BRL LM S21 R7 Recap
18 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 21 | Round 7
Late Model Series | Stafford Motor Speedway
Justin Morton with Total Downforce Racing claimed his 4th win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series at Stafford Motor Speedway ahead of Aiden Young and J R Shepherd. “It’s very hard to pass at this track. The car was very, very tight the entire way around the track”, Morton explained at the end of the night, “That made passing even trickier, but I think at the same point it also made it easier because if you got on the gas just a little bit too soon you’re just going to lose a ton of time and the guy behind you would be able to stick their nose under you.”
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports continued his streak of qualifying on pole by putting down a 20.728 gridding up in 10th place with Jospeh Snyder sitting on the pole through the Bootleg Racing League grid invert. “I’ll do my best to keep it up here for a little while”, Snyder shared with us before joining the grid, “To be honest, I am struggling with this car. I was just getting used to the super late models, we changed to the late models, and I just can’t figure this car out.”
Snyder, driving with Rougarou Racing, led the 22-car field around to take the green flag getting a good jump off the start but so did Ruben Altice to his outside as the two drivers ran side by side around the first few laps before Snyder cleared into the lead. Further back in the field, contact between Tyler Shadduck and Darryl Wineinger resulted in several drivers receiving severe damage to include Donny Moore and Shepherd. Moore came down pit road for repairs, but Shepherd stayed out on track and continued to run in 8th place.
Altice was able to slot into line between Snyder and Matt Hoose holding onto 2nd place. Shadduck was up to 5th and aggressively working on Michael Goodman as Justin Morton ran behind Shadduck patiently putting laps behind him without pushing the car. Aiden Young was running in 7th behind Morton with Shepherd directly behind him. Going into lap 16, Shadduck got Goodman up off his line opening the lane for Morton, Young, and Shepherd to take pushing Goodman back to 8th as Shadduck quickly closed the gap to Hoose in 3rd.
Snyder found himself stranded on the outside as Altice got to his inside and dropped back to 7th before slotting in behind Shepherd. Going into lap 29. Shadduck dove deep into the corner to get under Hoose and tried the same move again a few laps later on Altice running all the way down onto the apron. Altice was able to defend against Shadduck but Morton, Young, and Shepherd had dropped back slightly not sure as Shadduck continued to pressure Altice.
With 40 laps behind them, Shadduck got a nose to the inside of Altice taking the lead away with Altice falling back to 7th after contact between the two leaders forced him up the track. Going into the 2nd half of the night, Morton seemed content to follow Shadduck around the track letting the laps count down. Young, Shepherd, and Hoose rounded out the lead pack all running single file showing a lot of patience. Shepherd was showing a strong pace staying with the leaders even with significant damage to his car from the incident in the opening laps.
With 40 laps remaining, Shadduck was showing signs of excessive tire wear sacrificing a lot of speed through the corners to stay close to the inside line to hold off the line of cars behind him. Lap traffic were giving the leaders a lot of room as they came through while Morton started applying pressure on Shadduck to try and force a mistake out of the struggling leader. Going into lap 84, Morton saw his opportunity getting a nose to the inside of Shadduck and quickly cleared into the lead with Young, Shepherd, and Hoose following him through.
With open track ahead of him, Morton showed his pace as he broke away from the leading pack with Young following close behind. The group broke up into 2-car packs as Shepherd and Hoose battled over 3rd and Michael Goodman started challenging Shadduck for 5th. Coming out of the final corner, Justin Morton took the checkered flag ahead of Aiden Young while J R Shepherd defended 3rd from Matt Hoose and Tyler Shadduck held onto 5th tonight at Stafford Motor Speedway.
J R Shepherd continues to lead in the point standings with 338 points. Michael Goodman takes 2nd place away from Mathew Thunhorst with 257 points. Lowell Jewell moves up into 3rd with 237 points with Thunhorst sitting in 4th with 229 points. Justin Morton rounds out the top 5 in the point standings with 204 points going into the next round of the season. The Bootleg Racing League now heads over to Southern National Speedway for the next round of Season 21 on February 25th with all of the intense racing action brought to you live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSLM S1 R7 Recap
17 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 7
Dirt Super Late Model Series | Fairbury Speedway
Thomas Vickers continues his winning streak taking the checkered flag tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at Fairbury Speedway ahead of William Hargreaves and Jason Dill. “I like this track a lot”, Vickers commented at the end of his run, “Just have to be real easy on the throttle and just worry about how you enter and everything just making sure you hit your marks and it’s pretty smooth sailing here if you hit it right.”
Thomas Vickers set the fastest laps down in qualifying sitting at the top of the timing and scoring boards with a 11.966 and secured the pole for the heat of the night to kick off the night’s excitement. Vickers opted to start from the inside lane placing William Hargreaves to his outside to take the green flag. Vickers cleared out front quickly off the jump as the field went single file along the top of the track struggling to utilize the low line in the early stages. Vickers took the checkered flag unchallenged with Jason Dill taking 2nd place away from Hargreaves on the final lap. Hargreaves went on to win the consolation race leading into the 30-lap feature.
Vickers again choose to start on the bottom of the track to take the green flag. Off the jump, Vickers cleared ahead of Dill with Hargreaves battling for 2nd but again unable to make the inside line work slotting into 3rd as the field went single file along the outside lane similar to the earlier events. Hargreaves seemed to have more speed than Dill and repeatedly threw sliders but couldn’t clear into 2nd place in the opening laps. The battling between Dill and Hargreaves allowed Vickers to pull away with the lead with the first 5 laps completed.
Hargreaves was showing his frustration as there was contact from another failed slider, but Hargreaves was able to take away 2nd place going into the 2nd half of the run. Dill attempted a crossover but ran into the same issues with the inside lane that Hargreaves had earlier and slotted back into 3rd as Hargreaves pulled away slightly. Vickers had extended his lead out to over 3.5 seconds going into the final 10 laps reaching lap traffic. With the top line being so dominate, the entire field continued to run single file waiting for other to make mistake with the laps quickly counting down.
The lap traffic drivers were giving Vickers the high side not slowing the leaders progress in any way as Thomas Vickers came out of the final corner to take the checkered flag over 6 seconds ahead of William Hargreaves in 2nd place. Jason Dill, John Wilson, and Michael Smith round out the top 5 tonight at Fairbury Speedway.
William Hargreaves has run away with the points lead now at 522 points, a shocking 67 points ahead of Jason Dill in 2nd place. Thomas Vickers, Aiden Young, and Stephen Spies round out the top 5 drivers going into the next round. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Volusia Speedway Park on February 24th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 8:40PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S14 R7 Recap
17 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 14 | Round 7
Dirt Street Stock Series | Fairbury Speedway
Blaise Rachels claimed his first win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Fairbury Speedway ahead of Neville Ulph and Chris Hill. “I just kept running it [and] kept running it and finally started pulling away so I went back to the top.”, Rachels commented to us regarding trying to run against the dominate line on the outside tonight.
Brady Thompson set down the fast laps in qualifying at 15.103 taking the pole in the first heat of the night to the inside of Neville Ulph. Thompson forced a checkup out of Ulph clearing into the lead causing a stack up further back allowing Jason Best to get alongside Jeffery Hardin for 3rd. Hardin was able to defend the position as Best slotted back into line in 4th. Thompson took the checkered flag wrapping up the first heat with Blaise Rachels taking the win in the 2nd heat. Hardin battled Bobby Hayes to take the win in the B Main consolation race leading up to the 30-lap feature event.
Thompson took the green flag to kick off the feature with Rachels to his inside. John Wilson battled Ulph for 3rd as Hardin found himself stuck on the inside line falling back in the field before slotting into line back in 7th. Wilson successfully held onto 3rd with the first 5 laps behind them. Several drivers throughout the field were aggressively trying to find speed down low but unable to as the high line was the dominate path around the track. Wilson fell back to 5th with Ulph and Hill got around him while he was experimenting down low.
Rachels was running out front on the rear bumper of Thompson over 2 seconds ahead of Ulph going into the 2nd half of the night. Going into the final 10 laps, Billy Northcutt was doing what he could to recover from a rough start to the night up to 6th behind Wilson. In the final laps, the leaders had caught lap traffic allowing Ulph to start to close the gap but there wasn’t enough time for Ulph to join the battle for the lead as Thompson and Rachels came out of the final corner side by side to take the checkered flag. Brady Thompson was disqualified for a rule violation officially awarding tonight’s win to Blaise Rachels with Neville Ulph, Chris Hill, John Wilson, and Billy Northcutt rounding out the top 5 tonight at Fairbury Speedway.
Billy Northcutt takes the lead in the point standings away from teammate William Hargreaves with 497 points, now 36 points ahead of Hargreaves. Jason Best sits in 3rd place with 382 points as Chris Hill moves up to 4th at 296 points. John Wilson rounds out the top 5 in the point standings going into the next round of the season. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Volusia Speedway Park on February 24th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 7:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL LM S21 R6 Recap
11 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 21 | Round 6
Late Model Series | Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway
Photograph by: Michael Goodman
Justin Morton with Total Downforce Racing claimed his 3rd win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway ahead of Mathew Thunhorst and J R Shepherd. [Thunhorst and Shepherd] got side by side on that last restart and that kind of sealed it up for me just trying to take it home from there.”, Morton commented at the end of the run.
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports continues his streak of sitting at the top of the timing and scoring boards in qualifying with a fast lap put down at 19.196 beating his teammate, Austin Boelke, in 2nd place by over 0.1 seconds at the line. Darryl Wineinger qualified 10th fastest and, with the Bootleg Racing League’s invert, started the night off on the pole leading the 22-car field around to take the green flag. Wineinger had a good launch off the start clearing out ahead of Mark Snyder as Justin Morton stuck low to slot into 2nd place.
Morton wasted no time going after the lead getting around Wineinger 3 laps into the run and quickly started to pull away while Shepherd was struggling to get through traffic running back in 10th being Michael Goodman. Mathew Thunhorst was aggressively pushing through traffic up to 12th from 17th with no signs of slowing his progress as he closed on Shepherd getting to the inside of Jeffrey Hardin. Boelke was quietly taking positions as opportunities presented themselves up to 4th and patiently running behind Donny Moore.
With 30 laps behind them, Thunhorst had gotten around Shepherd and was working over Mark Hertzog for 6th while Morton was trying to save his equipment out front maintaining a healthy gap ahead of Moore and Boelke. Boelke took a chance going into lap 36 and challenged for 2nd by going to the outside of Moore able to clear after a couple tight corners. Thunhorst was still making his charge to the front up to 4th with Shepherd running directly behind him.
Going into the 2nd half of the night, Morton continued to control the field while Thunhorst and Shepherd moved up to 3rd and 4th closing the gap to Boelke. Morton had stretched his lead out to over 1.3 seconds as Thunhorst started working over Boelke who wasn’t giving Thunhorst any chances keeping the door firmly closed for the moment which allowed Shepherd to join the battle for 2nd. A rare mistake from Boelke going into lap 70 allowed Thunhorst to get a nose to the inside. Boelke tried to reclaim the position, but the damage had already been done and Boelke had to concede in 4th slotting in behind Shepherd.
Thunhorst and Shepherd quickly pulled away together as they tried to reel Morton back in who had built up the gap between them to over 3 seconds with 25 laps remaining. A late race caution on lap 92 brought Thunhorst and Shepherd to Morton’s bumper for the restart with 3 laps to go. Off the jump, Shepherd got alongside Thunhorst trying to take away 2nd allowing Morton to pull away. Coming out of the final corner, Justin Morton took the checkered flag with Mathew Thunhorst holding 2nd place over J R Shepherd. Austin Boelke and Michael Goodman rounded out the top 5 tonight at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
J R Shepherd continues to lead in the point standings with 290 points. Mathew Thunhorst holds onto 2nd place with 229 points. Michael Goodman sits in 3rd with 221 points with Lowell Jewell holding onto 4th with 209 points. Donny Moore rounds out the top 5 in the point standings with 180 points going into the next round of the season. The Bootleg Racing League now heads over to Stafford Motor Speedway for the next round of Season 21 on February 18th with all of the intense racing action brought to you live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSLM S1 R6 Recap
10 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 6
Dirt Super Late Model Series | Limaland Motorsports Park
Thomas Vickers dominated the track tonight to take the checkered flag in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Super Late Model Series at Limaland Motorsports Park ahead of Aiden Young and Brandyn Proudfoot. “That high side was there the whole race, I was just hoping it was going to stay there. I’m a lot better at running the high side here than running that low line or midline”, Vickers commented at the end of the night.
Thomas Vickers threw down the fastest lap in qualifying at 12.274 beating out William Hargreaves and Aiden Young by more than 0.1 seconds at the line. Vickers dominated the first heat of the night securing the pole for the 30-lap feature event while Hargreaves battled Brandyn Proudfoot to take the 2nd heat win. Jason Dill held off John Heyn and claimed the checkered flag in the B Main consolation race wrapping up the preliminary events of the night.
Vickers opted to take the green flag from the inside lane. Getting a great jump off the start, Vickers cleared out ahead of Hargreaves while Proudfoot battled Aiden Young for 3rd. Aiden Young went low getting his nose to the inside of Hargreaves with Proudfoot trying to follow him through. Young was able to clear into 2nd, but Hargreaves shut the door on Proudfoot for a few more laps until Proudfoot was able to get around the outside moving up into 3rd. Heyn took advantage of the battling to close in on the leaders and started pressuring Hargreaves with the first 10 laps completed.
Vickers extended his lead out to over 1.7 seconds while Hargreaves tried to battle back against Proudfoot. Going into lap 14, Vickers quickly caught lap traffic slowing his pace when contact between Dill and Heyn resulted in contact bringing out the caution and dropping Heyn to the rear of the field going into the 2nd half. As the green flag came back out, Vickers again quickly cleared out front and started walking away from the rest of the field. Dill was up to 3rd and looking to challenge Young with Proudfoot directly behind him.
Young, Dill, Proudfoot, and Hargreaves were running single file waiting for the others to make a mistake with Proudfoot being the first to make a move diving under Dill to take 3rd place away going into the final 10 laps. Coming around the final lap, Thomas Vickers took the checkered flag over 2 seconds ahead of Aiden Young with Brandyn Proudfoot, William Hargreaves, and Jason Dill rounding out the top 5 tonight at Limaland Motorsports Park.
William Hargreaves is quickly closing the door on the season championship with a commanding lead at 444 points, 64 points ahead of Jason Dill in 2nd place. Aiden Young, Thomas Vickers, and Stephen Spies round out the top 5 drivers going into the 2nd half of the season. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Fairbury Speedway on February 17th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 8:40PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S14 R6 Recap
10 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 14 | Round 6
Dirt Street Stock Series | Limaland Motorsports Park
Blaise Rachels took the checkered flag tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Limaland Motorsports Park ahead of Dirt Panda teammates William Hargreaves and Billy Northcutt. “I was worried at the beginning and the more I got comfortable I was just in and out of my line and I started walking away”, Rachels commented as the night came to a close.
William Hargreaves with Dirt Panda came out strong going into the evening throwing down the fastest lap in qualifying at 15.217 and followed it up by taking the win in the first heat race. Blaise Rachels took the 2nd heat win and Billy Northcutt won the 3rd and final heat going into the last chance qualifiers. Brandyn Proudfoot and Chris Davis took the checkered flag in their respective consolation events leading up to the 30-lap feature with Hargreaves taking the green flag with Rachels to his outside.
Hargreaves cleared out into the lead as Northcutt tried to challenge Rachels for 2nd place in the opening laps. Jason Best stayed tight on the battle for 2nd waiting to take advantage while Proudfoot was quietly moving up through the field into 5th. Going into lap 7, Rachels made an aggressive move to the inside of Hargreaves to take away the lead and was able to defend the position as Hargreaves tried for a crossover but couldn’t make it stick. Northcutt saw his chance and started battling with his Dirt Panda teammate for 2nd place with Rachels slowly pulling away from the field.
Going into the 2nd half of the night, Hargreaves and Northcutt continued to battle each other side by side. Proudfoot had cleared up into 4th but had a lot of ground to make up to close in on the leaders with the laps quickly counting down. Rachels was able further stretch out his lead to almost 1 second with open track ahead of him. Coming out of the final corner, Blaise Rachels took the checkered flag over 1.5 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. William Hargreaves was able to take 2nd place ahead of his Dirt Panda teammate Billy Northcutt while Brandyn Proudfoot and Jason Best rounded out the top 5 tonight at Limaland Motorsports Park.
William Hargreaves holds a dominate lead in the point standings with 461 points, 23 points ahead of Billy Northcutt in 2nd place. Jason Best moves up to 3rd place with 323 points knocking Kyle Jared back to 4th. Aiden Young rounds out the top 5 in the point standings going into the 2nd half of the season. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Fairbury Speedway on February 17th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 7:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL LM S21 R5 Recap
04 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 21 | Round 5
Late Model Series | North Wilkesboro Speedway
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports claimed his first win of the season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway ahead of Mathew Thunhorst and Austin Boelke. “There were some guys who had a ton of speed, and it was really important to try to get that lead and try to get clean air early”, Shepherd commented at the end of the night, “When you’re at a track like this, it’s very line sensitive especially getting into the corner. If you’re just a few feet to the left or to the right of the line getting in you’re going to be slower through the center and not able to get that run.”
J R Shepherd continued his streak jumping to the top of the timing and scoring boards in qualifying with a 4-lap average time put down at 19.136 with Joseph Snyder securing the pole for the feature event with the Bootleg Racing League grid invert. Lowell Jewell had a good jump from the outside line to take the lead away as the green flag came out. Joe Segalla followed Jewell around the outside moving up into 2nd taking advantage of Snyder’s slow start. Austin Boelke saw the opportunity and tried to follow Segalla through but contact between Boelke and Snyder resulted in both drivers running up into the outside wall and falling to the rear of the field.
Jewell continued to hold the lead ahead of Segalla as the field started to get settled in. Shepherd was up to 3rd early making good use of the chaotic start putting pressure on Segalla with bad luck striking Donny Moore in the middle of the field with contact between Moore and Mike Allen sent Moore to the rear of the field for a restart with the first 10 laps completed. As racing resumed, Shepherd took 2nd place away from Segalla with Segalla finding himself stranded on the outside line.
Michael Goodman saw the door open and closed up on the rear bumper of Shepherd to clear around Segalla into 3rd. Boelke had climbed back up through the field and had gotten under Segalla with Mathew Thunhorst directly behind him while Shepherd took the lead away from Jewell. Goodman had closed the gap to the leaders and was pressuring Jewell for 2nd place as Boelke and Thunhorst started to reel the battle in.
Goodman cleared around Jewell for 2nd as Boelke and Thunhorst reached their battle and Jewell fell back to 5th before slotting back in line behind Thunhorst while Shepherd used the battling to stretch his lead out to over 1 second ahead of Goodman. As the drivers started to get spread out around the track everyone seemed to settle in to put some laps behind them with a few select battles happening. Thunhorst continued to pressure Boelke for 3rd trying to force a mistake as both drivers were gaining on Goodman ahead of them.
Thunhorst was able to take 3rd away from Boelke as they closed in on the rear bumper of Goodman with Thunhorst instantly looking to make the pass as Shepherd further extended his lead out to over 2 seconds. Going into lap 39, Thunhorst completed the pass with Goodman shutting the door on Boelke holding onto the last podium position. Going into the 2nd half of the night, the field had completely spread out around the track with Shepherd still leading by 2.4 seconds over Thunhorst. Boelke was up to 3rd with Goodman running in 4th ahead of Jewell.
The long green flag run continued as Shepherd was outpacing his competitors leading ahead of Thunhorst by over 3 seconds while cautiously negotiating through lap traffic with the majority of the field still spread out. Matt Hoose had reeled Jewell in and was pressuring for 5th, but Jewell was not leaving any opening for Hoose to take advantage of going into the final laps. Coming out of the final corner, J R Shepherd took the checkered flag with Mathew Thunhorst coming home in 2nd unable to close the gap. Austin Boelke, Michael Goodman, and Lowell Jewell round out the top 5 finishers tonight at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
J R Shepherd continues to lead in the point standings with 242 points. Mathew Thunhorst jumped up to 2nd place with 190 points. Michael Goodman takes away 3rd with 179 points with Lowell Jewell moving up into 4th with 174 points. Kenny Kibbey rounds out the top 5 in the point standings with 160 points going into the next round of the season. The Bootleg Racing League now heads over to Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway for the next round of Season 21 on February 11th with all of the intense racing action brought to you live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSLM S1 R5 Recap
03 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 5
Dirt Super Late Model Series | Kokomo Speedway
Thomas Vickers with Apex Industries absolutely dominated the field tonight to take the win in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at Kokomo Speedway ahead of William Hargreaves and Stephen Spies. “It was a pretty good race, I like this track a little bit”, Vickers commented as the night came to a close, “It’s all about throttle control and trying to keep the car off the wall.”
Thomas Vickers came out on the track strong tonight setting a 4-lap average time at 12.096 and led the first heat race around to take the green flag. Vickers claimed an easy win securing the pole for the upcoming feature event later in the night while John Wilson won the remaining heat and Jeffrey Davisson beat Jason Dill to the line to take the checkered flag in the consolation race.
Vickers came around to take the green flag kicking off the night’s main event as William Hargreaves took advantage of a bad start from Wilson to quickly take away 2nd. Wilson continued to struggle as Stephen Spies cleared around into 3rd. With 5 laps completed, Vickers had already extended his lead out to over 2.5 seconds ahead of Hargreaves seeming to be untouchable as the race went on. 10 laps into the night, the top 3 drivers had sizable gaps between them as Davisson and Dill battled again further back in the field as they had earlier in the consolation event.
Vickers had reached lap traffic approaching the halfway point of the race and was making quick work weaving through without losing pace. Hargreaves wasn’t having as easy of a time getting through traffic with allowed Spies to start reeling his in going into the final 10 laps with Vickers 5.5 seconds out ahead of the rest of the field. Coming out of the final corner, Thomas Vickers dominated the night to take the checkered flag with William Hargreaves, Stephen Spies, Jason Dill, and Jeffrey Davisson rounding out the top 5 tonight at Kokomo Speedway.
William Hargreaves took the lead in the point standings with 370 points over Jason Dill in 2nd place with 314 points. Aiden Young fell back to 3rd place with 299 points with Stephen Spies and Thomas Vickers rounding out the top 5 drivers going into the 6th round of the season. The Bootleg Racing League next heads to Limaland Motorsports Park on February 10th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 8:40PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S14 R5 Recap
03 February 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 14 | Round 5
Dirt Street Stock Series | Kokomo Speedway
William Hargreaves with Dirt Panda claimed the win tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Kokomo Speedway ahead of Billy Northcutt and John Wilson. “Was some great racing tonight, a lot of green flag laps and that’s a lot of what contributed to probably me being able to stay out front”, Hargreaves shared with us at the end of the night, “I didn’t think I’d be able to get around [Loomis] like I did there but unfortunately he hit the wall and it just kind of opened the door for me there.”
Zachary Loomis set the fastest 4-lap average time during qualifying tonight at 14.941 and led the first heat around to take the green flag. Loomis was able to pull away from the field to take the first checkered flag ahead of Billy Northcutt. William Hargreaves and Kyle Jared won the remaining heats with Stephen Spies and David Traylor won their respective consolation races leading up to the 30-lap feature event.
Loomis had Hargreaves to his outside as he took the green flag and quickly cleared out front while Hargreaves was under pressure from both Jared and Northcutt in the opening laps. Going into lap 5, Hargreaves saw his chance and threw a slider to take the lead away from Loomis with Northcutt trying to do the same but unable to clear into 2nd place. Jared stayed close behind the battle waiting for an opening to take advantage of with John Wilson applying pressure from 5th.
The battling allowed Hargreaves to extend his lead out to almost 1 second with 10 laps completed while Northcutt and Loomis traded sliders for 2nd. Negotiating through lap traffic, Northcutt cleared Loomis with Jared moving up into 3rd. Wilson was aggressively looking for a way into 4th as Loomis continued to drop back with a battle starting between Northcutt and Jared up ahead. Jared and Northcutt came together in the corner sending Jared around and collecting Loomis as the caution flag came out.
Lining back up for the restart, Hargreaves had Dirt Panda teammate Northcutt directly behind him with Wilson benefiting the most from the incident restarting from 3rd with 5 laps remaining. Hargreaves had a strong launch as racing resumed while Wilson stayed tight on the rear bumper of Northcutt. Coming out of the final lap, William Hargreaves claimed the checkered flag with Billy Northcutt, John Wilson, Stephen Spies, and Neville Ulph rounding out the top 5 tonight at Kokomo Speedway.
William Hargreaves stretches out his points lead ahead of teammate Billy Northcutt with 380 point, 18 points separating the Dirt Panda drivers. Kyle Jared holds onto 3rd place with 288 points, Jason Best moves up to 4th with 255 points, and Stephen Spies rounds out the top 5 with 254 points. The Bootleg Racing League next head to Limaland Motorsports Park on February 10th with all of the dirt slinging action brought to you live at 7:10PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL LM S21 R4 Recap
28 January 2023
Bootleg Racing League | Season 21 | Round 4
Late Model Series | Martinsville Speedway
Photograph by: Michael Goodman
Justin Morton with Total Downforce Racing claimed his 2nd win in a row tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Late Model Series at Martinsville Speedway ahead of J R Shepherd and Mathew Thunhorst. “I kind of knew going into the race, noticed in practice that we were going to be pretty short [on fuel]”, Morton commented at the end of the night, “I don’t know if I was going 100 percent there, but I was definitely trying to keep the rhythm and just keep both ends consistent and driving how I needed to drive the car.”
J R Shepherd continues to top the timing and scoring boards in qualifying with a 4-lap average time set at 20.217 tonight starting the feature from 10th with the Bootleg Racing League invert placing Bruce Pearson on the pole. Pearson led the 22-car field around to take the green flag with Joe Segalla to his outside as the action kicked off with Pearson quickly clearing out ahead going into the first corner. Much of the field went single file on the first lap with passing on the outside being especially difficult at Martinsville.
Lowell Jewell got his nose under Segalla with Kenny Kibbey following him under pushing Segalla back to 4th in a gap that formed ahead of a battle between Joseph Snyder and Matt Shinoski. Jewell soon found himself stuck on the outside when Kibbey got to his inside. Jewell tried to battle back but was forced to concede and fall back to 4th as Jason Menda was also able to get around him into 3rd. With the first 20 laps behind them, the familiar names started to rise to the front of the field with Kibbey, Menda, Justin Morton, Mathew Thunhorst, and Shepherd all running inside of the top 10.
Kibbey took a chance and went to the outside of Pearson for the lead with Menda and Thunhorst quickly closing the inside line. It was starting to go in Pearson’s favor when a miscommunication with the drivers behind him led to contact sending Pearson and Menda around on track and moving Kibbey, Morton, Thunhorst, and Shepherd all running up front when the caution came out. Racing resumed going into lap 28 with Kibbey getting a good jump as Morton slotted in 2nd ahead of Thunhorst.
Unusual for a Bootleg Racing League event, it became known that fuel was going to be an issue as the 4 leaders pulled away from the field. Morton, Thunhorst, and Shepherd had come down pit road earlier in the night for a splash to get them to the end, but Kibbey stayed out. Morton quickly took control of the lead soon after going back to green as Kibbey seemed to be running conservatively to stretch his fuel milage out a far as he could dropping back to 4th behind Shepherd but still staying with the pack.
Going into the 2nd half of the night, Morton continued to hold the lead as Shepherd was able to take advantage of a restart getting under Thunhorst to take away 2nd place after a fierce side by side battle for several laps. Kibbey followed suit diving under Thunhorst to challenge for 3rd securing the position with 40 laps remaining. Austin Boelke was struggling tonight staying within the top 10 but unable to move up through the field. With the laps quickly counting down, Morton was extending his lead out to almost 1 second ahead of Shepherd while Thunhorst patiently searched for a way around Kibbey for 3rd.
Going into the final 25 laps, it became clear that the event was not going to be completed within the allotted time to further complicate things for the drivers. Kibbey’s fuel situation was getting more and more dire while still holding onto 3rd place ahead of Thunhorst. Morton was still outpacing the rest of the leading pack going into the final moments as, in a somewhat unsurprising upset, Kibbey’s Nocturnal Gaming machine ran out of fuel, and he was forced to pull down pit road with 3 minutes to go. Going into lap 96 out of 100, the race was called on time and Justin Morton came around one more time to take the checkered flag with J R Shepherd, Mathew Thunhorst, Jeffrey Hardin, and Donny Moore rounding out the top 5 tonight at Martinsville Speedway.
J R Shepherd continues to lead in the point standings with 192 points. Kenny Kibbey holds onto 2nd place with 160 points. Mathew Thunhorst sits in 3rd with 151 points with Jason Menda holds 4th with 143 points. Lowell Jewell rounds out the top 5 in the point standings with 138 points going into the next round of the season. The Bootleg Racing League now heads over to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the next round of Season 21 on February 4th with all of the intense racing action brought to you live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
