PGRL S3 R8 Recap
12 October 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 8
Premier Series | Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Scott Eckrich with GRAAFix LC Motorsports dominated the night to take the checkered flag tonight in the Make It Stop 125 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Thomas George and Brian Yaczik. “This race track, this year, this car, is the hardest track we’ve been to yet by probably a pretty considerable margin”, Eckrich shared with us as the night came to a close, “There was a lot of fine management about how you had to hit your bumps and stuff not to destroy the car and how to get speed and not throw it sideways off of it and there was a whole lot of time to be gained if you could get the minor stuff down.”
Greg O’Berry led the 17-car field to the green flag with Michael Chrobok to his outside. O’Berry and Chrobok quickly single filed out ahead of the field going through the first corner. Cold tires caught a few drivers off guard in the opening laps with drivers such as Chance Manning sliding through a chicane losing a lot of time. Scott Eckrich and Jeff Ward were quickly pushing up through the pack up to 7th and 8th respectively with only 3 laps completed while O’Berry still held the lead ahead of Chrobok.
Only 8 laps into the night, Eckrich and Brian Yaczik came down pit road together for fuel and rejoined the track in 11th and 12th place with O’Berry still holding off Chrobok for the lead. Cody Dempster and Woody Mahan were battling aggressively over 3rd. Dempster was able to move up to 2nd when Chrobok came down pit road on lap 10 and made a move for the lead 1 lap later with Jeff Ward close behind moving into 2nd and pressuring Dempster. Harley Moss was quietly making his way up through the field running in 3rd and closing on the leaders with 15 laps completed.
Ward got alongside Dempster a few times before Dempster aggressively slammed the door shut going through the backstretch chicane regaining the lead. Eckrich was back up to 4th running almost 9 seconds behind the leaders as the field became spread out around the course as a result of different pit strategies. Dempster made his fuel stop going into lap 22 handing the lead over to Moss with Eckrich in 2nd already within 1.5 seconds. Dempster rejoined the course in 8th behind Mahan who was battling with Chrobok ahead.
As the drivers crossed the halfway point of the night, Moss came down pit road and Eckrich took the lead over 14 seconds ahead of Thomas George in 2nd place. Moss came back on track in 5th with Dempster close behind and the two drivers started battling side by side making slight contact as Dempster cleared ahead. With 25 laps remaining, Eckrich had extended his lead out to over 24 seconds ahead of George with Yaczik maintaining 3rd place ahead of Ward. Dempster was struggling falling back to 6th behind Moss and pulling away by 2 seconds.
Several drivers started coming down pit road on lap 33 including Eckrich in the lead for the final fuel stop. George came down on the following lap as Eckrich regained the lead with a 27 second gap ahead of George rejoining the track in 2nd place. Going into the final 15 laps, Eckrich continued to lead with George 20 seconds back and Yaczik another 11 seconds behind George. Ward got to the inside of Moss going into turn 1, but contact was made when Moss got loose sending both drivers around blocking the track for a moment. Ward was the first to get corrected and continued running in 4th.
Dempster was able to clear ahead of Moss before Moss could get his car spun back around in the right direction and fell back to 6th place. With 9 laps remaining, Eckrich caught the curb wrong in the chicane on the back stretch and spun himself around on the track but had a strong enough lead ahead of George to get his car faced back in the right direction and back up to speed with over a 7 second lead. Scott Eckrich led the remaining laps to take the checkered flag tonight in the Make It Stop 125 at Charlotte with Thomas George, Brian Yaczik, Cody Dempster, and Michael Chrobok rounding out the top 5 drivers.
Thomas George took the lead away from Brian Yaczik tonight by 2 points with 312 points overall. Michael Chrobok holds onto 3rd place with 267 points. Cody Dempster moved up into 4th with 256 points as Woody Mahan slid back one spot to 5th with 253 points rounding out the top 5. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 18th for the Galloping Horses 200 with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL SLM S19 R3 Recap
08 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 19 | Round 3
Super Late Model Series | USA Speedway
Photograph by: Michael Goodman
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Kenny Kibbey with Nocturnal Gaming took his first win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at USA Speedway ahead of Mathew Thunhorst and J R Shepherd. “This place was a lot harder to pass at than I expected it to be”, Kibbey commented as the night came to a close, “The longer you ride behind somebody in these super late models the harder and harder it gets to pass unless you can force the driver in front to burn their tires up.”
Mike LeMieux was in control of the 20-car field as the green flag came out with Adam Schoen to his outside. LeMieux had a good jump off the start as Jason Menda dove beneath Schoen challenging for 2nd. Justin Morton tucked in behind Menda with Kenny Kibbey running close behind in 5th. Schoen got loose coming out of the turn four making contact with Morton causing significant damage as the field restacked under caution with 10 laps completed. Morton was able to stay on the lead lap but was restarting from 19th place.
LeMieux continued to hold the lead with Menda and Kibbey running directly behind him as the top 3 drivers started to pull away from the rest of the field. J R Shepherd struggled to push through the field running in 6th behind Donny Moore with Mathew Thunhorst having his own troubles from 9th. 20 laps into the run, Morton was starting to climb back up clearing around Tim Shinoski for 16th. Menda took advantage when LeMieux made a mistake on corner entry quickly diving low and clearing into the lead with Kibbey following him around into 2nd before LeMieux was able to get his car back down on the low line.
Thunhorst cleared into 7th just as Shepherd made the move around the outside of Moore for 5th keeping a car between himself and Thunhorst. Morton moved up a few more spots into 13th and was starting to work over Jeffrey Hardin. With 40 laps behind them, Kibbey made an attempt for the lead, but Menda slammed the door almost catching Kibbey’s nose in the process. Kibbey backed off and settled back in behind Menda for a few more laps. Going into the 2nd half of the night, Kibbey made another attempt, and this time was able to clear around Menda for the lead and quickly started to pull away.
Kibby was still in control of the field with 40 laps remaining with Shepherd up to 4th ahead of Thunhorst. Morton had gotten back into the top 10 and was running in 8th. As the laps counted down, Shepherd found himself stranded to the outside of LeMieux with Thunhorst keep the gap tight not giving Shepherd a space to drop down into. Shepherd fought LeMieux for several laps before he had to concede and drop in behind Thunhorst almost clipping the nose of Joseph Snyder in the process. Thunhorst and Shepherd quickly dove under LeMieux up into 3rd and 4th. Thunhorst immediately went after Menda taking away 2nd place but Shepherd wasn’t able to follow him through this time still behind Menda in 4th.
Thunhorst closed the gap to Kibbey in the lead going into the final 15 laps as Shepherd had to fight Menda from the outside to hold onto 3rd. A miscommunication between several drivers in the midfield caused a large pile up down the front stretch and bringing out the caution as half of the field found themselves in a parking lot. As the drivers restacked, it was Kibbey, Thunhorst, and Shepherd running up front. Kibbey had a good jump as the green flag came back out and Thunhorst slotted in ahead of Shepherd. Kenny Kibbey was able to hold of Mathew Thunhorst around the last 5 laps to take the checkered flag tonight at USA Speedway with J R Shepherd, Jeffrey Hardin, and Donny Moore rounding out the top 5 finishers.
J R Shepherd took the lead in the point standings tonight with 139 points. Mathew Thunhorst moved up to 2nd place with 135 points over Justin Morton with 127 points. Donny Moore holds onto 4th with 106 points and Jospeh Snyder rounds out the top 5 with 103 points. Next week, the drivers of the Bootleg Racing League head out to Concord Speedway for the 4th round of Season 19 on October 15th with all of the action broadcast live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL NSCT S1 R3 Recap
07 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 3
National Sprint Car Trail | Limaland Motorsports Park
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Brandyn Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports took the checkered flag by 0.019 in a drag race to the line in the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail tonight at Limaland Motorsports Park in the dirt midgets ahead of Stephen Spies and Aiden Young. Proudfoot shared with us after packing up for the night, “Yeah, I did not think I was going to get [Stephen Spies], but I managed to pop a wheel stand and shoot her straight to the line and got him by a hair.”
John Heyn took the pole in qualifying with a 4-lap average lap time of 12.295 and advanced straight to the feature event along with Stephen Spies, Preston Cranmer, Grady Wade, Aiden Young, and Brandyn Proudfoot. Terry Landis and Justin Morton shared the front row to take the green flag for the 12-lap heat event. Landis and Morton started to pull away from the field as they battled over the lead with Landis holding it through the opening laps. Steve Goldner caught the leaders and got to the inside of Morton for 2nd 5 laps into the run.
Morton jerked right to avoid contact with Goldner and couldn’t recover before making contact with the outside wall as Bruce Jones jumped up into 2nd place with Brennon Lacy up to 3rd. Landis continued to control the field going into the final few laps and took the checkered flag with Jones and Lacy rounding out the top 3 finishers. Pole sitter, John Heyn, shared his thoughts going into the feature event, “Passing going to definitely be difficult. I think as the race goes on, I think you’ll see things widen out almost like what we saw earlier towards the end of the heat race.”
Heyn had Spies to his outside as the green flag came out for the 30-lap main feature event. Heyn had a strong jump off the start with Spies crossing over to dive beneath him clearing out into the lead going into lap 4. Spies held the lead with Heyn close behind through the first half of the night with minor incident happening further back in the field as the drivers started to spread out around the track. Proudfoot climbed up to 3rd place and was pressuring Heyn as Young made contact with the outside wall falling back to 4th.
Cranmer was having a rough night falling back to 13th after minor contact with John Wilson sent him around in traffic going into the final 10 laps. Proudfoot was one of the few drivers committed to running the bottom line staying to the inside of Heyn with Spies still out front. A late race caution with 3 laps remaining restacked the leaders single file and Heyn mistimed the jump making contact with the rear of Spies sending himself around and fell back to 11th after running up front all night.
Proudfoot dove beneath Spies as the green came back out but couldn’t clear far enough for a slider. Coming out of the final corner Proudfoot and Spies had a drag race to the line side by side with Brandyn Proudfoot taking the checkered flag by 0.019 over Stephen Spies in the end. Aiden Young, Bruce Jones, and Stevin Goldner round out the top 5 finishers tonight at Limaland Motorsports Park in the 3rd round of the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail.
Stephen Spies leads in the Dirt Midget point standings with 72 points with Brandyn Proudfoot 1 point behind. Justin Morton leads the Silver Crown standings with 76 points over Aiden Young with 72 points and also in the Asphalt Sprints with 76 points ahead of Stephen Spies with 72 points. The drivers of the Bootleg Racing League take a week off before jumping into their non-winged dirt 360 sprints at Eldora Speedway on October 21st with all of the intense action brought to you live at 10:30PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S13 R3 Recap
07 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 13 | Round 3
Dirt Street Stock Series | Limaland Motorsports Park
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Brandyn Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports claimed him first win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Limaland Motorsports Park ahead of Billy Northcutt and Stephen Spies. “Fun, just downright fun”, Proudfoot described tonight’s racing with the multiple lane options opening up throughout the run, “The middle definitely ran a little bit stronger early on because the marbles were caked up but once they started going away it was a clean slate everybody kind of running wherever they wanted, wherever they were comfortable.”
Zachary Loomis took the pole in qualifying with a 4-lap average time of 15.379 and led the first heat to the green flag with Adam Carlisle to his outside. Carlisle looked to the inside of Loomis a few times but couldn’t get the lead as Loomis took the win. Brandyn Proudfoot took the green flag for the 2nd heat event and quickly jumped out ahead of J R Shepherd before running away with the lead to claim the win. William Hargreaves led every lap taking the checkered flag in the 3rd heat and Billy Northcutt took the 4th and final heat win of the night. John Wilson and Johnny Ratley took the checkered flag in their respective consolation races to finish up the preliminary events before the 40-lap feature.
Loomis had Proudfoot to his outside as the green flag came out and the 18-car field tore into the first turn. The slightest contact between Cody Shaw and J R Shepherd on lap 2 sent Shepherd around to the inside of the track sending him to the rear of the field while Loomis, Proudfoot, and Hargreaves had a 3-car battle over the lead. As multiple lanes became more viable around the track, several side-by-side battle broke out through the field. Carlisle and Chris Davis battled over 5th while Jason Best, Dylan Corey, and John Wilson were tangling over 10th place. Approaching the halfway point of the night, the leaders were coming up on lap traffic as Robby Robinson caught the wall coming out of turn two sending himself around directly in front of the leading battle.
Loomis avoided contact with Robinson, but Hargreaves was not so luck and had an impact to his right front as the caution came out. Hargreaves fell back initially off the restart but regained his momentum staying with Loomis and Proudfoot with 19 laps remaining. Northcutt closed up on the leaders and started looking to the inside of Hargreaves who had cleared ahead of Proudfoot back into 2nd place. In a battle over 6th place, Stephen Spies and Chris Davis came together and Davis was spun around falling to the back of the field and bringing out the caution flag just as Hargraves cleared into the lead with a slider over Loomis that wouldn’t count as the field stacked back up.
Loomis had a good launch as the green flag came out again. Hargreaves was trying to once again clear around Proudfoot for 2nd place. Proudfoot threw a slider clearing Loomis for the lead as Hargreaves also threw a slider on Proudfoot and the drivers went 3-wide over the lead with 10 laps remaining. Proudfoot was running the highline pulling out ahead into the lead for the first time of the night. Loomis had to checkup going through turn four and got tagged from behind going around and falling to the rear of the pack with Proudfoot, Hargreaves and Northcutt still fighting for the lead. Coming out of the final corner, Brandyn Proudfoot took the win with Billy Northcutt and Stephen Spies jumping ahead of William Hargreaves at the last moment and Cody Shaw rounds out the top 5 tonight at Limaland Motorsports Park.
William Hargreaves takes the points lead with 217 points with Billy Northcutt moving up into 2nd place 10 points behind. Zachary Loomis fell back to 3rd with 193 points, J R Shepherd moves up one spot to 4th with 187 points, and Adam Carlisle rounds out the top 5 drivers with 180 points. Going into the next round, the drivers will take on the I-55 Speedway on October 14th with all of the dirt slinging action broadcast live at 7:10PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S3 R7 Recap
04 October 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 7
Premier Series | Talladega Superspeedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Thomas George with Steel Horse Racing took the checkered flag tonight under caution flag conditions in the Chuckles, I’m in Danger 250 at Talladega Superspeedway with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Brian yaczik and Pete Baskins. “Switching to this #6, I think there’s some good luck going on with it right now”, George commented after taking what he considered to be an unexpected win. Going forward in the season, George is competing with Yaczik for the championship with 5 races left on the schedule as he added, “We gotta keep performing well, keep doing what we’re doing”
Pete Baskins sat on the pole as the green flag waved over Talladega and the field tore down the front stretch. Woody Mahan was pushing Baskins along the inside line while Jordan Harnish struggled to get the top line organized and the field quickly split into 3 lines very early in the run leading to trouble as Harnish came together with Greg O’Berry putting both cars hard into the outside wall and bringing out the caution flag 4 laps in. Racing resumed going into lap 7 with Adam Jurski in control of the 34-car field with Thomas George alongside him on the front row.
Jurski dropped down in front of George with Baskins running in 3rd with the inside line again starting off strong. Again, several spots within the field went 3, almost 4, wide as drivers shuffled to stay as far up in the field as possible. Mahan found himself in the lead of the 3rd line along the outside wall being pushed out front by Scott Eckrich. With 15 laps completed, the field broke into two separate group with 17 cars still running in the lead pack. The lead continued to shuffle with Chrisopher Dewald leading the inside line several car lengths out front as the outside line started to fall apart and the leaders were mostly single filed out.
Yaczik and Eckrich continued to work well together, both drivers staying up near the front of the leading group as the pack split back off into multiple lines while the 2nd group of cars ran almost a quarter of the track behind them. Lap 27 saw the first round of drivers coming down pit road under green flag condition to include James Moore and Dewald. The majority of the leaders came down on lap 31 led in by Cody Dempster with Eckrich and Yaczik in the group. As the pit cycles completed, Travis McQuistion was in control of the field with Eckrich and Yaczik running in 2nd and 3rd.
The lead pack consisting of the front 12 drivers were aggressively swapping the leading car around as they battled amongst themselves with the slightest contact in the middle of the group between Jacob Bruff and Tommy Gossett brought the caution flag back out as the pack scattered to avoid further contact approaching the halfway point of the night. When the green flag came out again, 28 drivers were still on the lead lap and 32 drivers still running on track going into lap 45 with Yaczik getting a hard shove out front as another incident in the mid pack collected several drivers.
Racing again resumed on lap 49 with Yaczik out front leading the outside line. Jonathan Cogswell and Michael Chrobok teamed up with Chrobok successfully pushing Cogswell out front taking control of the field while Yaczik fell back outside of the top 5 as the top line started to fall apart for the moment. With 60 laps completed, Mahan was out front being pushed by Mike Rasimas with Eckrich in 3rd. Going into the final 25 laps, Eckrich started positioning himself to be pushed out front moving up to the outside line ahead of George and Yaczik.
Eckrich cleared into the lead by several car length for a brief moment before Chrobok was able to overtake him with Dempster pushing. Chrobok dropped down in front of Eckrich who seemed content to push him further out front away from the field as the laps counted down. With 9 laps remaining, Chrobok and Isaiah Dupre made contact sending Chrobok around into traffic bringing an unfortunate end to his run as the caution flag came out. When racing resumed there were only 5 laps to go.
All of the drivers were scrambling for position with multiple lines forming and falling apart rapidly. With 2 laps remaining, the final caution came out after contact in the middle of the leading pack collected several drivers completing for the win giving the win to Thomas George under caution flag conditions with Brian Yaczik, Pete Baskins, Don Runkle JR, and Scott Eckrich rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight at Talladega Superspeedway.
Brian Yaczik continues to lead in the point standings with 272 points. Thomas George maintains 2nd place only 2 points behind the leader with Michael Chrobok in 3rd with 231 points. Woody Mahan sits in 4th with 220 points and Code Dempster rounds out the top 5 with 217 points. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 11th to run the Roval with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL SLM S19 R2 Recap
01 October 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 19 | Round 2
Super Late Model Series | The Bullring at Las Vegas
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports took the checkered flag tonight with the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at The Bullring at Las Vegas ahead of Kenny Kibbey and Mathew Thunhorst. “I’ve not been shy about saying that I’m not fast in these super late models, so I was tire conserving once I got the lead and probably saved tires a little bit too long”, Shepherd commented as the track quieted down, “[I was] just trying to hold those guys off and get a good exit and was just barely able to do it.”
Joeseph Snyder was in control of the 13-car field as the green flag came out over The Bullring and the field piled into the first turn. After a few close calls in the opening laps as drivers struggled to get heat into their tires, Snyder continued to lead the field with Bruce Pearson running in 2nd place with 15 laps completed. J R Shepherd had already jumped up to 4th and was pressuring Matt Shinoski for position while Kenny Kibbey, Mathew Thunhorst, and Justin Morton were still stuck in traffic running in 7th through 9th.
Continuing his forward momentum, Shepherd climbed the rest of the way up and took control of the field away from Snyder going into lap 27 as Kibbey and Thunhorst started working together pushing up through traffic into the top 5 quickly moving forward to challenge Shepherd. Morton was running back in 7th and wasn’t able to find a way around Donny Moore finding himself left behind with Kibbey and Thunhorst clearing around Snyder into 2nd and 3rd closing up the 0.6 second gap to Shepherd.
Going into the second half of the night, the top 3 drivers had pulled away from the rest of the field with Snyder still running in 4th Kibbey and Thunhorst completed closed the gap to the lead and Kibbey was keeping the pressure high trying to force a mistake out of Shepherd. Moore was moving up quietly to 4th with Morton still following close behind him letting Moore do the work of setting up the passes with 35 laps to go. The leaders stretched the gap ahead of the field out to over 3.5 seconds as Shepherd was approaching the first signs of lap traffic in a battle for 11th between Joe Segalla and Todd Liston.
The traffic was considerate of the leaders leaving a wide berth for them to get around quickly without compromising the battle for the lead with Kibbey looking to the inside cautiously but unable to get the runoff speed coming out of the corner to capitalize on it. Going into the final 10 laps, Thunhorst took a look to the inside of Kibbey for 2nd, but Kibbey slammed the door closed while Morton cleared around Moore into 4th as the laps counted down. J R Shepherd held the inside line blocking challengers for the lead to take the checkered flag tonight at The Bullring at Las Vegas with Kenny Kibbey, Mathew Thunhorst, Justin Morton, and Donny Moore rounding out the top 5 finishers.
Justin Morton took the lead in the point standings with 94 points over J R Shepherd 3 points behind. Mathew Thunhorst sits in 3rd place with 90 points while Donny Moore and Joseph Snyder are now tied for 4th each driver having 70 points. Next week, the drivers of the Bootleg Racing League head out to USA Speedway for the 3rd round of Season 19 on October 8th with all of the action broadcast live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S13 R2 Recap
30 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 13 | Round 2
Dirt Street Stock Series | Weedsport Speedway
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
William Hargreaves with Dirt Panda took the checkered flag tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Weedsport Speedway ahead of Stephen Spies and Adam Carlisle. “This is one of them tracks where you really gotta be aggressive but you gotta be smart”, Hargreaves commented after the race. When asked about how he intends to carry this momentum forward through the season, he added, “I don’t think we’ll do anything different than we do any other week and just come out and have fun on Friday night and race with the boys.”
Adam Carlisle held the pole position with an average lap time of 17.972 in qualifying and led the first heat to the green flag. William Hargreaves kept the pressure high but couldn’t find a way to take the lead as Carlisle took the checkered flag. Jason Best and Thomas Vickers started on the front row as the green flag came out for the second heat. Stephen Spies was able to get around both drivers and run away with the lead for the win. Billy Northcutt and Zachary Loomis were on the front row as the third and final heat of the night began. Northcutt led every lap to take the checkered flag in the end. J R Shepherd and John Wilson won the consolation races before the drivers rejoined the track to start the 40-lap feature event.
Carlisle took the green flag with Spies to his outside with Carlisle getting a strong launch off the start. Spies had to defend against Hargreaves in the opening laps with Hargreaves looking to his inside several times before slotting in line behind Spies. Hargreaves got his nose back to the inside again and was able to clear into 2nd going into lap 7 forcing Spies to drop in ahead of Loomis for 3rd place. Hargreaves immediately went after Carlisle for the lead running side by side for several laps before taking control of the field with 10 laps completed.
Spies followed Hargreaves around Carlisle into 2nd as Northcutt moved up to 4th ahead of Loomis and Vickers as the two Dirt Panda drivers tried to shake off the bad luck they’ve had going into the new season. Hargreaves stretched his lead out to several car lengths ahead of Spies while Northcutt rode tight against Carlisle’s bumper keeping the pressure high as they crossed the halfway mark of the night. Brandyn Proudfoot was still struggling this season running outside of the top 10 and not able to negotiate through the traffic ahead.
Going into the final 10 laps, Hargreaves had a 0.7 second lead over Spies with Carlisle still holding onto 3rd ahead of Northcutt. Hargreaves came up on the first signs of lap traffic going into the last 5 laps and was able to clear around quickly without losing any pace maintaining the gap ahead of Spies going into the final corners. William Hargreaves completed a flawless run tonight at Weedsport Speedway with Stephen Spies, Adam Carlisle, Billy Northcutt, and Zachary Loomis rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight.
Zachary Loomis holds the lead in the point standings with 150 points with William Hargreaves in 2nd place only 6 points behind. Adam Carlisle sits in 3rd with 136 points, Billy Northcutt holds 4th with 129 points, and J R Shepherd rounds out the top 5 drivers with 127 points. Now the drivers now set their focus to Limaland Motorsports Park on October 7th with all of the dirt slinging action broadcast live at 7:10PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S3 R6 Recap
27 September 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 6
Premier Series | Texas Motor Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Thomas George with Steel Horse Racing took the checkered flag in the Almirola By Morning 250 after taking the lead on the final lap with the Pretty Good Racing League at Texas Motor Speedway ahead of Michael Chrobok and Mike Rasimas. “We had good short run speed. The car was good on the short run, fell off a little on the long run”, George commented as the action came to a close, “It’s time to put this Ford Mustang back in Victory Lane.”
Brady Cure was in control of the field as the green flag came out clearing ahead of Matthew Wheeler and leading 24-car line up speeding into turn one. Most of the field single filed out by the completion of the first lap with sporadic battles throughout. Woody Mahan and Brian Yaczik were able to get around Cure with only 5 laps completed with Cody Dempster pressuring Cure from 4th while Mahan and Yaczik pulled away from the rest of the field by over 1 second with 10 laps behind them.
Dempster took the 3rd position and found himself fighting to keep it against Thomas George getting his nose to the inside. George cleared ahead into 3rd with drivers all throughout the field struggling with loose conditions early on in the run. Yaczik took control of the field and built a 0.6 second lead over Mahan showing a strong pace with George slowly closing the gap to Mahan. Mike Rasimas was up into the top 5 going into lap 20 and gaining on Dempster ahead.
Dempster cleared around both Chance Manning and Mahan into 2nd place while Yaczik continued to lead the field. Manning put his nose to the inside of Dempster to take back the position but couldn’t complete the move settling back into 3rd ahead of George and Mahan battling over 4th directly behind him. Mahan slid up the track enough for Michael Chrobok to take advantage diving beneath him and moving up into 5th behind George on lap 47. Yaczik was slowly stretching out his lead running around 0.5 ahead of Dempster by lap 50 as the drivers started to find their grooves and check off some laps.
As the laps counted down, Yaczik showed his speed over the long run pulling further away from the rest of the field by over 1 second. Chrobok cleared into 2nd place ahead of George with Dempster falling back to 4th as the caution came out on lap 72. All drivers came into the pits with Yaczik winning the race off pit road and retaining the lead for the restart with George to his outside on the front row. Manning and Greg O’Berry battled side by side over 5th while the top 4 drivers single filed out quickly as the green flag came back out.
With 90 laps completed, Chrobok closed the gap to George in 2nd and was able to get to George’s inside before quickly clearing into the position and running away with it showing a very strong pace. Manning overtook Yaczik for the lead going into lap 106 after another restart but wasn’t able to hold it as Yaczik quickly took it back and Chrbok closed on the battle pressuring Manning for 2nd and taking the position on lap 109 showing that Manning possibly used up too much of his equipment going for the lead while he continued to fall back behind George.
After a rough start to the night, Mike Rasimas was back into the top 10 with 50 laps to go as drivers started to push more aggressively with the laps counting down to the end. Yaczik maintained control of the field with a gap of 0.7 over Chrobok behind him in 2nd. Lap 128 saw drivers starting to come down pit road under green flag conditions for the first time of the night with Dempster and Rasimas leading the charge. Chrobok came down on lap 131 from 2nd place while Yaczik stayed out in the lead with Tommy Gossett up to 2nd.
Each lap saw another small group of drivers come down pit road while Yaczik and Gossett battled over the lead. Yaczik made his stop on lap 140 as Gossett took the lead and coming down pit road on the following lap. Rasimas was the leading car from the pit cycle ahead of Chrobok going into the final 25 laps. Chrobok closed the gap and took the lead away from Rasimas with Yaczik back in 7th over 12 seconds behind the leader but was climbing through the field quickly.
Gossett lost control of his car spinning sideways down the backstretch with 16 laps remaining and bringing out a race changing caution closing the gap between Yaczik and the leaders. As the drivers stacked back up for the restart, Chrobok control of the field ahead of Rasimas in 2nd and Yaczik in 3rd. The green flag came back out with 11 laps remaining and Chrobok fumbled the start allowing Rasimas to get around him off the jump. Chrobok dove beneath Rasimas and reclaimed the lead with 8 to go.
Yaczik was pressuring George looking for an opening as George sent his car aggressively to the inside of Rasimas and Yaczik used the opportunity to push Rasimas back to 4th as the top 4 drivers pulled away from the rest of the field. George was starting to struggle in the corners going into the final 3 laps while the leaders battled hard for every inch. Thomas George took the lead for the final lap and held of Michael Chrobok to take the checkered flag with Mike Rasimas, Brian Yaczik, and Isaiah Dupre rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight at Texas Motor Speedway.
Brian Yaczik continues to lead in the point standings with 229 points. Thomas George maintains 2nd place only 5 points behind the leader with Michael Chrobok in 3rd with 213 points behind him. Woody Mahan sits in 4th with 198 points after a rough night and Code Dempster jumps up 2 spots to 5th place with 192 points. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Talladega Superspeedway on October 4th for the Chuckles I’m in Danger 250 presented by MC2 Editing Services with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL SLM S19 R1 Recap
24 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 19 | Round 1
Super Late Model Series | New Smyrna Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Mathew Thunhorst took the first checkered flag of the new season in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at New Smyrna Speedway ahead of J R Shepherd and Kevin Moody. “I was working hard every lap… The worst feeling you can have as a leader is you just watch the guy behind you just slowing taking tenths out”, Thunhorst commented as the night came to a close, “Even though I might not have been pushing real hard I was working hard in the car.”
Justin Morton sat on top of the timing and scoring boards in qualifying with a fast 4-lap average clocked at 17.665 beating J R Shepherd by 0.035 and, with the new invert system this season, Morton started in 10th place in the grid as the drivers went out on track for the 100-lap feature event. Lowell Jewell secured the pole position with Joe Segalla to his outside as the green flag came out over New Smyrna Speedway and the 15-car field raced into turn one. Jewell cleared out to a strong lead off the jump with Segalla close behind while Donny Moore and Todd Liston battled over 3rd place.
Mathew Thunhorst was quickly starting to push up through the track with Shepherd following him through the traffic as Morton struggled in the opening laps getting caught in an incident on lap 4 and sliding back to the rear of the field. Segalla got to the outside of Jewell with 10 laps completed and tried to challenge for the lead but wasn’t able to complete the pass as Liston got to the inside taking away 2nd place. Thunhorst and Shepherd took advantage of the hole Liston created as they held the inside line pushing Segalla back further into the pack. Thunhorst and Shepherd wasted no time getting beneath Liston and moving up into 2nd and 3rd respectively tight on Jewell’s rear bumper with 20 laps behind them.
Lap 22 saw the first lead chance as Thunhorst got around Jewell for the position and Jewell fell back to 3rd behind Shepherd. Morton was pushing up through the field again making up some of the lost positions from the earlier incident but struggled to get through the dense traffic with several side-by-side battles between him and the leaders. Segalla continued to struggle finding himself stranded on the outside as a tightly packed group of drivers cleared ahead of him before he was able to rejoin the preferred line.
As the drivers crossed the halfway point of the night, Thunhorst continued to lead over Shepherd and Morton was quickly climbing through the field up to 6th place. Donny Moore took 3rd away from Jewell with Kevin Moody following him through into 4th. Moody saw an opportunity and dove deep to the inside of Moore clearing into 3rd on lap 57 with Morton closing quickly. Matt Hoose started last in the field as was up 8 positions into 7th place with 40 laps remaining pressuring Adam Schoen for 6th.
With 33 laps to go, Morton got his nose beneath Moore and quickly took 4th place away before pulling away for the pack while Thunhorst had reached the first signs of lap traffic. Shepherd was struggling to find speed with the gap to Thunhorst growing larger as the laps counted down. Moody was still holding 3rd almost 4 seconds behind Shepherd. Morton was closing the 2 second gap to Moody, but not quick enough to contend for 3rd with only 20 laps remaining in the evening. Going into the final stretch, Mathew Thunhorst has a commanding 2 second lead over Shepherd when he took the checkered flag at New Smyrna Speedway with J R Shepherd, Kevin Moody, Justin Morton, and Matt Hoose rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series.
After the first round, J R Shepherd and Justin Morton are tied for the lead in the point standings with 47 points each and Mathew Thunhorst sits in 3rd place only 1 point behind them with the new qualifying points this season already shaking things up. Next week, the drivers of the Bootleg Racing League head to The Bullring at Las Vegas for the 2nd round of Season 19 on October 1st with all of the action broadcast live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL NSCT S1 R1 Recap
23 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 1
National Sprint Car Trail | Iowa Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Justin Morton with Total Downforce Racing took the checkered flag in the inaugural race of the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail at Iowa Speedway ahead of Aiden Young and Stephen Spies. “I can’t really ask for much better of a race there… It’s pretty cool to be able to win the inaugural race of a series in this league.”, Morton commented as the night came to a close, “I’ve been looking forward this series for a while, since it’s been announced. It’s such a cool concept. It’s something I’ve always wanted to run on iRacing, just the whole USAC style of racing.”
Justin Morton sat at the top of the boards after putting down a 4-lap average time of 21.760 in qualifying and advancing straight through to the feature event along with Aiden Young, Bruce Jones, Rory Collins, Matt Hoose, and Jason Menda. Stephen Spies shared the front row with Joe Segalla to take the green flag for the 15-lap heat event. Spies jumped out to a strong lead off the start as Preston Cranmer cleared ahead of Segalla for 2nd. Donny Moore struggled early on making contact with the outside wall on lap 4 sending his car tumbling down the front stretch. Segalla reclaimed 2nd place from Cranmer as Lowell Jewell closed in on the battle and started pressuring Cranmer for 3rd place. Spies took the checkered flag ahead of Joe Segalla and the drivers pulled back out on track for the 50-lap feature event.
Morton and Young shared the front row as the green flag came out over Iowa Speedway to kick off the main event. Morton had a great launch off the start and pulled away from the field while Young and Jones battled over 2nd place. Spies was making strong forward progression clearing ahead of Hoose for 5th and closing up on a battle between Collins and Jones over 3rd with 10 laps completed. Spies looked to the inside of Jones several times but wasn’t able to complete the pass while Jones was using the highline momentum coming out of the corners to pull ahead down the straightaways.
Hoose and Collins stayed close behind the battle for 3rd while Young still struggled to close the gap to Morton in the lead. As the drivers approached the halfway point of the night, Morton had extended his lead out to almost 1.5 seconds over Young. Spies had cleared into 3rd with Hoose running close behind. Jones had fallen back to 6th behind Collins. Collins and Hoose were battling hard over 4th place going into the last 20 laps while Spies pulled away with 3rd and was closing up on the rear of Young. Spies got his nose to the inside of Young but wasn’t able to complete the pass as the lap counted down.
The drivers were starting to push more aggressively going into the final 10 laps. Spies tried several more times to clear beneath Young, but again wasn’t able to match the high line speed down the straights. Hoose and Collins continued to battle side by side with both drivers getting everything they could out of the track. Preston Cranmer quietly moved up into 6th ahead of Jones and was slowly reeling in Hoose and Collins. With 3 laps to go, Spies started setting Young up for another attempt for 2nd place but couldn’t make the move before Justin Morton took the checkered flag in the inaugural race in the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail with Aiden Young, Stephen Spies, Matt Hoose, and Rory Collins rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight at Iowa Speedway.
Justin Morton showed his skill with the silver crown, but the brilliance of the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail is that next week will be a very different car and a very different track to put each driver’s overall skill to the test. Next week, the drivers will jump into the asphalt sprints at Lucas Oil Raceway on September 30th with the intense action brought to you live at 10:30PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
Virtual Grip Network 