BRL SLM S17 R1 Recap
26 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 17 | Round 1
Super Late Model Series | Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway
Jason Menda with Thunder Ridge Racing took the checkered flag after leading every lap in the first round of the new season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway ahead of Mathew Thunhorst and Austin Boelke. “Really glad that we switched over to super late models. Fits me a lot better so, yeah, really happy.”, Menda commented as he celebrated his win tonight, “I figured there was going to be a caution eventually, so I was trying to save my tires. Those restarts, I was getting kind of nervous there in the end.”
Jason Menda led the field to the green flag quickly clearing Stephen Spies to his outside going single file. The field all went single file around the first 25 laps in one long train of cars with Spies in 2nd place but unable to maintain pace with Menda and inadvertently gate keeping the rest of the field as they struggled to get around him. This allowed Menda to pull away from the field by over one second with 30 laps completed and relax his pace while saving his tires for later in the race.
Adam Schoen was the first driver to get around Spies and went to work closing the gap up to Menda gaining around 0.10 per lap on the leader. James Lowe was able to get the inside line away from Spies with Kenny Kibbey following suit approaching halfway in the race. Spies couldn’t hold the line while maintaining pace and he slid up to the outside wall and that opened up the inside line to the rest of the field with Spies dropping back to 7th before closing the door.
Going into the second half Menda continued to lead ahead of James Lowe and Adam Schoen. Tire spin from Lowe off a restart presented Kenny Kibbey an opportunity to jump to 2nd place behind Menda with bad luck striking Schoen as his engine blew coming out of turn two on lap 68 ending his night early after a strong performance up to that point. Austin Boelke, who started in the back of the field, had gotten up to 4th ahead of John Heyn with 30 laps remaining. Heyn made contact with the outside wall and started falling off quickly from the damage giving 5th place up to Bryan Dehn.
Lowe, Kibbey, and Boelke battled over 2nd place with 16 laps to go with Kibbey having to concede back in 4th behind Boelke. As the drivers went into the final 10 laps of the night, the aggression was noticeably higher with everyone reaching for any position they could get before the end. Menda continued to lead as Boelke took 2nd place away from Lowe with Thunhorst up to 4th place from starting in last place tonight. Coming out of the final corner Menda led across the line as Thunhorst was able to get around Boelke from the inside line.
A new season begins with a new car in the premier series of the Bootleg Racing League with Jason Menda top among the different drivers showing speed with the super late model tonight. Mathew Thunhorst came through the entire 26-car field up to 2nd place in the end showing that he is just as fast with the super late model as he was in the Grand National Series last season and is a serious contender for the championship going forward. Next week, the drivers hit the track at Hickory Motor Speedway for the second round of the season with all of the action broadcast live on April 2nd at 8:55PM EDT right here on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S11 R1 Recap
25 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 11 | Round 1
Dirt Street Stock Series | Eldora Speedway
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt
Brandyn Proudfoot with Jim Beaver eSports took the first win of the season in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Eldora Speedway ahead of Johnny Ratley and William Hargreaves. The second half of the race happened amidst dense traffic that Proudfoot and Ratley had to negotiate while battling over the lead. Proudfoot told us the traffic made for some great racing, “We have a little bit of a mixed community here at Bootleg Racing League. A lot of guys that do the asphalt program in the Grand National Series… a lot of those guys also tread over here. So, it’s kind of interesting because you get a mixed reaction [from the lap down cars when approaching].”
Johnny Ratley took the pole tonight with a fast lap of 19.146 and took the win in the first heat of the night after pulling away from the rest of the field by over 1.2 seconds. Brandyn Proudfoot won the second heat, but it was a much closer finish than what Ratley had. The third and final heat of the night came down to a battle between William Hargreaves and Billy Northcutt with Hargreaves taking the checkered flag. Chris Davis and Stephen Spies led every lap in each of their respective consolation races taking the checkered flag.
Johnny Ratley led the field to the green in the 40-lap feature event with Brandyn Proudfoot to this inside. Ratley had a strong start building up a gap between himself and Proudfoot as both drivers pulled away from William Hargreaves and Bill Northcutt battling over 3rd place. 10 laps into the race, Proudfoot was able to reel Ratley back in and started pressuring for the lead with a slider. The two leaders continued to throw sliders back and forth for several laps before Proudfoot settled back in behind Ratley with 20 laps remaining.
The second half of the race brought a new challenge as the leaders caught the rear of the field and started negotiating through heavy traffic. With only 10 laps to go, Ratley continued to lead until Proudfoot took control of the highline and used lap traffic to block Ratley behind him single file. This gave Proudfoot the chance he needed to pull away. Ratley went to work getting back up close to Proudfoot but there weren’t enough laps left for him to attempt a pass as Proudfoot crossed the finish line.
The drivers made a strong statement tonight going into the new season racing all 40 laps without a single caution flag thrown at Eldora Speedway. Johnny Ratley proved that he is able to challenge Proudfoot and showed the crowd that he doesn’t plan on letting Proudfoot run away with the championship this time around. Now the drivers with the Bootleg Racing League set their sights to Weedsport Speedway for the second round on April 1st broadcast live at 7PM EDT only on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S1 R6 Recap
22 Mar 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 1 | Round 6
Premier Series | Circuit of the Americas
Scott Eckrich with Graafix LC Motorsports claimed his third win of the season tonight in the MemePark Grand Prix at COTA presented by the LPM Group with the Pretty Good Racing League at Circuit of the Americas ahead of Mike Rasimas and Jeff Ward. “Road courses in general seem to suit me pretty well but especially technical road courses”, Eckrich commented after his dominating win tonight, “With this new car as finicky as it is it really, really puts it extremely in the driver’s hands… to say it’s a nightmare to control this thing is an understatement.”
Fred Thompson started the night off on the pole for the first road course of the season. “It’s exciting, that’s for darn sure”, Thompson told us before the race. The drivers knew that pit strategies would be critical for the race and Thompson planned to keep it simple, “When the [crew chief] says come in, I’m coming in.” Norm Pelletier started to Thompson’s outside on the front row as the green flag came out over the drivers. Pelletier had a strong launch taking the lead off the start.
Pelletier got out of shape spinning coming out of a corner and quickly fell back in the field as many drivers were struggling to complete the first lap without incident. Dupre was the leader going into the second lap with Thomas George putting pressure on him. Scott Eckrich was running in 6th when he almost had his night ended early ass Django Matthews spun around in front of Eckrich forcing Eckrich off track wide around a corner to avoid. Eckrich was able to recover quickly and continue without losing much pace as he found his way up to 3rd place with Jeff Ward following close behind.
Mike Rasimas found himself in the lead as more drivers had problems getting around the course with frequent spins and slide offs throughout the field that kept the running order shuffling as the field went into the 5th lap of the evening. Jeff Ward and Scott Eckrich each got around Drew Carroll in 2nd place putting him back in 4th while Mike Rasimas continued to lead the field. Ward and Eckrich quickly closed the gap to Rasimas as they battled each other over 2nd with Eckrich coming away with the position over Ward going into the 10th lap.
Scott Eckrich took the lead from Mike Rasimas on lap 10 and started to pull away showing a strong pace. All of the top 10 drivers made their pit stops with 18 laps remaining in the 35-lap event essentially splitting the race in half with fuel. Scott Eckrich held the lead followed by Mike Rasimas and Jeff Ward as the field completed their pit cycles with 16 laps left. Eckrich was out pacing every driver on track lap after lap with the top 3 drivers completely separated from the rest of the field by over 25 seconds.
Going into the final 10 laps of the race, Scott Eckrich had built up an over 20 second lead over Mike Rasimas in 2nd place. Jeff Ward had run into some trouble a few laps prior and was running in 3rd place 30 seconds behind Eckrich. Thomas George, Drew Carroll, and Woody Mahan battled hard over 4th place over 50 seconds behind the leader. The top 11 drivers were still on the lead lap with Fred Thompson being the last lead lap car and only 19 cars were still running on track out of the 24-car field.
Scott Eckrich absolutely dominated the field crossing the finish line 31 seconds ahead of Mike Rasimas in 2nd place and 57 seconds ahead of Jeff Ward in 3rd. Eckrich started in 13th tonight and, after taking the lead on lap 10, held it for the remainder of the 35-lap event. Only the top 10 drivers were still on the lead lap with Isaiah Dupre being the last lead lap car tonight. Travis McQuistion finished last in 24th place giving him the pole position next week at Richmond Raceway as the field inverts.
Mike Rasimas leads in the point standings with 231 points with Scott Eckrich now behind by only 2 points. Michael Strohl moves back to 3rd place with 191 points. Brian Yaczik holds onto 4th at 190 points and Thomas George sits close behind with 185 points to round out the top 5 drivers. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League moves over to Richmond Raceway for 200 laps of action in the Muscular Dystrophy Awareness 200 on March 29th broadcast live at 8:50PM EDT only on the Virtual Grip Network! We’ve heard it’s going to be “pretty good”.
BRL GN S9 R11 Recap
19 Mar 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 9 | Round 11
Grand National Series | New Smyrna Speedway
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports took the checkered flag tonight in the season finale of the Bootleg Racing League Grand National Series presented by Gargamel’s Kitchen at New Smyrna Speedway ahead of Kenny Kibbey and Mathew Thunhorst. Coming home in third was enough for Thunhorst to take the season championship over Shepherd by only 1 point after a long, intense season between the top 2 drivers. “Very hard-fought season for sure but being able to win the last race in the grand national car is extremely cool so I was glad I was able to get up there and be able to do that tonight.”, Shepherd told us while celebrating his win tonight. Thunhorst had an uphill battle through the night struggling to climb back through the pack and joked with us after being named Season Champion, “I never want to have another race like this again… I’m happy that we’re on the back side of this one.” Thunhorst left it all out on the track tonight as the checkered flag came out.
Rubin Altice started the night off in the pole position with Jason Menda to his outside as the green flag came out. Menda was able to get around Altice’s outside taking the lead as the night started off rough for Thunhorst when he and Kibbey made contact going into turn three sending Thunhorst hard into the outside wall bringing out the caution. Thunhorst restarted from the rear of the field only 2 laps into the race. Menda held the lead off the restart with Kibbey close behind moving into 2nd. The second caution came out on lap 8 from contact between Thunhorst and Kurt Smith in the back of the field sending Smith around.
Menda had another good launch, but Kibbey stayed to his outside and started challenging for the lead 13 laps into the night. Kibbey was able to clear Menda 2 laps later with Justin Morton following suit along the top taking 2nd place. Menda pushed the car too hard coming out of turn four in the battle and sent himself around on the track bringing out the third caution of the night. Thunhorst had already climbed up to 13th through the field at that point showing a strong pace. Kibbey took the green as Morton battled from the outside but couldn’t clear Kibbey as the 4th caution came out. James Lowe and Altice made contact going through the corner spinning Altice into traffic and collecting several other drivers as the line behind him checked up hard.
25 laps into the race, Thunhorst was back within the top 10 with Shepherd in 3rd. Kibbey had a strong restart clearing Morton quickly holding onto the lead off the restart. Chris Davis brought out the 5th caution when he went into the corner too hot sending himself around and wasn’t able to recover quick enough to prevent the caution from coming out. Thunhorst was up to 7th as he continued his hard charge to the front as the green flag came back out 35 laps into the evening. Morton again tried to get around Kibbey on the outside line securing the lead as another caution came out when John Heyn got loose making contact with Joe Segalla spinning around both cars.
Morton held the lead through the restart followed single file by Kibbey and Shepherd. Thunhorst cleared into 6th place as the steward again put out the caution flag from contact between Todd Liston and Ryan Senneker bringing the field back together for another restart. Shepherd challenged for 2nd over Kibbey to the outside with a good jump but wasn’t able to clear before a pile up involving the majority of the back half of the field brought out yet another caution. The restart gave Thunhorst an opportunity to clear Adam Schoen for 4th place now directly behind Shepherd with 43 laps to go.
Kibbey again battled Morton from the outside clearing for the lead. Shepherd moved to the outside to repeat Kibbey’s move taking 2nd place as Thunhorst was pressuring from behind. The caution again came out with contact between Michael Smith and Senneker in the rear of the field and the drivers stacked back up led by Kibbey. Shepherd and Thunhorst were in 2nd and 3rd as the green flag came back out with 33 laps remaining. Shepherd was able to clear Thunhorst holding onto 2nd. Running single file, Kibbey, Shepherd, Thunhorst, and Morton started to pull away from Schoen in 5th as the 10th caution of the night was thrown out because of contact between Chris Davis and Kurt Smith sending Smith around on the track.
The green flag came back out with 16 laps remaining and Shepherd challenged for the lead over Kibbey running the outside line and cleared just before the 11th caution was thrown when Segalla and Altice came together coming out of turn four. The green came out for the last stretch with only 8 laps remaining with Shepherd leading the field followed by Kibbey and Thunhorst. Kibbey was able to clear Thunhorst holding onto 2nd with Morton starting to pressure Thunhorst for 3rd. Shepherd was able to hold off Kibbey across the line taking the checkered flag for the last time as the Grand National Series gets retired from the Bootleg Racing League and replaced next season with the Super Late Model Series.
Mathew Thunhorst took the championship for the final season of the Grand National Series with a total of 429 points beating J R Shepherd by only 1 point. Justin Morton took 3rd in the point standings with 406 points ahead of Kenny Kibbey, who had 341. Adam Schoen rounds out the top 5 with 338 points. As the Grand National Series gets retired from the Bootleg Racing League, everyone starts to prepare for the Super Late Model Series taking its place next season. “The [super] late models are going to be different for sure. I think you’re probably going to see a different group of guys be strong in those cars just because of their driving styles. Those cars are extremely tricky as far as what I’ve run in the past.”, Shepherd commented in regard to switching cars. A new season with a new car beginning with Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway on March 26th broadcast live at 8:55PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
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.
Virtual Grip Network 