Jared around and collecting Loomis as the caution flag came out.
Lining back up for the restart, Hargreaves had Dirt Panda teammate Northcutt directly behind him with Wilson benefiting the most from the incident restarting from 3rd with 5 laps remaining. Hargreaves had a strong launch as racing resumed while Wilson stayed tight on the rear bumper of Northcutt. Coming out of the final lap, William Hargreaves claimed the checkered flag with Billy Northcutt, John Wilson, Stephen Spies, and Neville Ulph rounding out the top 5 tonight at Kokomo Speedway.
William Hargreaves stretches out his points lead ahead of teammate Billy Northcutt with 380 point, 18 points separating the Dirt Panda drivers. Kyle Jared holds onto 3rd place with 288 points, Jason Best moves up to 4th with 255 points, and Stephen Spies rounds out the top 5 with 254 points. The Bootleg Racing League next head to Limaland Motorsports Park on February 10th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 7:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL LM S21 R4 Recap
28 January 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 21 | Round 4
Late Model Series | Martinsville Speedway
Photograph by: Michael Goodman
Justin Morton with Total Downforce Racing claimed his 2nd win in a row tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series at Martinsville Speedway ahead of J R Shepherd and Mathew Thunhorst. “I kind of knew going into the race, noticed in practice that we were going to be pretty short [on fuel]”, Morton commented at the end of the night, “I don’t know if I was going 100 percent there, but I was definitely trying to keep the rhythm and just keep both ends consistent and driving how I needed to drive the car.”
J R Shepherd continues to top the timing and scoring boards in qualifying with a 4-lap average time set at 20.217 tonight starting the feature from 10th with the Bootleg Racing League invert placing Bruce Pearson on the pole. Pearson led the 22-car field around to take the green flag with Joe Segalla to his outside as the action kicked off with Pearson quickly clearing out ahead going into the first corner. Much of the field went single file on the first lap with passing on the outside being especially difficult at Martinsville.
Lowell Jewell got his nose under Segalla with Kenny Kibbey following him under pushing Segalla back to 4th in a gap that formed ahead of a battle between Joseph Snyder and Matt Shinoski. Jewell soon found himself stuck on the outside when Kibbey got to his inside. Jewell tried to battle back but was forced to concede and fall back to 4th as Jason Menda was also able to get around him into 3rd. With the first 20 laps behind them, the familiar names started to rise to the front of the field with Kibbey, Menda, Justin Morton, Mathew Thunhorst, and Shepherd all running inside of the top 10.
Kibbey took a chance and went to the outside of Pearson for the lead with Menda and Thunhorst quickly closing the inside line. It was starting to go in Pearson’s favor when a miscommunication with the drivers behind him led to contact sending Pearson and Menda around on track and moving Kibbey, Morton, Thunhorst, and Shepherd all running up front when the caution came out. Racing resumed going into lap 28 with Kibbey getting a good jump as Morton slotted in 2nd ahead of Thunhorst.
Unusual for a Bootleg Racing League event, it became known that fuel was going to be an issue as the 4 leaders pulled away from the field. Morton, Thunhorst, and Shepherd had come down pit road earlier in the night for a splash to get them to the end, but Kibbey stayed out. Morton quickly took control of the lead soon after going back to green as Kibbey seemed to be running conservatively to stretch his fuel milage out a far as he could dropping back to 4th behind Shepherd but still staying with the pack.
Going into the 2nd half of the night, Morton continued to hold the lead as Shepherd was able to take advantage of a restart getting under Thunhorst to take away 2nd place after a fierce side by side battle for several laps. Kibbey followed suit diving under Thunhorst to challenge for 3rd securing the position with 40 laps remaining. Austin Boelke was struggling tonight staying within the top 10 but unable to move up through the field. With the laps quickly counting down, Morton was extending his lead out to almost 1 second ahead of Shepherd while Thunhorst patiently searched for a way around Kibbey for 3rd.
Going into the final 25 laps, it became clear that the event was not going to be completed within the allotted time to further complicate things for the drivers. Kibbey’s fuel situation was getting more and more dire while still holding onto 3rd place ahead of Thunhorst. Morton was still outpacing the rest of the leading pack going into the final moments as, in a somewhat unsurprising upset, Kibbey’s Nocturnal Gaming machine ran out of fuel, and he was forced to pull down pit road with 3 minutes to go. Going into lap 96 out of 100, the race was called on time and Justin Morton came around one more time to take the checkered flag with J R Shepherd, Mathew Thunhorst, Jeffrey Hardin, and Donny Moore rounding out the top 5 tonight at Martinsville Speedway.
J R Shepherd continues to lead in the point standings with 192 points. Kenny Kibbey holds onto 2nd place with 160 points. Mathew Thunhorst sits in 3rd with 151 points with Jason Menda holds 4th with 143 points. Lowell Jewell rounds out the top 5 in the point standings with 138 points going into the next round of the season. The Bootleg Racing League now heads over to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the next round of Season 21 on February 4th with all of the intense racing action brought to you live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSLM S1 R4 Recap
27 January 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 4
Dirt Super Late Model Series | Lincoln Speedway
Brandyn Proudfoot took the checkered flag tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Super Late Model Series at Lincoln Speedway ahead of Aiden Young and John Heyn. “The car wasn’t really suited the best for the top side so it was really comfortable there in the middle for me and I was just kind of nurturing my tires through the middle making sure not to spin”, Proudfoot commented with us as the night came to a close, “The street stock, it’s what I do in real life… the late models also I hold dear to me because that’s the car I like to drive [in iRacing], that’s the one I have the most experience in.”
Brandyn Proudfoot sat at the top of the timing and scoring boards during qualifying tonight with a 4-lap average time set at 15.141 beating out William Hargreaves by almost 0.1 and followed it up by holding off Thomas Vickers to take the first heat win of the night and secured the pole for the 30-lap feature event later on in the evening. William Hargreaves took the 2nd heat win and Aiden Young took the checkered flag in the consolation race wrapping up the preliminary events.
Proudfoot opted to start the feature off from the outside placing Hargreaves to his inside as the green flag came out. Proudfoot had a strong jump off the start quickly clearing into the lead with Stephen Spies and Vickers battling side by side over 3rd. Vickers was able to use the outside to roll around Spies closing the gap to Hargreaves keeping the pressure up on the leaders in the opening laps. Spies made contact with the outside wall and quickly dropped back into the field before he was able to recover.
Proudfoot was still in control of the field ahead of Hargreaves after the first 10 laps. Vickers caught the leaders and made minor contact knocking Proudfoot loose and Hargreaves was quick to take advantage clearing into the lead himself. John Heyn was up to 4th with his Gambler Motorsports teammate Stephen Spies directly behind him searching for a way to advance up through the pack. Proudfoot found himself back in 3rd struggling to find a way around Vickers going into the 2nd half of the night.
Heyn made hard contact with the outside wall sending himself around on the track and falling back to 11th place as the caution came out. Hargreaves was still in control of the field as racing resumed with Proudfoot again battling side by side with Vickers for 2nd place. In a shocking upset, contact between Vickers and Hargreaves sent both drivers around handing the lead back to Proudfoot with Aiden Young in 2nd for the restart with 11 laps remaining. Proudfoot cleared ahead of Young off the jump as a large gap started to build up between Young and Jason Menda in 3rd.
Young tried to take advantage of a mistake from Proudfoot but was able to stay on the inside of Proudfoot going into the final laps as Young connected with the outside wall and fell back several car lengths behind the leader. A late race caution restacked the field for a 2-lap shootout to the end with Heyn back up to 3rd after his earlier incident. As the final green flag was thrown, Brandyn Proudfoot jumped out ahead of Aiden Young to take the checkered flag with John Heyn, Jason Menda, and William Hargreaves rounding out the top 5 tonight at Lincoln Speedway.
Aiden Young holds the lead in the point standings with 299 points over William Hargreaves in 2nd place 5 points behind. Jason Dill sits in 3rd place with 247 points with Stephen Spies and Thomas Vickers rounding out the top 5 drivers going into the 5th round of the season. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Kokomo Speedway on February 3rd with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 8:40PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S14 R4 Recap
27 January 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 14 | Round 4
Dirt Street Stock Series | Lincoln Speedway
Kyle Jared took the checkered flag tonight in a very chaotic running with the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Lincoln Speedway ahead of William Hargreaves and Brandyn Proudfoot. “That race was definitely a survival race there”, Jared quickly commented at the end of the night, “That was a long race”. Proudfoot took a moment to share with us, “There’s so many cautions tonight”, also adding, “A lot of people are thinking they can sling it into the bottom… I think just inexperience played a big part tonight.”
Brandyn Proudfoot set the tone for the evening putting down the fastest time in qualifying with a 4-lap average set at 19.965 and dominating the first heat to take the win and secure the pole for the upcoming feature event. Billy Northcutt and Blaise Rachels took the checkered flag in the remaining heats while Dustin Benton and Chris Davis won their respective consolation races.
Proudfoot led the 24-car field around to take the green flag getting a good jump off the start but not able to clear Northcutt initially with Rachels trying to force a 3-wide situation for the lead. Proudfoot seemed to be struggling running the highline as Northcutt took the lead for himself clearing ahead of Proudfoot and Rachels with 5 laps behind them. Rachels continued to pressure Proudfoot for 2nd place. Kyle Jared closed in on the battle and split the drivers going 3-wide as Northcutt started to stretch out his lead.
William Hargreaves was quickly moving up and got involved in the battle for 2nd. Jared saw an opportunity and went around to the outside of Northcutt to challenge for the lead seeming to have the advantage on the leader with Hargreaves and Proudfoot running directly behind them ready to jump on whichever line came out ahead. Jared cleared into the lead going into the 2nd half of the night, but Northcutt quickly shut the door on Hargreaves staying tight on the rear bumper of Jared.
Hargreaves and Northcutt went side by side as Proudfoot found himself being challenged by Benton for 4th place with the laps counting down. Going into lap 18, Benton and Northcutt made hard contact sending both drivers around on the track and collecting most of the field. As racing resumed, Hargreaves continued to pressure Jared for the lead as Proudfoot and Jason Best battled for 3rd. Proudfoot stayed committed to the highline that he had been running all night while most drivers moved more toward the middle of the track as the night went on.
Hargreaves looked to the inside of Jared but wasn’t able to make it stick as Proudfoot overtook Best for 3rd going into the final stretch. Proudfoot reached the rear bumper of Hargreaves and made a late move to get around to the outside of Hargreaves as the white flag came out. Unable to make anything of it, Kyle Jared took the checkered flag unchallenged with William Hargreaves, Brandyn Proudfoot, Jason Best, and Jesse Steffes round out the top 5 tonight at Lincoln Speedway.
William Hargreaves takes the points lead away from Billy Northcutt with 297 point, 12 points ahead of Northcutt. Kyle Jared moved up to 3rd place with 241 points, Aiden Young sits in 4th with 220 points, and Jason Best rounds out the top 5 with 201 points. The Bootleg Racing League next head to Kokomo Speedway on February 3rd with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 7:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL LM S21 R3 Recap
21 January 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 21 | Round 3
Late Model Series | USA Speedway
Photograph by: Michael Goodman
Justin Morton with Total Downforce Racing claimed his first win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series at USA Speedway ahead of Mathew Thunhorst and Jason Menda. “I was cruising up front dreading a caution coming”, Morton shared with us as the night came to a close, “It did eventually come but I was kind of just trying to prepare myself for when it did happen, just trying to take care of the tires and I think that’s what gave me the edge over [Thunhorst] there at the end.”
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports held the top spot in qualifying over Kenny Kibbey by 0.002 with his 4-lap average time set at 21.862 starting the feature event in 10th place with the Bootleg Racing League invert. Lowell Jewell of Thunder Ridge Racing led the 23-car field around to take the green flag with his teammate, Donny Moore, to his outside. Jewell had a strong launch off the start as Justin Morton was able to clear around Moore into 2nd before Moore could slot in line holding onto 3rd.
Kibbey was quietly pushing up through the field running in 7th as Shepherd seemed to struggle in the early stages holding around 10th with Thunhorst quickly pushing up to 16th from starting in the rear of the field. Going into lap 10, Morton had overtaken Jewell for the lead and was starting to break away from the field. Kibbey continued his charge to the front up to 4th and closing on the rear bumper of Jewell with Moore holding onto 2nd place. Kibbey tried to use the outside land to take away 3rd but wasn’t able to beat Jewell out of the corners and found himself stuck on the outside with Jason Menda and Thunhorst getting to his inside.
With 30 laps behind them, the top 8 drivers broke away from the rest as the field started to spread out around the track. Morton was cautiously extending his lead out to 1 second ahead of Moore with 2nd place through 6th all packed tightly together. Thunhorst got a nose under Menda for 4th and Kibbey took notice and quickly tried to follow him under. Kibbey and Menda made door to door contact sending Menda high up the track and falling back to 8th as he recovered and continued running.
Going into the 2nd half of the night, Moore was under pressure from Thunhorst while Morton further extended out his lead to over 2.5 seconds. Thunhorst was able to clear around Moore for 2nd place with Kibbey following him again up into 3rd as contact between Jewell and Moore ended Moore’s night early and sent Jewell back to 16th. Shepherd was still struggling to move up through the field running in 7th behind Menda with while Kibbey and Thunhorst looking to challenge for the lead.
The laps continued to count down as the majority of drivers were running single file waiting for opportunities to present themselves. Thunhorst had caught Morton while Kibbey seemed to be struggling and was falling back with reach of Todd Liston and Menda. Shepherd was also struggling unable to close the gap to Menda ahead with time running out. Thunhorst was started pressuring Morton to make a mistake, but Morton held his line well and was able to hold Thunhorst off.
Menda overtook Liston for 4th and was quickly closing on Kibbey. Going into lap 85, Menda got his nose to the inside and quickly cleared into 3rd place with Shepherd up to 5th. Morton continued to lead, and Thunhorst was starting to fall off the pace going into the final laps. As the checkered flag came out, Justin Morton came home with his first win of the season with Mathew Thunhorst, Jason Menda, Kenny Kibbey, and J R Shepherd rounding out the top 5 tonight at USA Speedway.
J R Shepherd continues to lead in the point standings with 143 points. Kenny Kibbey holds onto 2nd place with 133 points. Mathew Thunhorst sits in 3rd with 113 points with Jason Menda moving up into 4th only 1 point behind. Michael Goodman rounds out the top 5 in the point standings with 108 points going into the next round of the season. The Bootleg Racing League now heads over to Martinsville Speedway for the next round of Season 21 on January 28th with all of the intense racing action brought to you live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL NSCT S1 R13 Recap
20 January 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 13
National Sprint Car Trail | Richmond Raceway
James Tiernan again dominated the field taking the checkered flag tonight with the silver crowns in the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail at Richmond Raceway ahead of Justin Morton and Aiden Young. “In that initial warmup there I actually found something, and it pretty much was just me limiting my wheel input”, Tiernan shared with us at the end of the night, “Basically I was driving it like a dirt car with more throttle than anything else… Really worked out. [I] was quick in qualifying, quick ever since. I was pretty confident once I kind of figured that out.”
James Tiernan sat on top the timing and scoring boards with his 4-lap average time posted at 19.902 in qualifying securing the pole for the feature event with Justin Morton to his outside on the front row. Tiernan had a good jump off the start as Morton found himself under pressure from Aiden Young and Jason Menda. With 5 laps completed, Young had to run more defensively with Menda challenging him from behind allowing Tiernan and Morton to pull away to battle for the lead amongst themselves.
10 laps into the night, much of the field became spread out into groups of 2 or 3 drivers fighting over positions. Morton was holding pace with Tiernan, but Morton wasn’t able to close in enough to make a move for the lead and Young was slowly reeling Morton back in as Menda dropped back. Bruce Jones and Joe Adams ran side by side for several laps over 5th place with Jones able to secure the position going into lap 16. Going into the 2nd half of the night, Tiernan stretched out the gap ahead of Morton to over 0.5 seconds.
Jones and Adams caught the rear bumper of Menda and the 3 fiercely battled over 4th place with no driver seeming to have the advantage. Menda reclaimed 4th while Jones and Adams continued to fight for 5th running alongside each other. Menda used the battle to pull away tightening his grip on 4th. Tiernan extended his lead out to over 1.5 seconds ahead of Morton who was over 2 seconds ahead of Young in 3rd with 10 laps to go. The laps counted down quickly without pause allowing James Tiernan to control his race and take the checkered flag with Justin Morton, Aiden Young, Jason Menda, and Bruce Jones rounding out the top 5 tonight at Richmond Raceway.
Aiden Young continues to lead the overall point standings with 811 points ahead of Justin Morton with 791 points. Bruce Jones sits in 3rd with 760 points. Justin Morton is the current leader in the silver crown class with 293 points followed by Aiden Young and Bruce Jones. The drivers of the Bootleg Racing League next head to Southern National Speedway on January 27th in the asphalt sprints.
Virtual Grip Network 