BRL DSS S13 R2 Recap
30 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 13 | Round 2
Dirt Street Stock Series | Weedsport Speedway
Photograph by: Billy Northcutt
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
William Hargreaves with Dirt Panda took the checkered flag tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Weedsport Speedway ahead of Stephen Spies and Adam Carlisle. “This is one of them tracks where you really gotta be aggressive but you gotta be smart”, Hargreaves commented after the race. When asked about how he intends to carry this momentum forward through the season, he added, “I don’t think we’ll do anything different than we do any other week and just come out and have fun on Friday night and race with the boys.”
Adam Carlisle held the pole position with an average lap time of 17.972 in qualifying and led the first heat to the green flag. William Hargreaves kept the pressure high but couldn’t find a way to take the lead as Carlisle took the checkered flag. Jason Best and Thomas Vickers started on the front row as the green flag came out for the second heat. Stephen Spies was able to get around both drivers and run away with the lead for the win. Billy Northcutt and Zachary Loomis were on the front row as the third and final heat of the night began. Northcutt led every lap to take the checkered flag in the end. J R Shepherd and John Wilson won the consolation races before the drivers rejoined the track to start the 40-lap feature event.
Carlisle took the green flag with Spies to his outside with Carlisle getting a strong launch off the start. Spies had to defend against Hargreaves in the opening laps with Hargreaves looking to his inside several times before slotting in line behind Spies. Hargreaves got his nose back to the inside again and was able to clear into 2nd going into lap 7 forcing Spies to drop in ahead of Loomis for 3rd place. Hargreaves immediately went after Carlisle for the lead running side by side for several laps before taking control of the field with 10 laps completed.
Spies followed Hargreaves around Carlisle into 2nd as Northcutt moved up to 4th ahead of Loomis and Vickers as the two Dirt Panda drivers tried to shake off the bad luck they’ve had going into the new season. Hargreaves stretched his lead out to several car lengths ahead of Spies while Northcutt rode tight against Carlisle’s bumper keeping the pressure high as they crossed the halfway mark of the night. Brandyn Proudfoot was still struggling this season running outside of the top 10 and not able to negotiate through the traffic ahead.
Going into the final 10 laps, Hargreaves had a 0.7 second lead over Spies with Carlisle still holding onto 3rd ahead of Northcutt. Hargreaves came up on the first signs of lap traffic going into the last 5 laps and was able to clear around quickly without losing any pace maintaining the gap ahead of Spies going into the final corners. William Hargreaves completed a flawless run tonight at Weedsport Speedway with Stephen Spies, Adam Carlisle, Billy Northcutt, and Zachary Loomis rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight.
Zachary Loomis holds the lead in the point standings with 150 points with William Hargreaves in 2nd place only 6 points behind. Adam Carlisle sits in 3rd with 136 points, Billy Northcutt holds 4th with 129 points, and J R Shepherd rounds out the top 5 drivers with 127 points. Now the drivers now set their focus to Limaland Motorsports Park on October 7th with all of the dirt slinging action broadcast live at 7:10PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S3 R6 Recap
27 September 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 6
Premier Series | Texas Motor Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Thomas George with Steel Horse Racing took the checkered flag in the Almirola By Morning 250 after taking the lead on the final lap with the Pretty Good Racing League at Texas Motor Speedway ahead of Michael Chrobok and Mike Rasimas. “We had good short run speed. The car was good on the short run, fell off a little on the long run”, George commented as the action came to a close, “It’s time to put this Ford Mustang back in Victory Lane.”
Brady Cure was in control of the field as the green flag came out clearing ahead of Matthew Wheeler and leading 24-car line up speeding into turn one. Most of the field single filed out by the completion of the first lap with sporadic battles throughout. Woody Mahan and Brian Yaczik were able to get around Cure with only 5 laps completed with Cody Dempster pressuring Cure from 4th while Mahan and Yaczik pulled away from the rest of the field by over 1 second with 10 laps behind them.
Dempster took the 3rd position and found himself fighting to keep it against Thomas George getting his nose to the inside. George cleared ahead into 3rd with drivers all throughout the field struggling with loose conditions early on in the run. Yaczik took control of the field and built a 0.6 second lead over Mahan showing a strong pace with George slowly closing the gap to Mahan. Mike Rasimas was up into the top 5 going into lap 20 and gaining on Dempster ahead.
Dempster cleared around both Chance Manning and Mahan into 2nd place while Yaczik continued to lead the field. Manning put his nose to the inside of Dempster to take back the position but couldn’t complete the move settling back into 3rd ahead of George and Mahan battling over 4th directly behind him. Mahan slid up the track enough for Michael Chrobok to take advantage diving beneath him and moving up into 5th behind George on lap 47. Yaczik was slowly stretching out his lead running around 0.5 ahead of Dempster by lap 50 as the drivers started to find their grooves and check off some laps.
As the laps counted down, Yaczik showed his speed over the long run pulling further away from the rest of the field by over 1 second. Chrobok cleared into 2nd place ahead of George with Dempster falling back to 4th as the caution came out on lap 72. All drivers came into the pits with Yaczik winning the race off pit road and retaining the lead for the restart with George to his outside on the front row. Manning and Greg O’Berry battled side by side over 5th while the top 4 drivers single filed out quickly as the green flag came back out.
With 90 laps completed, Chrobok closed the gap to George in 2nd and was able to get to George’s inside before quickly clearing into the position and running away with it showing a very strong pace. Manning overtook Yaczik for the lead going into lap 106 after another restart but wasn’t able to hold it as Yaczik quickly took it back and Chrbok closed on the battle pressuring Manning for 2nd and taking the position on lap 109 showing that Manning possibly used up too much of his equipment going for the lead while he continued to fall back behind George.
After a rough start to the night, Mike Rasimas was back into the top 10 with 50 laps to go as drivers started to push more aggressively with the laps counting down to the end. Yaczik maintained control of the field with a gap of 0.7 over Chrobok behind him in 2nd. Lap 128 saw drivers starting to come down pit road under green flag conditions for the first time of the night with Dempster and Rasimas leading the charge. Chrobok came down on lap 131 from 2nd place while Yaczik stayed out in the lead with Tommy Gossett up to 2nd.
Each lap saw another small group of drivers come down pit road while Yaczik and Gossett battled over the lead. Yaczik made his stop on lap 140 as Gossett took the lead and coming down pit road on the following lap. Rasimas was the leading car from the pit cycle ahead of Chrobok going into the final 25 laps. Chrobok closed the gap and took the lead away from Rasimas with Yaczik back in 7th over 12 seconds behind the leader but was climbing through the field quickly.
Gossett lost control of his car spinning sideways down the backstretch with 16 laps remaining and bringing out a race changing caution closing the gap between Yaczik and the leaders. As the drivers stacked back up for the restart, Chrobok control of the field ahead of Rasimas in 2nd and Yaczik in 3rd. The green flag came back out with 11 laps remaining and Chrobok fumbled the start allowing Rasimas to get around him off the jump. Chrobok dove beneath Rasimas and reclaimed the lead with 8 to go.
Yaczik was pressuring George looking for an opening as George sent his car aggressively to the inside of Rasimas and Yaczik used the opportunity to push Rasimas back to 4th as the top 4 drivers pulled away from the rest of the field. George was starting to struggle in the corners going into the final 3 laps while the leaders battled hard for every inch. Thomas George took the lead for the final lap and held of Michael Chrobok to take the checkered flag with Mike Rasimas, Brian Yaczik, and Isaiah Dupre rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight at Texas Motor Speedway.
Brian Yaczik continues to lead in the point standings with 229 points. Thomas George maintains 2nd place only 5 points behind the leader with Michael Chrobok in 3rd with 213 points behind him. Woody Mahan sits in 4th with 198 points after a rough night and Code Dempster jumps up 2 spots to 5th place with 192 points. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Talladega Superspeedway on October 4th for the Chuckles I’m in Danger 250 presented by MC2 Editing Services with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL SLM S19 R1 Recap
24 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 19 | Round 1
Super Late Model Series | New Smyrna Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Mathew Thunhorst took the first checkered flag of the new season in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at New Smyrna Speedway ahead of J R Shepherd and Kevin Moody. “I was working hard every lap… The worst feeling you can have as a leader is you just watch the guy behind you just slowing taking tenths out”, Thunhorst commented as the night came to a close, “Even though I might not have been pushing real hard I was working hard in the car.”
Justin Morton sat on top of the timing and scoring boards in qualifying with a fast 4-lap average clocked at 17.665 beating J R Shepherd by 0.035 and, with the new invert system this season, Morton started in 10th place in the grid as the drivers went out on track for the 100-lap feature event. Lowell Jewell secured the pole position with Joe Segalla to his outside as the green flag came out over New Smyrna Speedway and the 15-car field raced into turn one. Jewell cleared out to a strong lead off the jump with Segalla close behind while Donny Moore and Todd Liston battled over 3rd place.
Mathew Thunhorst was quickly starting to push up through the track with Shepherd following him through the traffic as Morton struggled in the opening laps getting caught in an incident on lap 4 and sliding back to the rear of the field. Segalla got to the outside of Jewell with 10 laps completed and tried to challenge for the lead but wasn’t able to complete the pass as Liston got to the inside taking away 2nd place. Thunhorst and Shepherd took advantage of the hole Liston created as they held the inside line pushing Segalla back further into the pack. Thunhorst and Shepherd wasted no time getting beneath Liston and moving up into 2nd and 3rd respectively tight on Jewell’s rear bumper with 20 laps behind them.
Lap 22 saw the first lead chance as Thunhorst got around Jewell for the position and Jewell fell back to 3rd behind Shepherd. Morton was pushing up through the field again making up some of the lost positions from the earlier incident but struggled to get through the dense traffic with several side-by-side battles between him and the leaders. Segalla continued to struggle finding himself stranded on the outside as a tightly packed group of drivers cleared ahead of him before he was able to rejoin the preferred line.
As the drivers crossed the halfway point of the night, Thunhorst continued to lead over Shepherd and Morton was quickly climbing through the field up to 6th place. Donny Moore took 3rd away from Jewell with Kevin Moody following him through into 4th. Moody saw an opportunity and dove deep to the inside of Moore clearing into 3rd on lap 57 with Morton closing quickly. Matt Hoose started last in the field as was up 8 positions into 7th place with 40 laps remaining pressuring Adam Schoen for 6th.
With 33 laps to go, Morton got his nose beneath Moore and quickly took 4th place away before pulling away for the pack while Thunhorst had reached the first signs of lap traffic. Shepherd was struggling to find speed with the gap to Thunhorst growing larger as the laps counted down. Moody was still holding 3rd almost 4 seconds behind Shepherd. Morton was closing the 2 second gap to Moody, but not quick enough to contend for 3rd with only 20 laps remaining in the evening. Going into the final stretch, Mathew Thunhorst has a commanding 2 second lead over Shepherd when he took the checkered flag at New Smyrna Speedway with J R Shepherd, Kevin Moody, Justin Morton, and Matt Hoose rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series.
After the first round, J R Shepherd and Justin Morton are tied for the lead in the point standings with 47 points each and Mathew Thunhorst sits in 3rd place only 1 point behind them with the new qualifying points this season already shaking things up. Next week, the drivers of the Bootleg Racing League head to The Bullring at Las Vegas for the 2nd round of Season 19 on October 1st with all of the action broadcast live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL NSCT S1 R1 Recap
23 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 1 | Round 1
National Sprint Car Trail | Iowa Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Justin Morton with Total Downforce Racing took the checkered flag in the inaugural race of the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail at Iowa Speedway ahead of Aiden Young and Stephen Spies. “I can’t really ask for much better of a race there… It’s pretty cool to be able to win the inaugural race of a series in this league.”, Morton commented as the night came to a close, “I’ve been looking forward this series for a while, since it’s been announced. It’s such a cool concept. It’s something I’ve always wanted to run on iRacing, just the whole USAC style of racing.”
Justin Morton sat at the top of the boards after putting down a 4-lap average time of 21.760 in qualifying and advancing straight through to the feature event along with Aiden Young, Bruce Jones, Rory Collins, Matt Hoose, and Jason Menda. Stephen Spies shared the front row with Joe Segalla to take the green flag for the 15-lap heat event. Spies jumped out to a strong lead off the start as Preston Cranmer cleared ahead of Segalla for 2nd. Donny Moore struggled early on making contact with the outside wall on lap 4 sending his car tumbling down the front stretch. Segalla reclaimed 2nd place from Cranmer as Lowell Jewell closed in on the battle and started pressuring Cranmer for 3rd place. Spies took the checkered flag ahead of Joe Segalla and the drivers pulled back out on track for the 50-lap feature event.
Morton and Young shared the front row as the green flag came out over Iowa Speedway to kick off the main event. Morton had a great launch off the start and pulled away from the field while Young and Jones battled over 2nd place. Spies was making strong forward progression clearing ahead of Hoose for 5th and closing up on a battle between Collins and Jones over 3rd with 10 laps completed. Spies looked to the inside of Jones several times but wasn’t able to complete the pass while Jones was using the highline momentum coming out of the corners to pull ahead down the straightaways.
Hoose and Collins stayed close behind the battle for 3rd while Young still struggled to close the gap to Morton in the lead. As the drivers approached the halfway point of the night, Morton had extended his lead out to almost 1.5 seconds over Young. Spies had cleared into 3rd with Hoose running close behind. Jones had fallen back to 6th behind Collins. Collins and Hoose were battling hard over 4th place going into the last 20 laps while Spies pulled away with 3rd and was closing up on the rear of Young. Spies got his nose to the inside of Young but wasn’t able to complete the pass as the lap counted down.
The drivers were starting to push more aggressively going into the final 10 laps. Spies tried several more times to clear beneath Young, but again wasn’t able to match the high line speed down the straights. Hoose and Collins continued to battle side by side with both drivers getting everything they could out of the track. Preston Cranmer quietly moved up into 6th ahead of Jones and was slowly reeling in Hoose and Collins. With 3 laps to go, Spies started setting Young up for another attempt for 2nd place but couldn’t make the move before Justin Morton took the checkered flag in the inaugural race in the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail with Aiden Young, Stephen Spies, Matt Hoose, and Rory Collins rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight at Iowa Speedway.
Justin Morton showed his skill with the silver crown, but the brilliance of the Bootleg Racing League National Sprint Car Trail is that next week will be a very different car and a very different track to put each driver’s overall skill to the test. Next week, the drivers will jump into the asphalt sprints at Lucas Oil Raceway on September 30th with the intense action brought to you live at 10:30PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL DSS S13 R1 Recap
23 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 13 | Round 1
Dirt Street Stock Series | Lanier National Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Zachary Loomis took the first win of the new season tonight in the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series at Lanier National Speedway ahead of Jason Best and J R Shepherd. “It was wearing away. My tires were wearing away and I could feel it. Just made the best out of it”, Loomis commented on his late stage run and in regard to going forward in the season, “I’m really excited. Lanier isn’t my strong point so I’m excited for this season.”
Zachary Loomis jumped to the top of the boards with a 4-lap average lap time of 16.487 in qualifying and start on the pole in the first of two heat events. Loomis ran away with the lead to take the win while William Hargreaves started back in 7th and wasn’t able to make up much ground through the field finishing in 6th. Chris Davis led the final heat with Jason Best to his outside as the green flag came back out. Davis and Best battled over the lead with Davis taking the checkered flag in the end as passing again proved difficult for drivers tonight. J R Shepherd and Billy Northcutt won the consolation events, and the drivers came back out on track for the 40-lap feature event.
Zachary Loomis led the 16-car field to the green flag with Chris Davis to his outside as the action kicked off in tonight’s feature event. Loomis jumped out to a strong lead off the start as much of the field went two or three wide fighting over position early in the run. Both Dirt Panda drivers, Billy Northcutt and William Hargreaves, were stuck in the mid-pack finding it difficult to move up through the dense traffic. Davis was battling side by side with Jason Best trying to hold onto 2nd place with J R Shepherd waiting directly behind them in 4th. Adam Carlisle was quietly moving forward clearing around both Dirt Pandas into 5th place as the drivers crossed the halfway point.
With 20 laps remaining, Loomis had stretched his lead out to over 1.5 seconds over Best. Shepherd took 3rd place from Davis and had a safe gap behind him as Hargreaves and Northcutt were battling with each other over 6th place. Hargreaves cleared ahead and got a nose to the outside of Davis in 5th. The two drivers started trading sliders back and forth while Dylan Corey fought Carlisle for 7th place ahead of a battle between Michael Menees and Bobby Hayes over 9th. Going into the final 10 laps, the top 3 drivers had completely checked out and had a commanding lead over the rest of the field.
Hargreaves and Davis started aggressively pushing each other harder as the laps counted down. Shepherd had closed the gap to Best to pressure for 2nd place going into the final stretch. Coming out of the last corner, Zachary Loomis took the checkered flag unchallenged for the most part tonight with the Bootleg Racing League Dirt Street Stock Series with Jason Best, J R Shepherd, William Hargreaves, and Chris Davis rounding out the top 5 finishers at Lanier National Speedway.
Zachary Loomis made a strong statement to start off Season 13 while the Dirt Panda drivers struggled all night and had a poor showing compared to what we’ve come to expect from previous seasons. Now the drivers now set their focus to Weedsport Speedway on September 30th with all of the dirt slinging action broadcast live at 710PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
PGRL S3 R5 Recap
20 September 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 5
Premier Series | Bristol Motor Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Scott Eckrich with GRAAFix LC Motorsports came away with the checkered flag in the Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Month 250 after a long, hard-fought night at Bristol Motor Speedway with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Thomas George and Mike Rasimas. “Just really happy to get a win here”, Eckrich commented as the night came to a close, “It’s been a little bit of bad luck, so it feels good to get one to go my way.”
Jonathan Cogswell led the field to the green flag to kick off the 250-lap night race around Bristol with Greg O’Berry to his outside. Cogswell cleared ahead into the lead as O’Berry battled Seif Faries for 2nd. 5 laps into the night, Faires overtook Cogswell and started to pull away from the field running a very high line along the outside wall. By lap 14, Faires had already caught the rear of the field and was putting drivers a lap down as he extended his lead out to over 1 second over Cogswell and O’Berry.
Cody Dempster was quickly pushing up through the field and was running in 2nd with Thomas George following him through traffic before making an attempt on 2nd place himself 30 laps into the night getting his nose to the inside of Dempster and able to clear into the position several laps later using lap traffic to block Dempster’s path. George closed in on the leader and overtook Faries soon thereafter taking control of the field while Scott Eckrich was quietly moving up through the field and running in 7th, from a 27th place starting position, behind Michael Chrobok going into lap 43.
Faries cleared back around George into the lead with Dempster following him into 2nd place, but in a shocking upset, Faries had a hardware malfunction that ended his night on lap 64 giving the lead to Dempster with Cogswell in 2nd. O’Berry closed the gap to the leaders and overtook Cogswell before running to the outside of Dempster to battle for the lead. Dempster stayed low and the two drivers fought over the lead for lap after lap slowing both of their paces overall and allowed the top 7 to close up on the battle with Mike Rasimas running in the back of the lead pack before Dempster was finally able to clear into the lead for the moment before Chrobok took advantage of the situation to take away the lead as they crossed the 100-lap mark.
Eckrich has caught the back of the lead pack and started pushing through running the low line and quickly moving up to 3rd behind Jette. O’Berry and Dempster were showing signs of excessive wear as they fell back into the field far off the leading pace after running side by side for so long. Rasimas and George closed up on the leaders making a 5-car pack for the lead as Jette cleared around the outside of Chrobok. Eckrich took control of the field going into lap 127 with Rasimas challenging him from the outside. Brian Yaczik joined the battle up front battling with Jette for 3rd place.
Rasimas cleared ahead of Eckrich with Jette moving up and trying to take the lead for himself running the inside line. Chase Manning and Cogswell caught the battle and Manning wasted no time getting his nose to the inside of Rasimas going after 2nd place. Manning was able to hold the position for a few laps before Rasimas reclaimed 2nd running up along the outside wall. Jette was able to stretch his lead out to over 3 seconds as he seemed to be aggressively pushing his pace to get as far out front as possible while others were running more conservatively saving their stuff expecting a long green flag run.
With 100 laps remaining, Eckrich was leading a long train of cars from 5th place running a very consistent pace lap after lap and Jette was showing the first signs of wear as his pace started to fall off with Rasimas closing the gap quickly. Eckrich’s group of cars had reached the rear of the lead pack and started pushing past Cogswell and Manning. Rasimas caught the leader and quickly cleared ahead of Jette on lap 169 with Eckrich and Yaczik running in 3rd and 4th respectively and closing on the leaders quickly. Rasimas was aggressively negotiating through lap traffic putting as many cars between himself and Eckrich as possible while Eckrich and Yaczik continued to gain lap after lap.
Eckrich was in control of the field going into the final 50 laps of the night with Rasimas in 2nd place ahead of Yaczik and Chrobok battling over 3rd. The drivers were being much more aggressive as the laps counted down pushing their cars to the limit with several drivers having close calls getting loose coming out of the corners. Rasimas got a nose to the outside of Eckrich challenging for the lead as Manning moved up to 3rd with George directly behind him. Eckrich was holding to the inside and stayed side by side with Rasimas for several laps before clearing back into the lead with 27 laps remaining.
With 15 laps remaining, George cleared around the outside of Rasimas into 2nd place. George was able to close up on Eckrich and tried to get to his inside but couldn’t get complete the move with Eckrich running along the outside wall using the corner exit momentum to maintain the lead. Extending his lead out to 0.6 seconds, Scott Eckrich took the checkered flag tonight in the Muscular Dystrophy Awareness month 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway with Thomas George, Mike Rasimas, Chance Manning, and Michael Chrobok rounding out the top 5 finishers.
Brian Yaczik continues to lead in the point standings with 187 points. Thomas George moved up to 2nd place with 175 points with Michael Chrobok moving up into 3rd only 2 points behind him. Woody Mahan fell back to 4th with 172 points after a rough night and Adam Jurski holds onto 5th place with 160 points. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Texas Motor Speedway on September 27th with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL Asphalt Shootout Recap
17 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | 7th Annual Asphalt Shootout
ARCA Stock Car | Hickory Motor Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
J R Shepherd with Different Path Motorsports took the checkered flag tonight in the 7th Annual Bootleg Racing League Asphalt Shootout presented by Stone River Outfitters at Hickory Motor Speedway ahead of Mathew Thunhorst and Kenny Kibbey. “Knew it was going to be a big track position race tonight so to get that pole was extremely important”, Shepherd shared with us as the night came to a close, “This is a place that’s really hard to pass, these cars are extremely hard to drive with the horsepower that they have so being able to get that track position to save tires was a huge deal.”
J R Shepherd came into the night strong securing the pole with a fast time of 14.587 in qualifying and taking the green flag for the main event alongside Kenny Kibbey on the front row. Shepherd quickly cleared ahead of Kibbey with Mathew Thunhorst battling with Brandyn Proudfoot for 3rd. Proudfoot was able to tuck in behind Thunhorst for 4th place but unfortunately took a hit from behind by Chris Davis sending Proudfoot around and to the back of the field in 17th as racing resumed going into lap 24 with Shepherd still leading ahead of Thunhorst and Kibbey.
The field stretched out running single file as Davis found himself stranded to the outside and was quickly falling back. Jason Menda cleared ahead of Jeffrey Hardin and Donny Moore for 4th place but wasn’t able to match the pace coming out of the three leaders who had started to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. With 50 laps completed, the front of the pack was still Shepherd, Thunhorst, Kibbey as they chased each other around the track waiting for any mistake to take advantage of.
Going into the second half of the night, contact between Joe Segalla and Todd Liston brought out the caution with 50 laps remaining giving the field the opportune time to come down pit road for tires. Bryan Dehn and Chris Davis stayed out on track taking control of the field for the restart with Shepherd, Kibbey, and Thunhorst directly behind them with fresh tires. Shepherd dove beneath Dehn coming out of turn two and took the lead back with Thunhorst and Kibbey following him through as they resumed battling over the lead between themselves.
Davis was holding onto 5th behind Hardin as the race stretched out getting what he could out of his older tires as the caution flag came out with 20 laps remaining showing the gamble Davis and Dehn were going for as they came down pit road going into the final stretch taking the green with the freshest tires in the field running in 7th and 8th for the restart. Proudfoot was the last car on the lead lap in 8th place as the green flag came back out and racing resumed. Davis wasted no time using his tire advantage to jump up to 5th off the jump and dove beneath Hardin for 4th. As he closed in on Kibbey’s bumper, Davis was too confident and spun his tires coming out of the corner sending himself around on track and back to 8th.
Thunhorst had yet to make an attempt on the lead, running tight on the back of Shepherd with the laps counting down hoping to pressure the leader into making a mistake. Kibbey took a quick look to the inside of Thunhorst, but checked up instead to avoid contact with Thunhorst’s inside rear fender as contact between Adam Schoen and Lowell Jewell in the middle of the field brought the caution back out and J R Shepherd took the checkered flag under caution flag conditions with Mathew Thunhorst, Kenny Kibbey, Bryan Dehn, and Jeffrey Hardin rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight at Hickory Motor Speedway in the 7th Annual Bootleg Racing League Asphalt Shootout presented by Stone River Outfitters.
BRL Dirt Shootout Recap
16 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | 2nd Annual Dirt Shootout
Dirt Street Stock Series | I-55 Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Thomas Vickers with Richard Murtaugh Racing took the checkered flag tonight in the 2nd Annual Bootleg Racing League Dirt Shootout presented by Senneker Steel Erectors Inc. at the I-55 Speedway ahead of Brandyn Proudfoot and William Hargreaves. Vickers commented on the pressure of having Proudfoot chasing him down throughout the 40-lap feature event, “You just gotta stay focused on what’s ahead not really worry about what’s behind you or you’ll start missing marks and stuff like that.”
Thomas Vickers threw down the fastest lap of the night at 11.912 in qualifying before leading the first heat race to the green flag and was able to maintain the lead all the way to take the win over Stephen Spies. John Heyn held off J R Shepherd to take the checkered flag in the 2nd heat and Brandyn Proudfoot pulled away to take the final heat win of the night. Justin Morton and William Hargreaves won their respective consolation races leading into the 40-lap feature event at the I-55 Speedway.
Vickers took the green to the inside of Heyn and was able to quickly clear into the lead off the jump. The opening laps were rough for several drivers having their night ended early to include Jeffrey Hardin and Jason Menda after being caught out from various incidents around the track. After the first 10 laps, Vickers still had control of the field, but Proudfoot had moved up into 2nd and was closing in on the leader. Shepherd and Heyn were running side by side battling over 3rd place with Heyn ultimately holding the position. Hargreaves was up to 5th and pressuring Shepherd for 4th as the drivers crossed the halfway point of the night.
Hargreaves dove low with Billy Northcutt directly behind him forcing Shepherd back to 6th in the end. Proudfoot continued to chase Vickers around the track as the leaders pulled away from the rest of the field building over a 3 second gap ahead of Heyn in 3rd. Morton and Spies caught the rear of Shepherd and started challenging Shepherd for 7th place as Jason Dill overtook into 6th. Kenny Kibbey climbed back into the top 10 after being caught in two separate incidents early in the run. Morton and Spies came together with 8 laps remaining bringing out the caution and reducing the gap to the leaders back to zero for a single file restart.
Vickers had a great jump as the green came out with Proudfoot struggling to match his pace. Hargreaves had gotten around Heyn for 3rd but wasn’t able to keep up with the leaders who again started to pull away. Proudfoot threw everything he had at the track, but it proved to be not enough in the end as Thomas Vickers took the checkered flag tonight with Brandyn Proudfoot, William Hargreaves, John Heyn, and J R Shepherd rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight in the 2nd Annual Senneker Steel Shoot at the I-55 Speedway.
PGRL S3 R4 Recap
13 September 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 4
Premier Series | Kansas Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Woody Mahan with Loud Pedal Motorsports took the checkered flag tonight in the It’s Pretty Good 200 at Kansas Speedway with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Scott Eckrich and Michael Chrobok. “I feel great, to be honest with you right now. That was awesome.”, Mahan shared with us as the night came to a close at Kansas Speedway, “I was very confident that I was going to make it on fuel… I knew that once the tires started to wear [we were] gaining on people”
Cody Dempster led the 28-car field out of turn four to take the green flag and cleared ahead of James Moore going into the first turn as drivers started moving up toward the preferred line up along the outside wall. Brian Yaczik was quickly pushing up through the field already within the top 10 from a starting position near the back of the field as the drivers put the first 10 laps behind them. Scott Eckrich almost had his night ended early and had to nearly come to a stop to avoid Christopher Dewald who got loose and made contact with Jonathan Cogswell collecting several other drivers and that essentially created a parking lot coming out of turn two with drivers scattering in all directions on the backstretch.
As racing resumed, Michael Chrobok pushed forward into the 2nd place running on the low line with Yaczik following him closely while the field went 3 wide in several battles as drivers started experimenting with different lines. The caution came back out on lap 26 when Eckrich lifted to avoid a checkup ahead catching Chance Manning off guard directly behind him. Eckrich was sent around with minor damage to his right rear that he was able to take care of while nearly the entire field came down pit road for fuel and tires with Adam Jurski, who did not opt to take a pit stop, taking control of the field for the restart.
Mike Rasimas was battling with Chrobok for 2nd behind Jordan Harnish approaching the 50-lap mark before Chrobok used the inside line to get a nose ahead of Harnish clearing for the lead. Rasimas got to the outside of Harnish pushing him back to 3rd and Chrobok stretched his lead out to over 0.5 on the field. Eckrich was holding 13th place 1 lap off the leaders after his earlier incident and trying to make up what he could still early enough on in the night to have a decent finish for points.
Vincent Crow climbed back up to the front getting around Rasimas and closing on Chrobok quickly taking the lead away coming out of turn four going into lap 56. The 21 drivers still on track had become spread out around the track with Yaczik the last driver on the lead lap from 11th place. Eckrich moved up into 12th, the first car off the lead lap and in a great position for a potential caution later on in the night to have another chance to go after the win as the field crossed the halfway point.
Crow seemed to use up his tires prematurely allowing Chrobok to close back in on his bumper pressuring for the lead again as the caution flag came back out on lap 72 for a minor one car incident further back on track giving Eckrich the wave around back onto the lead lap for the restart. Crow won the race off pit road maintaining the lead with Chrobok in 3rd behind Woody Mahan. Chrobok and Harnish battled for 3rd place while Eckrich cautiously pushed up through the field up to 8th making consistent forward progression as the laps counted down going into the final stretch.
With 35 laps remaining, Chrobok was running side by side with Mahan fighting over the lead as Yaczik watched for 3rd place. Mahan was defending hard against Chrobok aggressively fighting for the lead as Eckrich moved up into 4th with a surprise move clearing Harnish and Manning. Going into the final 10 laps, Eckrich had cleared ahead of Chrobok for 2nd place and was reeling Mahan in for the lead. As the white flag came out, Mahan still held a 0.5 second lead over Eckrich and Woody Mahan took the checkered flag in the It’s Pretty Good 200 at Kansas Speedway with Scott Eckrich, Michael Chrobok, Isaiah Dupre, and Brian Yaczik rounding out the top 5 finishers tonight.
Brian Yaczik holds on to the lead in the point standings with 160 points altogether. Woody Mahan jumped up 3 spots to 2nd place, now only 10 points behind the lead after tonight’s strong run. Thomas George slid back to 3rd with 135 points ahead of Michael Chrobok who also jumped up 3 spots into 4th place with 133 points. Adam Jurski rounds out the top 5 drivers of the season after four rounds with 126 points. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Bristol Motor Speedway on September 20th for the Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Month 250 with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
BRL SLM S18 R11 Recap
10 September 2022
Bootleg Racing League | Season 18 | Round 11
Super Late Model Series | Myrtle Beach Speedway
Photograph by: Michael Goodman
Sim Racing Software: iRacing
Kenny Kibbey with Nocturnal Gaming passed nearly the entire field on his way to the front to take the checkered flag tonight in his return to the Bootleg Racing League Super Late Model Series at Myrtle Beach Speedway ahead of J R Shepherd and Justin Morton. “It’s tough when you’re racing against championship guys like that”, Kibbey commented after his impressive win tonight, “Hopefully we can just keep putting together runs… Yeah, looking forward to coming back and racing just about every week.”
Austin Boelke led the 18-car field to the green flag with Justin Morton to his outside. J R Shepherd started in 3rd and quickly dove beneath Morton off the jump. The two drivers ran side by side while Morton tried to utilize the outside line but was eventually forced to concede the position to Shepherd after 3 intense laps. As the field single filed out around the track, Shepherd and Morton closed back in on Boelke in the lead with Joseph Snyder directly behind them as the top 4 started to pull away from the rest of the pack.
20 laps into the night, Kenny Kibbey was making a hard charge to the front already up to 5th, from a 15th place starting position, and was closing on the leaders quickly. Shepherd saw his opportunity on lap 25 getting his nose to the inside of Boelke and started battling for the lead over several laps before clearing ahead of Boelke on lap 27. Morton dove his car in behind Shepherd before Boelke could close the door as Kibbey ran close behind in 4th. Kibbey was able to get to the inside of Boelke before Morton cleared to ensure that the door remained open as Boelke was pushed back to 4th place.
Shepherd continued to hold the lead ahead of Morton and Kibbey as the top 3 broke away from the field as the drivers approached the halfway point of the night. Kibbey was pressuring Morton for 2nd place trying to force a mistake out of Morton while Shepherd wasn’t able to build a gap behind him as we’ve seen him do in previous rounds this season. Boelke dropped further back, still running in 4th, defending his position from Adam Schoen and Snyder closing on his bumper. Lap 52 saw Kibbey aggressively dive beneath Morton forcing an opening allowing him to quickly overtake for 2nd place.
Kibbey wasted no time going after the lead again aggressively throwing his car to the inside and getting a nose ahead of Shepherd before clearing into the lead with 43 laps remaining. Shepherd looked to the inside of Kibbey to pull off a crossover but couldn’t close in on Kibbey enough to complete the move settling into 2nd ahead of Morton. Kibbey took full advantage of the open track ahead of him stretching out his lead. In the final 30 laps, Kibbey had built up a commanding gap ahead of Shepherd and was negotiating through lap traffic with the drivers respectfully clearing the preferred line for the approaching leaders.
Going into the final 10 laps, Morton continued to pressure Shepherd for 2nd place, but Shepherd was defensively holding the inside line tight while Kibbey had completely checked out and was well over 1 second ahead of the rest of the field. Morton made a few peaks to the inside of Shepherd to have the door slammed shut again and again as Kenny Kibbey took the checkered flag tonight in the final round of Season 18 ahead of J R Shepherd, Justin Morton, Austin Boelke, and Jeffrey Hardin rounding out the top 5 finishers at Myrtle Beach Speedway.
J R Shepherd took the season championship tonight with 424 points overall over Justin Morton with 415 points. “It was a tough season for sure”, Shepherd commented on the championship before giving his competitor praise, “[Morton’s] one heck of a driver. Very, very clean and there’s several times tonight he could’ve just shoved it to the inside and he chose not to, so it shows the type of driver he is. That’s a person you want to see succeed and I promise you, you will.” Austin Boelke finished the season out in 3rd place with 400 points while Michael Goodman and Kurt Smith finished in 4th and 5th place respectively with only 8 points between them. Next week, on September 17th, is the 7th Annual Stone River Shootout where the race winners from the past year in the Bootleg Racing League will pilot the ARCA stock cars around Hickory Motor Speedway with all of the action broadcast live at 9PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!
