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5dollarpromo_160x600 Simcraft

January 2012

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M T W T F S S
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iRacing TV

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The Team

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  • David Phillips
    Editor and Chief
    David Phillips is a long-time contributor to print and electronic publications in the U.S. and abroad, including Racer, Autosport, AutoWeek, Motor Sport and SPEEDtv.com, oversees the daily updating of news stories and assigns, edits and contributes feature material for inRacingNews.com.
  • Chris Hall
    iRacing.com Series Writer
    Chris Hall has been writing since the nineties and moved into motorsports reporting in 2005, covering series such as ALMS, British GT, FIA GT, Le Mans and 2CV racing for Full Throttle magazine, Motorsport.com, The-Paddock.net, GTGateway.com, L' Endurance and, of course, inRacingNews. During 2008 and 2009, he worked with the RSS Performance Porsche Carrera Cup Team (and former British GT(C) champions) as a data engineer for a variety of drivers and models of 997s.
  • Jameson Spies
    Contributing Writer
    19 years old, Jameson Spies lives in Quartz Hill, California. He grew-up surrounded by racing. His mother raced late models throughout Southern California while his father built and setup the car. Not surprisingly, Jameson began racing go-karts at the age of 13, and is now racing Spec Trucks at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He has a passion about all forms of racing and hopes to make a career out of it.
  • Jason Lofing
    iRacing.com Series Writer
    Jason is 21 years old and was born and raised in Elk Grove. California. A big time NASCAR fan, he hasn’t missed a race on Sunday in years. Lofing is also a huge San Fransisco Giants fan and tries to take in at least a couple games a year. Other than sim racing, his biggest (and far more expensive!) hobby is photography. Although he is rather new to sim racing, Lofing has already accomplished some pretty impressive results, qualifying for the 2011 iRacing Oval Pro Series in Season 1, 2011, winning the inaugural Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge and finishing runner-up in the second one.
  • Ray Bryden
    Technical contributor
    Ray grew up in Nova Scotia, which means he’s a hockey nut, but in Nova Scotia’s two non-winter months he had to find other diversions, which meant watching F1 racing on weekends with his dad and brothers. Without the resources to get started in racing, he gravitated to computer versions of racing – first Atari games like Pole Position, followed by PC racing games like Indianapolis 500: The Simulation. Dozens of others came and went, until Grand Prix Legends came along and he decided sim-racing was his official hobby. Years were spent enjoying this both offline and online until a few years of fatherhood took priority. When free-time reappeared he heard about iRacing and signed up in 2008 and became so involved in the service that he wrote one of the first books on the subject of sim-racing, iRacing Paddock. When not writing for inRacingNews.com, his main occupation is as a research associate with Saint-Gobain working on advanced ceramic materials.
  • Patrick Atherton
    Contributing Writer
    Patrick Atherton, originally from Adelaide in the state of South Australia, currently resides just outside of Melbourne, Victoria with wife of 17 years and 3 kids. A business manager by profession, but also dabbles with blogging, cartooning and fine art, having been published both as a writer in a short-lived South Australian motorsport yearbook and later as a cartoonist in a niche trade magazine. At the age of 19 he competed in club circuit events in an Austin Healey Sprite, later indulging in sprint karts between 1994 and 2000. Following the move to the State of Victoria he raced Road Race Karts (“Superkarts” as they are known in Australia) in the popular Rotax class, competing at Phillip Island, Oran Park, Mallala, Wakefield Park, Eastern Creek, Calder Park, Sandown and Winton. It was during this time he met former Australian F2 champion and inventor of Australia’s first, and most prolific race simulator rig, Jon Crooke. This culminated in an introduction to Papyrus’ legendary NR2003 simulation, and the subsequent sim racing addiction which brought him to iRacing.
  • Tim Terry
    Contributing Writer
    Tim Terry, aka the voice of Maritime stock car racing, fell in love with sim racing in 2004 after he joined the Sim Racing Network crew as a pit reporter. From October 2004 to SRNtv’s closure in June 2007, he’s covered prestigious races and leagues such as the Online 500, FLM Fall 400, Real Racing Online and the DMP Racing League – each as the lead broadcaster for the company. At the same time the wheels started to turn in another direction as he began announcing stock car racing locally. Terry became the assistant announcer at Scotia Speedworld in May 2007 and took over full duties in May 2009 when long-time voice Mike Kaplan retired from the track. Terry also became the series voice of the Parts For Trucks Pro Stock Tour in ’09 and continues to hold down both posts in 2011. He has also announced races for the Pro All Stars Series, Atlantic Open Wheel and Maritime League of Legends tours and has called races at six different Atlantic Canadian tracks. Terry can be heard online at WebRacingNetwork.com, RLMtv.com and OLRtv.com covering sim races. He also makes occasional appearances on PSRtv.com. In addition to inRacingNews, his articles and columns can be read on ScotiaSpeedworld.ca, MaritimeProStockTour.com and his own website at timterryonline.com.
  • David Allen
    Contributing Writer
    North Carolina born and raised with over 15 years of computer/IT experience, I combine two of my biggest hobbies -- racing and technology -- here at inRacingNews. In my spare time I run a Nascar fan site and cure my own need for speed riding atvs. If it involves technology or racing I'll be there, but combine the two and I'll be looking a front row seat. Stop by and say hello anytime!
  • Allen Krier
    Contributing Writer
    Allen was born in West Palm Beach, Florida but grew up in Atlanta and attended Georgia College and State University where he received a BS in Information Systems. Currently a resident of Albany, GA, he started sim racing in 2008 while in college when iRacing was first released to the public. Since then, Krier has been a two time iRacing Pro Series driver (2009 and 2010), picking up one Pro Series win at Daytona in ‘09. Besides sim racing, Allen’s other hobbies include RC Car racing as well as “attending and watching any sporting event that I can including going to the local dirt track.

iRacer Profile – Dylan Sharman

by David Phillips on January 28th, 2012

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Call him “Dillman” or “Sharmanator” or just plain Dylan, 19 year old Dylan Sharman is certainly a leading candidate for the title of “King of SK Modifieds.  After all the resident of Nuriootpa, South Australia has nearly 50 SK Modified wins to his credit in the past three seasons – and the 2011 Season 3 and 4 championships.  He slipped a little in Season 4, finishing second to Rusty Greer despite taking 19 wins in 21 starts. But Sharman is more than an SK Mod specialist.  In recent weeks he’s won races in everything from the HPD-ARX01c to the Mazda MX-5 Cup and Class A Impala.  And as his spectacular screen shots attest, the steering wheel, throttle and brake pedals are not the only sim racing tools he’s mastered. Q:   [...]

World Cup of iRacing in High Gear

January 27th, 2012

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The third annual World Cup of iRacing shifts into high gear this weekend with Saturday’s Regional Annual Club Championship (RACC) Finals and the World Cup Final on Sunday. 25 of iRacing’s 38 geographical clubs qualified for the World Cup of iRacing tournament, which began on Tuesday with the RACC Runoffs consisting of road course competition at Spa-Francorchamps in Star Mazdas and oval track competition at Michigan International Speedway in Chevrolet Silverados. Although two-time World Cup of iRacing champions DE-AT-CH (Germany-Austria-Switzerland) must rate as the favorites, there are two dozen clubs – and hundreds of iRacers – who would like nothing better than to deny the club’s bid for a “three-peat” with a World Cup of their own. The weekend’s schedule is as follows: RACC Final – Saturday Jan 28 Oval: [...]

RSR Round 2 at Road America

by Ed Sutcliff and Les Turner on January 27th, 2012

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Members of the Red Sox Racing League traveled to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the league’s second multi-class race of 2012, “The Kettle Moraine 30 at Road America”.  Family, friends, and fans enjoyed the beautiful countryside and attractions near the challenging road course while twenty-four RSR drivers practiced for the race.  The track has three long straight sections broken up by several tight turns and high speed corners along a 4.048 mile layout.  The track first opened in 1955 and is one of the few road courses in the world which has not changed its original layout.     Week one of the RSR multi-class experiment saw six drivers retire early from the Watkins Glen race as a result of damage.  In what was probably the most incident filled race in RSR [...]

Paquette Dethrones Ottinger

by Allen Krier on January 26th, 2012

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Week 12 of the iRacing.com Street Stock Series saw sim racers travel to Oxford Plains Speedway for the final week of the season and the crowning of the 2011 Season 4 champion. Many drivers started-off the season with the goal of dethroning three time series champion Nick Ottinger (Carolina) but only one driver was able to make it happen. Maxime Paquette (Eastern Canada) was the one who came out on top when all was said and done. Weekly Standings With a season championship within his reach, Paquette set fire to Oxford Plains. In two races, Paquette won both while leading 81 of 100 laps and netting the most points of the online racing week with 185. Cole Anderson (Midwest) finished the final week of the season by also winning both [...]

Double Vision – Again

January 26th, 2012

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The final weeks of the 2011 Season 4 inRacingNews Challenge saw the mixed class (SpecRacer Fords and Pontiac Solstices) visit three very different circuits:  the short course configuration at Summit Point Raceway, Charlotte Motor Speedway’s “r-oval” road course and Okayama International’s  long course.  Long or short, r-oval or pure road circuit, Michael Booth and Gabriel Tobar proved unbeatable as they swept to the Solstice and SRF titles, respectively . . . again (in Booth’s case, his second straight title, while Tobar took his third SRF crown in the past four seasons). Week 10 of the inRacingNews Challenge season headed to West Virginia and Summit Point Raceway, marking the fourth and final visit of the season to the series’ de facto home track, and one of precious few opportunities for the [...]

World Championship Fields Finalized

by David Phillips on January 26th, 2012

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The fields for iRacing’s twin 2012 World Championships were finalized last week with the completion of the 2011 NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) and the 2011 iRacing.com Pro Series Road Racing (iPSRR). The top 25 finishers in each of the Pro series secured berths in the upcoming NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) and iRacing.com World Championship Grand Prix Series (iWCGPS).  Beginning in February, they will join the top 25 finishers from last year’s NiSWC and iWCGPS in battling for the top prizes in online racing and the World Championship titles. The 2012 NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship kicks-off on February 21 at Daytona International Speedway and will feature a 17 race schedule mirroring that of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup.  Defending champion Ray Alfalla will lead a field of [...]

Warren Edges Buchberger for Truck Title

by Tim Terry on January 25th, 2012

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Nearly 900 sim racers journeyed to Thunder Valley for the final week of the 2011 NiCCS.

2011 NiSWC champion Adds NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series Crown to His Trophy Case In the span of seven days, Alex Warren went from winning the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series championship to having to battle fellow Pro pilot Brandon Buchberger down to the wire in the NASCAR iRacing Class C Series (NiCCS). The duel was just that, close enough that it came down to the final laps of the season and when the points were tallied, it was Warren and his Core Pipe/GSRacing.net sponsored team who came out on top after the grueling twelve week season – by one point. Week Eleven saw the series convene at the Tricky Triangle, formally known as Pocono Raceway. Warren finished atop the standings for the week and gained 13 points on his nearest [...]

Spindel Takes Pro Series Finale at Suzuka

by Chris Hall on January 24th, 2012

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Spindel survived a topsy-turvy 53 laps to score his first iPSRR win at Suzuka in the series finale.

In a breathtaking 53 laps around the virtual Suzuka International circuit, Emil Spindel held-off the advances of newly-crowned champion Atze Kerkhof to take his first victory in the iRacing.com Pro Series Road Racing (iPSRR). As the lights went green on the twelfth and final race of the season, CST Ajira’s Spindel saw his pole-position advantage immediately evaporate, as Martin Krönke in the My3id Williams-Toyota FW31grabbed maximum traction off the line to lead the field into Turn One. Also making a good start was Kerkhof, who forced his Team Redline entry beneath Spindel as the pair entered the first corner.  However, contact between the duo whilst heading to Turn Two sent the series champion sliding across the track and down to fifth position. With a clear track ahead, Krönke set about [...]

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McLeod Wins Battle, Loses War

by Patrick Atherton on January 24th, 2012

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MADISON DOWN THE SERIES CHAMP AGAIN Just to add a little spice to the already-hot iRacing V8 Supercar Series finale, series points leader Madison Down was unable to front for the maximum points Monday Night Showdown at Road Atlanta due to pressing travel arrangements. While some would argue that it detracted from the event, leaving the series destiny at the mercy of an SOF points variable, it also meant that Mitchell McLeod and Rens Broekman, both trailing Down, would have a genuine shot at series victory. At the very least, the points gap would be minimal. Broekman drew first blood with pole position by a tenth of a second, which is a country mile in this series. McLeod put the Tatts.com Falcon on the front row. Mick Claridge made a [...]

Burris Best at Bristol

by Tim Terry on January 23rd, 2012

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Burris Best at Bristol

Kevin Burris edged one step closer to the 2011 Season Four iRacing.com Late Model Tour (iLMT) title during Round 11 as he took the overall victory at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Over 700 sim racers took to the high banks in the popular short track car over the seven day span to test their luck and skill against the best on the iRacing service but, in the end, it was the point leader edging-out the weekly victory. Burris’ victory came during Thursday’s 2840 Strength of Field (SoF) race in which he led 18 laps from the pole position. He edged Trey Jarrell by under two tenths of a second for a victory with Alex Ciambrone, Aaron Easler and Gary Dawson completing the top five. Jarrell led 32 laps in the [...]

iRacer Profile: Joni Hagner

by David Phillips on January 21st, 2012

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It would come as no surprise if Finland’s Joni Hagner were to stop into his local tattoo parlor for some bow-tie “ink.”  After all, he’s pretty much a Chevrolet kind of guy when it comes to iRacing.  A fixture in the top ten of the Corvette class of the iRacing.com Prototype and GT Challenge (Fixed and Open), he’s got his first championship in sight heading into the final weekend of 2011 Season 4, holding a narrow edge on Fernando Pento in the Fixed Set-up series.  He’s also piloted his ‘Vette to the runner-up spot behind countryman Teemu Vuolle in the Open Set-up series. And Hagner is a very respectable P31 in Division 2 of the NASCAR Class A standings in, what else, a Chevrolet Impala. In truth, Hagner’s not so [...]

Multi-Class racing comes to RSR

by Ed Sutcliff and Les Turner on January 20th, 2012

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After much discussion, multi-class racing has finally been embraced by the Red Sox Racing League (RSR).  The change in format means that beginning in Season One of the RSR 2012 calendar, league members have the opportunity to participate in some of the most exciting online racing available.  The decision to include fixed setup multi-class racing wasn’t an easy one as league administrators had to struggle with the challenge of designing competitive setups for two different vehicles while ensuring their league points system could handle the new format.   RSR settled on two of the fastest cars in the iRacing stable for use in the multi-class events.  First up was the Honda Performance Development (HPD) ARX-01C as the Class A vehicle.  The Chevrolet Corvette C6R was chosen as the Class B [...]

Daley Sails to New Smyrna Win

by Tim Terry on January 20th, 2012

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Daley battles Hightower (20), O'Keefe and Danny Hanson (32) on the way to his win at New Smyrna.

Byron Daley reversed what has been a streak of bad races for the #91 MattDRacing.com Chevrolet team in the GSRacing.net Truck Series in a big way Thursday night by taking the victory in the JDR Graphics 125 at the New Smyrna Speedway. Daley, who came within a half straightaway of winning the JDR Graphics 100 at Iowa Speedway last week, passed Jordan Hightower on the outside on the final restart with five laps to go. Third place in the JDR Graphics 125 belonged to Kenneth OKeefe while Danny Hansen and Brandon Kettelle rumbled home to complete the top five. The race was a slugfest for the sim racers in the GSRacing.net Truck Series as 16 yellow flag periods slowed the pace of the online race, which took only one hour [...]

Tour Mods Title is Wide Open

January 19th, 2012

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The Tour Mods action at USA International and New Hampshire set the stage for a two-way battle for the season title at Thompson in Week 12.

Wide Open Racing teammates Brandon Salvatore and Taylor Meyn flexed their muscle in the NASCAR iRacing Tour Modified division during competition on Weeks Ten and Eleven in the series. Salvatore, who is looking to defend his Tour Modified crown, took one step forward at USA International Speedway when he took the week’s big split online race. The win for Salvatore, which was rated at 4174 Strength of Field (SoF) saw the champ lead 26 of the 100 laps after starting second. Former series titlist and pole-sitter Herb Engelhart led the first 74 laps before turning the lead over to Salvatore in the only lead change of the race. Derrick Cormier2 came home third, followed by Taylor Meyn and Troy Talman. Salvatore took home 254 points for the win in the [...]

Stepping-Up in Class A

by Jameson Spies on January 19th, 2012

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More than 500 Class A racers took to the high banks at MIS.  Here

With only two weeks remaining in the the NASCAR iRacing.com Class A Series season, Michigan International Speedway hosted one of the most pivotal weeks of the season. With speeds well over 200mph, a comfortable feel for drivers was crucial. While some drivers stepped up their game to match the intensity of MIS, others lost ground at one of the worst times imaginable. One driver stepping up his game not only this week, but this season is Kile Gottula. Gottula leads the NiCAS Division One standings by a considerable margin, and he put his stamp on the championship this week in Michigan. Placing himself at the top of the charts at MIS all but l locks-up the California sim racer’s championship.  Although mathematically eligible, Steve Ritter would need a minor miracle [...]

Street Stocks: Paquette Still on Top

by Allen Krier on January 18th, 2012

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More than 600 Street Stocks answered the call at CMS.

Week 11 of the iRacing.com Street Stock Series saw sim racers travel to Charlotte, North Carolina to race on the 1/4 mile Legends Oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway. During the week, 629 drivers made one or more starts while 211 drivers turned at least one qualifying lap and Maxime Paquette (Eastern Canada) looked to increase his points lead in his drive to bring home the season championship. Weekly High Strength of Field Last week’s high Strength of Field (SoF) race registered at 2773 which paid 168 points for the victory. New NASCAR iRacing,com Series World Championship qualifier Paul Kusheba (Connecticut) found himself on the top step of last week’s high SoF race after starting sixth. Kusheba lead 43 laps in route to a four tenth victory over Benjamin Harste (Midwest). [...]

Baldwin’s Race, Warren’s NiPS Crown

by Jason Lofing on January 18th, 2012

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Thrill of victories, agony of defeat: On his way to the NiPS title, Warren (82) leads eventual race winner Baldwin (52) and Ottinger (05) whose bid for the title was destined to be derailed by a crash.

25 Qualify for 2012 NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship With a championship and the top 25 points positions – and their guaranteed berths in the 2012 World Championship – in the balance, the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series headed to Kentucky Speedway for the last race of the season. Alex Warren came into the finale with a three point in the standings, needing a finish of twelfth of better to clinch the title while Marcus Lindsey, Patrick Baldwin, Kevin King, Richie Davidowitz and Nick Ottinger looked to overhaul him in the standings with strong finishes. Also, Josh Connors, PJ Stergios, Matt Sentell,  Kenneth O’Keefe and Mitchell Hunt were among the sim racers hoping to lock-in a spot in the top 25 in points and secure their place in the 2012 NASCAR [...]

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Schmalenbach Surges to Sebring Victory

by Chris Hall on January 17th, 2012

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Schmalenbach used a combination of speed and strategy to grab his first iPSRR win at Sebring.

In a race of pit-stop tactics and survival, Sebastian Schmalenbach scored his first 2011 iRacing.com Pro Series Road Racing (iPSRR) victory in the penultimate round of the championship with a masterful fuel-strategy over 52 laps of the virtual Sebring International Raceway. As the green flag dropped Pablo López tried to squeeze his Williams-Toyota FW31 between the left-hand wall and My3id’s Andre Boettcher. Finding there was no room to get through, the Radicals Racing sim racer darted to the right, directly into the path of Twister Racing’s Jeremy Bouteloup.  Bouteloup’s attempt at evasive action resulted in contact with Roy Kolbe, triggering a chain reaction involving a further eight cars – including Ian Lake, who barrel-rolled into retirement along the front-straight. The midfield carnage on the start-line separated the field into two [...]

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V8 Supercar Showdown Looms Large.

by Patrick Atherton on January 17th, 2012

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The title leaders battle at Brands (image courtesy Dylan Sharman)

The iRacing V8 Supercar series by Bigpond Sport continues to thrill, and the top split is heading for a showdown worthy of it’s immense status. This epic iRacing event will take place at Road Atlanta this Monday 23rd January. The final season for 2011/12 has been a story of intense, consistent rivalry between Trans-Tasman’s Madison Down, Tatts.com Racing’s Mitchell McLeod and Nfinity Esports’ Rens Broekman. While Down has had the upper hand, indeed dominating most rounds, McLeod has shown him up enough to stay in the chase. “Road Atlanta will be bigger than Ben Hur…” Right now, the gap between Down and McLeod, first and second, is a measly 42 points. Meanwhile, a dropping-worst-round points system stands to benefit Broekman. Since our last report on a messy Round Six at [...]

Karlavige King of Kentucky

by Tim Terry on January 17th, 2012

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The NASCAR iRacing.com Class Series heads from Iowa to Pocono and Dover in the final weeks of the season.

Gale Force Racing’s Jason Karlavige is quickly making a name for himself on the iRacing service. The sim racer who has made selected starts in the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series and who is a winner in the GSRacing.net Truck Series put another big stamp on his resume by winning Week Ten in the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series at the Kentucky Speedway. The Pennsylvanian’s week-winning victory came during Friday’s 3426 Strength of Field race, as he led 27 of the 90 laps to defeat Allen Lewis, Greg Spears, Mason Weitzel and Heath Hindman. The race featured nine cautions and saw 15 lead changes amongst ten drivers with Karlavige leading the most laps after starting on pole. Karlavige took away 215 points for the win. Chad McCumbee came home second for [...]