BRL NSCT S1 R5 Recap
28 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 5
National Sprint Car Trail | Gateway Motorsports Park
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
James Tiernan took his silver crown all the way to Victory Lane tonight in the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail at Gateway Motorsports Park ahead of Justin Morton and Aiden Young. “I tried my best not to look in my rear view mirror much of that race it was just a matter of keeping my head down running my line and making sure I was where I needed to be”, Tiernan shared with us as the night wound down, “It was just a matter of me running my line and making sure I didn’t make any mistakes to kind of let him get a nose in where I didn’t want him.”
James Tiernan took the pole in qualifying with a quick 4-lap average time of 31.259 with Justin Morton only 0.012 seconds behind him in 2nd. As the green flag came out, Tiernan jumped out to a strong lead with Morton slotting in behind him. Bruce Jones secured 3rd as a battle over 5th involving Rory Collins, Jason Menda, and Aiden Young started to heat up. Menda was running the high line as Collins tried to close the door ahead of Young. Young had a good run going along the inside and couldn’t checkup in time to avoid contact. Young was knocking into the infield as Collins was sent up the track into Menda, both drivers make hard contact with the outside wall going into the 2nd lap of the night and bringing out an early caution.
As racing resumed, Jones tried to get to the inside of Morton but wasn’t able to match Morton’s pace along the outside. Young was looking to the inside of Todd Liston for 4th taking away the position going into lap 4. Morton closed the gap back up to Tiernan as the leaders pulled away from the rest of the field with over 1 second between them and Jones in 3rd. Young got the inside of Jones quickly moving up into 3rd but the gap to the leaders continued to stretch out.
Menda was still recovering from the earlier incident and had climbed back up to 6th close behind Liston looking to the inside several times. With 13 laps completed, both Liston and Menda got loose on corner exit forcing Menda down the track to avoid contact and giving him the opening he needed to move up into 5th as the drivers continued to run. Morton was still keeping the pressure high on Tiernan with only 0.1 seconds between the two with Morton looking to the inside but unable to complete the move.
Going into the 2nd half of the night, Tiernan started weaving his line down the straights in an attempt to break the draft for Morton behind him as the lead battle extended out to over 4 seconds ahead of Young. With the laps counting down, the field had become spread out around the track. The only active battles were for the lead between Tiernan and Morton and over 3rd place between Young and Jones with 20 laps remaining.
A late race caution came out with 11 laps to go when Joe Segalla got loose coming out of turn four with Collins behind him. Segalla wasn’t able to recover before making hard contact with the inside wall resulting in significant damage. The field restacked for the restart changing the dynamic of the race placing Young and Jones back with the leaders. Tiernan got another good jump off the restart. Morton cleared into 2nd ahead of Young while Menda got to the inside of Jones.
Jones went wide in the corner and made minor contact with the outside wall allowing Menda to secure the position with Liston in 5th. Tiernan and Morton again pulled away from the field as Menda started closing the gap to Young in 3rd. Coming out of the final corner, James Tiernan took the checkered ahead of Justin Morton with Aiden Young, Jason Menda, and Bruce Jones rounding out the top 5 tonight at Gateway Motorsports Park.
Aiden Young secured the lead in the overall point standings with 323 points. Justin Morton jumped up 2 spots into 2nd with 306 points. Bruce Jones holds onto 3rd with 299 points. Stephen Spies fell back to 4th with 253 points and Rory Collins rounds out the top 5 drivers with 249 points. Justin Morton holds onto the Silver Crown points lead with 148 points ahead of Aiden Young and Bruce Jones. The drivers of the Bootleg Racing League head over to North Wilkesboro Speedway on November 4th in the asphalt sprints with all of the intense action brought to you live at 10:30PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S13 R6 Recap
28 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 13 | Round 6
Dirt Street Stock Series | Lucas Oil Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Rocky Battenfield took the checkered flag after climbing through the field tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Lucas Oil Speedway ahead of Adam Carlisle and Thomas Vickers. “I’m generally a patient driver, but I know starting 10th you gotta make some moves early and I’m not running for points, I come here to win so I figured hey let’s go as hard as we can go and see what happens.”, Battenfield commented as the night came to a close, “Everything kind of worked out our way tonight.”
As the drivers started lining up for the heat events, Adam Carlisle took the green for the first heat of the night with William Hargreaves to his outside. Hargreaves looked to the inside several times but wasn’t able to make a pass attempt before Carlisle took the checkered flag. John Wilson had J R Shepherd to his outside as he took the green flag for the second heat. Wilson held the lead all the way to the checkered flag while Shepherd was fighting with Kevin Davis over 2nd place. Billy Northcutt took the green flag to the inside of Thomas Vickers in the third and final heat race of the night. Northcutt was able to pull away from the rest of the pack taking the win.
Lining up for the C Main consolation race was Dylan Corey up front with Bobby Hayes to his outside. Davis pushed up through the field and got a nose to the inside of Corey, but the high line prevailed with Corey pulling away to take the checkered flag. Jason Best and Jason Menda shared the front row as the green flag came out for the B Main consolation race. Best took the checkered flag with a 1 second gap between himself and Rocky Battenfield up 3 positions into 2nd place.
Carlisle took the green flag to kick off the night’s 40-lap main feature event with Wilson to his outside. Carlisle had a good jump off the start as Wilson and Shepherd battled side by side over 2nd. Hargreaves caught the drivers and tried to split them going 3-wide for several corners but contact from behind knocked Hargreaves loose and pushed Wilson down into the infield giving 2nd place over to Shepherd. Hargreaves recovered in 3rd while Wilson fell back to 9th from the incident.
10 laps into the run, Carlisle still had a strong hold on the lead while Hargreaves continued to pressure Shepherd for 2nd. Battenfield was aggressively pushing up through the field up to 4th and closing on Hargreaves quickly. Hargreaves dove beneath Shepherd to take away 2nd place but made contact with the back of Carlisle forcing both drivers loose giving the lead to Shepherd with Battenfield challenging Carlisle for 2nd place. Battenfield secured the position going into the 2nd half of the night while Carlisle and Hargreaves battled over 3rd.
Battenfield didn’t waste any time going after the lead diving low under Shepherd and cleared ahead going into lap 25. Carlisle tried to challenge Shepherd for 2nd with Hargreaves and Thomas Vickers fighting over 4th behind them. As the battle continued, Hargreaves and Shepherd made contact sending Shepherd around falling back to 15th as he recovered from the spin with 10 laps remaining. Battenfield took advantage of the open track ahead of him and quickly started to put distance between himself and Carlisle.
Hargreaves tried to get beneath Carlisle, but the drivers came together, and Hargreaves was spun into the infield falling to the back of the field while Shepherd had been quietly climbing back up through the field and was working Bobby Hayes over for 5th. Coming out of the final corner, Rocky Battenfield proved to be too much for the rest of the field to contest with as he took the checkered flag with Adam Carlisle, Thomas Vickers, Jason Best, and J R Shepherd rounding out the top 5 tonight at Lucas Oil Speedway.
William Hargreaves holds onto the points lead with 412 points. Adam Carlisle and J R Shepherd are tied for 2nd place with 384 points each. Billy Northcutt fell back to 4th place with 372 points after having connection issues tonight and Jason best rounds out the top 5 drivers with 314 points. Going into the next round, the drivers will take on the Cedar Lake Speedway on November 4th with all of the dirt slinging action broadcast live at 7:10PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S3 R10 Recap
25 October 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 10
Premier Series | Homestead-Miami Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Scott Eckrich with GRAFFix LC Motorsports took the checkered flag by 0.056 seconds tonight in a shootout to the end in the High, Wide, and Handsome 200 presented by The Joy of Driving at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Michael Chrobok and Brian Yaczik. Commenting on the late race caution, Scott shared with us, “You never like to see that especially after such a long green flag run… It’s never fun when a giant saving race turns into a hot lapper because you know you gotta like find the edge immediately or you’re going to lose.”
Woody Mahan took the green flag on the pole of the 20-car field with James Moore to his outside. As Mahan cleared ahead of Moore, Brian Yaczik pushed to the inside overtaking both drivers on the 2nd lap. Moore stayed with Yaczik challenging for the lead knocking Yaczik back to 3rd behind Jonathan Cogswell. With 10 laps behind them, Cogswell became the 4th different leader early in the race with Moore looking to take the position back. Scott Eckrich was quietly climbing up through the field up 8 positions from his 20th place start.
Coming off a restart, Yaczik was able to charge back to the front to battle for the lead with Moore with 20 laps completed. Jordan Harnish took advantage of the restart making up several positions and was pressuring Moore for 2nd place. Yaczik was in control of the field ahead of Cogswell as another caution came out when Moore who was in the lead got loose and spun around 35 laps into the run. The field came down pit road before restacking to again take the green flag.
Yaczik had a good launch off the restart pulling out to a strong lead. Mike Rasimas was up to 3rd with newcomer Barrett Polhemus battling with him. Michael Chrobok climbed up into the top 5 and was looking to challenge both drivers going forward. Yaczik seemed to be relaxing his pace to save his equipment for a longer run as he gave up the lead and fell back to 3rd ahead of Rasimas with 50 laps completed. Cogswell moved up into the lead with Polhemus close behind.
65 laps in the night, Polhemus and Chrobok were running side by side battling for the lead with Chrobok to the inside and Eckrich overtook Rasimas for 3rd as Eckrich started pushing much more aggressively going into the 2nd half of the race. Polhemus reached the first lap traffic on lap 72 with Chrobok and Eckrich single file directly behind him keeping the pressure high. Eckrich was able to overtake Chrobok for 2nd closing in on Polhemus before diving deep to take away the lead with 80 laps completed.
Drivers started coming down pit road under green flag conditions in small groups of few cars at a time going into the final 50 laps as the field settled into a groove and were spreading out around the track. As the pit cycle completed, Polhemus was again in control of the field with almost 1 second between himself and Rasimas in 2nd and Eckrich several seconds back in 3rd. Chrobok and Yaczik were over 3 seconds behind Eckrich and were battling hard over 4th place as the laps counted down.
With 30 laps remaining, Eckrich had completely closed the gap to the leader and was aggressively pressuring Polhemus. Eckrich stayed tight against Polhemus for nearly 20 laps before seeing his opportunity on lap 122 to dive beneath Polhemus to take away the lead with 12 laps to go. A late race caution came out a lap later setting up a sprint to the end. Eckrich was in the lead ahead of Chrobok and Polhemus as the field came back together after the pit cycle to take the green flag once again.
Eckrich had a good jump off the start with Chrobok close behind holding off Thomas George. Yaczik got a nose beneath George to take 3rd place while Chrobok tried to get a good enough run to make a pass attempt with 4 laps remaining. Chrobok clear into the lead but Eckrich was still pushing and reclaimed the position before taking the white flag. Chrobok lined up for another attempt coming out of the final corner, but it wasn’t enough as Scott Eckrich took the checkered flag ahead of Michael Chrobok by 0.056 with Brian Yaczik, Thomas George, and Barrett Polhemus rounding out the top 5 tonight at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Thomas George holds onto the lead with 363 points over Brian Yaczik with 349 points. Michael Chrobok holds onto 3rd place with 339 points. Scott Eckrich moved up 2 spots into 4th with 299 points as Cody Dempster rounds out the top 5 with 296 points. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Martinsville Speedway on November 1st for the Joy of Driving Martinsville 250 with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
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!
Virtual Grip Network 