BRL DSS S10 R11 Recap
18 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 10 | Round 11
Dirt Street Stock Series | Knoxville Raceway
Brandyn Proudfoot took the checkered flag in the final round of the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Knoxville Raceway ahead of Jim Reavis and Brennan Myers closing out the season. “I kind of just tried to stay patient, stay up there, and I got up to like 6th and then I was able to actually get into a rhythm and really just start checking off boxes.”, Proudfoot told us about fighting the track in a very damaged car tonight, “It wasn’t so much the car more than it was the cushion. It was really, really aggressive especially there in turn one.”
William Hargreaves took the overall pole in qualifying and lead position in the first heat race with a fast lap of 22.566. The other heats would be led to the green flag by Jason Best at 22.579, Chris Davis at 22.582, and Brandyn Proudfoot at 22.585. Hargreaves started off the first heat with Lon Franks to his outside. Hargreaves held the inside line tight holding off Franks behind him and taking the win. Best had Jim Reavis to his outside as the second heat started and also choose the inside line as Stephen Spies challenged Reavis for 2nd off the launch but conceded and fell in behind Reavis in 3rd. Best took the win as Spies sent his car deep into the corner and took 2nd place away from Reavis as they crossed the line.
Davis had Eli Shaffer to his outside as the green flag came out over the third heat. Davis had a strong launch and cleared Shaffer going through the first corner, but Shaffer was putting him under pressure right away. After several failed pass attempts, Davis held onto the lead with Shaffer and Bobby Hayes banging doors coming around the final lap with Shaffer coming home in 2nd. Proudfoot started the final heat sharing the front row with J R Shepherd. With a later launch than expected, Proudfoot cleared Shepherd quickly but wasn’t able to pull away as we’ve seen from him throughout the season. Shepherd stayed with reach of Proudfoot but couldn’t get a strong enough run to challenge for the lead as Proudfoot took the checkered flag.
The C Main event began with Jackie Whaley and Brennan Myers on the front row. Whaley had an early launch quickly pulling ahead of the field as Myers was under pressure from Neville Ulph with Hunter Hill waiting close behind to take advantage from 4th place. Myers was able to clear into 2nd place with Hill tucking in behind and pinning Ulph to the inside with the high line becoming the more preferred line. Justin Simmons followed suit tucking in tight behind Hill as Ulph continued to fight from the inside. Whaley took the win ahead of Myers and Hill with Ulph able to hold onto 4th in the end and Simmons taking the final transfer spot to the feature.
The B Main event started with Reavis and Chris Hill on the front row. Reavis choose a low line as Chris Hill went high quickly closing the gap and getting into position to challenge for the lead. Reavis took notice and moved up to the higher line to block forcing Hill to try to run low to advance, but Hill couldn’t get enough speed coming out of the corners to make the pass. Reavis took the checkered flag with Hill, Glenn Townsend, Jeffrey Hardin, and Matt Shinoski claiming the rest of the transfer spots into the feature event.
The 19-car feature event field was led to the green by William Hargreaves with Jason Best to his outside. With a good launch, Hargreaves was able to clear Best off the start and moved up high. Chris Davis stayed low trying to make use of the inside line staying door to door with Best and clearing for 2nd as Lon Franks repeated the move on Davis and took 2nd for himself a lap later, but a caution came out when contact was made been Glenn Townsend and Neville Ulph in the middle of the field sending Ulph around and giving 2nd place back to Davis.
Off the restart, several cars throughout the field in different battles were making contact as the caution came back out with a few cars going sideways on track. Going back green for the 7th lap, Hargreaves opted to restart from the outside with a strong launch as Franks and Davis got around Best shuffling Best back to 4th. The third caution of the evening came out 8 laps into the event Shaffer and Hunter Hill came together and collected drivers coming up quickly from behind. The 9th lap started with Hargreaves getting another strong jump ahead of Franks as Franks tucked in behind Hargreaves and got around Davis who had to accept 3rd. Stephen Spies tried to make a pass around Davis to the inside, but Best gave Davis a hard shove from behind keeping Davis in 3rd.
Hargreaves and Franks pulled away from the field and battled over the lead ahead of Best in 3rd as they crossed the halfway point of the feature. Proudfoot was making a hard charge through the field up to 4th ahead of both Davis and Spies and closing quickly on Best. Shepherd was spun around in a battle, but the caution was not thrown out as Franks jumped ahead of Hargreaves after Hargreaves made contact with the outside wall losing all of his momentum and dropping back to 2nd. Proudfoot caught up to the leaders with 15 laps to go and quickly took 2nd place away from Hargreaves after more contact with the wall left his car damaged and forced him to pull into the pits ending his race early.
Proudfoot continually had the fastest lap times on track as he closed on Franks. With 10 laps to go, Proudfoot started pressuring Franks for the lead as the caution came out when Chris Hill and Brennan Myers came together along the outside wall sending Hill around. In a single file restart, Franks led the field to the green followed by Proudfoot and Best with only 9 laps remaining. Franks had a good launch but wasn’t able to shake Proudfoot who stayed on his bumper going high into the turn. Another caution halted the action when Davis over rotated on the start and came to a stop on track.
With 8 laps left, Franks again had a strong jump with Proudfoot close behind looking to the inside. Proudfoot cleared Franks with a slider, but when Franks went to pull off a crossover move, he made contact and both leading drivers were turned sideways in traffic causing a massive checkup in the field and several other collisions as the caution came out. With the timing of the caution, the lead was given to Proudfoot with Franks going into the pits with damage. Proudfoot was showing signs of damage with his car out of shape going through the corner, but another caution came out with 5 laps to go as several incidents happened throughout the field behind. Proudfoot stayed out again for the restart and was able to hold onto the lead as he took the checkered flag.
Brandyn Proudfoot officially became the season champion as the night came to a close, with 842 points, over William Hargreaves who put up a strong fight through the season coming in 2nd place. Season 11 starts next Friday as the Bootleg Racing League moves to Eldora Speedway resetting the point standings and giving all drivers a fresh start at the next championship battle starting on March 25th broadcast at 7:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S1 R5 Recap
15 Mar 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 1 | Round 5
Premier Series | Atlanta Motor Speedway
Brian Yaczik with Loud Pedal Motorsports took the checkered flag in the Raise Hell, Praise Gael Atlanta 250 presented by GamingGuyL on Twitch.tv with the Pretty Good Racing League at Atlanta Motor Speedway ahead of Michael Strohl and Michael Chrobok. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good”, Yaczik quoted Richard Petty as he talked with us after his win, “Rasimas was running me down and I think he was bringing Strohl with him and Ward was there. So, it was going to get ugly for me really fast but somehow someway we kept the #55 on the sharp end of the field.”
Steve Haring led the field to start off the night, but Woody Mahan had the better launch off the green from the outside and quickly took the lead away. The first 10 laps of the race already showed a lot of shuffling of positions as faster drivers were overtaking the rest of field in a hard charge to the front. The biggest movers were Drew Carroll up to 3rd from 15th, Brian Yaczik up to 6th from 17th, Chad Mikosz up to 10th from 21st, and Mike Rasimas up to 12th from 23rd. The drivers were making up as much ground as possible in the early stages to be sure to be in position to contest for the lead in the end.
Carroll caught up to Mahan and made an aggressive move to take away the lead on lap 25. Rasimas was running in 7th as the field began lap 30 and was consistently out pacing the leaders lap after lap quickly closing the 1 second gap on Kevin Stone ahead of him and walking away from Jeff Ward in 8th place with a gap of over 3 seconds. Yaczik reached the front pack and started pressuring Danny Gutierrez for 2nd place but wasn’t able to complete the pass and settled into 3rd ahead of Travis McQuistion. The biggest mover of the race at that point of Tommy Rhyne running in 15th place up 21 positions.
Carroll led the first pit stop under green on lap 46 followed by several other drivers but received a speeding penalty losing all of the progress he had made to that point. Norm Pelletier made his stop on lap 49 but made contact with Michael Whiting who was sideways in the pit entrance after catching the grass giving Pelletier severe damage to the front of his car. Ward was in the lead after the majority of drivers had completed their pit cycles and rejoined the track with Gutierrez in 2nd followed by Thomas George and Mike Rasimas. Rhyne continued to jump positions quickly running in 10th up 26 spots from the start of the race. Yaczik, running in 5th, was one of the last drivers to pit waiting until lap 50 to go in giving him a slight advantage over the leaders.
Rasimas caught up to Ward and pressured for the lead over several laps before taking the position away from Ward on lap 79 using lap traffic to his advantage. As the field crossed the halfway point in the race, Yaczik was up to 4th running 4 seconds behind the leader but had seemed to struggle falling off his earlier pace not gaining any ground on Gutierrez ahead of him in 3rd. The lead lap consisted of the top 16 drivers with Don Runkle Jr being the first driver a lap down as the race stayed under green with the second round of pit stops approaching.
Lap 93 started off the pit cycles with the lead lap cars in smaller groups than before as drivers tried to get the most out of their different pit strategies. Yaczik came down pit road on lap 96 with Rasimas going in on the next lap. Ward reclaimed the lead after his stop and had a comfortable lead over Rasimas who rejoined in 2nd ahead of George. Scott Eckrich, who was running in 15th with Drew Carroll pressuring from behind, had contact while negotiating through lap traffic on lap 105 and dropped back a few positions leaving his car with significant damage. All drivers involved were able to recover and continued running as the race stayed under green.
Drivers started going through the third pit cycle on lap 131 under green conditions. George and Yaczik stayed out on track much longer with George pitting with 23 laps remaining and Yaczik going in on the following lap. This late move gave the lead back over to Rasimas now with a 3 second gap over Ward, who was 8 seconds ahead of Strohl in 3rd as the race had 20 laps to go. The first caution came out with 19 laps remaining when Josh Biddle found himself sideways going through turns one and two collecting another car.
As the field restacked the lead lap consisted of only the top 9 drivers. Rasimas and Ward choose to pit again while Yaczik stayed out and took the lead. The green flag came back out with Yaczik getting a good launch clearing Ward quickly. Rasimas made an aggressive move over Ward but contact with the outside wall brought the pack together as 3rd through 9th battled hard letting Yaczik pull away. Rasimas collected his car back up and went to work closing the gap to the front with only 10 laps to go.
Another caution came out with 9 laps to go when Tyler Dulgar made contact with the wall and Django Matthews had nowhere to go getting caught up behind him. Several lead lap drivers decided to pit again including Rasimas and Ward. Yaczik again stayed out now followed by Strohl, Mikosz, and Chrobok. The restart with 4 laps to go had a serious upset for many drivers as Mikosz spun his tires off the launch and spun around into traffic causing a large pile up collecting many other drivers in the field to include Rasimas ending the night with Brian Yaczik taking the checkered flag under caution.
Mike Rasimas and Michael Strohl are now tied for the lead in the points standings, both drivers with 191 points. Scott Eckrich sits in 3rd only 15 points behind the leaders. Brian Yaczik jumps up to 4th after tonight’s win with 156 points with Rich Jette in 5th only 2 points behind him. The Pretty Good Racing League now heads over to Circuit of the Americas for the CPC Productions 120 presented by Graafix eSports in the first road course event of the season broadcast live on March 22nd at 8:50PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network! We’ve heard it’s going to be “pretty good”.
ASC S11 R9 Recap
14 MAR 2022
Autobahn Sportscar Challenge | Season 11 | Round 9
LMP2/GT3 Multiclass Event | Twin Ring Motegi
Billy Smith II took his second win in a row and third win of the season tonight in the Prototype Class with the Autobahn Sportscar Challenge at Twin Ring Motegi ahead of Robert Tinsey and Joshua Wolf. Ryan Washeleski took his first win of the season in the GT Pro Class ahead of Ross Booth and Bradlee Haley with Ryan Robertson leading the GT AM Class across the line for the fourth time this season ahead of Trent Brown and Robert Kast. Smith talked with us about the final moments of the event when he took the lead away from Jeffrey Ooms, “[Ooms] kept having a bunch of bad luck with traffic it seemed like. I was able to negotiate a little bit better it seemed and keep him within shouting distance, and it seemed like he had a little bit of unfortunate luck with one of the GT cars and got some damage there and it played into my hands.”
Jeffrey Ooms led the field to the green in the Prototype class to start off the night’s action and quickly built up a strong lead over the opening laps ahead of Billy Smith and Robert Tinsey. Bradlee Haley held the lead over Ross Booth in the GT Pro Class with Ryan Robertson leading the GT AM Class. The field quickly settled into a groove over the first 10 minutes of the 60-minute event around the tight corners of Twin Ring Motegi with most drivers choosing patience over aggression through the first half.
As the Prototypes spread out with several seconds between each driver up front, the GT Pro drivers stayed tightly stacked together in the battle for the lead with Bradlee Haley ahead of Ross Booth, Collin Weatherholt, and Ryan Washeleski keeping the pressure high for Haley to not make any mistakes. Ryan Robertson was able to run away with the GT AM Class lead over 5 seconds ahead of Robert Kast in 2nd place. Many drivers were trying a strategy change this round as pit stops began a minute before the 30-minute mark in the race, where previously drivers would save fuel to run longer before stopping, to potentially advance positions as others stop later on.
Going into the second half, Smith was able to stay closer to Ooms and gain on him closing the gap to within 2 seconds on occasion showing a very strong pace as Tinsey ran 8 seconds behind him. Ooms, Smith and Tinsey all chose to pit at the 35-minute mark giving the lead to Daniel Neice and Carter Kundinger who stayed out for another lap before going in themselves. Washeleski jumped to 2nd place in the GT Pro Class as Haley came out of the pits just quickly enough to retain the lead with Washeleski putting pressure on him and taking the lead away soon thereafter with Ross Booth going 3 wide and securing 2nd with Haley dropping back to 3rd with 18 minutes to go.
As the drivers entered the final 10 minutes of the race, Smith stayed within reach of Ooms running about 2 seconds behind. Tinsey held onto 3rd running 16 seconds behind Smith, but 14 seconds ahead of Joshua Wolf in 4th place. Ryan Robertson continued to hold a commanding lead in the GT AM Class running over 5 seconds ahead of Robert Kast in 2nd place. Washeleski, Booth, Haley, and Weatherholt all ran single file close together pressuring for the GT Pro Class lead. Ooms fell off the pace with suspension damage causing him to go wide through a corner giving Smith the opportunity to take away the lead with only 8 minutes remaining. Tinsey and Wolf each moved up a position, 2nd and 3rd respectively, when Ooms was forced off track as his LMP2 became more and more undrivable.
In the final laps Washeleski was able to break away with the GT Pro Class lead as Booth and Haley fell back and Robertson maintained an almost 6 second lead over Brown in the GT AM Class running conservatively. Smith in the Prototype Class was able to run away with the lead crossing the line with more than a 20 second lead over Tinsey. “If we continue like this then we’ll be in good shape here in a few weeks.”, Smith commented regarding his chances at the season championship.
Billy Smith further extends his lead in the point standings with 175 points, now 22 points ahead of Carter Kundinger in the Prototype Class. Ross Booth holds onto the lead in the GT Pro Class at 314 points with Bradlee Haley, 35 points behind, taking 2nd place away from Paul Gibson. Ryan Robertson pulled ahead in the lead after tonight’s win now at 172 points. Trent Brown moved up to 2nd place ahead of Kevin O’Keefe and trails 25 points behind Robertson. Satellite Racing, consisting of Robert Tinsey, Ryan Washeleski, and Ryan Robertson, still leads in the team point standings by 23 points with a total of 194.3 points. The ASC now moves to Hungaroring for the next round on March 28th and you can catch all of the action live at 9:05PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL GN S9 R10 Recap
12 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 9 | Round 10
Grand National Series | Irwindale Speedway
Austin Boelke with Different Path Motorsports came home with his first win of the season tonight with the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series at Irwindale Speedway ahead of Justin Morton and Mathew Thunhorst. Boelke took the lead on the second lap and maintained it for the remainder of the race protecting the outside line for 99 of the 100 laps. “It feels really good. It’s been a long time coming since I’ve won another oval race. I haven’t won a single one this entire season, so it’s been really nice.”, Boelke commented amidst victory celebrations, “It feels really good to be in victory lane again.”
Rubin Altice led the field to the green at the start of the evening with Austin Boelke to his outside. The outside line around Irwindale Speedway is the preferred line giving the advantage to Boelke right away and Boelke took the lead away on the 2nd lap with Mathew Thunhorst close behind overtaking Altice as well. J R Shepherd started further back in the field and was struggling to find his way forward and settled into 8th place behind James Lowe to wait for an opportunity for forward progression.
Kurt Smith lost his car coming out of turn four on the 8th lap bringing out the first caution of the night. The restart put Boelke to the inside of Thunhorst, but a strong launch gave Boelke a chance to clear Thunhorst and continued to lead. Shepherd moved from 8th to 5th behind Justin Morton quickly as the inside line couldn’t find the speed below him and were forced to fall back. Every driver scrambled to get single file along the outside wall to hold onto what positions they could.
Jeffrey Hardin and Ryan Senneker battled over 10th place when contact between them sent Senneker around in the middle of the track on lap 24 and brought out the second caution. Boelke again led the field on the restart from the inside line with Thunhorst to his outside. Another great launch cleared Thunhorst as Boelke held onto the lead along the wall. Jason Menda was caught out and started dropping back to 6th from 3rd able to quickly slide into line ahead of James Lowe causing a checkup behind. Shepherd still held onto 5th as the field lined back up around the track.
The top 5 drivers were pulling away from the rest of the pack as they approached the halfway point in the race and the 3rd caution of the night came out when Todd Listen got loose coming out of turn two. Listen was able to recover but had dropped below the speed threshold on track bringing out the caution. Boelke again launched early enough to slid up in front of Thunhorst for the lead. This time Shepherd found himself stuck to the inside and made a quick move to clear Menda for 4th place that caused a hard checkup from Menda sending him back to 7th.
Kenny Kibbey made contact with the wall coming through turn four soon after the restart which gave Shepherd the chance to take 3rd place away. Thunhorst took notice as he showed signs of his patience running thin with Boelke with a tap to Boelke’s rear bumper as Shepherd quickly closed the gap between himself and Thunhorst. The top 5 drivers again pulled away from the field albeit with obvious signs of tire wear amongst the lead pack. On lap 68, the stewards threw out the 4th caution of the night. Chris Wolfson made contact with the outside wall going into the turn three and made hard contact with the track exit sending himself spinning back into traffic collecting several other drivers behind him.
Boelke again cleared Thunhorst off the restart to take away the outside line. Shepherd was stuck on the inside as Morton closed the door and Shepherd slid in behind in 4th place. With 25 laps remaining, drivers all throughout the field were showing more aggression battling for every position. Thunhorst also felt the pressure as he tried to get around the inside of Boelke but couldn’t hold it giving Morton 2nd place. Shepherd tried to slam the door on Thunhorst, but Thunhorst secured 3rd as Shepherd made contact with the wall and had to drop back holding onto 4th place.
The 5th caution was thrown out as Senneker spun to the inside of the track coming out of turn four. The restart had Thunhorst in 3rd place to the inside of Shepherd as Boelke cleared Morton for the lead. Shepherd stayed tight on Morton to deny Thunhorst a way up to the wall. Thunhorst battled for several laps but eventually had to concede and slide in behind Shepherd. There was heartbreak on the final lap for Shepherd as Thunhorst dove to the inside trying to get a nose ahead, but contact was made between the two championship contenders that sent Shepherd around dropping him back to 14th as Boelke took the checkered flag. Boelke became the only driver this season to claim a win other than Thunhorst and Shepherd with his near flawless run tonight.
Mathew Thunhorst leads in the point standings now by 15 points over J R Shepherd. Justin Morton holds onto 3rd with 369 which is closer to Shepherd than Shepherd is to Thunhorst with only 15 points separating them. Austin Boelke is in 4th place with 330 points after tonight’s win and Adam Schoen is tied with Ruben Altice for 5th, both at 303 points. The final round of the season will take place at New Smyrna Speedway next week and Shepherd has an uphill battle to close the gap in the standings. Catch the action live on March 19th at 8:55PM EST only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S10 R10 Recap
11 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 10 | Round 10
Dirt Street Stock Series | Limaland Motorsports Park
Brandyn Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports took the win in a photo finish tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Limaland Motorsports Park beating out Lon Franks and Hunter Hill. “The first time I [saw] it I noticed whenever I’d wiggle on the back stretch, [Franks] was reacting to it and that was my first hint that he was kind of worried about my pace and the fact that I was behind him. So, I knew for a fact he was defensive but really it was just so hard to pass.”, Proudfoot commented as he talked us through the final few laps behind Lon Franks, “The top was just so, so dominate and even if the slightest window opened drivers would try to stick their noses in and I just tried to stay patient for as long as I could.”
Jason Best started the night off taking the pole in qualifying with a fast lap of 15.026 beating Jim Reavis by 0.011. William Hargreaves secured 3rd at 15.079 giving the front starting positions in the three heat races to these drivers. Best and Lon Franks battled hard over the lead in the first heat with Best able to hold Franks off all the way to the checkered flag. Reavis, similar to Best, held Stephen Spies off around all 6 laps in the second heat. In the third heat, Hargreaves took off to an early lead. Proudfoot started in the rear of the field and caught up to Jason Menda in 2nd place, beating him to the line by 0.131 and getting the last transfer spot into the feature.
J R Shepherd had a strong launch in the C Main event pulling away from the field by over 1.3 seconds as Jason Menda and Eli Shaffer battled hard banging doors over 2nd place. Hunter Hill took the checkered flag in the B Main event by over 2.5 seconds as Bobby Hayes and John Wilson battled side by side over 2nd and just behind them Matt Shinoski and Ryan Senneker battled side by side over 4th place.
Jason Best took the field to the green in the feature event with Jim Reavis to his inside struggling to find the speed down low. Lon Franks was pressuring for the lead along the high side as the pack went single file up along the wall. Lap 10 saw the first caution of the night as William Hargreaves threw a slider over Jim Reavis which resulted in Reavis catching the access gate on the outside of the track sending Reavis to the back. Best unfortunately got turned around shortly after the restart on lap 12 by getting pinched between Lon Franks and Brandyn Proudfoot which spun him to the inside of the track without bring out a caution. Franks luckily retained the lead on the restart as the field stacked back up.
The second caution came out on lap 13 as Bobby Hayes and Eli Shaffer came together coming out of turn four and both running hard into the outside wall. Franks was leading the field as the race restarted again with William Hargreaves and Proudfoot close behind single file. Franks led the field to lap 24 where they first encountered lap traffic. Chris Hazlip running in 17th went to the high side of turn three as the leaders were entering behind him and Franks couldn’t avoid getting turned around in the middle of the track bringing out the third caution.
Another strong launch from Franks as the leaders again went single file along the top as the caution came out on lap 26 as several cars got together in the middle of the pack. Proudfoot took advantage of the next restart jumping past Hargreaves and taking 2nd place as another caution came out on lap 28 when a checkup in the pack brought several drivers together. Again, a caution was thrown as the field tried to get going again with another checkup causing contact between drivers in the pack. As the drivers throttled into the next restart, Hargreaves and Franks came together in the front with Hargreaves going sideways in front of Proudfoot blocking the track. This incident collected most of the field behind them as drivers went every which way to try to avoid.
The eighth and final caution of the night came out with only 8 laps remaining as Ryan Senneker and Joe Segalla made contact going into turn three sending Segalla around on the track. Franks led the field to the green as they restarted on lap 33 as Proudfoot started challenging for the lead right away. Franks dove down low coming out of the final corner anticipating a slider from Proudfoot that didn’t come as Proudfoot held the high line and rode the momentum off the cushion to the checkered flag beating Franks to the line by 0.093.
Brandyn Proudfoot further built onto his commanding lead in the point standings now at a total of 761 points and 165 points ahead of William Hargreaves in 2nd place. Lon Franks holds onto 3rd place trailing behind Hargreaves by 45 points. Billy Northcutt sits 82 points behind Franks in 4th place ahead of Jason Best separated by only 15 points. Proudfoot is the unofficial season champion as we look to the final round next week at Knoxville Raceway on March 18th broadcast live at 7PM EST only on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S1 R4 Recap
08 Mar 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 1 | Round 4
Premier Series | Phoenix Raceway
Scott Eckrich with Graafix LC Motorsports took the checkered flag under caution tonight with the Pretty Good Racing League in the Racy McRace Race Phoenix 150 presented by Octane93 on Twitch.tv at Phoenix Raceway ahead of Johnathon Caddell and Michael Strohl. Mike Rasimas is the current points leader and finished the night in 4th. Eckrich started in the back of the pack and worked his way up to the front, then received a penalty for speeding in the pits and again found his way back to the front. “Luckily we were able to just kind of methodically work our way up. We were doing a good job missing the wrecks, you know, a couple of them were pretty close, but we managed to keep the car clean there and luckily, we had some pretty good speed there.”, Eckrich commented on tonight’s race, “Would’ve been interesting I think if Jeff Ward wouldn’t have got that speeding penalty there because I could definitely see him coming.”
The first caution of the night happened on the very first lap of the race as John Perkins slid up the track from the inside line of turn three and collected several cars behind him. Dupre led the field to the green on the restart and the PGRL had a much cleaner start. Lap 7 saw the second caution when Kevin Bartelt got a shove through turns one and two sending him around. Jason Franks was in charge of the field as the green flag came back out again with Chad Mikosz to his outside. With a strong launch, Franks and Mikosz came together when Franks slid up the track just enough to make contact in turn one and sent himself into the inside wall bringing out the third caution of the night with a large pile up shuffling the entire field. Mikosz was able to keep his Chevrolet Camaro straight and was the newest leader going into the next restart.
Mikosz had a great launch off the restart, but the caution flag came out again as the drivers struggled to get a clean restart and get the race going. The caution was thrown out for Adam Blattel who got loose checking up for Fred Thompson and slid to the inside without further incident with the field. Mikosz again led the field to the green going into lap 22. Mikosz started very early from the backstretch catching the field off guard and spreading the drivers out. Michael Strohl took the lead quickly utilizing the outside line around Mikosz and immediately started pulling away.
Scott Eckrich and Thomas George battled Mikosz for 2nd place and cleared for the position as the drivers started the 30th lap while Strohl built over a 1 second lead ahead of the rest of the pack at that point. Eckrich closed the gap over 5 laps and was pressuring for the lead when the 5th caution came out when the #62 of John Wilcko lost control sliding into traffic and collecting another car. Most drivers chose to use the opportunity to take their first full pit stop of the race including Strohl and Eckrich. James Krahula, who stayed out, took the lead for the restart.
Krahula had a several car length lead off the restart with Strohl already up to 3rd from starting in 6th place. The caution flag again was thrown out for a minor incident in the rear of the field. Krahula defended the outside line off the next restart as Strohl made the pass for the lead along the high side with George and Jeff Ward following suit moving around Krahula. As the race entered lap 50, the drivers seemed to find their grooves and settled in for a longer green flag run which gave some quicker drivers that had been stuck deep in the pack an opportunity to move up positions and contest for the lead themselves. Krahula had been on the track longer than anyone else in the top half as they came up on lap 58 and the caution flag came out again. Rick Thompson had contact from the inside that pushed him just loose enough to send him around along the outside wall.
Ward was the leader when the green flag came out on the 63rd lap of the night. Another clean start for the field, Ward pulled away by over a car length over Marc Cohn. The 8th caution came out on lap 65 as Strohl was trying to pass Cohn to the outside and Strohl slid up just enough to make contact sending himself into the outside wall. Thomas George took the lead for the restart with a strong launch over Johnathon Caddell behind him. Strohl was pressuring Caddell for 2nd going into the 71st lap with Krahula behind him. Eckrich had worked his way back up to 6th and was quickly moving forward as the drivers started the 75th lap of the night.
Eckrich took the lead on lap 80 and pulled away from George as most of the field had single filed out around the track. Lap traffic was about to become a concern for Eckrich with 60 laps remaining when the stewards threw out another caution after Django Matthews blew the engine of his Ford Mustang and slid to the inside of the track. Practically the entire field choose to take their pit stops during this caution putting the drivers all back on an equal playing field starting lap 96 with Eckrich leading the pack. A strong start from the backstretch gave Eckrich a strong lead over Caddell in 2nd. Krahula was defending 4th place hard against Ward and Strohl on lap 100 but got just loose enough to have to lift to recover and dropped back to 7th behind Mike Rasimas
With 45 laps remaining, Eckrich was consistently running faster lap times than the rest of the field pulling further away in the lead by around 0.2 each lap. Eckrich had already reached lap traffic going into lap 112 but the caution came out again after Mark Hertzog and Danny Gutierrez made contact going down the back stretch spinning both drivers into the wall. Stacking back up for the restart, Eckrich again led the field to the green with 33 laps to go. Unfortunately, Brian Yaczik got loose off the restart and spun into the outside wall bringing the caution back out.
Eckrich took the green with another strong launch going into lap 123 followed by Caddell, Strohl, Krahula, and Rasimas rounding out the top 5. Eckrich was still out pacing the field as Mikosz and Rasimas battled over 5th with the position going to Mikosz. The 12th caution of the night came out with 23 laps remaining when there was a miscommunication between Jeff Ward and the racing stewards. Ward stopped on the track when an incorrectly thrown black flag led to him being disqualified from the race before the stewards could correct the mistake. The mistake was eventually straightened out by race control and Ward was allowed to continue competing, but still unfortunate for the drivers that it resulted in a caution.
With 19 laps to go, Eckrich again took the lead over Caddell. The drivers quickly single filed out around the track with only the occasional battle in the middle of the pack for positions. Eckrich continued to outpace the other drivers by an average of 0.1 every lap as they came into 10 laps to go with a gap of over 1.5 seconds over Caddell. Rasimas was struggling to get around Krahula for 4th but was able to get around the inside after several laps of battling. The caution came out with only 5 laps to go as Hertzog in the #57 Ford Mustang lost control when he had to checkup hard for another car ahead sending himself into the outside wall.
The race ended under caution finishing out the night with Scott Eckrich taking the win in the Racy McRace Race Pheonix 150 presented by Octance93 on Twitch.TV. With Phoenix Raceway behind them, the Pretty Good Racing League now looks toward Atlanta Motor Speedway for more intense action in the Raise Hell, Praise Gael 250 event on March 15th broadcast live at 8:55PM EST only on the Virtual Grip Network.
BRL GN S9 R9 Recap
05 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 9 | Round 9
Grand National Series | Martinsville Speedway
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports took his 4th win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series at Martinsville Speedway beating Adam Schoen in the drag race out of turn four crossing the line ahead by only 0.020. Kenny Kibbey took 3rd with Mathew Thunhorst finishing in 4th. “Extremely close race there at the end. Just first off, Adam ran an amazing race tonight so, you know, [if] that last caution hadn’t come out there’d been no way that anybody could’ve challenged him.”, Shepherd commented. “I just decided I had two bad weeks in a row where late restarts got me, and I wasn’t going to let this one do it.”
Donny Moore led the field to the green starting the night off with Adam Schoen to his outside. Schoen wasted no time diving deep to the inside and took the inside line and the lead away from Moore. Kenny Kibbey found himself stuck on the outside with Jason Menda and J R Shepherd not giving him any space to move down into but was able to maintain a strong pace until tucking in between Shepherd and Justin Morton in 6th.
Contact between Ryan Senneker and Bruce Pearson coming through turns one and two on lap 7 resulted in Senneker facing the wrong direction on track but didn’t bring out a caution as Schoen continued to lead the field. Menda and Rubin Altice made contact door to door on the 11th lap going into turn one when Menda got loose. As both drivers recovered Shepherd took advantage to take 4th away from Menda. Menda then got shuffled as several drivers followed Shepherd through with Menda finding himself in 9th.
Schoen and Moore, who was still holding onto 2nd, were able to pull away from the rest of the field as Altice refused to give up the inside line in 3rd but wasn’t able to keep pace with the leaders ahead. Shepherd decided to make his move on Altice diving deep below Altice going into turn one on lap 21. Altice tried to pinch Shepherd down, but the two drivers came together with Altice going high up the track and found himself dropping back on the outside of a long line of tightly packed cars to his inside.
30 laps into the race, Schoen still had a dominate lead with Donny Moore dropping back lap after lap and Shepherd still 2 seconds behind in 3rd. Kibbey, Morton, and Thunhorst followed single file in 4th through 6th position another second behind Shepherd. Shepherd caught up to Moore still running 2 seconds behind Schoen as they approached lap 50 putting pressure on Moore for 2nd place.
The first caution of the night came out on lap 56 when Todd Liston and Joe Segalla came together as Segalla went for a pass on the inside and Liston got loose chasing his car to the inside and into Segalla giving both drivers significant damage. Stacking back up, Shepherd now found himself starting directly behind Schoen with Moore to the outside as they came to the green. With a strong launch, Moore stayed alongside Schoen with Moore getting a nose ahead as they cross the line. Moore couldn’t hold the outside however as Schoen started to gain with Shepherd protecting the inside to take away 2nd.
Coming through turn four on lap 68, Morton was sent hard into the outside wall sending him to the pits as the race stayed green. Shepherd stayed close behind Schoen with Kibbey and Thunhorst all within one second of Schoen going into lap 75 as the rest of the field couldn’t keep pace dropping back over 2 seconds from the lead battle. Schoen started to again pull away from Shepherd with 20 laps to go as he consistently ran the faster lap over everyone else on track.
With 15 laps to go, the second caution of the night came out. James Lowe was running behind Jason Menda when an unfortunate wheel hop in turn three sent Lowe spinning around in the middle of the track. The field stacked back together and with Shepherd and Thunhorst both on the outside line in 2nd and 4th respectively. Schoen led the field to the green with Kibbey behind him and 10 laps remaining. Schoen had a strong launch but wasn’t able to get ahead of Shepherd as they stayed door to door. Schoen cleared Shepherd with 6 laps to go but Shepherd again tried the outside line not willing to follow Schoen to the checkered.
As the white flag came out, Shepherd had the led over Schoen with neither driver willing to back off. When the checkered flag waved it was Shepherd in the lead ahead of Schoen by 0.020 in the closest finish of the season with Kenny Kibbey taking 3rd followed across the line by Mathew Thunhorst. “Just unfortunate that that caution came out because that was going to be an extremely, extremely good win for [Schoen].”, Shepherd shared with us after the win.
This closes the points battle with Thunhorst now leading by only 4 points over Shepherd with two weeks remaining. Next week, the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series heads over to Irwindale Speedway to continue the epic battle between Thunhorst and Shepherd. All of the action will be broadcast live on March 12th only on the Virtual Grip Network.
BRL DSS S10 R9 Recap
04 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 10 | Round 9
Dirt Street Stock Series | Dirt Track at Charlotte
Brandyn Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports took the win tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at the Dirt Track at Charlotte ahead of Carl Kilgore and William Hargreaves after an intense battle for the lead ended with unfortunate contact. The field was able to run the feature without a single caution flag being shown and Proudfoot commented, “Not many people on a track that black can go caution free and whenever everybody has their heads together, we as a community can definitely race caution free and yeah there’s some doors here and there but ultimately this community’s just so great.” Proudfoot finished up with a great show of sportsmanship telling us, “[This was] not the way I wanted it at all. Carl, it should’ve been your win or at the very least a good battle to the end there.”
William Hargreaves took the pole to start off the evening with a fast lap of 18.581 ahead of Carl Kilgore and Billy Northcutt. Brandyn Proudfoot, the defending champion qualified in 4th place at 18.661. This put Hargreaves and Proudfoot together in the first heat where they battled around all 6 laps with Hargreaves able to take the checkered flag ahead of Proudfoot by 0.120 coming across the line. The second heat was led out by Carl Kilgore with Lon Franks to his outside. Kilgore ran a defensive line to hold Franks at bay to take the win. The third and final heat of the evening had Billy Northcutt taking the lead from the top with Christopher Hill to his inside. Hill was under immediate pressure from John Heyn close behind him as Northcutt was able to pull away from the field. As Hill and Heyn fought on the top, Bobby Hayes snuck past in the last corner on the inside line to take 2nd place away from both drivers.
The C-Main started off with Jim Reavis leading the field and Hill again starting to the inside. Reavis had a strong launch off the green and held the lead running the high side as Hill fought back, but unable to keep pace Hill went on the defensive as J R Shepherd started pressuring for 2nd. Reavis was able to pull away as Hill and Shepherd race nose to bumper around the outside wall with Jackie Whaley in the #720 machine looking to their inside. Reavis took the win with Hill able to hold onto 2nd in the end. The B-Main was led to the green by Hunter Hill with Glenn Townsend to his inside. Townsend struggled getting suck low as Jason Menda got alongside him on the outside wall. The two drivers battled over 2nd place until contact was made coming out of the corner sending Townsend around and collecting several cars behind them as John Heyn and Stephen Spies benefited most from it as they moved up to 2nd and 3rd respectively from the chaos. Hill took the checkered with a strong lead followed by Heyn and Spies.
Hargreaves led the field to the green in the 40-lap feature event choosing to start on the outside line with Kilgore to his inside. A good launch throughout the field kept all 18 drivers stacked tight as they moved into lap 3 where Kilgore made contact with the outside wall in front of Proudfoot causing a checkup and a chain reaction knocking several drivers off their lines, but all were able to recover and continue on. Northcutt took advantage from the inside line taking away 2nd place as Proudfoot did the same along the outside moving up into 3rd. As the drivers pasted the halfway point, Proudfoot had cleared Northcutt taking 2nd place and Kilgore was back in the fight pressuring for 3rd place along the high side with Lon Franks following close behind.
The race had a 5-way battle for the lead as Kilgore, Proudfoot, Hargreaves, Northcutt, and Franks all tried different lines looking for speed as Kilgore held the cushion still crossing the line as the leader with Proudfoot in 2nd. With only 15 laps to go the lead battle was down to just Kilgore and Proudfoot while Hargreaves had fallen back over a second behind still in 3rd. Kilgore continued to run the cushion holding off Proudfoot until Proudfoot threw a slider on lap 32 that didn’t work out as the two drivers came together in the corner sending Kilgore to the inside of the track. Able to recover, Kilgore fought back up to 2nd place before the end with Brandyn Proudfoot taking the checkered flag.
Proudfoot further extends his gap in the point standings over Hargreaves now with 133 points between them with only two rounds remaining in the season making Proudfoot the unofficial season 10 champion. Lon Franks and Billy Northcut are still in a tight battle for 3rd in the point standings with only 8 points between them with a similar situation with Jason Best and Jim Reavis closely contesting for 5th place. Next week the Bootleg Racing League heads over to the Limaland Motorsports Park to settle these battles and being broadcast live on March 11th at 7PM EST only on the Virtual Grip Network.
C2CRL Hometown Heroes W12 Recap
02 Mar 2022
Coast 2 Coast Racing League | Week 12
Hometown Heroes Series | Volusia Speedway Park
Blake Chapman started the evening off jumping to the top of the boards in the first moments of qualifying in the 305 sprints tonight with a 14.914 and had a strong performance in the first heat, presented by the Super DIRTCAR Series. Nathan Aldrich started on the pole with the inverted grid with Chapman in 4th. After the first lap, Chapman was up to 2nd following Dan McLaren closely. Chapman lined up his pass over the next few laps going for the overtake on the high side using the momentum of those light weight 305 sprints to complete the pass on the final lap and took the checkered by 0.067. The second heat of the evening, presented by Pet Partners, started off with Greg Boydell leading the field to the green with Bob Degood to his outside. Degood had the better jump off the start and took an early lead with Boydell fighting back from 2nd. Degood was trying different lines trying to find the speed as he took the win with Boydell unable to challenge for the lead.
The third heat of the night, presented by World of Sports Podcast, went green with Jeffrey Kemper in the lead, but Jeremy Paulson to his outside was able to use the cushion to get ahead of him on the 3rd lap. Kemper was able to hold off John Heyn in 3rd who tried to follow Paulson around. Paulson crossed the line with almost a one second gap ahead of the rest of the pack as Kemper and Heyn continued to battle with Heyn getting into 2nd in the end. The fourth and final heat of the series, presented by Maurer Farm Management, began with Gary Taylor and Nick Schell on the front row taking the green. For the first time tonight, the outside line didn’t take the lead away off the start with Taylor getting a strong launch and pulling away. Andy Patton tried for a slider on the first lap to take away the lead, but the aggressive move failed leading to contact between himself and Taylor taking both drivers out of contention and giving the lead over to Schell with Chris Schaffer and Nick Vickrey tightly stacked together. Vickrey and Schaffer came together on lap 5 taking those drivers out of lead contention as well and Schell led the rest of the 8-lap race with almost a 2 second lead as he crossed the line.
Moving to the 10-lap consolation race, presented by Chip Bangers Racing, Donovan Ross and Steven Bixler took the front row. Bixler was able to take the lead with the outside line as other drivers had done in early races and began to pull away with Nick Vickrey in tow close behind him as Ross fought back from the inside. 5 laps in, Ross was able to utilize the inside to regain the lead as Bixler struggled falling back to 4th behind Chris Schaffer. Vickrey was able to get the lead as the white flag came out and held off Ross to the checkered flag. The drivers then settled in for the 20-lap feature event, presented by A&J Custom Creations, as the current points leader, Blake Chapman, took the pole with Bob Degood to his outside on the front row. Degood had a much strong launch than Chapman who held onto 2nd.
Chapman was able to take the lead back on lap 3 as Paulsen and Degood battled on the high side. Paulsen then ran a very high run to get around Degood and the drivers made contact sending Paulsen to the rear of the 24-car field and bringing out our first caution. Degood was able to continue behind Chapman who had a much stronger launch on the restart quickly pulling away when Dan McLaren made contact with the outside wall and collecting several drivers behind him bringing out the second caution of the night on lap 5. The restart was again in favor of Chapman who quickly pulled away again. Brennon Lacy, Randy Shreves, and Nick Schell all battled for 3rd while also keeping pressure on Degood in 2nd. The three drivers were all trying different lines looking for the speed, but Degood was able to stay ahead taking 2nd place behind Chapman who pulled away by 1.2 seconds as the drivers battled behind him.
Blake Chapman took the win tonight in the A&J Custom Creations 305 Sprints Series ahead of Bob Degood and Brennon Lacy. The win tonight also made Chapman the season points champion beating Randy Shreves who finished in 4th tonight. Chapman has been known for running the bottom line better than most, but tonight he chose to change it up and shared with us why he made that decision, “The bottom wasn’t as dominate as it usually was, at least in these past weeks, so, you know, it made it a little bit more difficult for me to not just run that bottom and run away and hide. So, I had to find some lines there in the middle. I ran a line just above the bottom where I could give it more throttle. That seemed to work and then I changed my line in [turns] three and four about halfway through the race, but overall, I think guys did a really good job, the full field keeping it clean and putting on a good show for the broadcast.”
As the night progressed to the next series, the drivers took to the track in 360 sprints with almost 300 HP more than the previous field and Stevin Goldner took the pole in qualifying with a fast lap at 13.854 beating Kyle Moonen’s time by 0.001. Steven Bixler led the first heat, presented by Super DIRTCAR Series, to the green with Zach Neubauer to his outside. Goldner forced the front row 3 wide immediately off the start with Bixler backing out and dropping back to 4th behind Jamie McCarron. Goldner found the front and pulled away from the field taking the checkered flag. The second heat, presented by Pet Partners, started with Patrick Spangler and Mike Cranmer on the front row. Spangler had a strong launch holding the lead and pulling away while Cranmer and Blake Chapman made contact sending Cranmer to the back. Chapman got the inside line below Spangler and tried a slider on the final lap with Spangler able to pull a crossover on him and crossing the line 0.006 ahead of Chapman.
Donovan Ross and Chris Schaffer sat on the front row of the third heat of the night, presented by World of Sports Podcast, as they took the green. Ross, Schaffer and Jeff Flaro were having a 3 wide battle over the lead when Flaro made contact with Schaffer spinning himself out. Schaffer continued to fight with Ross over the lead but wasn’t able to get out front before Ross took the checkered flag. The fourth heat, presented by Maurer Farm Management, started with Barry Goldner and Nick Vickrey on the front row. Vickrey had a strong start from the outside line pulling away with Bob Evertson in tow behind him as Goldner dropped back to 3rd. Evertson kept Vickrey under pressure while taking the lead away on the last lap with a slider beating Vickrey to the line. The fifth and final heat of the night, presented by P.A. Posse, took the green with Bob Degood and Preston Cranmer in the front. Cranmer was able to make the high side work as he took the lead away from Degood who found himself under pressure from Berger in 3rd. Cranmer took the win with Berger close behind after taking 2nd away from Degood.
The consolation event, presented by Chip Bangers Racing, had Steven Bixler and Mike Cranmer on the front row as the green flag came out. Only the top four drivers from the 14-car field would be able to advance to the feature event putting pressure on all of the drivers to move up through the field as quickly as possible. John Rayner was the first driver to get knocked out with contact sending him to the back along with Jeff Flaro. Lacy took the lead early and tried to build a gap ahead of Cranmer while Joe Canellas, Randy Shreves, and Steven Bixler fought hard over 3rd and the final transfer position. As the checkered flag came out, the transferring drivers were Brennon Lacy, Mike Cranmer, Randy Shreves, and Joe Canellas.
Leading the field in the 25-lap feature event, presented by ABR Setup Shop, was Stevin Goldner with Patrick Spangler to the outside. Randy Shreves, the current points leader started in the back of the field in 23rd. Goldner struggled off the start as Spangler took the lead away with Donovan Ross on his heels. The first caution of the night came out right off the launch as Kyle Moonen caught the outside wall sending his car tumbling across the track. Since it was on the first lap, Goldner was given his leading position back and had a much stronger launch on the restart holding the lead around several laps ahead of Spangler. The second caution came out as Spangler was trying to take the lead away from Goldner on lap 5 when John Heyn and Gary Taylor came together coming out of turn two sending both drivers to the rear of the field.
As Goldner had another strong launch off the restart, the caution again came out on the 8th lap when Kyle Moonen slid up going into turn three making contact with Mike Cranmer to his outside and sending Cranmer hard into the outside wall. Another strong restart for Goldner, but another caution as well when Zach Neubauer, Brennon Lacy, and Chris Berger came together going into turn one reacting to a sudden checkup and collected several other drivers. Spangler was able to stay on Goldner’s heels off the restart and the two drivers were swapping sliders for the lead as another caution came out with 14 laps remaining when Jamie McCarron made contact that sent him tumbling down the track. Goldner again started in the lead when the green came out.
The caution came out immediately off the restart again as Nick Vickrey clipped the inside causing another checkup and several cars came together with Chris Schaffer taking the worst of it being knocked onto his side and hit by several cars from behind. While that incident was playing out, Brennon Lacy and Chris Berger also made contact taking Lacy out of contention for the night. With 13 laps to go, Goldner got another strong start ahead of Spangler, but again were halted by the caution flag as Kyle Moonen went wide and made contact with the outside wall. Goldner and Spangler started battling over the lead again off the restart as Blake Chapman moved up to 3rd with 10 laps to go. Spangler dove deep for the lead and ended up running side by side with Golder as the leaders brought out the next caution. Goldner and Spangler came together while trading sliders back and forth sending both drivers around and collecting Chapman in the process. Preston Cranmer, who was in 4th, moved up to second and Chapman took the lead as the caution flag came out before the field actually passed him in the incident.
With heavy front-end damage, Chapman got a good launch off the restart but wasn’t able to hold off the field as he struggled to control the car with a missing front wing. Mike Cranmer and Gary Taylor made contact sending Cranmer around in a slow spin that brought out the caution with 5 laps to go. Chapman was starting to fall back, but the timing of the caution went in his favor giving him the lead again for the restart. Again, struggling with the damage, the leaders went 3 wide and came together bringing out another caution and collecting much of the field with only 3 laps to go. Chapman again took the lead on the restart now ahead of Nick Vickrey and Roger Craig. Chapman ran a defensive line holding Vickrey off and taking his second feature win of the night. Randy Shreves finished in 9th tonight and took the season points championship in the 360 sprints.
Blake Chapman, with Kreitz Sim Racing, commented after the race, “When I got my nose wing taken off there for the first time, I thought I was done, but then, you know, other crashes happened, and cautions came out and I was able to barely hold onto it at the end. I think this is my first time winning a race with no nose wing, so, I mean, I’ll take it that’s for sure.” Randy Shreves, with LGR Motorsports, took the season championship after what seemed like one problem after another through the night struggling from early on and getting caught up in several incidents in the feature. Still able to come out on top in the point standings, Shreves shared with us, “Overall I still pulled off the championship and I’m super happy about that. I’ve been trying for seasons to get this done and finally get one of those cool plaques.”
The drivers then rejoined the track in a preview to the fans of what’s coming next season in the 410 sprints which are a new addition to the schedule. Patrick Spangler took the pole in qualifying with his fast lap at 13.105. Andy Patton led the first heat to the green with Dan McLaren to his outside. Patton had a strong launch off the green and took the checkered while Donovan Ross and Patrick Spangler both had minor incidents that sent them to the rear. The second heat was led to the green by Terry Landis and Nick Vickrey. Landis made contact with the inside wall on the start giving the lead over to Vickrey as Landis dropped back to 4th behind Randy Shreves and Joe Canellas. The third heat for the night was led out by John Heyn with Kyle Moonen to his outside as the green flag came out. Heyn and Moonen were side by side off the start until Heyn made enough contact with the outside wall to lose his momentum dropping back to 3rd behind Blake Chapman. Chapman took the lead away from Moonen using the inside line and started to pull away taking the checkered flag with a 1.5 second lead.
The final heat of the night saw Jamie McCarron and Jeff Barker on the front row as the green flag came out. McCarron had a strong launch off the green, while Goldner and Evertson battled over 2nd place close behind. Goldner took 2nd with 4 laps to go and set his sights immediately on the lead clearing McCarron quickly and pulling away from the field to take the win. Roger Craig led the field in the 10-lap consolation event with Jeffrey Kemper to his outside. Craig cleared Kemper on the start and moved up to the outside line. Donovan Ross was able to take the lead away on the inside while Craig and Kemper battled each other on the high side. Then able to pull away, Ross took the checkered flag as Craig held off several other drivers pressuring for 2nd place.
Andy Patton started on the pole in the 30-lap feature event with Nick Vickrey to his outside and Blake Chapman to his rear. The middle of the field came together as the green flag came out taking Roger Craig, John Heyn, and Bob Evertson out of contention early and bringing out an immediate caution to start off the race. Patton got a good jump off the restart moving to the high side with Nick Vickrey following close behind. Another caution came out on the 3rd lap as Dan McLaren made contact with the outside wall and collected Randy Shreves behind him. Patton had another strong launch ahead of Vickrey and Chapman holding a very high line trying to take advantage of the momentum coming out of the corners.
Chapman tried to get the inside line to work but couldn’t manage to clear Patton until a chain reaction starting back with Stevin Goldner making contact with Vickrey that sent Vickrey into the rear of Patton and that contact sent Patton around in a slow spin into the inside wall. The third caution of the night happened at the same time further back in the field as Donovan Ross slid up the track going through turn four and made contact with Roger Craig. Chapman led the field to the restart and still tried to make the inside line work as Vickrey ran the high line keeping pace with Chapman coming out of the corners. The fourth caution of the evening came out with 23 laps remaining as John Heyn and Roger Craig came together.
Vickrey stayed closer to Chapman off the restart with Goldner following close behind along the top with Chapman dropping back to 3rd not being able to match the high line’s speed. The fifth caution of the night came out with 17 laps to go as Brian Dickens slid up into Brandon Templeton coming out of the corner making hard contact. On the restart, Chapman stayed up top behind Goldner very close behind. Another caution came out now with 14 laps remaining when Brandon Templeton ran himself into the inside wall and had to come to a stop in order to get his car straightened back out.
Going green on the 18th lap of the event Vickrey got another strong launch as Chapman went low again trying to get around Goldner but not able to find the speed. Our seventh caution of the race came out as Stevin Goldner, who was holding onto 2nd place, drove himself into the outside wall and came to a hard stop on the barriers. This sent Goldner back to 16th place as Chapman moved up to 2nd. Jack Clevenger was able to run the inside line to clear Chapman, which Chapman had been struggling to do over Goldner previously, with only 8 laps to go. Vickrey started to build up over a one second lead while Chapman tried to fight back against Clevenger side by side.
Nick Vickrey with Spartan Racing dominated tonight in the 410 sprints as he took the checkered flag 2.5 seconds ahead of Jack Clevenger and Blake Chapman. No points were awarded tonight with this being a preview race and more of a chance for the drivers to experiment with the 410 sprints and see what works and doesn’t work. “I think I found a line there at the end of the race. That slider line there in [turns] three and four was really, really fast.”, Vickrey told us after the event.
PGRL S1 R3 Recap
01 Mar 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 1 | Round 3
Premier Series | Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Scott Eckrich with Graafix LC Motorsports took his first win of the season in the Memestonks Vegas 200 presented by SnoopDawgyDon on Twitch.tv with the Pretty Good Racing League at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ahead of his teammates Paul Pepper and Mike Rasimas making this a great night for Graafix LC Motorsports as a whole. Eckrich talked with us about the hard charge in the last few laps of the race, “We knew we were driving it super hard there. I kind of got caught up in that little melee and had to drive around it there before that long green flag run so we were about 4 seconds back from those guys. We drove the tires off that thing just to get up there and luckily… just barely managed to hang on.”
Travis McQuistion started the night leading the 35-car field to the green as last week’s winner of the “You Finished Last” pole award from the Pretty Good Racing League’s complete field inversion for each round. Paul Pepper wasted no time challenging for the lead trying to take it away from McQuistion around the outside of turns three and four on the first lap, but McQuistion was able to retain the lead as the field started to single file out and settled in for the long race. Michael Strohl and Norm Pelletier made contact battling for 12th place going through turn four on the 14th lap with Danny Gutierrez getting caught up in the middle and that sent Pelletier wide making hard impact with the outside wall, but he was able to recover and continue on in 17th as the race stayed green. Gutierrez wasn’t as fortunate as he had serious damage and was forced to pit under the green going down several laps
McQuistion and Pepper continued to battle each other with Pepper using the inside line to take the lead away on lap 24 with James Krahula and Michael Chrobok battling for 3rd close behind McQuistion. Further back in the field, Fred Thompson got loose coming out of turn four and slid up the track in the path of Norm Pelletier causing significant damage to Pelletier’s front end. Both drivers recovered from the contact and again the race stayed green as the field passed the 30-lap mark.
Brian Yaczik worked his way up through the pack making one calculated pass at a time and found himself on the rear bumper of Pepper going into lap 36. Yaczik took the inside line and battle side by side with the leader before taking the lead for himself coming out of turn four two laps later. Scott Eckrich, moving up from his 23rd place starting position, soon found his way to 2nd behind Yaczik as tire wear was showing with some of the drivers that choose to battle for position early and simply didn’t have the grip in the turns to hold Yaczik and Eckrich off after 40 laps of hard racing.
The green flag pit stops started cycling through on lap 45 as fuel became a concern. Yaczik waiting until lap 48 to come in and was able to hold the lead as he rejoined the track. Pepper had the better pit stop between the two drivers and forced Yaczik into an instant battle for the lead with Pepper able to hold Yaczik holding him off in the end. The first caution of the night came out on lap 53 when Pelletier’s unfortunate luck struck again as he upset the car coming out of turn four sending himself hard into the outside wall and coming to a stop on the front stretch. Many drivers in the back half of the field choose to use this opportunity to top off with fuel again in anticipation of another long green flag run to offset their fuel windows from the leaders.
Pepper had a good launch on the restart, but Yaczik was able to run the outside line around Pepper and take the lead away. Joe Hassert got out of shape going through turn four and went through the infield grass to recover. Hassert was able to straighten back out and rejoin the track without incident as the race stayed green. A similar situation happened for Travis McQuistion and Adam Blattel separately a few laps later, each getting loose coming out of turn four and using the infield grass to straighten back out before rejoining the track.
Eckrich took the lead away from Yaczik going into the second half of the race as several drivers started making more aggressive moves trying to advance where they could throughout the field. The 2nd caution of the evening came out on lap 66 as Adam Blattel snapped loose sending him hard into the outside wall and slid down coming to a stop on the track. Michael Strohl and Chris Davis inherited the leading row as they stayed out on the track when most of the field took the chance for another pit stop, Strohl last pitting on lap 54 and Davis on lap 44. Now on lap 71 as the green flag comes back out, Strohl held the lead as Davis was quickly falling back in the field to 6th after one lap.
The third caution of the night came out soon after that second restart as the field was getting sorted out. Scott Eckrich was forced to check up, as the leading drivers chose to stay out on older tires and were off the pace, while running 3-wide between Kevin Bartelt to his outside and Davis to his inside setting the car out of balance and began fishtailing down the straightaway. Impressively, Eckrich was able to avoid all but one other driver behind him as he was sent into the outside wall.
On the restart, Mike Rasimas was able to take the lead on the inside of Strohl as the fourth caution came out. This was another case of a driver getting loose coming out of turn four, this time being Michael Chrobok, as many drivers had experienced so far in the race. Chrobok was able to keep his car from spinning back up into traffic as he stayed low on the track giving the other drivers space to get around without incident. As the drivers lined back up, Strohl was on much older tires that the drivers around him being the only driver in the top 18 that didn’t take tires on lap 67 or later. Strohl’s last stop was on lap 54 as the green again came out on lap 82.
Pepper quickly made it around Strohl for the lead as the race resumed with several minor incidents in the field, but the green flag stayed out as all drivers were able to recover and continue on. Strohl was able to reclaim the lead from Pepper getting everything he could out of the car, but with fuel being a concern as he fuel window was much closer than the drivers around him. After a few laps, Strohl had to concede a few positions dropping back to 4th but stayed close behind Rasimas now in 3rd.
With 100 laps behind them, Yaczik continued to battle Pepper for the lead with Pepper able to hold him off lap after lap with Rasimas watching from 3rd and Strohl in 4th as 5th place and behind struggle to maintain the lead pace. With 25 laps remaining, many drivers started pitting under the green in small groups getting fuel and fresh tires shuffling the grid as most of the field were spread out around the track and on different laps. Pepper stayed out late, long after the majority of the field had taken their stops, holding the lead until finally pitting with 14 laps to go.
With 8 laps remaining in the race, the top five came down to Eckrich, Yaczik, Rasimas, Pepper, and Strohl. Eckrich had a half of a second lead over Yaczik and seemed to be slowly pulling away as Yaczik struggled to maintain the pace dropping back to 4th behind Rasimas and Pepper with 3 to go. Rasimas showed the superior speed as the white flag came out. Eckrich blocked Rasimas coming out of turn four and Pepper tried to take the opportunity to advance but couldn’t get past Eckrich before the line.
Coming out of the final turn, the race could’ve gone to any of the top 3 as they crossed the line in an intense battle for the lead. This was a strong night for the Graafix LC Motorsports race team moving forward as they take the team points lead as well as an exciting race for the fans. Now the Pretty Good Racing League moves on to the Racy McRace Race Phoenix 150 at Phoenix Raceway on March 8th broadcast live at 8:50PM EST only on the Virtual Grip Network. It’s sure to be “pretty good”.
Virtual Grip Network 