Ray Alfalla (1) leads the field down the frontstretch towards Turn One.

After a very tough week in Darlington, drivers of the NASCAR iRacing Class C Fixed Series were happy to get out of Darlington and head into North Carolina for a visit to Concord, North Carolina and the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 1.5-mile speedway produces some of the best racing that the iRacing.com service has to offer. The Silverado mixed with the fast speeds that Charlotte Motor Speedway produces always provides a great race for everyone involved. Nearly 2,800 sim racers (wow!) watched the green flag fall for at least one racing during Week Three in the NiCCF.

Kollin Keister (Atlantic) has been on a tear the past couple weeks, winning the Strength of Field event the past two weeks. Keister started from outside of the front row and led 13 of the event’s 35 laps en route to a 0.258 second margin of victory over Michael Guest (Indiana). Christian Pedersen (New England) started from the third position and finished in the same spot after pacing the field for a total of eight laps. NASCAR iRacing Series World Championship competitor Paul Kusheba (New England) finished in the fourth position after starting from the 11^th position. Jeremy R Allen (Indiana) drove his No. 5 Silverado to a fifth place finish after starting from tenth in the 4850 SoF.

Although NiSWC competitor Chad J Laughton (Carolina) did not participate in the top SoF event for the week, he was able to earn the most championship points with 292 due to Keister starting nine races compared to Lauhgton’s three races. NiSWC competitor Michael Conti (New Jersey) ended the week in the second position after making two starts and earning two top five finishes while earning 279 points. Pedersen’s four starts and two top fives earned him enough points (271) to place him in the third position for the week. Steven Eszenyi (New England) had a great week of sim racing. Eszenyi’s week consisted of 12 starts, 11 top fives, and six wins while netting 268 points. Rounding out the top five was Keister who made nine starts and earned three wins including the high SoF event.

Christian Pedersen (6) leads a group of racers into Turn Three.

For the second week this season, Aussie Brodie Kostecki was the fastest driver in qualifying for the week with a fast time of 29.573 seconds. NiSWC champion Ray Alfalla (Florida) continued a solid qualifying effort as he was once again in the top two overall qualifiers, turning in a time of 29.575. Justin Brooks (Carolina) was the third fastest driver for the week with a time of 29.588, followed by Conti and Keister who completed the remainder of the top five.

Three weeks are in the books for Season Two and Alfalla currently has a two point lead over second place Keister. Pedersen holds down the third position, just 37 points behind heading into Talladeaga. Allen sits in the fourth position, 56 points behind as Laughton rounds out the top five, 86 points back.

With Charlotte in the dust, a true beast comes alive next week as the drivers roar into Talladega Superspeedway for action at one of NASCAR’s most popular tracks. The 2.66-mile superspeedway always produces some of the most exciting finishes auto racing has to offer. Check back in a week’s time to see who was able to escape the big one that is sure to happen as the NiCCF heads into Alabama and the Talladega Superspeedway.

Christian Pedersen (12) leads a group of racers off Turn Four.

The Lady in Black. The Track Too Tough to Tame. Whatever you call it, Darlington Raceway is certainly a very, very unique track on the NASCAR circuit. Its egg-shaped design provides the sim racers with a tough battle as they try to navigate around the 1.366-mile track in just over 28.5 seconds. Even with running one of the most difficult tracks on the iRacing.com service, an astounding 1,608 sim racers took the green flag for at least one event in Week Two of the NASCAR iRacing Class C Fixed Series.

One person who didn’t shy away from the challenges of Darlington Raceway was Kollin Keister (Atlantic). He battled against some heavy hitters as he took the checkered flag in the week’s top Strength of Field event by 0.342 seconds over Michael Guest (Indiana) after leading 26 of the event’s 35 laps. NASCAR iRacing Series World Championship competitor Richard Dusett (New England) finished in the third position after starting from the outside of the front row. Nicholas Goertzen (Canada) was the pole sitter for the event and led the opening nine laps before ultimately dropping back to fourth position as the checkered flag flew. Trey McKinney (Carolina) started from the seventh position and cautiously worked his way up into the top five at the end of the event. Notebales in the race who were not in the top five include NiSWC competitors Michael Conti (New Jersey) and Danny Hansen (Midwest) who finished sixth and 18th respectively in the 4164 SoF.

With a very dominating run in the top SoF event of the week, Keister netted a solid 261 championship points as he looks to make a run at the Season Two championship. Jeremy R Allen (Indiana) did not compete in the week’s top SoF event, but he was able to earn a very respectable 245 points heading into Week Three at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Christian Pedersen (New England) has come on strong as of late and is quickly making a name for himself in the iRacing.com service as a contender each week. Pedersen’s efforts for the week earned him 244 points as he also looks to make a run for the championship. Marcus Lindsey (Indiana) took a break from behind the wheel of his usual ride, the No. 1 Obutto Gaming Cockpits/Main Performance PC Chevrolet SS to get behind the wheel of a Silverado. Lindsey made eight starts throughout the week, earning victories in all eight of those events, and amassing 241 points for his brilliant drive during the week. Malik Ray (Carolina) filled the remaining spot in the top five for the week, earning 240 points after starting three races and earning two top five finishes.

Christian Pedersen (12) battles with Harrison Widelitz (2) and others through Turns One and Two.

NiSWC champion Ray Alfalla (Florida) set the quickest time in qualifying for the week with a blazing fast pace of 28.523 seconds. Pedersen was not far behind as he ended the week in the second position with a 28.555 second lap time. The final podium position went to Anthony Kernich (Australia/NZ) with a time of 28.600 as Goertzen and Lindsey round out the top five who turned times of 28.611 and 28.612, respectively.

After New Hampshire and Darlington, Alfalla currently holds a 19 point lead in the season standings over Keister who was dominate at Darlington. Allen’s solid drive popped him up into the top three in points, just 43 out of the lead heading into Week Three. Brand Buie2 (Atlantic) contiunes a solid effort from New Hampshire into Darlington and leaves in the fourth position, 47 out of the lead as Ray fills the remaining position in the top five, 54 points behind Alfalla. As the season is young, these point standings are not too important as of now, but don’t let that stat fool you as you could easily find yourself way outside looking in when Week 12 rolls around.

With Darlington now in the rearview mirror, the NiCCF heads to one of the most popular tracks on the iRacing service in Charlotte Motor Speedway. Charlotte’s 24 degree banks provide an extreme amount of grip which many drivers love. Although the track does have a great amount of grip, it can also produce the dreaded “hero mode” that some drivers get when racing at these types of track with the Silverado. The fast speeds and draft packs allow many drivers who would not normally be up front at the shorter, less draft intensive tracks to have a shot at the victory come the end of the race, which often leads to extreme amounts of carnage. Check back with inRacingNews in a week’s time to see who was able to master Charlotte Motor Speedway and avoid the carnage that is sure to ensue.

Alfalla (1) and Pedersen (7) battle side-by-side into Turn Three.

For some sim racers, navigating around The Magic Mile (New Hampshire Motor Speedway) takes a type of wizardry. Over 1,650 sim racers took the green flag for at least one race during the opening week of Season Two in the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Fixed Series, and there were absolutely a fair share of those who were out to lunch as they attempted to navigate the 1.058-mile speedway in a timely fashion. For those online racers who are among the elite group, New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a really fun track to race. Packing just seven degrees of banking in the racing groove, the track provides a high speed short track racing atmosphere that places NHMS among a favorite for many sim racers.

Although he has yet to grab a victory in the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship this season, he was, however, able to start the NiCCF season off with a bang by leading 32 of the race’s 40 laps in the week’s top Strength of Field event. Ray Alfalla (Florida) drove his No. 1 Progeek Consluting Chevrolet Silverado into victory lane on Friday during the week’s top SoF event by 0.488 seconds over fellow NiSWC competitor Byron Daley (New York). Casey Pierce (Carolina) drove from the seventh starting position to finish on the podium. Alfalla’s toughest competitor during the 40 lap event was definitely Christian Pedersen (New England). The two battled side-by-side and nose-to-tail for much of the early going before Pedersen ran into trouble late in the race, relegating him to a fourth place finish. The final spot in the top five went to Randy Hockaday (Carolina), who started on the inside of the second row and turned the fastest lap of the event before settling into fifth at the drop of the checkered flag during the 4035 SoF.

Malik Ray (5) deals with the struggles of New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

By taking the victory in the week’s top SoF event, Alfalla earned 249 championship points as he possibly looks to make another run at the NiCCF championship for Season Two. Second place man Daley netted 229 points for his efforts during the week. Brandon Buie2 (Atlantic) made four starts during the week, earning top five finishes in each of those and earning 217 points. Justin Brooks (Carolina) had a perfect week except in one category. He made one start from the pole and lead all 40 laps in the event, but was only able to end the week in the fourth position after earning just 213 points. Billy Price (Carolina) completed the top five for the week after starting four events, earning three wins, and earning 211 championship points. Since this is the first week of the season, the weekly standings also represent the current season standings.

Australian-born Brodie Kostecki (Carolina) was the fastest qualifier for the week, turning in a best time of 30.221 seconds around the 1.058-mile speedway. Alfalla couldn’t complete the perfect week as he was second fastest on the week with a time of 30.227. Trey Eidson (Carolina) held down the third spot for the week with a time of 30.253 as NiSWC competitor Brian Schoenburg (California) and Pedersen rounds out the top five.

After a week of flat track racing in New Hampshire, the NiCCF drivers head to arguably the most difficult track on the NASCAR circuit in Darlington Raceway. The Lady in Black often leaves sim racers disappointed as her narrow racing line leaves little room for error. If you make a mistake, you could easily smash the wall and ruin your race along with many others. Check back in a week’s time to see who was able to master Darlington and hopefully escape without a patented Darlington Stripe.

Close racing through Turn Two.

The final week of Season One brought sim racers from all around the world to the Joilet, Illinois for 35 laps of intense racing around the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway. Racing the Silverado on the wide, fast tracks is a favorite among both real and virtual NASCAR racers. Over 2,050 sim racers took to the track for at least one race during the week, but of those 2,050+ racers, only one could lay claim as the top driver for the week in the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Fixed Series.

Lance Gomez Jr (New York) took home top honors for the week by earning 261 championship points for his efforts during the week. Gomez made 11 starts during the week, collecting eight top five finishes to go along with six wins. Jose Gonzalez (Atlantic) had  a great week overall, starting four races and collecting one win, netting 253 points. Adam Gilliland (Texas) finished off the final week in the third position, making 12 starts and earning six wins in the process and earning 251 points for the week. Kollin Keister (Atlantic) took the green flag an incredible 24 times during the week (all from the pole!) and earning 247 points as Brandon Atkinson (Carolina) rounds out the top five with 245 points after making two starts and earning one victory during the week.

Justin Fuller leads the charge through the tri-oval.

While qualifying isn’t as important here as some tracks, it usually never hurts to start near the front. Jason Jacoby (Georgia) put down the fastest qualifying time of the week with a time of 31.661 seconds, exactly two-hundredths of a second faster than second place qualifier Keister. Gilliland, Bill Brown (Florida), and Joe Slama (California) fill remainder of the top five.

After 12 weeks of intense racing, a champion will finally be crowned. Kenneth O’Keefe (Canada) had an incredible season, making 79 starts, earning 54 wins, and 71 top five finishes, while leading 2,315 of a possible 3,286 laps. JR Motorsports Late Model driver Josh Berry (Mid-South) brought home the hardware for a second place finish after making 22 starts, earning 5 wins, and finishing in the top five 14 times. Matthew Wright2 (New York) chiseled his name into the final podium spot after making 121 starts during the season, collecting 18 wins and 70 top fives in the process. Gomez Jr made an even 100 starts during the season and collected 38 wins during those starts and finishing in the fourth position overall. Keister completes the top five after making 111 starts and earning 60 victories.

1. Kenneth O’Keefe – 1774

2. Josh Berry – 1759 (-15)

3. Matthew Wright2 – 1717 (-57)

4. Lance Gomez Jr – 1710 (-64)

5. Kollin Keister – 1700 (-74)

With the conclusion of Season One, that only means one thing. Season Two is just around the corner! Check back with inRacingNews in a week’s time to see a full recap of the first week of Season Two which begins with a trip to New England and the New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Racing towards Turn One.

Week 12 of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series pays a visit to Chicagoland Speedway for 70 laps of high speed action around the 1.5-mile speedway. Over 700 sim racers partisicpated in at least one event during the seven days of online racing, but after the smoke settled, a familiar face to victory lane emerged to claim the top spot for the week.

Kenny Humpe (Ohio) made an incredible 24 starts during the week, earning top five finishes in 23, and claiming 18 victories, all while earning 185 championship points. Kollin Keister (Atlantic) ended the week in the second position, earning 182 points after starting 12 races throughout the week. Nicholas Goertzen (Canada) made two starts during the week, claiming one victory, and netting 178 total points. Tom Moustakas (New York) took the green flag three times in his Moustakas Speed Silverado, earning two wins and earning 175 points. Matt Whitten (Virginias) ended the week in a tie with Moustakas for fourth overall, each earning 175 points.

Kenny Humpe (1) and Carl Taylor (2) race up through the field.

To go along with his fourth place effort in the weekly standings, Moustakas set the fastest overall qualifying time for the week with a 31.152 second lap time. Keister was second with a 31.179, followed in third by Dustin Lengert (Canada), Keith Elliott (Canada) in fourth, and rounding out the top five was Arthur Lucas (Virginias).

After 12 tough weeks behind the wheel, a new champion is now crowned in the NiCCS. Steven Eszenyi (Connecticut) took home top honors by 22 points over Carl Taylor (Mid-South). Moustakas ended the season in the third position and filling out the remainder of the top five was Keith Elliott and Rob Pendleton (Midwest)

Season Two beings up in New England as the sim racers look to tackle the fun but tough New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Dylan Duval is a driver that has had a lot of success on the iRacing.com service in the trucks, but has now elevated himself to the top of the charts in the NiCAS to take home the 2013 Season 1 Overall Championship. With ten wins and twenty top fives in his thirty starts, Duval put up outstanding numbers all the while competing in mostly 5000+ SoF races. Brandon Atkinson finished a distant second, earning himself the second seed into the 2013 NiPS. Atkinson only snagged three wins on the year, but in a series like the NiCAS where attrition is always a factor, consistency is key. Rounding out the top three was Kenny Humpe, who will be a definite favorite in the upcoming NiPS.

Brandon Buie was not on the radar of many people when the season kicked off, but after an impressive fourth place overall finish and a transfer into the NiPS, he will have a hard time flying under the radar anytime soon. Former NiPS competitor Justin Trombley will be making a return to the prominent series as he rounds out the top five, just four points behind fourth place Buie. Kevin Burris from Hamlet, NC showed up big for season one, finishing sixth overall, with Tyler Laughlin from Knoxville, TN finishing seventh and also advancing to the NiPS. Lee Herron, former pro Nic Morse, and PJ Stergios rounded out the top ten and will all advance. Brian Day was the first man out by a mere twenty points as he will now have to suit up for Season Two.

Returning NiPS driver Kenny Humpe and current NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) driver Brandon Schmidt tied for most wins on the season with eleven. However the slight edge goes to Humpe who did it in twenty races, compared to Schmidt’s twenty nine. The Champion Dylan Duval was the only other driver with double digit wins on the season with ten. Jim J Robinson yarded the field in top fives with thirty five on the season, while Schmidt led the way in poles with sixteen.

In an effort to make point battles competitive and fun for everyone involved, iRacing.com splits drivers into ten divisions with drivers who have similar skillsets. This allows for less experienced drivers to still have the challenge of points racing, as they gain experience. It also allows for ten very happy people at seasons end, instead of just one.

Patrick Davis Jr. led the charge of Division Two drivers to claim the title by over 100 points, while the Californian Michael Clemente took home Division Three honors. CW Webster put distance between himself and second place Paul Beardmore in Division Four, while Nate Chodur claimed Division Five in another runaway. Division Six was much closer as Chuck Earnest edged Scott Bolster by thirty seven points, while Division Seven went to Don Norris by a wide margin. Justin Erickson dominated Division Eight, Thomas Engle took Division Nine, and the final Champion is Brian Guedesse of Division ten.

With one season now in the books with the new Gen6 stockcars, teams have developed a notebook of things the car likes and doesn’t like. As well as drivers now having experience adjusting to what the car needs behind the wheel to make speed. Look for even closer racing next season as more teams begin to figure out the cars and look to race their way into the NiPS.

Racing down the frontstretch towards Turn One.

The 11th week of the season takes the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series to Rockingham Speedway for 75 laps of intense racing around the 1.017-mile speedway. The Rock is known to many as the most difficult track on the circuit and that proved to be true as just 205 racers attempted to tackle the beast.

Tom Moustakas (New York) obliterated the top Strength of Field event for the week, leading 65 of the event’s 75 laps and cruising to victory by 6.874 seconds over Ivan Schrum (West). Brian Lovingood (Carolina) finished in the third position after starting from the same spot. Trent Ringler (Indiana) started from outside of the front row, but after 75 laps found himself in the fourth spot nearly 15 seconds behind the leader. Brian Ammerman (Illinois) rounds out the top five and was also the last truck on the lead lap in the 2934 SoF.

With the victory in the top SoF event, Moustakas earned 178 championship points. Schrum’s second place finish earned him 160 points for the week. Lovingood finished in the third position overall, adding 142 points to his season total. Ammerman made four starts during the week, finishing in the top five in each one of those and netting 137 points and completing the top five is Brett Osborn (Ohio) with 134 points.

Side-by-side racing into Turn One.

Keith Elliott (Western Canada) put his name on top of the qualifying chart for the week with a final time of 23.366 seconds. Moustakas ended the week in the second position with a time of 23.452. Anthony Price2 (Virginias) fills the final position on the podium with a time of 23.467 as Mikey Earnheart (Texas) and Gary Fridinger (Pennsylvania) fill positions four and five for the week.

One week remains in the season and Steven Eszenyi (Connecticut) holds a 79 point lead over Moustakas. Elliott, who was in the lead for a majority of the season has fallen into the third position, 101 points back. Rob Pendleton (Midwest) holds down the fourth position, but is hot on Elliott’s tail just four points behind and 105 out of the lead. Schrum rounds out the top five, but is 123 points behind.

The NiCCS heads to Chicagoland Speedway for the final week of the season. Will Moustakas be able to gain the needed points to challenge Eszenyi for the championship? Check inRacingNews.com next week for a full recap of the action.

Ray Alfalla (1) leads the field into Turn Three.

Many sim racers and real life racers will tell you that Rockingham Speedway is one of the most difficult tracks that NASCAR pays a visit to during the season. Some drivers praise the difficulty of racing at The Rock while others call it inappropriate names. Either way, The Rock played host for Week 11 of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series Fixed where over 1,450 online racers took the green flag for at least one race during the week.

Brandon Hauff (New York) led just two laps en route to the victory over Frank Buccialia III (Carolina). Matthew Largen (Virginias) started from the pole and led 13 laps before being relegated to the third position. Chase Raudman (California) was a man of fours for the event as he started fourth and finished fourth while driving the No. 4 truck. James Edens (California) started from the fifth position and ended the race in the same spot in the 3696 SoF.

Although he didn’t win the week’s top SoF event, two time NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship champion Ray Alfalla (Florida) ended the week on top of the standings, scoring 224 total points. Buccialia’s second place effort in the top SoF race earned him 218 points and put him in the second position for the week. Wes Weidman (Plains) made two starts during the week and finished in the top five in each one of those, scoring 210 championship points. Largen had a very good week as well, making four starts and ending each of those in the top five, netting 204 points. While Hauff did win the SoF event for the week, he started seven races, and ended up only earning 197 points.

Wes Weidman (3) leads a group of racers through Turn Four.

Eric Hoggarth (Plains) put his name on top of the qualifying chart for the week by just three thousandths of a second over Alfalla (23.643 compared to a 23.646). Grant Winchester (Carolina) ended the week in the third position with a time of 23.662 seconds and completing the remainder of the top five were Mid-South Club members Heath Hindman and Nick Shelton.

With just one week remaining in Season One, it should be a very close battle heading into the final week in Chicago. Matthew Wright2 (New York) holds a six point lead over Josh Berry (Mid-South). Lance Gomez Jr (New York) might be too far out of the lead (-70 points) to have a serious chance at the title, but knowing Lance, he will be sure to give it his all. Wade Hustad (Midwest) (-136) and Kenneth O’Keefe (-140) fill the remaining spots in the top five.

The season concludes next week at one of the most popular tracks in the service, Chicagoland Speedway. The 1.5-mile speedway provides some very intense racing which is sure to put on a show for the drivers and spectators as Wright and Berry battle for the championship.

Forty-seven drivers, the largest opening day roster in Red Sox Racing League history, signed up for the league’s inaugural season of racing with the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 in Season One of 2013.  Forty-two  showed up for the “Gentleman Jim’s Day” night race at the Daytona road course.  The race was held in honor of “Gentleman” Jim Albertson, a founding member of the league who died in November of 2012 after a long struggle with cancer.  The opening day roster included so many past RSR winners and  champions that odds-makers in Las Vegas refused to take bets on who would win the opening race.

Their hesitation to gamble on a front runner was well founded as three different drivers (Paul Hesla, Dustin McGrew, and Brad Vincent) won multiple events, and eleven drivers (Hesla, McGrew, Vincent, Patrick Guerin, Tommy Rhyne, Nim Cross Jr., Les Turner, Reed Rundell, Dean Moll, Chris Weidner, and Douglas Beard) earned podium finishes during the twelve race season.  Scoring rules allowed for three drop weeks, so nine strong finishes were required to compete for the overall points championship.    When the dust settled after week twelve, twenty-two drivers had finished nine or more races.  Eight drivers completed all twelve events.

Although he closed out the season in convincing fashion, Vincent had a real battle on his hands early on.   Paul Helsa won three poles and took the checkered flag in both the first two races at Daytona and Road America.  He was leading the points race after a third place finish at Laguna Seca.  The Empty Keg Racing driver dropped out of contention when he missed all but one of the remaining races.

Dustin McGrew gave Vincent a run for his money by notching victories at Laguna Seca, Homestead, and Phillip Island, but five missed starts doomed his chances of keeping pace in the points race.  The TOC driver finished the season with six podium finishes in seven races.

Patrick Guerin, of Empty Keg Racing, began the season with four top-5 finishes, including podiums at Road America and Mosport, but fell out of contention when he missed the rest of the season.

Vincent began the season with two 3rd place finishes and a 2nd place finish, then ripped off a string of four consecutive victories in weeks four through seven (Road Atlanta, Mosport, Spa, Watkins Glen).  The wins vaulted him into the points lead.  He kept the pressure on with a 2nd place finish at Homestead in week eight and a victory at VIR in week nine.  Vincent maintained the points lead despite skipping Phillip Island in week ten.  Back to back wins at Sebring and Suzuka to end the season gave Vincent eight poles, seven wins, and an average finishing position of 1.5 in eleven starts.  Vincent ended the season having led 121 laps of the 207 laps he completed (72.7% ).  He had an average starting position of 1.8, and an average finishing position of 1.5.  He collected 25 bonus points against only one penalty point in eleven starts.

Les Turner finished in second place in the points race on the strength of nine bonus points collected from incident-free events and an average finishing position of 5.5.  The Teamdraft Srt driver began the season with a top-5 finish, then reeled off eleven top-10 finishes, including a 2nd place finish at Spa and  3rd place finishes at Homestead and Sebring.  Turner dominated voting for the “Good Hands” driver award with a final incidents per race average of 0.4.  Thomas (1.2) and Sutcliff (1.3) were his nearest competitors amongst drivers who completed all twelve events.  Turner also tied with John Koscielniak for the “Iron Butt” award for completing the most miles (672.450) and the most laps (227).  Sutcliff finished behind them with 670.212 miles and 226 laps.

Turner was pleased with his effort; ” “Well the TeamDraft Batmobile is on the second step of the podium once again. With the competition this season, I will gladly wear the Bridesmaid dress. Early in the season I was fighting to stay in the top 5 week in and week out. At the end of the day, we did not have anything for Brad. Congratulations to him for another fine performance this season. He had a bit of competition early from Empty Keg Racing, but he took control and dominated the rest of the way. Good Job once again! For me the key was to keep the fenders on it and keep it on the track. Leading the league with 0.4 incidents per race was the difference between finishing 2nd or 3rd this season. I still hear Jim Albertson in my headset from time to time, man I miss him so much. It was a fantastic first season in the McLaren, so looking forward to Season Two!”

Reed Rundell finished third in the final standings with ten top-10 finishes and podiums at Spa, Watkins Glen, and Sebring.  The TOC Racing2 driver had his best season in recent memory and finished with an average finishing position of 7.3.  “This is the best I’ve raced in a long time.”, said Rundell.  “The folks at TOC Racing2 kept me focused all season and I did a good job of staying out of trouble in most of the races.  Congrats to Brad on his championship.” 

Koscielniak (4th), Wolf (5th), Humphrey (6th), and Moll (7th) all came up just short in their effort to knock Turner and Rundell out of the top-3.  Koscielniak had eight top-10 finishes, with his best being 4th place at Sebring.  “Storm Front Racing did a great job this season.  We gathered crucial data during the test sessions before each race and really concentrated on keeping our cars on the track and out of trouble.  The hard work paid off!  I will be running a limited schedule in Season Two, so our team is looking forward to Terry Daul keeping our team in the hunt.  Terry and I will be at Barret Jackson auction in Palm Springs to sell off damaged car parts and sign autographs during the break before Season Two.”

Wolf had seven top-10 finishes, with his best being 4th place at Phillip Island.  Humphrey had eight top-10 finishes, with his best being 4th place at Watkins Glen.  Moll had 7 top-10 finishes, including podium finishes at Watkins Glen (2nd), Phillip Island (2nd), and Suzuka (2nd).  Only poor finishes at Laguna Seca and Mosport kept Moll from contending for a podium spot in the championship race.

Scott Husted (8th), Dustin McGrew (9th), and Tommy Rhyne (10th) rounded out the top ten spots.  Husted earned four top-10 finishes, including a 4th place at Spa.  McGrew collected one pole, three wins and notched six top-5 finishes in only seven starts.  He was the only driver to finish the season in the top-10 without having nine starts.  Rhyne logged six top-10 finishes, four top-5s, and 3rd place finishes at Road Atlanta and VIR.  He was in 4th place in the points race after week nine, but failed to start the remaining events.

Douglas Beard (11th), Terry Daul (12th), Jeff Thomas (13th), Dennis Griffen (14th), Ed Sutcliff (15th), Andrew Gantman (16th), Cyril Roberts (17th), James Prostell Jr (18th), David Weiss (19th), Andrew Feldman (20th) completed the top-20.  Beard had seven top-10 finishes, including a 4th place finish at Road America and a 3rd place finish at Suzuka.  Daul had three top-10 finishes, with his highest being 8th place at Spa.

William Kabela (21st), Dean Ayer (22nd), Nim Cross Jr (23rd), Michael Gagliardo (24th), Kevin Kyle (25th), Gerald Livingston (26th), Divina Galica (27th), Patrick Guerin (28th), Paul Hesla (29th), Tony Duffy (30th), David Berry (31st), David Holzwarth (32nd), Giles Mourette (33rd), Chris Weidner (34th), Bill McCaw (35th), Stefan Hojnowski (36th), Gary Jorgensen (37th), Dylan Roberts (38th), Pierre Robitaille (39th), Chad Tracy (40th), Michael Baley (41st), Brian Irby (42nd), Patrick Spence (43rd), Wilbur Gildersleeve Jr. (44th), Greg Harris (45th), Kyle Young (46th), and Terry Schmidt (47th), completed the final season standings.

Four drivers (Turner, Wolf, Thomas, and Sutcliff) finished nine or more races without collecting a single penalty point.

Team VBR (Brad Vincent/Douglas Beard) won the team championship with a fifteen point margin of victory over TOC Racing 2 (Dean Moll/Reed Rundell), and a fifty-nine point lead over Teamdraft Srt (Les Turner/Jeff Thomas).  Storm Front Racing (John Koscielniak/Terry Daul) and TOC Racing (Dustin McGrew/Scott Husted) finished 4th and 5th in the team standings.  TOC Racing 3 (Andrew Gantman/Andrew Humphrey), Arrested Development Racing (Andrew Feldman/Ed Sutcliff), Teamdraft2 (David Holzwarth/Kevin Kyle), Team Retro (Bill McCaw/Dean Ayer), Roberts Racing (Cyril Roberts/Dylan Roberts), and Empty Keg Racing (Patrick Guerin/Paul Hesla) completed the team scoring.

Next Event

RSR members resume action when Season Two begins on May 9, 2013.

Final Standings / Video coverage

2013 Season One Final Standings:

http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

The Martinsville frontstretch.

Week Ten of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series brought sim racers from all around the globe to Martinsville Speedway for 110 laps of hard-nosed short track racing. The 0.526-mile speedway saw 452 online racers take the green flag for at least one race during the week, each looking for a chance to visit victory lane and be showered with virtual champagne.

Kollin Keister (Atlantic) put on a driving expedition during the week’s high Strength of Field. He led all 110 of the race’s laps and took the checkered flag by 7.431 seconds over Steven Eszenyi (Connecticut). Chris Crosby (Carolina) started from outside of the front row and ended the event in the third position 15.661 seconds behind Keister. California native Stephen Moore drove his No. 4 Silverado from the eighth starting position up into the top five to a solid fourth place finish and rounding out the top five in the 3353 SoF was Tom Moustakas (New York).

With the dominating victory in the week’s top SoF event, Keister netted a solid 205 championship points. Keister made two starts during the week, winning each in dominating fashion, leading 208 out of a possible 220 laps during the week. Second place man Eszenyi made four starts during the week, winning two times, and earning 186 points. Larry Scott Jr (Mid-South) continued the two win streak atop the standings as he also won the two events he started during the week, earning 184 points in the process. Chris Mathis (Mid-South) and Crosby fill the remaining spots in the top five, earning 169 and 167 points respectively.

To go along with his SoF win, Keister put himself on top of the qualifying chart for the week as well with a time of 19.472 seconds, just two thousandths of a second faster than second place qualifier Randy Hockaday (Carolina). Crosby also continued a good week into qualifying as he put down the third fastest lap of the week with a time of 19.486. Eszenyi and Justin Douglas (Northwest) complete the remainder of the top five, each with times in the 19.5 second bracket.

With just two weeks remaining in Season One, Eszenyi holds a 42 point lead over Keith Elliott (Western Canada). Rob Pendleton (Midwest) sits in the third position, 46 points behind Eszenyi. Joshua Hanner (Carolina) and Carl Taylor (Mid-South) are each within striking distance (72 and 77 points behind) heading into Rockingham next week, but they will need some luck on their side if they look to make a charge for the championship.

Next week, the NiCCS heads to Rockingham Speedway. The Rock is notoriously known around both the sim racing world and the real racing world as one of the toughest tracks to master, which will make for an interesting time as some of the top drivers try to negotiate the bumpy turns.

Kenneth O’Keefe (3) and Michael Conti (2) race side-by-side into Turn One.

Martinsville Speedway played host for Week Ten of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (fixed setup). Since hosting its first event in 1948, the speedway has been one of the most anticipated weekends in all of racing. The very unique “paperclip” design makes the track like no other on the circuit, which promotes a classic short track racing atmosphere that many fans enjoy.

Paul Kusheba (Connecticut) drove his No. 5 Silverado to victory lane during the week’s top Strength of Field event, toping Brandon Atkinson (Carolina) by 1.499 seconds. Alex Warren (Illinois) finished in the third position after starting seventh and turning the fastest lap of the race. Adam Gilliland (Texas) ended the event in fourth after starting third while Stephen Moore (California) rounded out the top five after leading ten laps in the 4758 SoF.

By taking the victory in the top SoF event, Kusheba netted 298 championship points for his great effort during the week. Atkinson’s second place finish earned him 280 points after leading 18 laps during the event. Kenneth O’Keefe (Eastern Canada) finished third overall, scoring 277 points after starting an amazing 20 events during the week and winning 16 of them. Mitchell Hunt (Carolina) made two starts during the week, earning one top five finish, and earning 271 points while Trey Jarrell (Virginias) completes the top five.

A huge accident off Turn Two late in the going.

Taking a break from his normal duties behind the wheel of the No. 52 Zeno Controls/Verve Chevrolet SS in the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship, Patrick Baldwin (Connecticut) laid down the fastest qualifying time of the week with a time of 19.536 seconds, just one hundredth of a second faster than O’Keefe. Two time NiSWC champion Ray Alfalla (Florida) continued the one hundredth of a second trend as he was exactly 0.01 seconds behind O’Keefe for the second position as Jarrell and Michael Conti (New Jersey) fill out the top five.

Matthew Wright2 (New York) holds a 22 point lead over JR Motorsports Late Model driver Josh Berry (Mid-South) after ten weeks of online racing. Lance Gomez Jr (New York) is currently 70 points behind Wright, but has the capability to make a late charge to boost himself into championship contention with two weeks remaining. Wade Hustad (Midwest) and Kollin Keister (Atlantic) are further back in the standings, each over 100 points behind. With just two weeks remaining, it will be a difficult task for either of these drivers to have a legit shot at earning the Season One championship.

The end of Season One is coming upon us, but there is still plenty of racing to come. The NiCCS (fixed setup) heads back to North Carolina for 40 circuits around Rockingham Speedway. The Rock is notoriously known as one of the most challenging tracks on the NASCAR circuit and is sure to provide excitement for those who attempt to take on the challenge.

Kenny Humpe thoroughly dominated his competition throughout the week in Virginia, including wins in the top two rated races of the week. Humpe is no stranger to success on the iRacing.com service, and he flexed his muscle once again over the course of week six. Leading 149 of the 150 laps in the top rated race of the week on Thursday, and 127 laps in a nearly identical rated race on Sunday, Humpe had no problem fighting off the competition at the short track. No matter the level of competition, it was clear Humpe was the man to beat as he is now one step closer to reclaiming the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) license he once possessed.

Behind Humpe in the top rated Thursday night race was an impressive run from Kollin Keister. Keister scored 343 points for his runner up finish, enough to edge PJ Stergios by one point in the weekly standings. Lee Herron put together another solid week as he looks to lock himself into the upcoming NiPS, while Brodie Kostecki rounded out the top five. Our overall points leader Dylan Duval has been a model of consistency throughout the season, and he quietly put together another 300+ point week to extend his points lead over fellow former NiPS competitor Justin Trombley.

As frustrating as Martinsville can be, Shane Dougherty deserves a medal for his eleven starts on the week, the most of anyone on the service. Dougherty managed to keep the fenders on it in the majority of his races, scoring a top five in nearly half of his starts, while earning a solid average finish of seventh. Scoot Johnson and Joseph Gulotta tied for second with eight starts, but you had to go back to George Stratton with the fourth most starts to find the first of the group to walk away with a grandfather clock. A stat line that can’t go unnoticed belongs to Dillon Raffurty, who not only led the way in wins with four, but more impressively led 803 of his 884 completed laps around the paperclip.

Next week for the NiCAS is back to outrageous speeds as the new Gen6 stockcars make their first trip to Texas Motorspeedway. While TMS fits the description of a “Cookie-Cutter”, it presents challenges to teams not found at any other tracks. Be sure to check back at inRacingNews.com next week for a full recap of all the news coming out of the lightning quick Texas Motorspeedway.

Brad Vincent capped off a terrific season of racing by earning the pole and leading every lap en route to victory in the Red Sox Racing League’s last event of the 2013 Season One schedule, the ”Continental Circus 30” at Suzuka.  It was Vincent’s seventh win in eleven starts, and as was the case in most of his victories this season, he was never seriously challenged.  Vincent’s finishing average lap time was 1.5 seconds faster than his nearest competitor.

Suzuka’s 3.6 mile, seventeen mile layout offers drivers a variety of challenges.  Originally designed as a Honda test track in 1962, Suzuka is one of few circuits to have a “figure 8″ layout, with the back straight passing over the front section.  In addition to hosting the Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka is also one of the oldest remaining tracks of the Formula One World Championship.

Vincent demonstrated his mastery of the track during qualifying and earned his eight pole of the season with a lap time of 2:01.233.  Corey A. Wolf started in the outside of row one with a lap time of 2:01.718.   The drivers starting in positions two through nine were nearly as quick, with John Koscielniak, Reed Rundell, Dean Moll, Douglas Beard, Les Turner, Andrew Humphrey, and Dennis Griffen posting 2:02 lap times.  Scott Husted started 10th on the grid.  Terry Daul, Jeff Thomas, James Prostell, Jr., David Weiss, Gary Jorgensen, William Kabela, Divina Galica, Ed Sutcliff, Wilbur Gildersleeve, Jr., and Kevin Kyle completed the starting grid.

The opening lap was exciting as drivers fought hard to maintain track position through the first seven  corners before diving into turn eight and beginning the downhill/uphill stretch leading to the u-turn in turn eleven.  Vincent got a great jump on the green flag, then took advantage of a clean track to outpace his competitors back to the start/finish line to begin lap two.

Prostell was in 13th place when he suffered heavy damage on lap two and became the first driver to drop from contention.  Gildersleeve, Humphrey, and Kyle all lost positions after spins in the first half of the race.

Wolf kept the lead pack in sight all night, but had to overcome two incidents to remain in the top-5.  “I’m not sure what was going on out there tonight”, said Wolf. “Beard tagged me from behind when I slowed for pit road on lap six, then he got into me again when I slowed for T15 on lap twelve.  We got lucky and escaped damage, but man that was scary!”

Kyle retired from the race after an accident in turn fourteen on lap seven.  Koscielniak spent most of the race in 2nd and 3rd place, and appeared to be on the way to his first podium finish of the season before a mistake in turn seven on lap fifteen cost him five positions.

Vincent dominated the race and crossed the finish line with a 21 second margin of victory.  Moll finished 2nd.  Beard earned the final podium position.  Rundell and Wolf rounded out the top-5.

Griffen (6th), Koscielniak (7th), Turner (8th), Humphrey (9th), Daul (10th), Husted (11th), Thomas (12th), Weiss (13th), Sutcliff (14th), Jorgensen (15th),  Prostell (16th), Kabela (17th), Galica (18th), and Gildersleeve (19th) all finished on the lead lap.  Griffen, Turner, Thomas, Sutcliff, and Kabela finished the race without incident.

Vincent won the 2013 Season One championship with seven victories, eight poles, and a average finishing position of 1.5 in ten starts.  Turner ended the season as the “Bridesmaid”, a position he has earned in three of the past seven RSR seasons.  “I have taken good care of the bridesmaid dress over the years”, said Turner.  “Earning it in the McLaren was a surprise because I was fighting for top-5 finishes every week.  Congrats to Brad on another fine performance this season.”  Reed Rundell finished the season in third place overall.

The team competition was fierce throughout the season, but Vincent and Beard collected enough points in the final three races to put Team VBR on top for good.  Team TOC Racing 2 (Moll/Rundell) finished in second place, while Teamdraft Srt (Turner/Thomas) ended the year in third place.

A recap of the final RSR 2013 Season One standings will be posted next week.

Next Event

RSR members resume action when Season Two begins on May 9, 2013.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2877     

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Tanner Stoops (3) leads the field through the quad oval.

Nearly 1,000 sim racers took the green flag during Week Nine of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (open setup) at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Charlotte is a favorite among drivers both in real life as well as iRacing due to the sheer speed and fantastic racing it produces.

Jordan Westfall (Eastern Canada) took his No. 4 Silverado from the eighth starting position and led 17 of the race’s 90 laps en route to a 0.378 second margin of victory over pole sitter Randy Hockaday (Carolina). Anthony Kernich (Australia/NZ) finished third after starting from the fifth position and turning the fastest lap of the race. Jonathan Dickert (West) started deep in the field–14th to be exact, and methodically worked his way up into the top five. Maxx Harris (Northwest) was the final racer in the top five as he started from  eleventh position in the 3838 SoF.

By earning the victory in the week’s top SoF event, Westfall amassed 239 championship points. Wes Weidman (Plains) ended the week in the second spot with 209 points. Kernich’s third place finish netted him 207 points, which was good enough for third overall while Hockaday and Kollin Keister (Atlantic) fill out the top five.

A large crash on the frontstretch.

Second place finisher Hockaday was the fastest qualifier during the week as he turned a fast time of 29.719 seconds, just 0.013 in front of Tanner Stoops (Plains) who turned a time of 29.732. Filling the remaining spots in the top five were Neal Dobson (Mid-South), Gary Fridinger (Pennsylvania), and Keister.

With just three weeks remaining in the season, Steven Eszenyi (Connecticut) holds a slim nine point lead over Rob Pendleton (Midwest). Keith Elliott (Western Canada) sits in the third position, just 13 points behind, while Joshua Hanner (Carolina) and Carl Taylor (Mid-South) are within striking distance.

Next week, the NiCCS (open setup) heads to Virginia for a trip to the paperclip known as Martinsville Speedway.

Excelling racing at Charlotte.

Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted Week Nine of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (fixed setup) season. The 1.5-mile speedway offers some of the most exciting racing in all of iRacing. Over 2,700 online racers took the green flag for at least one race during the week, leaving Charlotte as one of the most popular tracks for sim racers.

Richard Dusett (New England) wheeled his way to victory during the week’s high Strength of Field event by 0.068 seconds over Tyler D Hudson (Mid-South) after starting third and leading 19 of the race’s 35 laps. Jason Karlavige (Pennsylvania) started from the outside of the front row, lead two laps, and ended up finishing third. Matthew Wright2 (New York) started mid-pack and worked his way up into the fourth position as the checkered flag flew while Matt Stallknecht (New York) rounds out the top five after starting from eighth in the 4328 SoF.

Although Chad J Laughton (Carolina) and Tyler D Hudson did not win the week’s high SoF event, they were able to earn the most championship points with 256 each. Kollin Keister (Atlantic) finished the week in the third position after making an incredible 20 starts during the week and earning 251 championship points. SoF winner Dusett ended the week in the fourth position after making 15 starts and scoring 250 points while Brad Patton (Carolina) filled the remaining spot in the top five.

Richard Dusett (2) and Michael Cosey Jr (8) take the checkered flag.

As to be expected, qualifying at Charlotte was a very tight battle all week long. Jarl Teien (Scandinavia) put Logitech Silverado on top of the chart with a time of 30.034 seconds, just 0.001 seconds faster than second placer qualifier Keister. Karlavige was also a member of the 30.03X second club as he turned in a time of 30.039. Wes Weidman (Plains) and Kenneth O’Keefe (Eastern Canada) filled out the remaining positions in the top five.

After nine weeks of online racing, Wright currently holds a nine point lead over Lance Gomez Jr. Josh Berry (Mid-South) sits in the third position (-74) while Wade Hustad (-75) and Kevin Gram (-139) round out the top five.

Week Ten of the NiCCS (fixed setup) packs up and heads to the paperclip in Martinsville, Virginia for 55 laps of short track sim racing.

Landon Huffman is a newcomer to the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) but he is no rookie to the NiCAS, as he took top honors in Iowa with 358 points. The Limited Late Model driver from Claremont, North Carolina led twenty three laps en route to winning the 5622 SoF Sunday night race. Fellow NiSWC competitor Joey Brown dominated the race, leading 62 laps but had to settle for a sixth place finish. Lee Herron finished off an impressive week with a second place finish, while Dylan Duval tallied yet another top three finish to round out the podium.

Tight racing under the lights in Iowa for NiCAS Week Five

In a near equal strength of field on Thursday night, NiSWC veteran Joshua Laughton dominated the predominately Class A licensed field to take the 355 point win. Laughton led 108 of the 125 laps in a race that was never in much doubt for the top licensed sim racer. Brandon Atkinson represented the Carolina Club well with a 341 point second place performance, with the only other NiSWC driver in the field Paul Kusheba filling in the top three. Brad Mahar had a stout run and snagged 315 points for his fourth place effort, while Lee Herron was the final driver over 300 points with 302 in fifth.

Jim J Robinson led the way in starts under the stars in Iowa, taking the green flag fourteen times on the week. Despite not being able to break through into victory lane, Robinson had a solid week scoring a top five in nearly half of his starts. Paul Burthwick and Chuck Earnest were hot on the heels of Robinson with thirteen starts, while Dave Kulis was the final driver who participated in ten or more races on the week. One slot over in the stat column was a boatload of drivers tied for the most wins on the week with two.

Next up for the NiCAS is a trip to Ridgeway, Virginia for 150 laps around the paper clip shaped Martinsville Speedway. Since 1947 Martinsville has been hosting top level short track racing, creating priceless memories for every generation of NASCAR fan. While fans love the tight confines Martinsville has to offer, if takes a special type of driver to master the driving style needed to run well at the ancient speedway. Next week will be the first opportunity for drivers to take the Gen6 Fusion/SS for a spin around the short track, and there are sure to be wrinkled fenders when the dust settles. Be sure to check back at inRacingNews.com next week for a full recap of Week Six at Martinsville.

Brad Vincent clinched the Red Sox Racing League’s 2013 Season One championship in impressive fashion as he earned the pole, led every lap, and dusted the field on the way to his sixth victory of the season at the ”You Bring It!” fifteen lap race at Sebring this week.

Speeds during the qualifying session were impressive, with nine drivers posting sub-2:02 lap times.  Vincent was the fastest of the bunch as he earned his seventh pole of the season with an incredible lap time of 1:59.663.  Dean Moll (2:00.998) started on the outside of row one.  Reed Rundell, Les Turner, Andrew Humphrey, Andrew Gantman, Terry Daul, John Koscielniak, Douglas Beard, and Corey A. Wolf filled rows two through five.  Scott Husted, Gerald Livingston, David Weiss, James Prostell Jr., Jeff Thomas, Ed Sutcliff, Gilles Mourette, Dean Ayer, William Kabela, Bill McCaw, Divina Galica, and David Holzwarth completed the starting grid.

One of only two night races of the season, Sebring’s 3.7 mile, 17 corner layout posed several challenges for the twenty-two drivers who started the race.  The Hairpin in turn seven, the Tower in turn thirteen, and Sunset Bend in turn seventeen are the usual trouble spots, but most of the RSR drivers who had trouble did so in turn one.

The field narrowly avoided disaster on the opening lap when Koscielniak, Humphrey, and Gantman entered it three wide while trying to get past a slower car.  Humphrey made it through unscathed, but Koscielniak and Gantman swapped paint in an incident that forced Gantman off the right side of the track.  His car was still rolling backwards when it was clipped by Livingston.  Livingston compounded his troubles with another collision in turn 10 on the same lap.

Prostell gave the field a scare when he spun out in the middle of Sunset Bend on lap two.  Turn one continued to make trouble for drivers as first Galica, then Husted, Prostell, Mourette, Ayer, Beard, and Moll all took turns sliding and spinning out of the sweeping high speed left-hand corner.

Vincent was not challenged in the opening laps and quickly built a significant lead over the 2nd and 3rd place cars of Moll and Rundell.  Moll took a huge gamble by giving up track position for a chance to pit without traffic on lap five, but the strategy backfired when he found himself stuck behind slower traffic as Vincent and the other leaders cycled through their pits stops without the same traffic.

Vincent cruised to victory and crossed the finish line with a twenty second margin lead over Rundell.  It was Rundell’s third podium of the season and keeps him within striking distance of 2nd place in the championship race.

Turner crossed the line in third place by outpacing Koscielniak (4th) to the line.  It was Turner’s third podium of the season.  ” First of all, congrat’s to Brad on yet another RSR Championship. Another solid top 3 run for the TeamDraft Batmobile at Sebring to secure a championship podium finish. If you had asked me at the start of the season if I would be wearing the Bridesmaid dress again on the championship podium, I would have said you were nuts. This has been by far, the most intense competitive season at Red Sox Racing in five years.”

Humphrey (5th), Beard (6th), Husted (7th), Moll (8th), Wolf (9th), and Daul (10th) rounded out the top ten finishing positions.  Sutcliff, Weiss,, Thomas, Gantman, Mourette, Kabela, Prostell, Holzwarth, and  Livingston all finished on the lead lap.  McCaw finished one lap down, while Galica was scored four laps behind the leaders and Ayer was scored eleven laps down.

Vincent enjoys an insurmountable forty-one point lead over Turner in the championship battle.  Rundell sits in third place (11 points behind Turner), while Koscielniak and Humphrey round out the top five spots.  Moll, McGrew, and Rhyne all have a shot at finishing in the top-five with solid performances in week twelve.

Team VBR (Vincent/Beard) lead the team points race with a fourteen point lead over TOC Racing 2 (Moll/Rundell), and a thirty-six point lead over Teamdraft Srt (Turner/Thomas).  Storm Front Racing (Koscielniak/Daul) and TOC Racing (McGrew/Husted) round out the top five.

Next Race

RSR members travel to Japan for the ”Continental Circus 30” at Suzuka on April 4, 2013.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2876      

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Other action from the race

Intense racing into Turn One.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway plays host to 565 sim racers for Week Eight of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (open setup). Winning at the famed speedway is something that every racer should have on their bucket list, and this week, a select few were able to cross that special event off of their list and drive into victory lane.

Keith Elliott (Western Canada) topped the top Strength of Field event for the week, taking the victory over Steven Lutz (Ohio) by a slim margin of 0.047 seconds in a drag race back to the finish line after leading nine of the event’s 40 laps. Trent Ringler (Indiana) rounded out the podium in the 2986 SoF, 3.103 seconds back with Jason Lupo (Mid-South) and Scott Austin (Michigan) rounding out the top five.

Although Ringler did not win the week’s top SoF event, he was able to earn the most championship points for the week with 157 due to Elliott running an incredible 36 races. Victor Vollrath (Indiana) ended the week in the second position, just five points behind Elliott for the top spot. Mike Carr (New Jersey) had a very good week, making two starts and winning both times and earning 151 points while Ivan Schrum (West) and Justin Douglas (Northwest) complete the top five.

Three drivers battle for position.

Superspeedway ace Tom Moustakas (New York) took his talents to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the week as the put down the fastest qualifying time of 52.629 seconds. SoF winner Elliott ended the week in the second position with a final time of 52.666. Chris Crosby (Carolina) rounds out the podium with a time of 52.691 while Marty Sponsler (Midwest) and Lutz fill the remaining spots in the top five.

Joshua Hanner (Carolina) holds a slim four point margin over Rob Pendleton (Midwest) for the top spot in the season standings after eight weeks of online racing. Ringler holds down the third position, but is currently 64 points out of the top spot while Maxx Harris (Northwest) (-78) and Elliott (-149) round out the top five.

Next week, the NiCCS (open setup) heads to Concord, North Carolina for 70 circuits around the always fast Charlotte Motor Speedway. Until then, keep the hammer down and you might see yourself grace the pages of inRacingNews!

Albert Gisbert Falgueras leads the field into Turn One.

In the eyes of many, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the premier racing facility in the United States. The prestigious speedway played host to Week Eight of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (fixed setup) where over 2,000 sim racers took the green flag for at least one race.

Chris Overland (Texas) drove his No. 7 Peak Silverado to victory lane during the week’s top Strength of Field (4066) event by just 0.283 seconds over New York native Matthew Wright2 after leading just two of the event’s 20 laps. Outside pole sitter Adam Gilliland (Texas) led the opening 18 laps before Overland and Wright got around him late in the going, forcing Gilliland into a third place finish. Pole sitter Justin Fuller (New York) finished in the fourth position and rounding out the top five was Josh Berry (Mid-South).

By earning the victory in the week’s top Strength of Field event, Overland was able accumulate 256 championship points for the week. NASCAR Nationwide Series competitor Parker Kligerman (Connecticut) ended the week in the second position by earning 230 points. Gilliland’s third place effort earned him 227 points, which was also his position in the weekly standings. Maxime Paquette (Eastern Canada) made one start during the week, finishing third and netting 216 points. Completing the top five was Wright, who ran nine races during the week, scoring six top five finishes and earning 211 points.

Richard Beasley leads a group of Silverados.

Bobby Hackel (New York) set the field on fire during qualifying, turning in the fastest time of the week with a time of 53.538 seconds. Danny Hansen (Midwest) ended the week in the second position with a time of 53.576, followed by Fuller, Gilliland, and Mario Hernandez (Iberia).

Eight weeks are in the books and Wade Hustad (Midwest) currently has a 57 point lead over Kevin Gram (West). Brandon M. Thrasher (Mid-South) sits in the third position, 61 points out of the lead. Lance Gomez Jr (New York) holds down the fourth position and Wright fills out the top five, 134 points behind.

The NiCCS (fixed setup) will pack up and head to the place many real life NASCAR teams call home—Charlotte Motor Speedway for the ninth week of online racing during Season One.

Michigan International Speedway provides some of the most intense racing on the circuit

Jared Crawford headed the star studded lineup with a 381 point win in his only start of the week. Crawford is no stranger to victory lane in big races, but his dominating win in Sunday night’s 5946 SoF was big, even for the veteran. NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) competitor Crawford led 43 of the 70 laps around MIS to take the win over the always challenging Kenny Humpe. Former NiSWC winner Adam Gilliland led seventeen laps to round out the top three, while the new points leader Dylan Duval and Brandon Kettelle rounded out the top five.

There was no shortage of talent taking the all new Gen6 cars for a test drive around MIS, as NiSWC competitors filled in eight of the top twelve spots in the weekly standings. While Crawford reminded everyone what he is capable of with 381 points, the up and coming NiSWC driver Peter Bennett filled out the podium behind top of the Class A licensed drivers, Kenny Humpe.

Cars sail into Turn Three at MIS

Michigan has always been a favorite among iRacing competitors, as the high speeds and draft help level the playing field for drivers without top notch setups. John Clayman couldn’t get enough of the blistering speeds as he notched seventeen starts in the Irish Hills, but left disappointed as victory lane eluded him. John Rhine, Geran Rose, and Scoot Johnson were all tied for second in the most active category, all of which were just one start shy of the bar set by Clayman. David Colyer Jr. scored the most wins, pulling his Gen6 car into victory lane five times, while Randy Hockaday was on his heels with four wins.

A trip to Iowa is next up for the NiCAS, as the Gen6 cars will tackle 125 laps around the 0.875 mile D shaped oval. One of America’s newest ovals, Iowa is full of character unique to itself. Featuring two vastly different turns, getting a handle on these high powered stock cars will be no easy task for crew chiefs and drivers alike. Be sure to check back at inRacingNews.com for a full recap as the NiCAS passes the half-way point in 2013’s opening Season.

Turn Four at Iowa.

Week Seven of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (open setup) takes the sim racers on a trip to Iowa Speedway, a 7/8-mile short track located in Newton, Iowa for some good short track racing. Since opening in 2006, the track has provided some very exciting racing in its few short years. The 635 online racers who took the green flag for at least one race during the year wanted to be part of the great racing that the speedway provides.

Michael Sweeney (New York) took the checkered flag over Gary Fridinger (Pennsylvania) by 0.202 seconds after leading 66 of the race’s 90 laps. In third was Nick Furler (Eastern Canada) who was over 10 seconds behind the leader after starting from the outside of the front row. Pole sitter Wes Weidman (Plains) led 24 laps before being relegated to fourth position 12.232 behind race winner Sweeney. Chris Barnette (Carolina) started his No. 4 Silverado in the fifth position and that’s exactly where he finished after competing 90 laps incident free in the 3050 SoF.

Even though Sweeney took the victory in the week’s high SoF event, Ryan Luza (Texas) was able to earn the most championship points for the week with 173. Fridinger’s second place effort earned him 166 valuable championship points for the week as he looks to move up the season standings chart. Ivan Schrum (West) had a successful week at Iowa, competing in three races and earning three top five finishes all while earning 162 points. William Dick (Carolina) and Sweeney round out the top five with 160 and 158 points, respectively.

Kollin Keister (Atlantic) set the fastest time in qualifying for the week with a blazing time of 22.416 seconds, followed by Luza (22.424), Fridinger (22.531), Chris Crosby (Carolina) (22.531), and Kristopher Marlow (Northwest) (22.560) completing the top five.

After seven weeks of online racing, Rob Pendleton (Midwest) holds a four point lead over Joshua Hanner (Carolina). Carl Taylor (Mid-South) sits in the third position 46 points back while Maxx Harris (Northwest) and Brian Viola (Mid-South) fill the remaining spots in the top five.

Stay tuned as next week the drivers of the NiCCS (open setup) make a trip to Indiana for 40 circuits around the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

There were three races remaining on the Red Sox Racing League’s 2013 Season One schedule when  members traveled to Australia for the ”Australian Grand Prix 30” at Phillip Island.  Twenty-four drivers made the trip, but a cold forced points leader Brad Vincent to miss his first start of the season.  Vincent’s absence meant Les Turner, Reed Rundell, and Dustin McGrew had a chance to cut into his points lead, but only McGrew was able to take advantage of the opportunity.

McGrew earned his third pole of 2013 with a lap time of 1:29.479 to edge out Turner’s 1:29.526 lap.  Rundell put himself in a position to keep pace with both when he posted a time of 1:29.547.  Dean Moll (4th), Corey A. Wolf (5th), Chris Weidner (6th), Jeff Thomas (7th), Scott Husted (8th), John Koscielniak (9th), and Douglas Beard (10th) occupied the first five rows on the starting grid.  Gerald Livingston, Cyril Roberts, Dennis Griffen, Terry Daul, Kevin Kyle, Gary Jorgensen, Andrew Feldman, David Berry, Dean Ayer, Ed Sutcliff, James Prostell Jr., Divina Galica, William Kabela, and David Holzwarth completed the grid.

Turner’s bid to cut into Vincent’s points lead was cut short when he drifted off the left edge of the track in turn one of lap one.  He did a great job keeping the car in one piece as it continued into the infield grass and sand, but dropped to last place by the time he rejoined the track.  Turner pitted to have his car inspected rather than forcing his way through traffic with a car that might have been damaged.  Turner worked his way back into the top-10 with aggressive driving after getting the green light from his pit crew, but he was unable to catch the leaders.

Rundell inherited second place on lap three, but a mistake at the exit of turn twelve caused him to lose control and scrape the inside wall along the front stretch.  He dropped to 9th place before getting back to race speed.  Unfortunately, the lap three incident was only the first setback for Rundell.  Mistakes entering pit road on lap eleven and in turn nine of lap thirteen eventually forced the # 43 Dupont out of the race.

McGrew led every lap before pitting on lap ten.  Weidner and Koscielniak were both credited with leading a lap as the pit cycle continued, but nobody could keep pace with McGrew once he returned to the lead on lap twelve.  McGrew crossed the finish line with a seven second lead to claim his third victory of the season.  The win moved him into 5th in the championship race.

Moll earned his second podium of 2013 when he crossed the line in 2nd place.  The finish moved him into 9th place in the championship race.

Weidner earned his first podium of the season when he beat Wolf to the line for 3rd place.  Wolf and Koscielniak rounded out the top-5.

Husted (6th) was being chased by Beard (7th), and Roberts (8th) when he reached the finish line.  Teamdraft Srt teammates Turner and Thomas completed the top-10 finishing positions.  Livingston, Griffen, Kyle, Berry, Sutcliff, Feldman, Daul, Ayer, Kabela, Prostell, Holzwarth, Galica, Jorgensen, and Rundell completed the scoring.

Vincent has forty-two point lead over Turner, and a fifty-eight point lead over Rundell, with two events  remaining in the championship race.  Koscielniak (4th), McGrew (5th), Rhyne (6th), Husted (7th), Humphrey (8th), Moll (9th), and Daul (10th) round out the top-10 spots.

Beard’s strong finish at Phillip Island pushed Team VBR back into the lead of the team competition.  Teamdraft Srt is ten points back, while TOC Racing 2, Storm Front Racing, and TOC Racing round out the top-5 spots.

Next Race

RSR members travel to Florida for the ”You Bring It!” at Sebring on March 28, 2013.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2875      

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Other action from the race

A group of racers enter Turn One.

One of the newer tracks in the iRacing.com service plays host to Week Seven of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (fixed setup) as almost 2,200 sim racers took the green flag for at least one race at Iowa Speedway.

Chris J Miller (Carolina) took home the trophy during the week’s high Strength of Field event in dominating fashion over Nicholas Goertzen (Western Canada) by 0.221 seconds after leading 26 of the race’s 45 laps. Jordan Werth (Florida) finished in the third position after starting from the fourth position and leading five laps. Brandon Chubirko (Carolina) finished in the fourth position after starting ninth while Michael Emmons (Florida) rounded out the top five after starting from the 10^th position and leading eight laps.

Although he did not win the week’s high SoF event, Richard Dusett (New England) was able to earn the most championship points for the week with 238. Heath Hindman (Mid-South) ended the week in the second position, just one point behind Dusett with 237. Kyle Wicka (California) had a very successful week as he made 11 starts during the week, earning 10 top five finishes in the process and adding 227 championship points to his season total. Kevin King (California) ends the week in the fourth position with 225 points after making four starts and earning four top five finishes while Patrick Fogel (Pennsylvania) completes the top five.

Kollin Keister (Atlantic) laid down the fastest qualifying time for the week with a time of 22.674 seconds, which was just 0.006 seconds faster than Scott Eckrich (Illinois). Bobby Hackel (New York) ended the week in the third position with a time of 22.706, while Ryan Luza (Texas) and Francis Dunnett (Australia/NZ) round out the top five.

After seven weeks of online racing, Wade Hustad (Midwest) holds a 28 point lead over Kevin Gram (West). Brandon M. Thrasher (Mid-South) sits in the third position, 67 points out of the lead. Jason Jacoby (Georgia) holds down the fourth position (-99) and rounding out the top five is Lance Gomez Jr (New York).

After nearly 2,200 drivers enjoying a short track atmosphere at Iowa Speedway, the sim racers will take a trip to one of the most famous race tracks in the world—Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Virginia International Raceway (VIR) was the site of this week’s Red Sox Racing League race, the ”McLaren Challenge Trofeo Pirelli”.  Originally opened in 1959, the full VIR road course was transformed in 2000  re-establishing it as a  world-class racing circuit.  The current configuration has seventeen corners along a sprawling 3.27 miles layout with so many twists, turns, and elevation changes that Carroll Shelby once said “one lap at VIR is like a hundred at Watkins Glen”.

After competing on the relatively flat road course in Miami last week, RSR drivers arrived in southern Virginia eager to test their skills on the demanding VIR layout.  Brad Vincent led the way during qualifying and earned his sixth pole of the season with a lap time of 1:47.085.  Tommy Rhyne earned the 2nd grid spot with a lap time of 1:47.981.  They were the only drivers to post sub-1:48 lap times.  Reed Rundell (3rd), Nim Cross Jr. (4th), Douglas Beard (5th), Les Turner (6th), Dustin McGrew (7th), Brian Irby (8th), Dean Moll (9th), and John Koscielniak (10th) occupied rows two through five.  Gilles Mourette, David Berry, Scott Husted, Michael Gagliardo, Terry Daul, Bill McCaw, Dennis Griffen, Andrew Gantman, Cyril Roberts, David Weiss, Kevin Kyle, Jeff Thomas, Ed Sutcliff, Andrew Feldman, William Kabela, James Prostell Jr., Gerald Livingston, and Dean Ayer completed the starting grid.

Positioned at the end of a long front straightaway, VIR’s first turn is a sharp right-hander called the “Horse Shoe”.  To safely navigate T1 drivers must slow dramatically or risk drifting wide and off into a large grass filled run-off area where speed is lost and races are ruined.  In keeping with the league’s reputation for clean simulation racing, RSR drivers cooperated  and negotiated T1 without incident in the opening laps.

Unfortunately, safe driving doesn’t guarantee a solid finish in the world of sim racing.  Dependant on capricious computers, network connections and a variety of other computer peripherals, everyone who participates in sim racing has experienced the frustration of losing a position or a race simply because the sim gods frowned on them.

Nim Cross Jr has been sim racing for longer than some members of the iRacing community have been alive, so he knows just how fickle the world of online racing can be.  As the Chief Steward of iRacing, Cross is keenly aware of the impact factors such as connection lag, slow ping, and a poor quality connection can have on a race.  So he took his own misfortune in stride when he was forced out of the race with electrical problems on lap two while in 4th place.  “I have earned top-10 finishes in every start this season”, said Cross.  “My car was dialed in, so a podium finish was definitely on my mind before the wiring problems killed my chances.  Congratulations to Brad, Dustin, and Tommy.  I’ll be back strong next week.”

RSR veteran Terry Daul was the first driver to succumb to the dangers lurking on the windy and narrow track when he drifted wide entering turn three on lap four.  Daul’s right side tires touched the grass at Nascar Bend resulting in an immediate loss of grip which sent his car sliding into the grass.  He avoided damage in the incident, but dropped eight spots while waiting for the track to clear.  The double left-hand corners at T3-T4 would be the site of trouble for several other drivers as the race continued.

Irby was forced to retire after his car suffered heavy damage on lap four.  Running in 9th place at the time, an overcorrection following a minor mistake exiting T10 sent the STP McLaren off the track and sliding through the grass before it slammed into the outside wall.

Several laps later Berry was in 12th place when he missed his braking point approaching T3.  He was forced to pit for repairs after sliding through the grass and scraping the railing.  Berry returned to racing action in time to remain on the lead lap, but his car was never the same after the accident.

Husted survived a wild ride through turn 3 on lap 7 when he spun out exiting the corner and ended up at a stop along the side of the track.  Koscielniak was right behind him when Husted spun, and was lucky that Husted’s car had enough momentum to carry him off track before they collided.  Husted lost only two positions as he rejoined the racing action.

Gagliardo mirrored Berry’s mistake at turn 3 on lap nine, but he wasn’t as lucky Berry had been.  His car suffered heavy damage after sliding through the grass and crashing into the wall.  The Castrol Edge McLaren had too much damage to repair, so Gagliardo was forced to retire from the race.

Weiss gave up 15th place on lap eleven after he attempted to out-brake Kyle as they entered turn one.  Taking a tight line and braking much later than normal to make the pass, Weiss could not get his car slowed down entering the corner and drove off course, into the grass and as a result he lost 2 spots. He avoided damage in the incident, but dropped two more positions after again locking up his brakes and sliding off track at T1 four laps later.

Fuel mileage is often a factor in the outcome of RSR races.  Drivers began pitting as early as lap six hoping to avoid traffic, while others chose to stay out and tried to stretch their fuel mileage long enough to lead a lap.  Vincent anticipated the importance of fuel strategy in the race and waited until lap ten to make his stop.  His teammate Douglas Beard gambled by staying out for one more lap before pitting for fuel and tires.  His move appeared to have paid off as Beard was credited with leading lap 10 in the Go-Doogie McLaren, but a mistake at T5-5A on lap 11 and another at T10 on lap 12 dropped him from 8th position to 24th place.  Vincent took back the lead on the following lap and was never seriously challenged again.

Kevin Kyle, having moved up 7 positions into 14th place, looked to be in contention for a top 10 finish until he was forced to reset for repairs after a nasty off-track incident in T3-4 on lap twelve.  The incident dropped him all the way back to 25th place.

Kabela had a rough outing at VIR.  Normally one of the cleanest drivers in the league, he racked up several off-track penalties but was under the threshold of 5 incidents that result in a penalty in the RSR league when he got loose exiting T4 and spun out in the middle of T5 with Beard locked on his rear bumper.  With nowhere to go, Beard tapped the right side of Kabela’s car and sent it off track.  Kabela only lost one spot during the incident, but was not happy about his race.  “I knew the track was going to be my toughest competition tonight.  Still, I’m not happy to have racked up so many incident points.  My incidents in just this one race is almost half as many as my first seven races combined!”

Prostell was the last driver to suffer at the hands of T4 when he went off track on lap sixteen and slid through the grass before hitting the tire barrier.

Amazingly, there was only one incident at the famous Oak Tree corner, and no one had trouble negotiating the dangerous sections of VIR known as Snake, Roller Coaster or Hog Pen.

Vincent led 16 of 17 laps at VIR on his way to a league leading 5th win of the season.  He posted the only sub 1:48 lap time of the race on lap three, and crossed the finish line with a comfortable 6.9 second lead over McGrew.  McGrew’s 2nd place finish was his forth podium finish of the season.

Rhyne and Rundell battled hard for the final podium spot in the closing laps of the race, but Rhyne held onto 3rd place beating Rundell to the line by a mere .115.  “We gave it everything we had tonight”, said Rundell.  “The Dupont McLaren was perfect, but Tommy did a great job of keeping me behind him.  I’ll take another top-5 finish!”

Moll (5th), Turner (6th), Koscielniak (7th), Mourette (8th), Husted (9th), and Gantman (10th) rounded out the top-10 finishing positions.  Twenty-two drivers finished on the lead lap.

Vincent’s dominating performance in the first nine races has all but guaranteed him the season championship.  He holds a solid 42 point lead over Turner, while Rundell is 58 point behind.  All three should finish the season in their respective positions.  Rhyne (4th) and Koscielniak (5th) are separated by one point.  Humphrey (6th), Husted (7th), McGrew (8th), Daul (9th), and Thomas (10th) round out the top-10 spots in the championship battle.

Teamdraft Srt (Thomas/Turner) moved into 1st place in the team competition after VIR.  They have a six point lead on Team VBR (Beard/Vincent), and a twenty-nine point lead over TOC Racing 2 (Moll/Rundell).  Storm Front Racing (Koscielniak/Daul) and TOC Racing (McGrew/Husted) round out the top-5 teams.

Next Race

RSR members travel down under for the ”Australian Grand Prix 30” at Phillip Island on March 21, 2013.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2874     

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Richard Beasley (3) leads the field down the frontstretch.

Week Six of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (fixed setup) brings the sim racers to one of the fastest tracks on the NASCAR circuit in Atlanta Motor Speedway. The fast speeds always bring out tons of eager racers attempting to put their Silverado in victory lane at least once. Nearly 2,000 online racers took the green flag for at least one event during the seven days of racing.

Kenneth O’Keefe (Eastern Canada) took the victory in the week’s high Strength of Field event by 0.088 seconds over Steven Eszenyi (Connecticut) after leading eight of the race’s 35 laps in the 4209 SoF. Brandon Slong (Atlantic) finished in the third position after starting seventh. Michael Fisher (Florida) brought home his No. 13 Silverado in the fourth position after starting third and leading one lap while Nick Zautner (New York) rounds out the top five.

Even though they weren’t able to win the week’s high SoF event, Tom Moustakas (New York) and Alfred Terra (Texas) were able to earn the most championship points for the week with 233. Slong’s third place effort in the SoF event netted him 231 points, just two shy of the top spot. SoF winner O’Keefe ended the week in the fourth position after starting an incredible 35 races. Chris J Miller (Carolina) completes the top five after starting three races, winning two, and earning 224 points.

Jason Jacoby (1) leads a group of Silverados into Turn Three.

To go along with winning the week’s high SoF event, O’Keefe was also able to set the fastest time in qualifying for the week. O’Keefe’s 30.299 second lap was just 17-thousandths of a second faster than second place Eszenyi who turned a 30.316. Kollin Keister (Atlantic) finished in the third position with a time of 30.325, and filling the remaining spots in the top five are Simon Crochart and Robert Hackel.

As the season reaches its midway point, Wade Hustad (Midwest) holds a seven point lead over Matthew Wright2 (New York). Kevin Gram (West) sits in the third position, just 39 points out of the lead. Byron Daley (New York) holds down the fourth position and is just 48 points behind while Brandon M. Thrasher (Mid-South) rounds out the top five.

Week Seven will take the drivers into the Midwestern United States for action at Iowa Speedway. This is short track that behaves like a big speedway, so it’s something that you will not want to miss!

Texan sim racer Ryan Luza dominated the 3180 Strength of Field, taking the checkered flag by 1.591 seconds over Brenden Koehler (Pennsylvania). Rob Pendleton (Midwest) finished in the third position. Clayton Celovsky (Eastern Canada) finishes in the fourth position while Allen Provenzano (Illinois) rounds out the top five in his No. 9 Silverado after starting on the pole and leading four laps.

With the victory in the week’s high SoF, Luza earned an even 200 points for his efforts. In four starts during the week, Luza was able to take the checkered flag first in all four of those, leading an incredible 76% of the laps he completed. Koehler’s second place run earned him 188 points for the week. Pendleton’s third place effort netted him 176 points while Jeffrey Earnhart (Georgia) and William Green (New York) complete the top five for Week Six.

Luza continued his hot streak into qualifying as well as he turned the fastest lap of the week. His time of 29.975 seconds was just four thousandths of a second faster than Arthur Lucas (Virginias). Brian Viola (Mid-South) was the final driver in the 29.9-second bracket as he eneded the week with a time of 29.993. Keith Elliott (Western Canada) ran a 30.015 while Chris Crosby (Carolina) filled the remaining spot in the top five with a time of 30.023.

At the midway point of the season, Carl Taylor (Mid-South) holds a 44 point lead over fellow Mid-South Club member Viola. Joshua Hanner (Carolina) holds down the third position (-79). Elliott sits in the fourth position (-110) while Pendleton rounds out the top five (-112).

Iowa Speedway will play host to Week Seven of the NiCCS (open setup). Come back in a few days for a full recap of the week’s action!

The Ford Fusion debuted at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Where ever there is a party, there is a party pooper, and Ryan Luza spoiled the Fusion coming out party as he scored 372 points to put him atop the pylon in his Chevrolet SS. This is a familiar spot for Luza who shared top honors with Kenny Humpe last week in Phoenix, but stands alone in the top spot for week two. Sunday’s 5836 SoF was dominated by Carson McClelland who led fifty one of the eighty five laps, but finished a disappointing fifth on the night. Dylan Duval rallied throughout the race to come home with a second place finish, while NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) driver Peter Bennett rounded out the podium.

The top two from Sunday’s big split held steady atop the weekly points standings, while former NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) driver Joshua B Gerrald strung together three wins in four races to finish third on the week. Patrick Baldwin scored a win in his only start and earned himself 349 points, good enough for fourth, while Adam Gilliland rounded out the top five. Luza holds the early points lead, but despite leading the points in every week thus far, it is a slim twenty six point lead over Gerrald.

The Gen6 Stockcars put on a great show in Sin City

Jesse Murphy of Ohio was a one man wrecking crew in the stat column for week two. Murphy led the way in starts with sixteen, and he made the most of them as he also led in wins (four) and top fives (ten). Damon Burnnette was tied for the most starts with sixteen, while four drivers took the green flag fifteen times.

Next week will finally give competitors a break from the hot Midwest sun, as the series heads back east for 175 laps around the famed Bristol Motor Speedway. Since the reconfiguration, Bristol has been a monumental task to setup for, pass, and keep all four wheels pointed in the same direction come race end. With that being said, the cream always seems to rise to the top, and a true short track ace is left standing with the trophy at the end of 175 grueling laps. Check back to inRacingNews.com next week for a full recap of all the fender to fender action from the bullring in Bristol, Tennessee.

After a week in the chilly winter air of upstate New York, members of the Red Sox Racing League were eager to arrive in Miami, Florida for the “John Nemechek 30″ and to bask in the south Florida sun.  Brad Vincent entered week eight with the overall points lead and an impressive streak of four wins and seven podium finishes in RSR’s first season of 2013.  Les Turner, a Canadian driver with plenty of experience and a history of RSR championships stretching back several years was Vincent’s nearest challenger in the championship race.

The contrast was stark between Homestead Miami Speedway and the rolling hills of Watkins Glen, New York.  Homestead’s B-course is relatively flat, much wider than Watkins Glen, and it includes a significant section of the banked speedway along its 11 corner 2.3 mile distance.  Drivers are at top speed when they pass the start line and set up for the entry to T1, which is a high-speed left-hand corner that marks the transition off the speedway and onto the flat infield section of the course.

Carrying all the momentum they gained on the long oval into the infield section of the circuit, drivers must brake immediately to safely negotiate T2.  They then accelerate through a short straight, but are back on the brakes for T3, a tight left-hand corner.  T5 leads to a long straight section, but the high speeds reached there are short-lived as drivers must slow again for a 120 degree T6.  A well executed exit at T6 means a driver can hit T7 at full throttle as they barrel down the last straight section of the infield and prepare for the hairpin at T8.  T8 is where many drivers get into trouble at Homestead because they are so focused on getting a clean transition onto the back stretch of the speedway that they get into the throttle too early.  The result is often a missed opportunity to make a clean pass while exiting the corner, or worse, a spin that sets them back several positions.  RSR drivers experimented with every possible driving line through T8 during practice, but most finally settled on the safe route to ensure an incident free race.

Vincent dominated the qualifying session at Miami and secured his fifth pole of the season, but unlike past races, there were several drivers close enough to his qualifying time to suggest that they had a legitimate chance at preventing Vincent from earning his fifth victory in a row.  Dustin McGrew, who all but handed Vincent the win after running short of fuel in New York, started beside him on the front row in Miami.  “I had a meeting with the team last week”, said McGrew before the race.  “They know their jobs are on the line if we have a similar mistake this week.”  The tension was thick up and down pit road as several other teams who had made similar mistakes in New York were nervous that they would repeat them.

Reed Rundell started the race in 3rd place.  With two podium finishes in his last two races, and in the 3rd spot in the championship race, the TOC Racing2 driver felt confident that he could contend for victory in Florida.  “We got the monkey off of our backs at Spa, so I am looking forward to putting the Dupont McLaren back on the podium this week!”

Les Turner started in the outside of row two.  Corey A. Wolf (5th), Tommy Rhyne (6th), John Koscielniak (7th), Nim Cross Jr. (8th), Andrew Humphrey (9th), and Terry Daul (10th) completed rows three through five.  Scott Husted, Michael Gagliardo, Cyril Roberts, Dennis Griffen, David Berry, Kevin Kyle, Jeff Thomas, Andrew Feldman, Ed Sutcliff, James Prostell Jr., William Kabela, Divina Galica, David Holzwarth, and Gerald Livingston completed the starting grid.

Traffic was thick as the field took the green flag and entered T1, but the drivers gave each other plenty of room and got through the opening corners without incident.  Vincent led the first two laps, but a slight bobble in T2 allowed McGrew and Rundell to pass him.  McGrew held onto the lead as Vincent made his way back past Rundell a lap later.

Kyle was in 15th place when he missed his braking point for T2 on lap four.  The seasoned member of Teamdraft2 avoided damage to his car as it went off track and into the dirt, but he had dropped to 25th place by the time he rejoined the action.  Kyle’s night got worse when he collected minor damage after a mistake in T7 six laps later.  And his troubles compounded when he cut the corner at T8, driving through the grass, he then crossed over the track and continued onto the speedway without negotiating T9.  “I don’t know what happened on that lap”, said Kyle said afterwards.  “I’d worked my way back up to 23rd place before I hit the curb at T7.  The car pushed away from the curb way harder than I expected and the next thing I knew the car was sliding towards the inside wall.  It was never the same after that.”

Berry had worked his way up to 9th place when he had a similar problem on lap twelve.  Hitting the inside curbing in T6 and T7, the Indiana driver lost control of his car before bringing it to a stop on the track.  He lost three positions before getting back up to speed.  “The National Guard McLaren was dialed in tonight,” said Berry afterwards, “I should have done a better job of keeping it together for the team.  We’ll come back strong next week.”  Humphrey (12th) spun out in T3 on lap twelve but only lost one position before recovering.

Livingston spent most of the race in a heated battle with Holzwarth.  Making a pass for 19th position at the entry of T1 on lap fourteen, but Livingston promptly gave the spot back as he carried too much speed into T2 and drove off the track and into the grass.  He lost two more positions waiting for traffic to pass by before rejoining the action.

Galica spent the first half of the race trying to stay out of trouble and on the lead lap.  Her efforts were thwarted with a spin in T3 on lap fifteen and a trip through the grass and dirt at the exit of T8 on lap nineteen.  “I was trying very hard to make up for my last lap crash in New York.  This season has been tough for me; I have gotten off to a good start in most of the races, but don’t have the results to show for it.  My car owner is very understanding, but unless I improve they may ask Wilbur to drive my car next season!”

Rundell drove brilliantly during the race and was in a perfect position to back up his pre-race expectations that he would earn another podium finish after pitting on lap 14.  However his hopes were dashed when he allowed his right side tires to catch the grass exiting T2 on lap fifteen.  The resulting  spin left Rundell at a stop just off the track surface where he would drop five positions before rejoining the action.

Koscielniak made almost the exact same mistake two laps later.  Running in 5th at the time, he also lost several positions and dropped out of contention for a podium finish as a result of the error.

Racing action was fierce throughout the field as the laps wound down, but the fight for 10th place between Husted and Gagliardo made for a thrilling final lap for the fans.  Husted appeared to have the spot locked up before he reached the T8 hairpin, but Gagliardo risked everything to execute a last second pass attempt against Husted.  Gagliardo managed to place his Castrol Edge McLaren to the inside of Husted’s TOC Racing machine as their cars reached the corner apex, but Gagliardo’s momentum carried him into the left side of Husted’s car as they drove out of the tight left-hander and onto the speedway.

Husted locked onto Gagliardo’s car and made several moves to get the position back before they crossed the finish line, but Gagliardo managed to hold him off.  Husted was so incensed at losing the top-10 finish that he nearly wrecked his car on the cool down lap.  “The Ruger, Google, Gulf, Rolex McLaren was a rocket again tonight, but we just couldn’t break out of the traffic.”

Husted’s TOC Racing teammate Dustin McGrew pitted earlier than the rest of the field to ensure his pit crew didn’t have to worry about traffic as they refueled his car.  “They had a lot of stress on them tonight, so we figured an empty pit road would help them focus.”  The strategy meant giving up the top spot, but McGrew was confident he could contend for the lead once the pit cycles were completed.

Vincent and Cross led laps as the field pitted, but neither could keep McGrew from taking back the lead on lap fifteen.  Vincent was the only driver who could keep pace with McGrew in the final laps.  McGrew took the checkered flag with a margin of victory of 8/10′s of a second over Vincent.

Turner executed a nearly flawless pit stop and calmly worked his way through traffic to earn a third place finish in Miami.  Rhyne (4th) crossed the line on Turner’s heels to earn his third top-5 finish of the season.  In another close finish, Cross (5th) held off Wolf (6th) earning his third top-5 finish of the season.

Rundell recovered from his lap fifteen mishap and climbed three spots to finish in 7th place.  Humphrey (8th), Koscielniak (9th), and Gagliardo (10th) rounded out the top ten finishing spots.  Gagliardo’s finish was closely contested by Husted (11th), Daul (12th), and Roberts (13th), who all finished within a second of him.  Griffen (14th) and Thomas (15th) dueled it out to the very end.  In all, nineteen drivers finished on the lead lap.  Ten drivers completed the race without incident.

Vincent now holds a commanding 35 point lead over Turner in the championship battle with five races remaining on the schedule.  Rundell remains in 3rd place, while Humphrey (4th) and Koscielniak (5th) maintain a narrow lead over Rhyne.  Husted, Daul, Wolf, and McGrew round out the top-10 positions.

Team VBR (Vincent/Beard) dominated the first half of the season, but two missed starts in the past three races by Douglas Beard, coupled with strong performances by Turner and Thomas meant the Teamdraft Srt teammates had cut Team VBR’s lead to a single point leaving Miami.  Team TOC Racing2 is 36 points back in third place.  Storm Front Racing (Koscielniak/Daul) and TOC Racing 3 (Gantman/Humphrey) round out the top-5 spots in the team competition.

Next Race

RSR members travel back north for the ”McLaren Challenge Trofeo Pirelli” at the Virginia International Raceway on March 14, 2013.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2873    

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Miles the Monster

When it comes to tough racetracks around the world, you will be pressed to find one more difficult than Dover International Speedway. The 1-mile speedway with 24 degree high banks provides some of the most intense racing in NASCAR. That intensity is welcomed by some while others shy away from it. Almost 600 sim racers welcomed the challenge for Week Five of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (open setup), but after the dust settled after seven days of racing, a name that is relatively unknown in the iRacing.com community made a trip to victory lane during this week’s high Strength of Field event.

Donald Aholt (Ohio) took the checkered flag first during this week’s high SoF event (2844) by 4.858 seconds over Matthew Davis (Mid-South) after leading just 12 of the race’s 90 laps. Carson McClelland (Carolina) had some bad luck fall his way after leading 78 laps and being relegated to a third place finish. Michael Feliciano (Northwest) brought his No. 6 Silverado home in the fourth position after starting sixth while Scotty MacMichael (New England) rounds out the top five.

By earning the victory in the week’s high SoF event, Aholt was able to earn the most championship points with 179. Davis made only one start during the week and it was a good one as his second place finish earned him 169 points. John Schweickart (Ohio) and McClelland finished in a tie for third position, each earning 160 points while Carl Taylor (Mid-South) completes the top five.

The start/finish line at Dover.

Mark Robert Gray (Australia/NZ) set the fastest time during qualifying for the week with a time of 23.396 seconds. Eric W Purcell (Florida) finished in the second position with a time of 23.436 while Tim Marlow (Carolina), Gary Fridinger (Pennsylvania), and Jeff Mueller (Midwest) fill the remaining spots in the top five.

Taylor holds a 45 point lead in the season standings over second place Brian Viola (Mid-South). Alex Scribner (Texas) is now 72 points behind after being in the lead for many weeks. Joshua Hanner (Carolina) (-75) sits fourth while Kenny Humpe (Ohio) rounds out the top five.

Check back next week as the NiCCS (open setup) takes a trip to Hampton, Georgia for high speed action at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The Gen6 Chevrolet SS hit the track for the first time at PIR

Just as in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the Gen6 provided an even playing field for everyone involved. This provides a great opportunity for drivers behind the ball on the older COT, to get a jump start on the new car. With a shortened season, getting the ball rolling early will be a key factor in who is left in the championship battle in just a handful of weeks.

Ryan Luza and Kenny Humpe are two drivers that adjusted very well to the new chassis, as it was a tie atop the charts between the two with 376 points at PIR. Luza won three of his four starts, all of which coming in very impressive fields. Not to be outdone, former NiPS race winner Kenny Humpe won both of his two starts, leading 168 of his 180 completed laps. Peter Bennett put in an extremely consistent week to slot him third with 360 points, while Dylan Duval and Paul Kusheba rounded out the top five for the opening week.

Tight racing at PIR

As is always the case when racers get their hands on a new car, some drivers just can’t get enough. Joshua B Gerrald heads the list of starts on the week with seventeen in The Valley of the Sun. Jim J Robinson was just one race behind Gerrald, while Jonathon Hall and Bob Grooms each ran thirteen races. Gerrald scored the most wins with five, two ahead of overall point leader Ryan Luza.

Next week is a landmark week for the NiCAS as the new Ford Fusion will hit the track for the first time, at the lightning quick Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This addition will add realism never before seen in top level stock car racing on iRacing.com. This combined with the cutthroat intensity of climbing into the battle for the championship will surely make next week in Vegas one to remember. For NiCAS race photos, updates, news and more, check back at inRacingNews next week.

Chad J Laughton (3) leads Tyler D Hudson (1), Kenneth O’Keefe (4), and others through Turn Four.

Week Five of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (fixed setup) makes a trip into Delaware to pay a visit to Miles the Monster and Dover International Speedway. Over 1,700 sim racers took the green flag for at least one race during the week all with the same goal—win. Even though many set out to achieve this goal, only one person would fast enough and brave enough to conquer the concrete beast that is Dover.

NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series champion Chad J Laughton (Carolina) laid the smack down during this week’s high Strength of Field (4083) by leading 39 of the race’s 45 laps en route to the victory. Tyler D Hudson (Mid-South) finished in the second position after starting fifth. John Gorlinsky (New Jersey) ended the event in the third position after starting fourth. Wade Hustad (Midwest) brought his No. 6 Silverado home in the fourth position while Jim Caudill Jr (Mid-South) rounded out the top five after starting in the 17^th position and turning the fastest lap of the race.

With the victory in the high SoF event, Laughton was able to earn the most points for the week with 251 even after making eight starts. Hudson’s second place effort netted him 242 points. Jason Karlavige (Pennsylvania) didn’t have the finish he was looking for in the week’s high SoF event, but a few other good races allowed him to add 241 points to his season total during the week. Kenneth O’Keefe (Eastern Canada) amassed 232 points during the week after making two starts and earning one top five finish. Filling the remaining spot in the top five is Timothy Vecchioni (Atlantic) who started one race during the week and earned 227 points for his second place finish.

Parker Kligerman (8), among many others, involved in a serious accident.

Even though Ray Alfalla (Florida) did not make a start during the week, he did, however, put his ProGeek Consulting Silverado on top of the qualifying chart with a time of 23.767 seconds, just a slight edge of 0.011 seconds over Laughton (23.778). Anthony Kernich (Australia/NZ) was the first person in the 23.8-second bracket as he turned a time of 23.827. Karlavige ended Week Five in the fourth position with a time of 23.832 while Harrison Widelitz (New Jersey) completes the top five with a time of 23.838.

Byron Daley (New York) holds a 110 point lead in the season standings over Matthew Wright2 (New York) after five weeks of online racing. Hustad sits in the third position 129 points out of the lead, while Kevin Gram (West) and Michael Conti (New Jersey) round out the top five.

Check back next week as the NiCCS (fixed setup) heads into Georgia for 35 laps of fast racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Now all you blue oval fans can finally compete against the bow ties – and show them who really is first on race day!

Scenic Watkins Glen, New York hosted the ”Schuyler County 30” at the International Speedway’s road course for week seven of the Red Sox Racing League’s 2013 Season One schedule.  Home of the U.S. Grand Prix between 1961-1980, the track is a favorite for drivers in many classes, from Formula One to Nascar, Trans-Am, and IndyCar.  The league used the Cup layout which features eight corners in a 2.45 mile layout and includes a long front stretch that leads to a dramatic downhill entry to the 90-degree turn one.  A generous asphalt run-off area means drivers can take turn one faster than the laws of physics would seem to allow.

The track then climbs up a narrow winding hill known as the Esses before turn four opens up to another long straight section of track on the back half of the course.  Able to accelerate at full throttle from the exit of turn one, drivers reach top speeds just before braking for the bus-stop kink at turn five.  Exiting the bus stop drivers must ease back into the throttle through the long sweeping right hand turn known as the Carousel.  Another straight section leads traffic to a fast sweep through turn seven followed by a short downhill and a fast right-hand corner that leads the field back to the front stretch.

Brad Vincent entered the event with a string of three straight victories and the overall points lead, so the rest of the league knew they would have to bring their A-games to New York if they hoped to displace Vincent from Victory Lane.

Vincent earned his forth pole of the season by posting the only sub 1:10 lap of the qualifying session.  His lap time of 1:09.821 secured the pole, but did not dampen the spirits of the drivers who started behind him on the grid.  Dustin McGrew earned the 2nd spot on the grid with a lap time of 1:10.026.  Dean Moll, Andrew Humphrey, John Koscielniak, Reed Rundell, Cyril Roberts, Les Turner, Corey A. Wolf, and Andrew Gantman earning his first top 10 start of the season, rounded out the top ten starting positions.

Dylan Roberts, Nim Cross Jr., Pierre Robitaille, Gilles Mourette, Tommy Rhyne, David Weiss, Scott Husted, Terry Daul, David Berry, Gerald Livingston, Kevin Kyle, Stefan Hojnowski, Michael Gagliardo, Jeff Thomas, Dennis Griffen, Douglas Beard, Andrew Feldman, James Prostell, Jr., Divina Galica, Ed Sutcliff, William Kabela, and Dean Ayer completed the grid.  Wilbur Gildersleeve, Jr. posted a qualifying time, but did not start the race when officials declared his driver suit non-compliant with safety regulations.

Most race drivers love the layout at Watkins Glen and RSR members are no exception.  Demonstrating their zeal for the track, starting positions two through twenty-two were separated by less than one second.  Outside pole sitter McGrew had  started only three of the first six races, but finished on the podium in all three of those events, so fans looked forward to an exciting show once the green flag dropped.  Vincent and McGrew did not disappoint as they battled lap after lap and swapped places four times in the first seven laps.

Racing action throughout the rest of the field was just as fierce.  Moll and Humphrey traded positions before the pit cycle, as did Koscielniak and Rundell.  Turner got past Cyril Roberts early in the race and then passed Koscielniak when he lost control of his car on lap three.

On lap two Weiss was the first driver to drop out of contention when he was forced to pit his Tag Heuer MP4 for repairs after scraping the right side railings as he crested the hill at turn four.  Although officials had thought T1 would be the site of mishaps early on, T8 was the real danger zone.  TOC Racing’s Husted dropped from 16th to last place after spinning out in T8 on lap two, then Storm Front Racing’s Koscielniak dropped from 6th place when he lost control on lap three and ended up sideways in the center of the track.  His trouble was compounded when he tried to right his car and he clipped the left side of Pierre Robitaille’s number 27 MP4.  The force of the impact knocked Robitaille into a violent spin and flip at the entry to pit road.  His car suffered heavy damage and despite a valiant effort by his pit crew was never the same.

McGrew was leading on lap five when he nearly ended his race when a minor mistake between turns seven and eight saw his car leave the track and swipe the left side railings.  Vincent was breathing down his back when the incident happened, but an un-fazed McGrew managed to keep the lead by getting back onto the track in time to enter T8 side-by-side with Vincent.  However Vincent managed to pass McGrew after they climbed the Esses two laps later.

T1 earned its reputation as a race killer on lap nine.  First Wolf made contact with the rear of Gantman’s tenth place car as they entered the corner, causing Wolf to go off course and lose several positions.  Seconds later Hojnowski tried an optimistic late pass of Livingston, a move that was doomed to fail.  Hojnowski’s speed and angle of approach to the corner meant he had no chance to safely navigate past Livingston, whose spotter couldn’t have anticipated the move in time to warn his driver.  The resulting impact sent both cars off track.

Following closely behind, Koscielniak and Beard entered turn one with Koscielniak attempting a late attack on Beard as they reached the turn in point.  Koscielniak managed to get his front wheels ahead of Beard’s rear wheels, but Beard turned into the corner and the pair made contact sending both of their cars into the spinning cars of Hojnowski and Livingston.  All 4 cars slid sideways and backwards off of the track.

The accident resembled a synchronized move more akin to a Summer Olympic water sport than a motorsports event, and several sarcastic fans held up scoring signs ranging from 8.8 – 9.5 for the performance.  Linvingston tried to limp his heavily damaged car back around the track to reach pit road, but his attempt nearly ended Husted’s night a half a lap later, and scared the leaders when they were forced to dance their way around his swerving car.

Berry spun out in the bus stop on lap ten, coming to a stop along the outside wall after sliding backwards through the dirt.  His car was not damaged in the incident.

Vincent, Moll, Rundell, and Cross each took turns leading midway into the race, but McGrew returned to the top spot once everyone completed their stops for fuel and tires.  Pit road was a busy place as drivers and their crews gambled on how much fuel to take, and whether or not to take new tires.  Most gambled correctly, but a few drivers miscalculated.

As crew chiefs tried to figure out if their drivers would have enough fuel to finish the race, drivers focused on completing the race in once piece.  Robitaille’s hopes of a good finish were finished when his car drifted wide and hit the outside wall at the top of the Esses on lap sixteen.  Kyle made the same mistake on lap twenty-one, but compounded his error when his car careened across the track and slammed into the left-side wall along the exit of T4.  His car received heavy damage as it scraped the railing all the way down the back stretch heading to the bus stop.

Gagliardo dropped out of the lead pack as his crew had miscalculated how much fuel his car needed during the pit stop.  Running in 7th place at the time, he was forced to pit for a splash of fuel on lap twenty-three.  The costly mistake dropped him to 22nd place.

McGrew was leading the race when he got the bad news about his fuel situation on lap twenty-three.  “We thought we had it covered”, said McGrew afterwards.  “I was taking care of the car and the tires, and was in a perfect position to pull off the win tonight.  The fuel mistake cost us our first victory of the season, so somebody on this crew has got some serious explaining to do if they want to keep their job!”  McGrew went on to finish 7th in the race after having led twelve of the twenty-five laps completed.

Prostell in the Pennzoil ULTRA / Shell V-Power MP4 lost a position after going wide at the exit of T1 on lap twenty-four and then Galica ruined a perfectly good car in a violent accident caused when she hit the curbing climbing the hill towards T4 and was forced into the outside railing.  Her car slid backwards across the track, hitting the outside wall at the top of the hill before it flipped onto its roof and slid to a stop on the track in front of Kabela.  Kabela squeezed his car to the right and just managed to get past Galica’s car without hitting it.  After driving through the debris field Kabela’s crew warned him not to blow a tire.

Vincent earned his fourth win of the season by outdueling Moll and Rundell to the finish line after McGrew’s late race pit stop.  He crossed the line with a 1.95 second margin of victory in the closest finish of the season.  Vincent posted the fastest lap of the race with a 1:09.925 on lap 18.  He was the only driver to post a sub-1:10 lap during the race.

Moll’s 2nd place finish was his first podium of the season.  “That was a great run for the TOC2 McLaren!  The car was a rocket during qualifying and I was able to keep pace with the leaders once the race began.  Our pit strategy was executed perfectly and our pre-race testing gave me several pieces of crucial information that allowed me to find more speed on the track.  It was too bad Dustin was short on fuel, but Reed and Andrew were right behind me, so we had a strong team showing.”

Rundell’s 3rd place finish was his second straight podium after four straight top-10 finishes.

Humphrey finished in 4th place with a strong performance which saw him cross the line less than two seconds behind Rundell.  Turner earned 5th place by outpacing Cyril Roberts (6th), McGrew (7th), Cross (8th), Rhyne (9th), and Dylan Roberts (10th) to the line.  Illustrating how closely the race was contested throughout the field, twenty-seven drivers finished on the lead lap.

Vincent continues to lead the overall season standings with a 32 point advantage over Turner.  Rundell, Humphrey, Koscielniak, Rhyne, Husted, Daul, Gantman, and Moll round out the top-10 positions.

Team VBR (Vincent/Beard) leads the team competition and enjoys a 28 point lead over TOC Racing 2 (Moll/Rundell).  Teamdraft Srt (Thomas/Turner), TOC Racing 3 (Gantman/Humphrey), and Storm Front Racing (Koscielniak/Daul) round out the top-5 positions.

Next Race

RSR members travel back to the United States for the ”John Nemechek 30” at the Homestead’s Road Course B on March 7, 2013.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2872   

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

That was Alan Elwood talking about his painting company on iRacing, Elwood Designs. The 21 year old who currently lives in Columbus, Ohio is an expert at painting cars, but he’s also pretty good at racing them too. He has started 326 races on the oval side of iRacing and has won 67 times, and has finished in the top five over 50% of the time. With and oval iRating of over 4300, Alan is always one to watch on the track. I got the chance to talk to him about iRacing, his life outside of iRacing and what he expects moving forward in this week’s edition of Get to know…

 1) How long have you been sim racing?

I’ve been sim racing since I was about 8 years old and got my hands on the original Nascar Racing game for pc. Ever since, I’ve been hooked and it’s been something I’ve always enjoyed.

2) How did you get started in iRacing?

I had played NR2k3 since it had come out and it’s what I give the credit to for getting me into online racing. After winning multiple league titles in the sim, I finally heard about iRacing.com in 2011 and was a bit skeptical to pay the money at the time, but after a couple buddies persuaded myself to give it a try, I was convinced it was the best route to take and have been racing on it ever since.

3) Which race car driver do you look up to the most?

I would honestly say that Kasey Kahne is a driver and individual I truly admire and have the upmost respect for. His quiet nature and success on the race track, along with being a successful business owner and giving back to the communities is the inspiration I use to get me through my racing career.

4) What type of hobbies do you do outside of iRacing?

I’m an avid sports fan and a very big Ohio State Buckeyes fan. I played basketball from 6^th grade all the way through senior year of high school. Over the last few years I’ve developed a true passion for graphic design, which is where Elwood Designs comes in. Paint schemes, just like the aesthetics (uniforms, logos, etc.) of sports, have always been a big passion of mine.

5) What is your greatest accomplishment on iRacing?

My greatest accomplishment to this point on iRacing is winning the American Sim Racing Series truck season title and having multiple victories in the league. I felt a big step for me was racing in the Inside Sim Racing 200 at the Rock with the national series car and having a chance to win in the top split with the likes of Ray Alfalla and Tyler Hudson. I haven’t had anything really major to this point, but I hope to accomplish much more with my time on iRacing.

6) What is one long term goal that you hope to still accomplish in iRacing?

I think the biggest goal I could have at this point is to one day be good enough to at least make it to the pro series, I think being in the Drivers World Championship is usually the ultimate goal for racers on the service, but I don’t feel I’m there yet. I feel I can be competitive enough to make it to the pro level and hope to possibly have a chance at it by the end of the year.

7) What type of racing do you like to watch on TV?

NASCAR I think will always be my number one racing series to watch. I’ve always loved to watch the World of Outlaws as well as non-winged sprint cars when they have a chance to be on TV. I’ve grown to liking road racing more and more, with the V8 Supercars along with Formula One really catching my interest. Honestly, if it’s racing and on TV, more than likely I’m watching.

8) How do you think your fellow iRacers see you?

I really feel like I’ve come to gain the respect of many members of the community, and I think a lot of that has to do with the design work I complete for people, along with trying my best to keep respect on the track as well. I’m pretty well known as being a clean racer, but racing hard and not trying to give an inch, while also being smart in different situations.

9) Who is Alan Elwood outside of iRacing?

I’m 21 years old and outside of iRacing, I’m a pretty tame guy, I really just enjoy doing graphic work, playing sports, and racing games are really the only video games I play anymore. I’ve got a great family who supports me. I race with my family, running the Elwood Motorsports go-kart full time in 2013 here in Ohio. I work at Giant Eagle supermarket doing everything from front-end coordinator, cashier, service desk and helping out in other departments when necessary. I hope to pursue my own business one day, and I’m a soon-to-be graduate of DeVry University with an associate’s degree in Web Graphic Design.

10) If there was one thing you could change about iRacing, what would it be?

I think it would be the overall racing experience, which is super hard to control. I understand that everyone has their own levels of working their way through the ranks, and everyone learns at their own pace. I feel like the racing on the sim could be the best out there if everyone used their head in certain situations. Overall the community we have is a very strong one and I hope to see it continue long into the future!

11) What is one thing that you love the most about iRacing?

How can you not love the authenticity that is laser scanned tracks and cars? Knowing that you are virtually strapping into the real thing on your computer is such an astonishing thing to think about with where we are and technology becoming so advanced.

12) Overall, how do you rate your success on iRacing?

I think my success can be rated different with specific areas, but overall I think I’ve had a pretty successful run on the sim (probably a B grade so far). I wish I could race more than the given time I’m able, but factoring in work, the graphic side of things, and life outside iRacing, it can be challenging for me to get a race in. I think with school being over, I can get into the game more and focus on making myself better and getting my overall success up with where I want to be.

Chris Crosby (1) leads the field down the Superstretch.

Week Four of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (open setup) makes a trip to the Mecca of motorsports for high speed action at Daytona International Speedway. Races weren’t always held on the famous high banks of DIS. In fact, the initial races in were held on the sandy beaches until moving to the paved speedway in 1959. Winning at Daytona is something every racer wants to accomplish before hanging up the helmet (real or virtual) and this week allowed many sim racers to check “winning at Daytona” off of their bucket list.

Steven Eszenyi (Connecticut) drove his No. 9 PSRG Silverado to victory lane during the 4662 Strength of Field by 0.325 seconds over James Poleske (Midwest) after leading 10 of the race’s 50 laps. Stephen Moore (California) finished in the third position after starting from 11^th and leading one lap. Kenneth O’Keefe (Eastern Canada) started on the outside of the front row and led the most laps, but was relegated to fourth in the final finishing order. Kyle Devitt (Carolina) rounds out the top five after starting from the third position and leading five laps.

With the victory, Eszenyi was able to earn the most championship points for Week Four with 290. Poleske’s second place effort netted him 271 points for the week. Moore’s only start for the week was during the high SoF event, which earned him 253 points for his efforts. O’Keefe made a total of six starts during the week, earning three victories, and adding 248 points to his season total. Austin Hartenfels (Virginias) fills the remaining spot in the top five after making three starts during the week and earning 247 points.

A group of trucks cross the start/finish line.

Superspeedway ace Arthur Lucas (Virginias) was on top of the qualifying chart for the week with a fast time of 47.576 seconds. Mark Robert Gray (Australia/NZ) finished a very close second to Lucas, only 0.003 seconds behind. Helge Gravemeyer (DE-AT-CH), William Weber (Carolina), and Adrian Duncan (Eastern Canada) filled out the rest of the top five.

Kenny Humpe (Ohio) maintains a 24 point lead over Alex Scribner (Texas) after four weeks of online racing. Nick Neben (Great Plains) sits in the third position (-51), followed by SoF winner Eszenyi who is 65 points behind. Carl Taylor (Mid-South) rounds out the top five and is currently 74 points behind.

The NiCCS (fixed setup) resumes next week as the drivers pay a visit to Miles the Monster in Dover, Deleware. Check back in a week’s time to see who was able to tame the concrete monster known as Dover International Speedway.

Twenty-five members of the Red Sox Racing League traveled to Belgium for the “Masta Kink 30″ at Spa-Francorchamps GP course for week six of the RSR 2013 Season One schedule.  Coming into the event with back-to-back wins Brad Vincent was the driver to beat at Spa-Francorchamps, one of the world’s most challenging tracks.  Fast speeds, drastic elevations changes, and numerous twists and turns means that drivers must keep their focus on the track at Spa.

While competitors tried to keep pace with Vincent, Paul Hesla quietly returned to action after missing starts at Road Atlanta and Mosport.  Normally a driver with two wins and a second place finish in three starts would warrant more attention, but the whirlwind of press and fans following Vincent through the paddock allowed Helsa to slip under the radar, or at least until qualifying started.

Once the official clock started logging lap times, everyone recognized that Hesla was back.  Needing only three laps to secure his third pole of the season, Hesla put his stamp on the event with a blistering lap time of 2:20.312.  Les Turner’s 2nd place effort of 2:21.329 led a competitive group of drivers making up the top-5 starting spots.  Brad Vincent was third on the grid with a lap time of 2:21.442, while Tommy Rhyne posted a time of 2:21.529 and Dean Moll posted a time of 2:21.907.

Reed Rundell, John Koscielniak, Michael Gagliardo, Andrew Humphrey, and Scott Husted rounded out the top-10 starting spots.  Gerald Livingston, Terry Daul, Kevin Kyle, Cyril Roberts, Tony Duffey, Andrew Gantman, David Weiss, Andrew Feldman, Jeff Thomas, Ed Sutcliff, Gilles Mourette, Dean Ayer, William Kabela, and James Prostell Jr. completed the starting grid.

The Spa circuit consists of nineteen corners along a scenic 4.35 miles layout.  Turn one, known as La Source, is a sharp u-turn right-hander which leads downhill to Eau Rouge and a series of quick, high-speed uphill corners which funnel traffic onto the long section known as Kemmel Straight.  Les Combes greets drivers in T5, and if they are lucky enough to survive the first right-left-right section without incident, they accelerate into the downhill at Malmedy and are immediately faced with another u-turn at Rivage.  Picking up speed at the exit of T9, traffic continues downhill towards the double-left hand corners at Pouhon.  Keeping the cars on the track at that area proves exceptionally hard as drivers attempt to maintain speed while setting up for another left-right-left through turns 12 and 13.

The next corner is a slow 90 degree T14 which leads to Curve Paul Frere at T15 where drivers can again apply full throttle shifting through their entire gearbox and reaching top speeds.  Most drivers slightly lift their gas peddles for the gentle dog-leg left hand corner at T17 as they try to maintain momentum heading into the chicane at T18-19.  Handled correctly, the sharp uphill at the exit of T19 leads drivers to the start/finish line.

Despite their reputation for being a safe group of drivers, even the seasoned veterans at RSR could not escape the axiom that mistakes made at any of the corners at Spa often leads to disaster.  Things got off to a brutal start for Moll when he dropped from 5th place to last place in the first corner of lap one.  His incidents began when Moll tapped the rear of Vincent’s slowing car in T1.  Moll was hit from behind and spun at the exit of T1 when he was forced to slow dramatically to avoid harsher contact with Vincent.

Moll’s car came to a stop facing the wrong way in the inside lane at the exit of the corner.  Several cars managed to avoid hitting him, and just when it looked like he was going to escape without further damage, Kyle drove into his front bumper just as he was rear-ended by Duffy.  Gantman went wide to avoid the stopped traffic, but continued too far to the left and side-swiped Roberts as they charged downhill towards Eau Rouge.

Hesla maintained the lead as Vincent and the rest of the field negotiated their way around the course on the opening lap.  Most were able to avoid serious trouble, but several drivers had minor off-track incidents reminding them how quickly the track could end their chances for a solid finish.  Mourette had a scare when he got sideways in T5 on lap two and although he ran a number of very quick laps during the race, only 2 of his laps were incident free.

Gantman lost control of his car in T7 on lap seven.  The resulting spin saw the TOC Racing 3 team driver hitting the inside wall and receiving minor damage to his car.  Most drivers pitted during laps 6 and 7.  Battling hard through the initial laps, Turner and Rhyne found themselves fighting for the same piece of track at Les Combes on lap eight.  Turner got the short end of the contact and was forced to hold on for a wild ride when his car left the right side of the track and slid to a stop along the outside wall.

Roberts lost control of his car at Les Combes on lap eight.  His car went off the left side of the track after he over-corrected, but Roberts avoided contact with the wall and escaped the incident with only the loss of one position.

Gantman wasn’t as lucky when he went too far to the left edge of the track exiting T1 on lap nine.  His car was sent into a spin which forced him back across the track and into the inside wall.

Duffy had just made a pass for 19th place on lap nine when he waited too late to brake for T18 and he made contact with Feldman at corner entry.  Duffy and Feldman both went off track after the contact, but were able to continue racing.

Hesla led every lap of the race through the pit cycle and appeared to be on his way to another win before a mistake on lap eleven ended his race.  Vincent was the only driver who had kept Hesla in sight, so he had a great view of the incident.  “Paul got a little aggressive going through the uphill at Eau Rouge, but I thought he had it saved until he caught the curbing on the right side of the track.  His car was sent into a violent spin before it slammed into the tire barrier.  I didn’t see him after the race and I hope he is okay.”

Vincent led the final laps of the race and notched his third win in a row.  He had a 24 second lead over the second place finisher when he crossed the line.  With a third and a pair of second place finishes to go with his three victories, Vincent left Belgium as the odds-on favorite to secure another RSR season championship.

Rhyne was in position to finish the race in second place, but an electrical problem on lap twelve forced the snake-bitten Northern Tool driver into yet another disappointing finish.  “This is the third time we’ve dropped the ball in 2013″, said Rhyne after the race.  “I am not happy about the poor showings, but we’ll come back strong next week.”

Rhyne’s misfortune meant that Turner and Rundell  both secured their first podium finishes of the season.  Turner had a five second lead over Rundell when he crossed the line for 2nd place.  “We were happy to finally put the TeamDraft Batmobile onto the podium this season.  I am looking forward to Watkins Glen next week.”

Rundell was pleased with his 3rd place finish. “This was our first podium of the season after scoring four top-10 finishes in a row.  The TOC Racing2 team had a great night with my 3^rd and Dean’s 5^th place finish tonight.”

Scott Husted (4th place) finished just ahead of Moll (5th place).  Moll’s race back through the field after his lap one incident was one of his strongest performances of the season.  “The TOC Racing 2 team kept me calm after the incident”, said Moll after the race.  “We knew we had a fast car, so I just concentrated on staying out of trouble and keeping the car in one piece.”

Husted’s 4^th place finish was his best result of the season.  Known as “Hylander” to his online friends, the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania driver was excited about finally getting his Ruger, Google, Rolex McLaren into the front pack.  “This was probably the best race I’ve had in the past three RSR seasons”, said Husted.  “I wasn’t too far behind the pace of the lead drivers and managed to keep the car out of trouble for the entire race.  It was nice having the new equipment (a new computer and a triple-monitor setup), so perhaps this is the start of something great for TOC Racing.  My crew was a bit slow during the pit cycle, but I found out it was because they were watching one of those “Harlem Shake” videos on YouTube when I came in for fuel and tires!”

Gagliardo (6th), Koscielniak (7th), Daul (8th), Humphrey (9th), and Kyle (10th) rounded out the top-10 finishing positions.

Vincent has a 26 point lead over Turner in the overall season championship standings.  Rundell, Koscielniak, and Humphrey complete the top-5 spots.  Rhyne, Husted, Patrick Guerin, Beard, and Gantman round out the top-10.

Team VBR (Vincent/Beard) leads the team competition.  Teamdraft Srt (Thomas/Turner) are 40 points behind, followed by TOC Racing 2 (Moll/Rundell), Storm Front Racing (Koscielniak/Daul), and TOC Racing 3 (Gantman/Humphrey).

Next Race

RSR members travel back to the United States for the ”Schuyler County 30” at the Watkins Glen Cup Course on February 28, 2013.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2871  

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Byron Daley (2), Chad Coleman (9), and Ray Alfalla (1) battle three wide down the frontstretch.

The World Center of Speed was the host for Week Four of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (fixed setup). Over 3,100 sim racers took to Daytona International Speedway during the week in hopes of taking the checkered flag first. Daytona is very popular among online racers due to the fact that anybody can win here with a little luck and making the right moves. That being said, winning at Daytona is something that all drivers want to accomplish in their careers, whether it is on the virtual track or the real track. This week, someone who knows how to put things in the right place at the right time was able to take the victory in the week’s high Strength of Field event.

Byron Daley (New York) drove his No. 2 Silverado into victory lane last Monday night after leading the most laps (13) and besting Michael Conti (New Jersey) in a drag race to the line by 0.003 seconds during the 5523 Strength of Field. Chad Coleman (Georgia) finished a close third after starting from the 10^th position. Brandon Kettelle (Florida) came home in the fourth position and completing the top five was Brandon Slong (Atlantic) who led four of the race’s 25 laps. A great stat about the top five: all five drivers were within 0.117 seconds of each other crossing the finish line!

With the victory in the 5523 SoF, Daley earned an incredible 348 championship points as he looks to make a run for the Season One championship. Conti’s second place finish allowed him to add 328 points to his season total. Coleman finished in the third position for the week which netted him 309 points. Nicholas Goertzen (Western Canada) had a very solid week; making four starts and earning one win which earned him 302 points. Ray Alfalla (Florida) earned 285 points and filled the final position in the top five.

A pack of trucks enter Turn One.

Qualifying at the superspeedway tracks in the iRacing.com service has been known to cause controversy due to a trick which allows the car to go faster by spinning the tires or doing burnouts prior to taking the track for a qualifying run. The trick allows those who choose to use it (which is against the rules) to gain an unfair advantage on those who do not use it. For this reason, no qualifying coverage will be available for the week.

After a very successful week, Daley took over the top spot for the season standings and now leads Conti by 14 points. Alex Warren (Illinois) holds down the third position after four weeks of online racing (-89). Wade Hustad (Midwest) sits in the fourth position, 141 points out of the lead with Matthew Wright2 (New York) rounding out the top five.

As we leave Daytona in the wind, a new challenge awaits the drivers of the NiCCS (fixed setup) as they pay a visit to Miles the Monster in Dover, Deleware for Week Five of the twelve week season.

Justin Douglas (1) leads a group of racers through Turns One and Two.

Richmond International Raceway plays host to Week Three of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (open setup), which is a favorite track among many sim racers within the iRacing.com service. The track is one of the fastest short tracks in the country which allows for drivers to get the best of both worlds when it comes to racing–the sense of speed as well as the beating and banging that short track racing generally provides. A total of 635 racers attempted at least one race during the week, but the fastest sim racer in Texas brought home the checkered flag in the week’s high Strength of Field and earned the most championship points as a result.

Ryan Luza took the checkered flag first in the 3803 Strength of Field by 1.010 seconds over Tyler D Hudson (Mid-South) after leading 80 of the race’s 100 laps. Joshua Laughton (California) brought his Wheelmen Inc/Hoosier Tire Silverado home in the third position after also starting from third. Jason Karlavige (Pennsylvania) continued the trend of starting where you qualified as he finished in the fourth position after starting in that same spot. Brian Viola (Mid-South) rounds out the top five, finishing 9.613 seconds back after starting from the seventh position.

With the victory in the week’s high Strength of Field event, Luza earned 237 championship points. Hudson made six starts during the week which included five wins and six top five finishes and allowed him to earn 228 points for the week. 2012 Season Four champion Kenny Humpe (Ohio) made 15 starts during the week, finishing in the top five in each of the races, and winning an incredible 14 times, amassing 207 points in the process. Laughton’s third place effort in the week’s high SoF event earned him 205 points, which slotted him into the fourth position overall for Week Three and Brenden Koehler (Pennsylvania) completes the top five.

A group of racers battle down the frontstretch.

Luza continued his hot streak into qualifying as he put down the fastest lap of the week over Humpe (20.283 vs 20.317 seconds). Hudson ended the week in the third position with a time of 20.341, which proved to be very beneficial to his success during the week. Laughton’s time of 20.360 was good enough to place him in the fourth position and filling the remaining of the top five was Johnny Housley (Mid-South).

After three weeks of online racing, Humpe now leads Alex Scribner (Texas) by 30 points in the season standings. Nick Neben’s season is off to a good start as he sits in the third positon, just 36 points behind teammate Humpe for the top spot. Carl Taylor (Mid-South) and Viola complete the remainder of the top five.

Next week, the sim racers will head to Daytona International Speedway for 2.5 miles of superspeedway action. Check back next week for a full recap of the action that is the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (open setup).

Thirty members of the Red Sox Racing League traveled to Canada for the “Strawberry Fields Forever” at Mosport for week five of the 2013 Season One schedule.  Paul Hesla has two wins in 2013, but missed his second start in a row.  Last week Brad Vincent seized the opportunity provided by Hesla’s first DNS to take the win, and it looked as if he would do the same at Mosport.  He sounded confident when speaking with reporters before the race.  “Team VBR was happy to earn the victory last week, but we are expecting it to be the first of many.  The car is dialed in, the crew is primed for action, and I know we will be in the hunt again this week.”

Vincent’s pre-race comments were more than mere boasts as he not only secured the pole position at Mosport (his third in five races), but he once again lead every lap on his way to a second dominating win in a row.  Taming the 2.45 mile, ten corner road course is no easy feat, but Vincent did so in convincing fashion.

Canadian driver and local favorite, Les Turner, has multiple wins at the course he considers to be his home track, but even he was no match for Vincent.  “Brad stole the show here tonight”, said Turner after the race.

Vincent’s qualifying effort of 1:16.747 was enough to edge out Empty Keg Racing’s Patrick Guerin lap time of 1:16.876.  It was Guerin’s second time in the runner’s up spot on the starting grid.  Andrew Humphrey (3^rd) and Tommy Rhyne (4^th) began the race in row two.  Nim Cross, Jr (5^th) and Corey A. Wolf (6^th) started in row three.  Dean Moll (7^th), Les Turner (8^th), Reed Rundell (9^th), and newcomer Gilles Mourette (10^th) rounded out the top-10 starting positions.

Douglas Beard, Tony Duffy, John Koscielniak, David Weiss, Andrew Gantman, Dylan Roberts, Scott Husted, Terry Daul, Stefan Hojnowski, Dennis Griffen, Kevin Kyle, Jeff Thomas, Ed Sutcliff, Dean Ayer, James Prostell Jr., Divina Galica, Andrew Feldman, William Kabela, Gerald Livingston, and Chad Tracy completed the starting grid.

The Mosport circuit’s second turn, also called Clayton Corner isn’t as famous as Moss Corner in T5, but the sweeping downhill left-hander is deceptively dangerous.  Drivers who lose their focus at Clayton Corner’s entry find themselves watching helplessly as their cars careen through the infield grass and speed into the tire barriers.  RSR drivers are known as a cautious and courteous group, but even they were not immune to the dangers lurking at Mosport.

Stefan Hojnowski  almost made it past the danger zone of T2 when his right side tires dipped off track at the bottom of the hill on lap one.  In 18th place at the time of the incident, Hojnowski miraculously escaped contact with traffic as his car spun across the track in front of half the field before sliding into the wall.  The incident dropped him to last place, but he was able to continue racing.

David Weiss and Scott Husted tangled on the downhill exiting T2 on lap two when Weiss lost control of his car and slid back across the track as Husted was barreling down behind him.  Both cars slid off track and suffered heavy damage after impacting the tire barriers.  Husted was disappointed about the incident.  “I’ve had a rough time avoiding danger this year.  It seems like I am always in the wrong place at the wrong time!”

T2 collected additional victims on lap three when Kevin Kyle and Jeff Thomas both drove off the right edge of the track and into the grass as they battled to remain the top-20.  “I’m not sure what happened”, said Thomas after the race.  “I was following Kevin so closely I didn’t even realize we’d left the track until I felt my car sliding sideways!”

Gilles Mourette joined RSR just in time to make his first league start at Mosport.  Mourette was fast in practice and confident about his chances for a solid finish.  Unfortunately, a mistake at Moss Corner on lap three, coupled with an incident in T9 on lap five and a hard wreck exiting T1 on lap six, crushed  his hopes of earning a top-10 finish.  “I thought we’d make a run at the podium tonight, but it wasn’t meant to be.  Congrats to Brad for his win.”

Lap three was the harshest lap of the race.  Kyle and Thomas started things off with their dance through the grass in T2, then Mourette picked things up with his spin at Moss Corner, but it was a series of miscues between turns eight, nine, and ten that caused the most trouble.  Terry Daul was in 16th place when he lost control driving through the Esses.  He slid into the inside curbing before cutting back to the left and being hit by Dennis Griffen and Ed Sutcliff.

Sutcliff limped his heavily damaged car to the pits as Griffen drove along the outside wall in an attempt to nurse his car towards pit road.  Griffen was on the wrong side of the track to make a safe pit entry  and was forced to cross the track at T10.  Unfortunately for Dean Ayer, Griffen made that move just as Ayer was coming through the corner.  Their contact forced Ayer into James Prostell , Jr.

Gantman was running in 13th place when he got into the side of Daul’s car in T8 on lap.  Daul had moved left and slowed slightly to allow lead lap cars past, but moved towards the center of the track as Gantman entered the corner.  Neither car was damaged in the incident and Gantman would go on to finish in 11th place.

Moll surrendered a top-10 finish when he went off track and hit the tire barrier at T3 on lap nine.  The incident was caused when Moll waited a fraction of a second too late to brake while following Corey A. Wolf into the corner.  Rather than run into the back of Wolf’s car, Moll moved left and allowed his car to leave the track.  It was a dangerous move, but one that illustrated the courteous nature of RSR drivers.

Clayton Corner’s last victim of the night was Weiss.  He got off the right edge of the track on lap eleven and slid all the way through the grass until his car slammed into the tire barrier.

T1 caused the rest of the night’s carnage, as Moll, Kyle, and Duffey all succumbed to errors exiting the narrow high-speed corner.  Each of them paid dearly for the same mistake, getting their left side tires over the rumble strip on corner exit.  The mistakes likely cost each of them a legitimate chance at a top-10 finish.

Vincent crossed the finish line with a 12 second lead over Nim Cross Jr.  Patrick Guerin finished a second behind Cross.  Les Turner crossed the line in 4th place, while Wolf finished in 5th place.  Reed Rundell, Douglas Beard, Andrew Humphrey, John Koscielniak, and Dylan Roberts rounded out the top-10 finishing positions.

Turner was not happy with his effort.  “To be honest, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (Mosport) has always been one of our strongest tracks.  I made a mistake in qualifying that prevented me from getting a clean hotlap.  The error meant I started too far back on the grid to focus on the leaders.  Instead, I was tangled in a fierce battle just to stay in the top-10.  The TeamDraft Batmobile has not been on the podium yet this season, but we are sniffing at the door week in and week out.  We are going to enjoy the off week and dust off the old TDR Chevy Monte Carlo for a fun race at Watkins Glen next Thursday.  It should be fun!”

Wolf was happier about his top-5 finish.  “I wasn’t feeling well before the race, but figured I’d give it a go and see how it went.  I found out that the best cure is a fast car!  I had hard fight going with Reed most of the race.  We swapped spots a few times before he made one last mistake that gave me some breathing room.  I’m very pleased to have finished in fifth!”

Vincent has five podium finishes in as many starts in 2013.  His string of success gives him a twenty-four point lead over Turner in the championship battle.  Rundell is thirty-eight  points back, while Storm Front driver Koscielniak and EKR’s Guerin round out the top-5.

Despite the narrow passing zones and high number of off-track incidents, Vincent, Turner, Wolf, Rundell, Koscielniak, Kabela, Livingston, Rhyne, and Feldman all managed to complete the race without collecting a single incident point.

Team VBR (Vincent/Beard) continue to lead the team championship battle. They enjoy a sixty-eight  point lead over Teamdraft Srt (Thomas/Tuner), and an eighty-four point lead over Empty Keg Racing (Guerin/Hesla).  TOC Racing 3 (Gantman/Humphrey) and TOC Racing 2 (Moll/Rundell) round out the top-5.

Next Race

RSR members take a week off before traveling to Belgium for the ”Masta Kink 30” at Spa-Francorchamps.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2869

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Brad Vincent arrived at Road Atlanta for the “No Georgia Peach 30″ with a streak of three straight podium finishes, but hungry for his first victory of 2013.  “We’ve raised the bar at Team VBR”, said Vincent before the event.  “I told people last week that I was not going to be satisfied with podium finishes.  This team was built with one thing in mind, winning races!”

Vincent’s statements might have sounded arrogant to some, but not to those who have followed his career in the Red Sox Racing League (RSR).  “Brad has an amazing record of 27 wins in 37 starts in our league”, said one league official.  “I would not bet against him.  I think he’ll get back to Victory Lane early in 2013.”

The group’s qualifying speeds were impressive by any standard, but Vincent stole the show by posting the only sub-1:20 lap of the session and securing his second consecutive pole of the season.  His lap time of 1:19.993 was over a half a second faster than the second place qualifier, Andrew Humphrey.  Nim Cross Jr. and Les Turner qualified in row two, while Reed Rundell, Tommy Rhyne, Douglas Beard, Corey A. Wolf, Chris Weidner and Dustin McGrew occupied rows three through five.

Michael Gagliardo, Dean Moll, Stefan Hojnowski, John Koscielniak, Cyril Roberts, Bill McCaw, Scott Husted, Andrew Gantman, Michael Baley, Terry Daul, Tony Duffey, Jeff Thomas, Kevin Kyle, James Prostell Jr., Andrew Feldman, Ed Sutcliff, Gary Jorgensen, Dean Ayer, Chad Tracy, Divina Galica, David Holzwarth, and Dennis Griffen completed the starting grid.

Vincent took the green flag and never looked back at the rolling, 2.54 mile, twelve corner track which has been described by some as a roller coaster ride for race drivers.  Vincent demonstrated extreme confidence as he attacked the course lap after lap on his way to victory.  Leading every lap of the race, Vincent not only posted the fastest lap of the race (1:20.066), his average lap time was almost a second faster than his nearest competitor.  After 30 minutes of intense driving, Vincent crossed the finish line with a 22 second margin of victory.

But as Vincent sailed to victory, the rest of the field fought a grueling battle for positions 2 through 32.  Drivers throughout the field swapped positions back and forth dodging accidents and each other during the race.  Gantman got things going when he drove off course and into the grass at the bottom of the hill before he reached the green flag.  He managed to return to the track without damage, but lost positions during the incident.

Turn five, an uphill left-hander with negative banking at the end of the Esses, was the scene of so many spins and off-track incidents, course officials had to post additional flagmen to warn approaching drivers of the dangers lurking ahead.

RSR veteran Kevin Kyle had an eventful night, collecting sixteen penalty points during five separate incidents.  The first happened when he spun out in front of Feldman and Sutcliff exiting T5 on lap two.  Everyone escaped without damage, but Kyle wasn’t as lucky when he spun across the track and into the inside wall at T7 two laps later.  Kyle avoided further damage during a self-spin in T5 on lap ten, and again on lap nineteen, but could not make it to the finish line without collecting more paint from the walls next to the track.  His final incident happened when he lost control after taking a wide entry into T1.  He lost control and skidded across the track in front of Daul, then hit the wall on the right side of the track.  “I’m not sure what was going on with the car tonight”, said Kyle after his last incident.  “We had it dialed in during qualifying, but something wasn’t right when we took the green flag.  I hope we get it figured out before next week!”

Gagliardo also struggled throughout the race, racking up twenty-two penalty points of which thirteen were “off-track” incidents.  A spin on lap twelve nearly ended his race when he lost control of his car exiting T5 and spun backwards off of the right edge of the track.   Cars went past on both sides as he rolled backwards, with Tracy just scraping the driver’s side of the Castrol Edge car having been forced to squeeze between Gagliardo and the concrete wall.  Gagliardo escaped additional damage when his car got sideways on lap thirteen.  Cutting the corner at T3, he lost control in the downhill leading to the Esses, but he recovered and continued racing without further incident.  Despite his high number of incidents, Gagliardo salvaged a respectable 14th place finish.

Gantman, Kyle, Koscielniak, Baley, Rundell, Beard, Husted, Jorgensen, Tracy, Griffen, Weidner, and Feldman all had scares during the race, but Weidner was the biggest loser when he dropped out of 4th place during a spin at T10 on lap thirteen.  Climbing into 4th place from his 9th place starting position, Weidner appeared to be in contention for his first podium finish of 2013 before the spin.  “I was trying to keep pace with Dustin and just pushed the car too hard in the middle of T10″, said the ChumpCar veteran.  Weidner was forced to wait for an opening in traffic before he could return to racing.  The delay dropped him to 12th position.  He then worked his way back up to 9th place before a second incident on lap twenty cost him nine more positions.

Rundell’s hopes for a top-5 finish were dashed in a series of mishaps on lap eight.  Running in 4th place and directly behind Turner through the Esses, Rundell went wide in T5 and had to get off the gas to maintain control of his car.  The loss of momentum allowed several drivers to pass Rundell as he barreled down the hill towards T6.  Rundell was up to speed and in the flow of traffic as he approached the sharp right-hander, but must have looked like a wounded duck to expectant father Beard, because Beard stayed in the inside lane to attempt an ill-advised pass as Rundell followed traffic into the corner.  Rundell never saw the impact coming.  “I moved to the left side of the track after slowing in T5, but was at race speed and in the preferred racing line when I reached T6” said Rundell after the race.  “I would have given Beard room had I known he was there.”  Despite the accident, Rundell and Beard both worked their way back into contention and secured top-10 finishes.

Vincent led every lap of the race en route to his first win of 2013.  Humphrey, Cross, Rhyne, and McGrew all took turns giving chase, but none of them could match Vincent’s consistent speed as he pulled away from the field.

McGrew crossed the finish line in 2nd place to earn his third podium finish in as many starts.  Rhyne (3rd) beat Cross (4th) to the line to secure his first podium of the season.  Turner (5th) earned his second top-5 finish of the year.  Humphrey (6th), Moll (7th), Wolf (8th), Rundell (9th), and Beard (10th) rounded out the top-10 positions.

Turner, Moll, Thomas, Sutcliff, and Galica received bonus points for completing the race without incident.

Standings in the championship battle changed in week four due to the fact that Hesla missed his first race of the season.  His absence, coupled with Vincent’s win, put Vincent atop the standings eighteen points ahead of Turner.  Rundell is thirty points back, while Rhyne and Storm Front driver Koscielniak who has yet to crack the top 5 in a race, but has finished consistently near the front, round out the top-5.

Team VBR (Vincent/Beard) continue to lead the team championship battle. They enjoy a thirty-nine point lead over Empty Keg Racing (Guerin/Hesla), and a fifty-five point lead over Teamdraft Srt (Thomas/Tuner).  Storm Front Racing (Koscielniak/Daul) and TOC Racing (McGrew/Husted) round out the top-5.

Next Race

RSR members travel to Canada for next week’s race, the “Strawberry Fields Forever” at Mosport.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2868

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

]]> http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/all-news/vincent-crushes-the-field-in-georgia/feed 0 http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/all-news/mcgrew-outpaces-vincent-at-laguna-seca http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/all-news/mcgrew-outpaces-vincent-at-laguna-seca#comments Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:05:36 +0000 Ed Sutcliff1 http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/?p=136725

After two weeks of domination by Paul Hesla, aka “BEERcobra”, the rest of the Red Sox Racing League (RSR) arrived in California for the “Pebble Beach 30″ at Laguna Seca eager to prove that they had not been snake-bit by the Empty Keg Racing driver.  A classic North American road racing course, Laguna Seca winds through the rolling terrain of the Monterey Peninsula.

Featuring eleven corners, the 2.23 mile layout includes one of the world’s most famous corners, The Corkscrew”.  The two-section corner is a sharp downhill so steep that drivers are forced to enter it without a sight line to their next turning point.  The tricky corner proved to be the location of several major incidents during the RSR event.

Brad Vincent entered the event with back to back 3rd place finishes in the opening races of the season, but the Franklin, PA resident, a past RSR champion, is not satisfied with podium finishes.  “Team VBR was designed with wins in mind”, said Vincent before the race.  “We are not going to settle for anything less.”

Vincent backed up his pre-race statement posting the fastest lap in qualifying.  His lap time of 1:22.043 captured the pole and edged out Dustin McGrew’s effort of 1:22.116.  Paul Hesla (the pole winner in weeks one and two) was forced to begin the race in 3rd place.  Douglas Beard started on the outside of row two.  Patrick Guerin, Reed Rundell, Tony Duffey, Tommy Rhyne, Les Turner, and Andrew Humphrey filled rows three through five.

David Berry, John Koscielniak, Andrew Gantman, Scott Husted, Corey A. Wolf, Dean Moll, Terry Daul, Pierre Robitaille, Jeff Thomas, Dennis Griffen, Stefan Hojnowski, Michael Baley, David Weiss, James Prostell, Jr., Bill McCaw, Kevin Kyle, David Holzwarth, Dean Ayer, Ed Sutcliff, William Kabela, and Chad Tracy completed the starting grid.

Vincent held position as the field took the green flag and began a mad dash through turn one and down the hill towards the Andretti Hairpin.  The first fifteen drivers got through the sharp horse-shoe corner but Moll slid sideways as he locked up his brakes.  Sliding his car to a stop, Moll ended up facing the wrong way as the rest of the field barreled down the hill towards him.  Griffen barely tapped Moll’s car as he went past, but everyone else managed to get past without incident.  Moll was able to continue racing.

Thomas was forced off the left side of the racing surface to avoid Moll, and then drove through the dirt to make his approach for T2.  Returning to the track as Hojnowski entered the corner, Thomas hit the left side of Hojnowski’s car.  Both cars suffered minor damage but were able to continue racing after losing several positions.

On the second lap Rundell (6th) gained position on Beard (4th) and Guerin (5th) after they tangled at the exit of T2 when Beard spun.  Beard rejoined the racing, but caused another series of mishaps when he lost control in T6.  Wolf (in 14th place) was forced to drive off track and into the dirt on the right side of the track to avoid Beard, then Husted checked up and began a lazy spin off the left side of the track in his effort to miss  Beard’s stalled car.

Robitaille didn’t see the danger lurking ahead of him and ended up slamming into the rear of Beard’s off-pace car as it attempted to climb Rahal Straight.  The impact sent Beard off track and into the left side wall.  The incidents dropped Beard to last place.  He retired after causing another accident at the Corkscrew on lap six.  Tracy’s car was heavily damaged in that incident.  “This was easily the single worst race I’ve ever driven” said Beard afterwards.  “Guess I am going to owe a lot of drivers some drinks tonight.”

Weiss and Daul both avoided the mess in T6 and climbed the hill towards the Corkscrew having gained several positions on less fortunate drivers.  Both crested the hill with Robitaille in hot pursuit.  Brake points are crucial when setting up for the Corkscrew and Weiss waited a millisecond too late to brake as he approached the unforgiving corner.  Having set up for an inside path into T8, his extra speed carried Weiss dangerously close to impact with Daul.

Weiss checked up in time to avoid hitting Daul, but his sudden decrease of speed caused a chain reaction of rear-end collisions which eventually included himself, Robitaille, Daul, Prostell, and Baley.  Amazingly, everyone avoided serious damage and continued racing without loss of position.  However the lap two craziness wasn’t over yet, as the brush with disaster in T8 caused Prostell to lose focus exiting T9.  He spun the car and slid through T10 and into the sand left of the track before coming to a stop.

Things settled down for the next few laps as Vincent maintained a stranglehold on the lead over Hesla and McGrew.

One of the strangest incidents of the night occurred at the Corkscrew on lap five.  Baley got into the dirt setting up for the corner entry, and then slid across the track and through the gravel before coming to a stop just short of the tire barrier.  Forced to back up and reposition his car before returning to the track, Baley had a good view of the traffic coming towards him.  But he inexplicably ignored the traffic and drove straight into the right side of Rhyne’s car as it entered the corner.  Rhyne, who had dropped to 27th place after pitting on lap two, was patiently making his way back through traffic before the encounter with Baley.

Baley’s car spun down the hill and stopped facing backwards in the middle of the Corkscrew as Rhyne recovered in time to steer his way out of the corner.  Rhyne was racing Sutcliff into T9 when his left side tires slipped off track and caused him to spin to a stop.  Rhyne’s race ended seconds later when he hit the tire barrier while attempting to pit.

Gantman and Sutcliff both had single-car mishaps as the race continued, but racing action was fairly clean after drivers completed their pit stops.

Vincent led the first nine laps, but was being chased fiercly by McGrew when he pitted on lap 10.  McGrew led the next three laps before pitting and giving up the top spot.   Guerin and Duffey both led laps before pitting.  McGrew exited the pits with a five second lead over Vincent after his crew turned in the quickest pit stop of the event.

Vincent was the only driver fast enough to keep McGrew in sight during the last half of the race.  He worked hard to reduce McGrew’s advantage, but was unable to retake the lead.  McGrew crossed the finish line with a 1.5 second margin of victory over Vincent.  “TOC Racing gave us a great car tonight.  The pit crew was outstanding as well, so all I had to do was keep the car on the track to get the win.”  The win was McGrew’s second podium finish in as many starts.  Vincent’s 2nd place finish was his third podium of the season.

Hesla continued his strong season with a 3rd place finish.  Guerin’s 4th place finish ensured Empty Keg Racing would remain atop the team standings.

Rundell (5th), Humphrey (6th), Koscielniak (7th), Duffey (8th), Turner (9th), and Berry (10th) rounded out the top-10 finishing positions.

Guerin and Turner were the only drivers to complete the race without incident.

Hesla continues to lead the overall championship race.  He enjoys at six point lead over Vincent and a seven point lead over Guerin.  Turner and Rundell complete the top-5 spots.

Empty Keg Racing (Hesla/Guerin) has a forty-four point lead over Team VBR (Vincent/Beard), and a seventy-two point lead over Storm Front Racing (Koscielniak/Daul).

Next Race

RSR members travel to Georgia for next week’s race, the “No Georgia Peach 30″ at Road Atlanta.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2867

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

NiCAS Champion Michael Conti

“This season was a great way to test the waters and gain valuable information for my teammates, Danny Hansen and Carson Downs, as they sought out for a berth in the 2013 NiSWC season. Through strong runs each and every week and great cars to get us up front, we captured the championship. The guys at JScho are excited about this championship and I couldn’t have done it without them. Hopefully, we can carry this success into the NiSWC and grab the title.” -2012 Season Four NiCAS Champion Michael Conti.

Conti not only won the overall title, he won it in dominating fashion across the stat sheet. Winning eight of his eighteen starts in top level splits, Conti Captured 2098 points, 233 more than his nearest competitor. With top fives in all but five of his starts, and leading over 25% of his 1,840 completed laps, Conti was able to control the points battle from start to finish.

The NiCAS 2012 Season 4 saw great racing all season long

Kyle Peddle and Brandon Buie filled in a top three that was decided among those three drivers for much of the season. Two new inductees to the NiSWC filled in the top five in the likes of Peter Bennett and Joey Brown. It is bittersweet news for Class A drivers finishing near the top, as Season Four is the only season that does not recruit NiCAS drivers into the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS). So despite stellar seasons put in by everyone in the top ten, it is back to work next season to start the battle for Pro.

iRacing.com offers ten divisions designed to pair you with competition comparable to your skillset at the time the season begins. This allows for great point battles across the board, even if you are not yet able to sniff the top dogs.

Sascha Wesler will be moving up the ranks next season as the DE-AT-CH driver scored thirty top fives in thirty four starts, on his way to grabbing the Division Two Championship. The Australian driver Parry Anastakis scored the Division Three Title by 25 points over Andrew Williams, while Gene Benefield took home the Division Four Championship. The Division Five Title went to Carolina Club’s William Vandiver, with Sebastien Beaudry claiming the Division Six Championship. Don Norris, Christopher Shockley, Scott Dillner and Division Ten’s Jimmy Bridgland rounded out the list of 2012 Season Four NiCAS Champions.

The NiCAS will welcome the new G6 car next season

As a new year is upon us, so is a new car, as 2013 Season One will feature the new G6 cars. Along with looking flat out awesome, the new cars will allow for drivers to choose between Chevy and Ford, adding a new look to the series. In addition to the new car, Season One will also be the first recruitment class of the 2013 Pro Series, which will serve as a feeder series into the top level NiSWC. Stay tuned to inRacingNews.com for more information regarding the release of the G6 car, and all your Season One news.

Empty Keg Racing boasts two of the top drivers in the Red Sox Racing League, Paul Hesla and  Patrick Guerin.  With their history of RSR league wins, no one was surprised when the 2013 season began with a win by Hesla and a strong 4th place finish by Guerin.  Riding a wave of momentum out of Florida, the EKR team arrived in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin full of energy for the “Blain’s Farm 30″ at Road America. 

Hesla and Guerin dominated qualifying for the event and were the only two drivers to post sub 2:07 laps.  Hesla earned his second pole in a row with a lap time of 2:06.391 while Guerin earned the outside position of row one with a lap time of 2:06.853.  Brian Irby (3rd), Douglas Beard (4th), Tommy Rhyne (5th), Les Turner (6th), Brad Vincent (7th), John Koscielniak (8th), Nim Cross Jr (9th), and Michael Gagliardo (10th) completed the first five rows of the grid.

The remaining spots were earned by; Chris Weidner, Reed Rundell, Andrew Gantman, Andrew Humphrey, Dean Moll, Pierre Robitaille, Stefan Hojnowski, Tony Duffy, Dean Ayer, Michael Baley, Terry Daul, Dennis Griffen, Scott Husted, Bill McCaw, David Weiss, Gary Jorgensen, Cyril Roberts, Andrew Feldman, Jeff Thomas, James Prostell Jr., Ed Sutcliff, William Kabela, Kevin Kyle, Divina Galica, David Berry, and David Holzwarth.

Road America is a fast road course featuring 14 corners and 3 straights along a sprawling 4.04 mile layout.  The long front stretch gives drivers the opportunity to test the top speeds of their cars before they reach the first corner which lulls many into trouble.  Despite being nearly 90 degrees turn one can be taken quickly as long it is turned into precisely.  RSR drivers managed to avoid the dangers of turn one at the start of the race, but couldn’t complete the full opening lap without incident.

Several drivers had off-course penalties as they overshot corners having not backed up their braking points to accommodate tight traffic at the start, but the most serious incident happened between turns two and three when Dennis Griffen and Dean Ayer tangled on the downhill heading into T3.  After light contact with Baley’s rear bumper entering T1, Ayer lost momentum which allowed Griffen to pull ahead on the approach to T3 and when Ayer moved over to setup his entry to the corner, he clipped Griffen’s right rear corner which forced Griffen off track and into a nifty 360 spin through the grass.  Griffen’s momentum carried him into the right side of Hojnowski, sending the 17th place starter into a scary two wheeled ride that he somehow saved before his car went completely over and onto its roof.

Griffen ended up at a dead stop, facing backwards on the track as the rest of the field came barreling through at race speed.  With no way to avoid the stranded car, Terry Daul managed to stop his ITT Storm Front Racing MP4 just as it reached the front grill of Griffen’s car.  The unfortunate pair were forced to sit still while the the field passed them.  Likewise, David Weiss and James Prostell Jr. were trapped behind the pair.  Hojnowski’s car was undamaged and all drivers were able to continue racing, but Griffen was forced to pit for repairs.

Galica and Kyle both spun in T9 on the opening lap.  Galica kicked things off as her car understeered mid-corner and slid off the left side of the course.  Kyle, overcorrecting to avoid Galica’s lazy spin, followed suit with an almost identical maneuver.  Their cars tapped lightly before coming to a stop in the sand.  Both drivers escaped the incident without damage.

On the second lap Husted succumbed to the dangers at T1 when he carried too much speed into a wide entry on lap two and slid off the left edge of the track surface.  He spun harmlessly in to the dirt before recovering control and rejoining the action.

Lap five saw another group of drivers risking damage for an extra inch of track at T1.  A fierce battle between three drivers trying to remain in the top-10 saw Koscielniak, Rundell, and Gagliardo running 3-wide past the start/finish line and down the front stretch towards T1 at breakneck speed.  Rundell wisely eased off the gas before the pack reached the corner, but misjudged Koscielniak’s braking point and lightly tapped the rear of his car has he moved to tuck in behind Koscielniak in the outside line.  All three drivers continued racing through the corner without losing position.

Daul was mired in the back half of the field when he got sideways and went off course at T8 on lap five.  His car slid backwards through the sand before slamming into the tires, but Daul was able to continue racing.

Kyle had an exciting night, using up three of his nine lives in this race alone.  After his incident with Galica in the carousel, he used up the second of his nine lives when he lost control and spun in T1 on lap eight.  His car did a lazy 360 spin and avoided contact with the wall, allowing him to return to the track in one piece.  He escaped a similar incident in T8 on lap eleven without damage.

Berry was hot on the tail of Holzwarth’s car on lap eight when he lost control of his car at T7.  He continued driving despite hard contact with the tire barrier, then did exactly the same thing one lap later.  His car must have been built to military specs, because it kept running even after making hard contact a second time.

Duffy nearly collided with Moll as they slowed for T14 on lap eight, but managed to avoid the contact by steering his car off track.  “I was expecting Dean to be a little faster coming out of that corner”, said Duffy after the race.  “Glad we didn’t hit him!”

Feldman began the race in 28th place and had worked himself into 16th position following his pit stop on lap nine.  His hard work didn’t pay off however, as the Arrested Development Racing driver carried too much speed into T8 and spun exiting the corner.  The accident happened with Weiss and Prostell right behind him, but both were able to avoid Feldman as he went off track.  “We had the car dialed in tonight.  I was hoping to steal a good finish and lift the Bluth family’s spirits, but I lost my rhythm after pitting.  I’m glad David and James didn’t get caught up in my mistake.”

Roberts began the night near the back of the pack and had worked himself into contention for a top-10 finish before he was forced to pit for repairs after his car slammed into the concrete wall on the left side of T13 on lap nine.  “I don’t know what happened there”, said Roberts.  “We had been running great laps until that point, but the car was never the same afterwards.  We’ll come back strong next week.”

In the closing laps Baley and Feldman were locked in a tight battle ahead of Jeff Thomas when Feldman got into the rear bumper of Baley’s car at T5 of lap twelve.  Both drivers were able to continue racing, but Feldman was unable to challenge Baley again.

Duffey and McCaw tangled at the entry of T1 on lap fourteen, an incident caused when Duffey tried to make a pass for position.  Duffey had the inside position, but got his right side tires on the rumble strips and was forced to move left as he and McCaw battled through the corner.  Their cars side swiped just enough to send Duffey to spin off of the track surface as McCaw continued on a race pace.

Turner and Cross had a good battle throughout the race.  Cross passed Turner on lap 4 in a daring move to the inside at Turn 3 and maintained his advantage until pitting.  Having pitted several laps earlier than Cross, Turner had enough momentum on lap 8 to carry him around the outside of T1 as Cross exited the pits.  However only a few corners later Cross out braked Turner at the approach to T5 and then kept Turner behind him in the closing laps.

Reed Rundell slid wide into the gravel at T1 as he exited the pits on lap 8 allowing Chris Weidner through.  Weidner relinquished the spot 2 laps later at Moraine Sweep on the approach to T5 after Rundell exited T3 slightly faster.  Rundell then set off after Turner and made a bold passing attempt on the outside of T5 in the race’s final lap.  Rundell menaced Turner for the remainder of the lap, however Turner prevailed.  Just behind their fierce battle Gagliardo took advantage of a cautious Weidner in T5 and passed him on the run uphill to turn 6.

Ignoring the battles and incidents going on behind them, Hesla and Guerin used incident-free driving to maintain the top two positions for most of the night.  Hesla led 13 of the 14 laps run, and only relinquished the lead during the pit cycle.  Rhyne was the only other driver to lead a lap.  Irby began the race in 3rd place, but dropped to 13th after an off-track bobble on lap two.  He was never a factor after that.

Hesla crossed the finish line with a 3.9 second lead over his teammate to earn his second win in a row to begin 2013.  Guerin held off a fierce charge from Vincent to secure 2nd place and ensure a EKR sweep of the top-2 spots.  Vincent posted the fasted lap of the race (2:07.308) edging out Beard (2:07.383) as he climbed from his 7th place starting position to earn his second consecutive 3rd place finish.  Beard and Rhyne rounded out the top-5.

Guerin was thrilled with his race.  “We didn’t have much luck in qualifying, but I got lucky and posted a personal best near the end of the session to get onto the front row with Paul.  I focused on keeping on Paul’s rear bumper in the early going.  We had a good pit stop, but Brad still made up time on us, so he was chasing me pretty hard during the second half of the race.  I managed to stay incident free and hang on for 2nd place.”

Cross (6th), Turner (7th), Rundell (8th), Gagliardo (9th), and Weidner (10th) battled hard throughout the race to earn top-10 finishes.

Former RSR champion Turner was eager to speak with reporters after the race.  “There was some pretty intense racing up front when we went green.  I had some great battles with Tommy, Nim, and Chris in the first half.  Nim and I swapped places a few times after the pit cycle.  Reed got past Chris and joined us for the last four laps.  With the competition out there tonight, and an incident free finish, 7th place feels like a win!  Laguna Seca is going to be interesting!”

Hesla, Guerin, Beard, Rhyne, Turner, Weidner, Thomas, and Kabela earned bonus points for completing the race without incident.

Hesla enjoys a nine point lead over Vincent and Guerin in the championship race.  Turner, Rhyne, Beard, Gagliardo, Rundell, Koscielniak, and Weidner round out the top ten spots.

Empty Keg Racing (Guerin/Hesla) enjoy a 17 point lead over Team VBR (Vincent/Beard), in the team competition.  Storm Front Racing (Koscielniak/Daul), Teamdraft Srt (Thomas/Turner), and TOC Racing (McGrew/Husted) rounding out the top five spots.

Next Race

RSR members travel to California for next week’s race, the “Pebble Beach 30″ at Laguna Seca.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2866

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

The largest ever starting field in Red Sox Racing League history, a record forty-one drivers, qualified for the “Gentleman Jim’s Day” at the Daytona Road Course in Daytona Beach, Florida.  The event was held in memory of former RSR member, “Gentleman” Jim Albertson.  Jim’s race number, 67, was retired by the league in a moving ceremony prior to the race.  “Jim was the consummate competitor”, said Jeff Thomas.  “Everyone at RSR has positive memories of their races with Jim, so we thought it was only fitting the league should retire number 67.”  In a further tribute to Gentleman Jim, driver Corey Wolf drove a unique “POW/MIA” paint scheme to mirror the one used by Albertson during his final season of racing.

After several seasons of multi-class competition, RSR took advantage of their off season to test new car combinations for the 2013 schedule.  Driver feedback was nearly unanimous, so the league decided to switch to a single car format using iRacing’s newest road course vehicle, the McLaren MP4-12C  GT3 Sports Car.  “The McLaren is one of the best cars iRacing has released to date”, said a league official.  “It features a twin turbo-charged V8 which produces close to 600 horse power and it weighs in under 3000 pounds which makes it a blast to drive.  45 drivers committed to racing with us, so I think we are on the right track for another outstanding season of racing.”

The 2013 league lineup included many newcomers, but also brought back past league champions and multiple race winners.  Speeds during the pre-race practice sessions leading up to the event highlighted the fact that competition for podiums would be fierce.  The trend continued in qualifying as the top ten drivers were separated by only a second.  Paul Hesla earned the pole with a lap time of 1:44.835, edging out Brad Vincent’s 1:44.947.  Andrew Humphrey (1:45.158) and Dustin McGrew (1:45.248) filled row two on the grid.  Patrick Guerin (5th), Cyril Roberts (6th), Dylan Roberts (7th), Patrick Spence (8th), Les Turner (9th), Pierre Robitaille (10th), filled rows three through five.

The remaining spots on the grid were earned by; Douglas Beard (11th), Reed Rundell (12th), Tommy Rhyne (13th), Stefan Hojnowski (14th), David Weiss (15th), John Koscielniak (16th), Michael Gagliardo (17th), Terry Daul (18th), Brian Irby (19th), Corey A. Wolf (20th), Dennis Griffen (21st), Andrew Gantman (22nd), Chris Weidner (23rd), Scott Husted (24th), James Prostell Jr. (25th), Tony Duffey (26th), Michael Baley (27th), Andrew Feldman (28th), Kevin Kyle (29th), Jeff Thomas (30th), Gary Jorgensen (31st), Dean Ayer (32nd), Ed Sutcliff (33rd), Bill McCaw (34th), William Kabela (35th), Divina Galica (36th), David Holzwarth (37th), Kyle Young (38th), Greg Harris (39th), Chad Tracy (40th), and Terry Schmidt (41st).  Wilbur Gildersleeve Jr. was at the track to honor Albertson, but did not participate in the race.

RSR league members are known for their on-track maturity, so it was fitting that they honored their friend Jim Albertson, who was  one of the most conscientious drivers in league history, with an overall clean race.  When the dust settled on the 17 lap race, 41 drivers had completed a total of 656 laps averaging just .07 incidents per lap.  A large number of those incidents were single car “off track” penalties which did not impact other drivers.

Lap one saw several drivers tapping the rear of slowing traffic as the large field dodged each other in the tight,  3.56 mile, 12 corner layout.  Ayer and Jorgensen escaped damage after tangling in turn three, then Schmidt and Kabela got together in turn six.  There were further lap one incidents in turn nine as Baley got into the rear of Husted and forced him off track at the entrance to the bus stop, then McCaw was forced to go off track to avoid Schmidt at the same spot.  Schmidt was the first casualty of the race when his car slid through the grass at the bus stop and hit the inside wall.

Things calmed down a bit on lap two as the entire field completed the lap without incident.  Turns one, three, and nine gave drivers the most trouble throughout the race.  Weidner survived a spin in turn three early in the race despite being hit by Duffy.  Duffy’s car was forced off track and he lost several positions while waiting for a chance to return to the racing surface.

Robitaille committed an unforced error while running in 11th place on lap four.  Carrying too much speed into the bus stop, his car slid out of control and crashed hard into the tire barrier.  Robitaille was forced to reset due to his car’s extensive damage.

Spence dropped from 7th place to 19th place after a mishap in turn one on lap five.  Gantman (in 19th at the time), followed suit with almost the identical mistake a few seconds later and dropped to the end of the field as he waited to return to the track.

Dylan Roberts was in 6th place when he let up to avoid Guerin’s mid-corner slide in turn six.  The change of momentum sent Roberts into a 360 degree spin and cost him two positions.

Kyle was the next victim of the bus stop when he was forced to reset after a brutal impact with the inside barrier on lap six.  Tracy’s car received minor damage when he lost control hit the inside wall while exiting turn one on lap seven.

Weiss was running in 14th position when his car spun out of control and went off track after his inside tires caught the grass at the entry of the bus stop on lap seven.  He dropped several positions while sliding to a stop, then lost another dozen or so after spinning out while trying to rejoin the track.

Harris had a tough time and was a lap down to the leaders who were bearing down on him when he spun in turn one on lap eight.  Gathering speed through turn two, he was still off pace as the next group of cars came charging into turn three.  Daul was the first of the faster cars to arrive, and was unable to avoid Harris’ slowed car at corner entry.  Daul was able to continue racing, but the impact from the accident sent Harris into a tight space between the railing and barriers on the left side of the track.  He was forced to retire after the incident.

Kyle Young had a difficult race from the time that he arrived at the stopped car of Stefan Wojnowski in turn 5 on lap 3.  Sliding off the racing surface in turn 4 Wojnowski came to a stop at the center of the racing groove at the entry to turn 5.  Young followed Sutcliff around the outside of the corner, but Wojnowski got his car moving and pulled into Young’s path sending the inexperienced driver off track.   Young pitted to repair the damage to his car, but then drifted over the blend line as he exited the pits and was forced to serve a drive through penalty on the next lap.  His race went downhill as he had a series of incidents on laps eight and nine.

Mishaps continued to have minor impact on drivers throughout the race, but Cecil Roberts had a great night ruined when he was knocked off course on lap nine.  Having led a 3-wide pack across the line to begin the lap, Roberts let off the gas when he saw smoke coming from Young’s spinning car in T1.  Gagliardo and Rundell both passed Roberts cleanly as they entered the corner, but Koscielniak failed to notice the slowing traffic and tagged the rear of Roberts as they reached T1.  Roberts dropped to 35th place and never challenged the lead group after the incident.

Humphrey lost a chance for a top-5 finish after spinning off track and hitting the wall at the bus stop on lap twelve.  Overall, the rest of the field did a great job of avoiding danger and each other during the race.

Hesla led thirteen laps and crossed the finish line with a 3.8 second lead over McGrew to earn the first RSR win of 2013.  Vincent lead four laps after passing Hesla exiting the bus stop on lap 5 but spun his car in turn one on lap ten relinquishing the lead to Hesla.

Guerin (4th), Turner (5th), Dylan Roberts (6th), Gagliardo (7th), Rhyne (8th), Wolf (9th), and Beard (10th) rounded out the top-10 finishing positions.  McGrew, Turner, Rhyne, Irby, Griffen, Ayer, and Holzwarth earned bonus points for completing the race without incident.

Guerin was happy with his finish.  “We qualified well, but there wasn’t much room to get a good run with so many drivers on the track at the same time.  The race began cleanly so I came out of turn one in 4th place.  I slotted in behind Dustin.  I had a good pit stop, but I took more fuel than I needed.  I just missed a podium finish tonight.  It was a fun race.  Thanks to RSR for hosting the league and to my Empty Keg Racing teammates for great practice/race sessions.”

Hesla, McGrew and Vincent lead the championship race after one event.  Empty Keg Racing (Guerin/Hesla) leads the team competition, with Team VBR (Vincent/Beard), TOC Racing (McGrew/Husted), Storm Front Racing (Koscielniak/Daul), and Roberts Racing (Cyril & Dylan Roberts) rounding out the top five spots.

Next Race

RSR members travel to Road America for next week’s race, the “Blain’s Farm 30″.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2865

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Close racing between PJ Stergios and Paul Kusheba

Sunday night at 9:00EST once again hosted the top split of the week, this time in the likes of a 4720 SoF which would reward 301 points to the victor. Early in the race it became evident that the victory would be decided between NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) driver Paul Kusheba, and NiCAS competitor PJ Stergios. However when push came to shove on lap fifty, both drivers would sustain damage heavy enough to end their chances at a big win. While this was an unfortunate break for the top two, it kicked the door wide open for the rest of the field seeking New Hampshire glory.

Late contact from Alex Warren sends Dylan Duval into the safer barrier

After a solid green flag run which saw close, respectful racing throughout the field, a late caution would setup a two lap dash to the finish. Dylan Duval led the field to the green, with NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) driver Alex Warren filling up his mirror. As the field entered turn three coming to the white flag, Warren got into the back of Duval, sending the number three machine hard into the outside safer barrier, ending the race under yellow. After a heated conversation between the two drivers, Warren crossed the line first with Peter Bennett and Brandon Buie rounding out the top three. A very heated Duval finished twelfth after leading with only a handful of laps remaining.

It was a dead heat it the stat column for the most starts on the week, with Howard Bell and James Robinson leading the charge with twelve starts. The slight edge would have to be awarded to Bell as we was able to find victory lane, as well as six top fives on the week. Former NiSWC drivers Greg Spears and Steven Gilbert both won five races, three more wins than anyone else. Gilbert won in dominating fashion as he scored wins in all but one race he competed in during the week, while Spears won an impressive five of eight races he ran.

NHMS has built a reputation on shaking up the NiCAS

Status quo in the points standings as Michael Conti still leads by a wide margin, now with a 326 point advantage over Peter Bennett. Brandon Buie rounds out the podium while Kyle Peddle sits fourth and Greg Spears could be gearing up for another NiPS run next season, currently sitting fifth in the standings.

Next week is a trip back home for the series as the Chevrolet Impala’s will take to Charlotte Motor Speedway for 110 laps around the mile and a half circuit. All drivers and teams are very familiar with Charlotte, and will hope to use Week Eleven as an opportunity to grab the late season spotlight. Be sure to check back next week at inRacingNews for a full recap, along with the weeks highlights and top stories.

After a slow week at Rockingham, the series got a much needed jolt at Talladega. With point totals nearly doubling, and many top ranked drivers strapping back in, the series hit the high banks with a head of steam.

Draft packs kept drivers on edge throughout the entire race at Talladega

While there was a great amount of surprise point totals on the week, the man out front surprised absolutely no one. Long time sim racing veteran and current NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) driver Tyler Hudson made all the right moves in the draft to come in with 341 points in his only start of the week. Steven Eszenyi was the man to beat for the majority of the 5352 SoF race on Sunday night, but Hudson worked to the front with five laps to go and never looked back. Eszenyi held on to second, ahead of a very impressive run for Malik Ray who came home third in a race flooded with top level talent. The NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) tandem of Dustin Montgomery and Carson Downs rounded out the top five in an action packed race.

In a race Thursday night that fell just short of being the top rated race of the week, Michael Guest took the win and 339 points in a race crippled by cautions. The field was slowed six times for twenty three laps in the seventy lap race, at a track where caution laps take nearly two and a half minutes to complete. Other drivers escaping the chaos included Chad Coleman, who is no stranger to superspeedway success, Peter Bennett, a stellar run from Matt Sanders, and Carson Downs once again rounded out the top five in the 5297 SoF race.

Tandem drafting was not uncommon as some drivers avoided pack style drafting

The participation numbers were staggering as many drivers got sucked into the madness and uncertainty of restrictor plate racing. Over one thousand drivers took to the track, with seventy five drivers making ten or more starts on the week. With incredible numbers like that it makes it extremely tough to stand above the rest, but a few drivers managed to do so.

Plate track ace Adrian Duncan led the way in wins, going to victory lane in eight of his seventeen starts, putting distance between himself and the rest in win totals. John Cordon strung together a wild stat line, starting thirty one races (most starts of anyone) on the week, winning five (second to Duncan), and completed 2043 laps in the process. Despite the outrageous amount of races Cordon competed in, he still managed just under 200 points on the week, and an average finish inside the top ten. Also not going unnoticed, Jimmy Kostarelos had arguably the most impressive stat of the week when it came to on track ability. Kostarelos raced six times, completing all the laps without scoring a single incident. All while turning an average starting position of fifteenth, into an average finishing position of sixth.

The uncertainty of Talladega Superspeedway kept drivers coming back for more

With nine weeks now in the books, we begin to get a clear cut look at the championship fight and the drivers involved. However, Michael Conti is trying to make it as small of a fight as possible, as he has taken the points lead and ran with it. Now clear of Brandon Buie by 380 points, the NiSWC driver has his eyes set on bringing home a trophy during the NiSWC off season.

It is one extreme to the other as the series moves on from the high banked 2.66 mile Talladega Superspeedway, and heads northeast for the relatively flat one mile track in Loudon, New Hampshire. It goes without saying that the contrast between the two tracks is immense, and will have teams scrambling to get the fine tuning mastered in time. New Hampshire Motor Speedway has provided a shake up to many NiCAS seasons in the past, and it is a safe bet that it could happen again when the series makes a return to the treacherous confines next week. As always be sure to check back at inRacingNews next week for a full recap and top stories coming out of Week Ten.

Freshly scanned by the folks at iRacing.com, Week Eight marked the first time official races were held for the top level oval car at the track appropriately nicknamed “The Rock”. While many front runners in the championship utilized a drop week, Anthony Kernich handled the abrasive surface with ease. Winning the top rated race of the week, Kernich was able to stamp his name atop the weekly standings for the NiCAS first ever trip to Rockingham Speedway.

The NiCAS made their first trip to the freshly scanned Rockingham Speedway

Kernich overcame an eighth place starting position and slid in front of Joe Slama late in the race to capture the huge win. Slama came home a disappointing second after dominating much of race, leading 81 laps just to fall short in the closing laps. Jamie Privette started fourth and finished third, while Alonzo Morales and Howard Bell rounded out the top five. The race saw only three cautions, which could be seen as a surprise as many drivers thought the tight confines would lead to treacherous racing conditions.

Howard Bell and Gene Miller tied in the most active driver section, both with nine starts, but Todd Hendrick (Florida Club) had by far the most productive starts on the week. Hendrick raced seven times, scoring five top fives and four wins over the week, scoring him the most wins of anyone. Sascha Wesler (DE-AT-CH) was the only other driver to score multiple wins, taking home top honors in two of his three starts.

Next week the NiCAS will head to Alabama for 70 laps of restrictor plate racing action around the monstrous 2.66 mile oval of Talladega Superspeedway. We could see the old style pack racing make a return to the sim, but competitors will have to be on watch for two car drafting tandems trying to form and risk it all for a big win. Nothing is set in stone at the track famous for surprise winners, and spectacular crashes. Strap in tight when you take to the high banks, and check back at inRacingNews next week for a full recap of all the top stories from a jam packed Talladega week.

With all the oddities unique to Dover, common knowledge would lead people to believe that experience would prevail when the 750+ horsepower Chevrolet Impalas took to the concrete surface for 110 laps. That common knowledge proved to be spot on when the NiCAS hit the track, with familiar names stuffing the top ten, scoring huge points in the process.

Joey Brown (12) led all 110 laps in Sunday’s NiCAS race

Current NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) front runner Joey Brown led the way, scoring 336 points in a big tune up race on Sunday Night. Brown won from the pole in the race that decided the majority of the top ten in the weekly standings. Leading all 110 laps, Brown took it to not only his competition, but to “Miles The Monster” as well. NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) former winner Jason Karlavige scored a distant second, earning 324 points for his efforts. Michael Conti, Landon Huffman, and former NiPS driver Nicholas Morse rounded out the top five with 288 points.

Howard Bell and James Robinson once again led the way in starts on the week, this time with Bell being the most active with fifteen starts. Michael Clemente and John Bunton rounded out the only four drivers to make ten or more starts, with the edge going to Bunton who scored two wins in his ten starts. Former NiSWC drivers Steven Gilbert and Greg Spears scored the most wins on the week, with Gilbert winning five of his eight races, and Spears just one win behind Gilbert’s pace.

With Chad J Laughton having a less than stellar week it allowed Michael Conti to open up a sizable lead in the overall standings, with Laughton free falling to fifth. Conti now leads by 215 points over Kyle Peddle, with Jason Karlavige and Brandon Buie filling in the top four. Laughton got his bad luck out of the way with a last place finish in the NiCAS Sunday night, and rebounded with a NiPS win at Dover on Tuesday night.

Next week for the NiCAS is a historic race for the series, as the haulers will head to Rockingham, North Carolina, for 110 laps around “The Rock”. Rockingham Speedway was a fixture on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule from when it opened in 1965, until it was wiped from the schedule in 2004. The track is now looking for a rebirth, and was scanned and put into use by iRacing.com for top level stock cars to echo the walls once again.

Adam Gilliland leads the way in Sunday’s 5659 SoF race

Before going on to win the NiPS race at Richmond on Tuesday night, Adam Gilliland dominated a nearly identical SoF race Sunday night to put his name atop the NiCAS weekly standings. Gilliand led 100 of the 130 laps, holding off NiSWC front runner Tyler Hudson to grab 358 points, and Richmond bragging rights. Hudson led twenty four laps before falling just short of Gilliland when the checkered flag flew. Ryan Luza put together a solid race, running in the top five all night before ending up a solid third. Kyle Peddle was the last driver to score over 300 points in fourth with 304, while former NiSWC driver Greg Spears rounded out the top five.

Another headline coming out of Week Six was the hard luck many top drivers experienced in Virginia. In total, six NiPS and NiSWC drivers filled in the bottom eight spots in Sunday’s big race. Favorites like Michael Conti, Brian Schoenburg, and Chad J Laughton all fell to the bottom of the board after incidents spoiled their night, allowing many Class A regulars to score their biggest point totals of the year.

Bad luck bit many top drivers at Richmond

In a column dominated by two drivers all season long, the two managed to tie with the most starts in Richmond. Both James Robinson and Howard Bell raced thirteen times, both scoring three top fives, with Robinson scoring the only win of the two. While most drivers piled up incident points at the tight short track, others managed to keep their nose relatively clean. The most impressive stat line of the week belongs to Greg Spears, who tallied just two incident points in his eight races, all the while scoring three wins and averaging 241 points.

Now half way into the final season of 2012, the battle for the championship is beginning to shape up, and it is two familiar names up front. Conti currently holds a slim lead over Chad J Laughton, both drivers have had success in the top levels of racing on iRacing.com. Kyle Peddle sits an impressive third and is the first NiCAS regular in the standings, with Brandon Buie and Greg Spears rounding out the top five.

It doesn’t get any easier for drivers and teams as the NiCAS heads to Dover International Raceway to begin the season’s second half next week. Over the years, the Monster Mile has claimed many Chevrolet Impala’s, and Week Seven promises more of the same challenges presented in the past. The concrete surface combined with high banks provide unreal speeds on the relatively short one mile track. Be sure to strap in tight when you go racing at Dover, and when all the smoke settles, head back to inRacingNews for a full wrap up of the week’s biggest stories.

The Red Sox Racing League’s 2012 Season Three schedule wrapped up in Belgium this week at the Circuit Zolder Grand Prix road course.  17 drivers participated in the “Season III Finale.”    A narrow 2.49 mile layout, Circuit Zolder features ten challenging corners including 3 chicanes and a hairpin corner.  The historic track has hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix ten times.  It also hosts events for the Champ Car World Series and the FIA GT Championship.  Its design includes bone jarring rumble strips and tight corners requiring 100% concentration.  Illustrating the point, none of the seventeen drivers who completed the race were able to do so without collecting an incident point.

Brad Vincent (Class A) and Paul Hesla (Class B) entered the final week as the overall points leaders in their respective classes, but neither could afford to coast through the race because Les Turner and Dennis Griffen were ready for any chance to seize the top championship spots.  However Vincent and Hesla succeeded in holding off the competition through the qualifying session by grabbing the pole positions in their classes.

Vincent earned his tenth pole of the season, posting a lap time of 1:19.665 to outpace Troy Harder’s lap of 1:19.726.  Les Turner (1:20.419) and John Koscielniak (1:20.835) started in row two.  Terry Daul (1:21.596) and Ed Sutcliff (1:21.605) started in row three.  David Weiss, Andy Feldman, Terry Schmidt, and Divina Galica completed the HPD starting grid in a busy qualifying session.

Hesla earned his eighth pole of the season, posting a lap time of 1:26.306.  Ricky Hardin secured the outside of row one with a lap time of 1:27.119.  Dennis Griffen (1:27.916) and Tony Duffey (1:27.955) started in row two.  Jeff Thomas (1:28.443) and Scott Husted (1:29.060) started in row three.  Dean Ayer completed the Corvette starting grid.

The race began in typical RSR fashion, with drivers giving plenty of room and adjusting to the rhythm of the traffic before risking passes on the narrow track.  Despite the number of incidents recorded during the event, most involved minor off-track penalties from drivers’ cutting tight corners too sharply as opposed to serious accidents.

Schmidt had an early scare when he went wide and into the dirt while exiting T4 on lap four.  He escaped the incident without loss of position, but wasn’t as fortunate when he spun and hit the inside wall exiting T8 also known as the Bolderberg hairpin on lap seven.  Schmidt gave Feldman a scare when he pulled over exiting T7.  Feldman was also slowing to let a faster Troy Harder by but was taken by surprise when Schmidt applied his brake.  Harder cruised by the hapless pair as they accumulated 4 incident points for car contact before they continued without any damage to their cars.

The rest of the race was relatively uneventful as the slower paced Corvettes did a good job letting the faster HPD cars by them throughout the event.  The lone exception was when Hardin and Daul tangled on lap fifteen after Hardin slowed to allow Daul through as they approached T5.  Making the pass from the inside line, Daul took too much speed into the 90 degree corner and had to back off the gas to stay on track and make the corner exit.  Hardin accelerated through the normal line of the corner and passed Daul as he regrouped.  Their cars touched lightly as they exited the corner.  Neither car was damaged and both drivers continued without loss of positions in their classes.

Class A race results

Driving in a manner exemplary of his record at RSR, Vincent led every lap of the race and crossed the line with an impressive 43 second lead over the second place HPD.  The win was his ninth of the season and ensured Vincent’s repeat as the Class A Season Champion.  Koscielniak finished the race in 2nd place.  It was his 11th top-5 finish in as many starts.

Turner crossed the line in 3rd place.  His string of podium finishes was enough to keep the past league champion within striking distance of Vincent throughout the season, but he ended the season six points behind in the final season standings.

Sutcliff equaled his highest finish of the season when he crossed the line in 4th place.  Daul (5th) and Harder (6th) finished together as Harder ran out of fuel and lost four positions on the last lap.  Weiss (7th), Feldman (8th), and Galica (9th) finished the race one lap down to the leaders.  Schmidt (10th) was scored two laps down.

Final Season Class A Statistics

Seventeen HPD drivers participated in at least one race during Season Three.  Points were collected during all twelve events, but only the top nine scoring events counted towards a driver’s total for the championship race.  Vincent captured the overall championship by posting nine wins in eleven starts.  He won the pole in ten of those events.    Turner won one race and two poles on his way to a 2nd place finish in the final standings.  Harder, with two victories, was the only other HPD driver to win a race in Season Three.  He joined the league too late to complete enough races to contend for the overall championship.

Koscielniak completed the season in 3rd place on the strength of eleven top-5 finishes.  Daul (4th), Sutcliff (5th), Feldman (6th), Kabela (7th), Weiss (8th), Galica (9th), and Kyle (10th) rounded out the top ten positions.

Feldman, Sutcliff, and Turner were the only HPD drivers to compete in all twelve races in the Season Three schedule.  Sutcliff earned the “Ironman” award for completing the most miles (753.165).  Turner and Koscielniak tied for the most top-5 finishes with eleven each.  Kabela was once again the cleanest driver in the league.  He started eleven races and only collected six incidents for a 0.5 Incident per race average.  Kabela earned the most bonus points (9) for completing races without incident.

Class B race results

Hesla led the early laps, then relinquished the lead to Griffen when he pitted on lap twelve.  Griffen remained out front for five laps.  Hardin started in 2nd place, but dropped to last place when he short pitted on lap nine.  His strategy paid off as the time gained without traffic on pit lane allowed him to overtake Griffen for P2 when Griffen gave up the lead and pitted on lap seventeen.

Hesla stayed out of trouble in the closing laps and cruised to his seventh victory of the season.  Hardin (2nd) and Griffen (3rd) joined him on the podium.  Duffey (4th), Husted (5th), and Thomas (6th) all finished on the same lap as the leaders.  Ayer (7th) was one lap down when he finished the race.

Final Season Class A Statistics

Fifteen Corvette drivers participated in Season Three, but only four managed to complete at least nine events.  Over half the field completed four or fewer races.

Hesla won seven races and eight poles in the ten events he entered.  He finished the season with a four point lead over Griffen.   Tommy Rhyne, Dennis Griffen, and Jason Brown also won races in Season Three.

Griffen won almost every other category in the Corvette field as he was the most consistent driver in the field.  He started all twelve races, had the most top-5 finishes (12), drove the most miles (714.601) to win the “Ironman” award, and tied with Thomas for the most top-10 finishes (12).  If that wasn’t enough, he was also the cleanest Corvette driver, finishing with the fewest number of incidents (10) of the drivers who completed at least nine races.  He tied Rhyne for the most bonus points earned (5), and tied Thomas for the most starts (12).

Thomas’ eight top-5 finishes allowed him to end Season Three in third place overall.  Hardin (4th), Rhyne (5th), Husted (6th), Corey A. Wolf (7th), Brown (8th), Dean Moll (9th), and James Prostell, Jr (10th), rounded out the top-10 positions in the final standings.

Next Race

RSR members take a break before resuming racing action in January of 2013.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2173

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/355

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

WEEK THREE – LANIER NATIONAL SPEEDWAY

Miller and Osborn made headlines in Week Three as the Tour Mods hit the tight confines of Lanier National Speedway. Miller took the overall win by obtaining the most points at the end of the Week 3 after a 2254 sof win on November 17th. Miller took the checkers in the 120-lap race by leading only 13 of the circuits and finishing ahead of Osborn at the stripe. Samuel Dick was third on the night, leading 101 laps from the pole while John Christman and Paul Wisniewski completed the top five. Two cautions slowed the pace of the 11 car field. For the win, Miller captured 137 points.

The second place finish to Miller was the only blemish on his record in Week Three as he would record four wins in five races at the Georgia bullring. Osborn’s biggest win came early in the week on November 13th when he led wire-to-wire in a one caution, 1996 sof affair. Osborn crossed the line first by over six seconds ahead of Joshua Hahn, Michael Morrison2, Saxon and Jeffrey Murray. Osborn would collect 124 points from this race and would settle for 123 points overall on the week after his three best finishes were averaged to get his total.

Will Drevicky was second on the week with 128 points. Drevicky led the most laps in his race (61) and crossed the line first ahead of NASCAR iRacing Pro Series driver Vinnie Sansone, Morrison2, Kevin Moody and Thomas Zinninger. The top three led laps in the event, which saw two cautions and featured a sof of 2083 amongst the 13 drivers. The win garnered Drevicky 128 points on the week.

Dick set quick time in qualifying with a time of 12.560 seconds over Miller and Osborn. Thirty-seven Modified drivers took the chance to get a leg up in the race by taking a qualifying lap. Dick was also the driver to beat during Time Trial competition as he edged out Osborn and Jeremy Neal in that discipline of NiTM racing.

WEEK FOUR – IOWA SPEEDWAY

One race shaped the look of the Top Four on the week at Iowa Speedway during Round Four. A 2539 sof race on November 20th featured 14 cars which Osborn was the class of them all, leading 96 of the 100 completed laps. Two seconds back at the finish were Derrick Cormier2 and Saxon, who battled it out for the runner-up spot all the way to the stripe. TJ Graves and Hahn completed the top five in the competitive race.

The race was so stacked with talent, that the top four in the race finished in the top four in points for the week with Osborn leading the way with 157 points, while Saxon took 132 for third. Miller’s only start of the week resulted in 60 points from a 9th place finish, which results in a week that will likely be dropped from his championship point total at the end of the season.

Osborn took quick time in qualifying over Dick and Saxon with a 22.626 second lap around Iowa. Osborn also had the car to beat in Time Trials, completing the clean sweep of Iowa as he topped the runs of Dick and Trent Hullum in Time Trials.

WEEK FIVE – STAFFORD SPEEDWAY

Miller showed the way at Stafford Speedway in Stafford Springs, Connecticut as he was the big winner in a 2399 sof race on November 29th. Miller showed the way for 58 of the 100 laps around the Modifieds home turf and bested point leader Saxon, Hahn, Wisniewski and David Chmura in the top five. Three cautions slowed the race which featured four leaders. Miller took home 143 points for his win while Saxon was fourth overall for the week with his 125 points from this race.

One of the biggest fields of Round Five was seen during a 2172 sof race on November 29th. A total of 18 cars took to the track and when all was said and done, it was Dick who put his car on top with a strong run in Stafford Springs. Dick led wire-to-wire in the two caution affair, besting Miller, Saxon, Hahn and Sansone in the top five. Dick’s win was worth 136 valuable championship points.

Osborn brought his effort home in third for the week after winning a 2224 sof race on November 27th. Miller led 61 laps of the race, but was relegated to sixth in the final running order. Osborn led 34 laps, besting Wisniewski, Graves, Chmura and Karson Aube. The race featured three cautions and when the dust settled, Osborn left New England with 133 points.

Dick once again showed his hot lap prowess with a quick qualifying time of 18.110 seconds, which put his tops for the week over Miller and Saxon. The top three in Time Trials mirrored the standings of Iowa with Osborn topping the charts over Dick and Hullum.

STANDINGS

Saxon shows the way after Round Five of 12 with 607 points, 60 more than Osborn, who has a slim one point margin on Miller after Stafford. Dick runs fourth overall with 485 points, while Division Two leader Sean Ross is fifth with 461 points. Chmura leads Division three while Bob Winslow has just three points on Sean Albright in the Division Four standings.  Jeremy Neal tops Division Five after five races with Chet Wheeler showing the way in Division Six. Kyle L Moquin has just nine points on James Falcon Pratt in Division Seven while Colby Vance only have seven markers on Aube in Division Eight. Division Nine sees Charles Alexander lead up the pack.

The series will cross the halfway mark after their visit to the popular South Boston Speedway in Week Six. Also ahead of the NASCAR iRacing Tour Modified drivers are Langley Speedway in Round Seven and Bristol Motor Speedway in Round Eight. You can follow all the action on inRacingNews throughout the season.

Until next time, keep the hammer down and we’ll see you at the track!

Brian Schoenburg led the way at Kentucky Speedway

NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) regular Brian Schoenburg found himself in a familiar position on top of the pylon when all was said and done in Sparta, Kentucky. Schoenburg ran just one race and it went as planned as he piloted his Impala to the front from a sixth place starting position, leading fifty one of the 110 laps. The surprise of the race had to be Kyle Peddle who led 59 laps but faded to a fifth place finish. Fellow NiSWC regular Jason Karlavige, as well as NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) competitor Chad J Laughton rounded out the top three, with Landon Huffman placing a solid fourth. The top five in Sunday night’s 5020 SoF was also the top five in the overall weekly standings.

Three drivers topped the ten start mark on the week, with the most successful of the three being John Bunton. Putting down very impressive stats, Bunton managed a top five in all twelve of his starts, winning two of them and compiling zero incident points throughout the week. Now getting away from start totals, and focusing on wins, Kwame Adjei and former NiSWC driver Steven Gilbert were the only two to gather over two wins. Adjei won four of his nine starts, while Gilbert went to victory lane in all three of his races.

Drivers ready to race Week Five in Sparta, Kentucky

With five weeks in the books the championship trophy is there for the taking, and there is still no clear cut favorite. Michael Conti currently leads a field evenly mixed with Class A licensed drivers, and Pro/WC drivers. Chad J Laughton sits second, with Karlavige just behind him in third. With drop weeks not yet in effect, the points are scattered and will clear up in the coming weeks.

Next week the NiCAS heads to Richmond, Virginia for Week Six of the twelve week tour. It will be 130 laps under the stars as drivers looking to battle for the championship try to separate themselves from the pack at the 0.75 mile short track. Richmond has built a reputation on mixing up championship battles, and surprise winners since it started hosting races in 1953. Who will be the next surprise winner, and which top name could stumble next week in Virginia?

With only two weeks left in their 2012 Season Three, members of the Red Sox Racing League traveled to Phillip Island in Victoria, Australia for the “Victorian 30 at Phillip Island”.   Run counterclockwise, the 2.762 mile course features twelve corners and a stunning view of the ocean.  The course is situated in a beautiful island location and is always a favorite destination for RSR fans who travel the globe keeping tabs on their favorite drivers.  “We love coming to the races down here”, said Christine Preston.  “The racing is fun, but the beaches are the real attraction.  The sun, the sand, the surf… what’s not to like?!  Besides, you never know when you’ll see Wilbur Gildersleeve, Jr signing autographs at the nearby clothing optional beach!”

While Wilbur’s cameo titillated the fans, the other league drivers got down to the business at hand seeking the few remaining championship points available.  Les Turner spent much of this season wearing a bride’s maid dress while Brad Vincent maintained a vice grip on the top spot in the Class A HPD field, so it was no surprise their battle would continue in Australia.  What did turn out to be a surprise however, was how the race ended for the front runners.

Turner and Vincent were both fast in qualifying, with Turner’s lap time of 1:17.912 edging out Vincent’s effort of 1:17.968 for pole position.  Troy Harder (3rd), Douglas Beard (4th), John Koscielniak (5th), Terry Daul (6th), Ed Sutcliff (7th), Andrew Feldman (8th), William Kabela (9th), Divina Galica (10th), and Kyle Young (11th) completed the HPD starting grid.

Only five Corvette drivers made the trip to Australia.  Paul Hesla dominated qualifying and secured his 6th pole of the season with an impressive lap time of 1:24.692.  Jeff Thomas (2nd), Dennis Griffen (3rd), Scott Husted (4th), and Dean Ayer (5th) completed the Corvette starting grid.

The HPD field took the green flag without incident, but things were not as easy for the Corvette field.   Pushing hard to maintain position, Hesla carried so much speed into the first right hand corner that he could not keep the car on the track.  Griffen and Thomas both passed Hesla as he slowed to regain control of his car in the infield grass.  Griffen found his luck hard to believe.  “I was surprised to take the lead so early.  We weren’t as fast as those other guys in qualifying, so I figured my passing opportunity would come much longer into the run if I took care of the tires and had a clean pit stop.”

While Griffen maintained a steady lead over the Corvette field the HPD leaders took turns nipping at each other for the top spots.

Running nose to tail for the top 4 spots, Turner, Harder, Vincent and Beard barely gave each other an inch as they jostled for position.  Koscielniak, Sutcliff, Daul and Feldman followed running consistent laps in the hopes of capitalizing on any error made by the lead drivers.  Galica, a veteran F1 and sports car driver showed more patience than her fellow competitors.  She chose to run a more conservative race at Phillip Island in the hopes of avoiding on-track incidents and to preserve her tires.  “I was simply trying to keep the car on the track for the long haul tonight”, said Galica afterwards.  Her strategy was foiled on lap four when the normally unflappable driver lost control of her car exiting T11.  She lost valuable time to the leaders while recovering from the subsequent spin and trip through the grass.

Harder and Vincent were both pushing Turner for the lead when the veteran driver had a slight bobble in the middle of T2 on lap six.  Luckily, Harder reacted quickly enough to avoid a race-ending accident as his car lightly tapped the rear of Turner’s “The Grinch who stole Christmas” Batmobile.  Turner and Harder both lost some momentum and Vincent seized the chance to get past Harder for P2 as the group of drivers headed down the hill towards T4.

Vincent’s early luck vanished several laps later.  First Beard tagged him from behind as Vincent slowed for traffic in T4 on lap nine, then Vincent made contact with the left rear of Turner’s car when the leader attempted to pit on lap eleven.  Neither incident was serious enough to slow Vincent from his pursuit of the lead, but they rattled the defending league champion.  Vincent chose to take fresh tires during his pit stop on lap 12 which left him with plenty of ground to make up as the other HPD drivers chose to take fuel only.  He re-entered the race in 7th position but quickly made it past Feldman who pitted a lap later, and then past Young, who pitted on lap 14.

Young arrived late to Phillip Island and started at the back of the HPD field, but he conserved his tires and made excellent fuel mileage while keeping pace with the lead pack.  His strategy paid off.  After passing Daul, Sutcliff and Feldman in the pits, Young found himself in 6th position.  But he kept up his charge and gained 2 more positions by passing Beard and Vincent when those drivers had incidents.

Husted looked to be turning in a solid podium performance in the Corvette race, but was forced to retire early after his car suffered heavy damage on lap fourteen.  His accident was similar to Hesla’s lap one incident, with Husted carrying too much speed into T1 and going off course and into the infield grass.  Instead of slowing and rejoining the race in one piece however, Husted’s car continued at race speed and careened through the infield before crossing back over the track in the middle of T2.  It then continued sliding through the gravel and grass until it slammed into the outside tire barrier.  Husted walked away from the accident, but declined to speak with reporters after the race.

Beard also lost a chance for a podium finish when he got loose exiting T4 on lap sixteen.  He appeared to have gathered it back up in T5, but the car got away from him again in T6.  His hopes of a top-3 finish were dashed when his right side tires caught the dirt and sent his car into the grass.

Still recovering from the effects of his early race mishaps, Vincent was in 5th place and struggling to work his way back into contention when things fell apart on lap sixteen.  He stayed too far to the right edge of the track in T11-12 and spun out when his wheels caught the grass.  He was then forced to sit and watch as four HPDs and a Corvette passed him.  Unsure of the extent of damage his car had suffered, Vincent tested his front suspension with some quick turns of the wheel on the high speed front stretch and accidentally sent his car into another spin.  He barely managed to correct the mistake before his car came to a stop along the outside wall approaching T1.

Class A results

Turner led the first twelve laps of the HPD event, but gave up the top spot after his failed attempt to pit on lap eleven.  Young inherited the lead for one lap before pitting , and then relinquished it to Harder.  Harder led the final ten laps of the race and crossed the line with a slim 1.1 second lead over Koscielniak.  Turner finished in 3rd place.  Young (4th), Beard (5th), Daul (6th), Feldman (7th), Sutcliff (8th), Kabela (9th), and Galica (10th), all crossed the line on the lead lap.  Vincent retired early and was scored seven laps down.  “This was definitely a race to forget”, said Vincent afterwards.  Turner was equally as disappointed in the outcome.  “We had the car to beat here tonight.  I was running clean laps until we hit that traffic just before my planned pit stop.  I’m pretty sure I’d have had the win if I had been able to get into the pits on that lap.” 

Harder, Koscielniak, Daul, Sutcliff, and Kabela earned bonus points for completing the race without incident.

The championship points race in the Class A is going down the wire.  Vincent has a six point lead on Turner with one race remaining.  Koscielniak (3rd), Daul (4th), and Sutcliff (5th), round out the top-5 spots.

Class B results

Hesla’s lap one mistake was all Griffen needed to secure his first win of the season.  “Phillip Island is a track where it is really easy to overheat your tires.  I knew I could consistently drive near my qualifying speed in the race, and I knew traffic would come into play before it was over.  My game plan was to conserve the tires and gamble for fuel only during the pit stop, but everything changed when Paul went off course.  All three of the top Corvettes were running identical lap times, so I chose to pit before the HPDs caught us.  Avoiding them and having a clean entry to pit road was exactly what I needed to keep the lead.” 

Thomas crossed the line in 2nd place, while Hesla was forced to settle for 3rd after he was caught speeding on pit road.  Ayer (4th) was one lap down, while Husted’s early exit from the event put him in last place and ten laps down.

Griffen and Thomas earned bonus points for completing the race without incident.

Griffen has a two point lead over Hesla in the overall championship race.  Thomas, Rhyne, and Hardin round out the top-5 positions.

Next Race

RSR members head to Belgium for the “Season III Final” at the Circuit Zolder Grand Prix course on 12/06/12.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2171

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/355

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Check it out here.

While some drivers steer clear from the challenge presented by the Tricky Triangle, others wrap their arms around it with relative ease. The top rated race of the week was settled on Sunday night, with a unique mix of veterans, and relative newcomers to the big stage, all within the top five. As participation took a slight dip due to the challenging track, Sunday’s 4227 SoF also decided the overall top five in points for the week.

NiCAS made their way around the 2.5 mile Pocono Raceway for Week Four

Brad Davies was able to make the most of his return to the NiCAS by getting out front, and holding off Michael Conti throughout late pit stops to grab the win and the 265 points to put him atop the pylon for the week. Davies and Conti dominated the strong field, leading 62 of the 70 laps in a race that went caution free. NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) veteran Brian Schoenburg rounded out the top three, while his teammate, and NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) driver Carson Downs slotted in behind him. Brandon Buie did not go unnoticed, putting in another solid top five run to put him fifth on the week with 202 points.

Two familiar names topped the most active drivers on the week, at a track where their efforts are medal worthy. Howard Bell and James Robinson started thirteen races each, tallying a total of 1,644 laps around the monstrous 2.5 mile speedway between the two. Bell and Robinson were the only drivers on the week with over ten starts, and although neither were able to find victory lane, Bell managed the most success with a top five in over half his starts.

Next week is a small step back to normalcy, as the NiCAS heads to the 1.5 mile Kentucky Speedway, located in Sparta Kentucky. This track presents a unique set of challenges to setup gurus as the Chevy Impala will want to bottom out in the extremely bumpy and line sensitive turns one and two, while turns three and four offer a smoother, less sensitive approach. The beautiful Kentucky Speedway always provides us with some of the best door to door racing of the season, and it will all be settled under the lights, so head over to iRacing.com and strap in for a wild NiCAS Week Five.

Seat time is always big when the NiCAS heads to a unique track such as HMS, and that became apparent by glancing at the weekly standings. NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) runner up Michael Conti went to the top of the charts with 323 points on the week, winning two of his three races. Conti led sixty eight of the 110 laps in the top rated race of the week, and was able to cruise to victory when NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) driver Richard Dusett ran into some hard luck. Kyle Peddle made it to the stripe in second, ahead of NiPS driver Paul Kusheba, NiSWC competitor Carson McClelland, and NiPS Phoenix winner Chad J Laughton. Dusett led the second most laps with thirty eight, but was relegated to a sixteenth place finish.

Conti and Peddle were the only two drivers to surpass the 300 point mark on the week, but there was no shortage of talent in the top ten. Six of the top eight drivers on the week were rated NiPS and above with Peddle and Mark Lambert the only Class A drivers in the bunch. Nick Zautner and former NiPS driver Nicholas Morse are both Class A rated drivers and they filled out the top ten.

Homestead is always a favorite among competitors, and it showed this week as 348 drivers took to the track to participate in the week’s races. The most active of them all was a tie between Howard Bell and Scoot Johnson with seventeen races each, the edge going to Bell who managed to drive his Impala into victory lane. In total eight drivers raced ten or more times, but much like last week few managed to grab a victory. Between the eight only seven wins were tallied, with three of them being scored by John Bunton.

Next week is another step away from the normalcy of mile and a half tracks, as the NiCAS heads to “The Tricky Triangle” located in the Pocono Mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The three turned 2.5 mile track is an absolute oddity that clicks for some, and is known as the “Bermuda Triangle” by others. Any way you look at it, seventy laps around Pocono Raceway is no easy task, and will be a milestone win for anyone that can pull their Chevrolet Impala into victory lane.

The Red Sox Racing League traveled to Motegi, Japan for the tenth race of the 2012 Season Three schedule.  Host of the “Satoyma 30 Twin Ring Motegi Presented by LessTuna.com”, the 2.98 mile, 14 corner track was a perfect location for drivers and fans alike.   The facility boasts not only the road course used by RSR, but also contains a 1.54 mile oval course.  Built in 1997 by Honda to attract IndyCar racing, the track’s oval shaped course has also hosted CART and NASCAR events.  Danica Patrick became the first woman driver to win an Indy car race when she beat Helio Castroneves at Twin Ring in 2008.

Brad Vincent earned his 9th Class A HPD pole of the season with a qualifying lap time of 1:40.050.  RSR newcomer Douglas Beard earned the outside position on row one with a qualifying effort of 1:40.509.  Les Turner (1:40.609) and Troy Harder (1:40.839) started on row two.  John Koscielniak (1:40.936) and Ed Sutcliff (1:41.403) started in row three.  Terry Daul (7^th), Terry Schmidt (8^th), David Weiss (9^th), Andrew Feldman (10^th), William Kabela (11^th), Divina Galica (12^th), Wilbur Gildersleeve Jr (13^th) and Kyle Young (14^th) completed the Class A starting grid.  Gildersleeve did not start the race.

Paul Hesla earned his 6th pole of the season in the Class B Corvette field with a lap time of 1:45.568.    Dennis Griffen (1:47.200), Tony Duffy (1:47.591), and Jeff Thomas (1:48.988) completed the Class B starting grid.

The entire field got off to a great start as drivers let their tires heat up before daring to make passing attempts.  Their patience didn’t last long however, as drivers battled to keep pace with the lead pack.  Running in 5^th place on lap three, Koscielniak attacked the entry of T3 in a bid to close the gap on Harder.  Harder bobbled slightly in the middle of the double corner, which forced Koscielniak to adjust his line as they entered T4.  Unable to correct his car when his right side tires caught the edge of the track surface, Koscielniak watched helplessly as Sutcliff, Daul and Weiss got past him when his car spun into the infield grass.  Although Koscielinak escaped the incident without damage, he was forced to drive aggressively to make up the time he’d lost to the lead pack.

Schmidt had a challenging night in Japan but lost only one spot from his 8th starting position to finish 9th.  In the opening laps he struggled with the T13/T14 sequence of corners that leads onto the front straightaway and on lap three he lost control of his HPD entering T13 yielding 8th position to Weiss.  After his pit stop he again ran into trouble in turns 13 and 14 going off track to let Feldman’s AppLogic HPD by.  Now 4 seconds behind Feldman for 9th spot he mounted a charge and within a few laps had chased Feldman down.  Feeling Schmidt’s pressure, Feldman spun his tires exiting turn 11 but Schmidt backed off and waited for a safe opportunity to make his pass.  That opportunity came on the following lap when Feldman repeated his mistake in T11.  This time Schmidt was ready and he ducked underneath Feldman to re-take 9th spot.

HPD driver Kyle Young had an even more challenging race.  With no practice laps and only two qualifying laps under his belt, the HPD driver’s night was off to a bad start.  Twin Ring is not a track to learn under race conditions.  Young’s difficulties began when he forgot to brake in time for T3 on lap six.  Overshooting the corner, his car kicked up a cloud of dust as it barreled through the sand and rejoined the track.  A similar mistake on the next lap saw Young spin out and lose position to Kabela before he regained control.  His misfortune continued six corners later when he overshot T9 and went into the grass.  Accelerating hard to correct the spin and rejoin the track, Young spun back across the track and hit the inside railing in a brutal collision.

Young attempted to drive his car back to the pits despite heavy damage to his steering and suspension.  He narrowly avoided incidents with the 2^nd & 3^rd place Class B drivers as they raced down the hill towards T11.  Young’s steering was so damaged he almost missed the entrance of pit road.  After getting the repairs needed to continue, Young acclimated to the unfamiliar track, and indeed set his fastest lap time (a competitive 1:42.8) on the penultimate lap, however not before playing a part in the HPD championship points battle.

Sutcliff was in 5^th place and fighting to stay ahead of Daul and Koscielniak when he reached Young’s car on lap nine.  Following Young through the final corners of the track, Sutcliff was in the wrong place at the wrong time when Young braked hard for T11.  Sutcliff drove off the edge of the track rather than risking an accident, and then watched in disbelief as Daul and Koscielniak both passed him.

Class A results

Vincent drove an incident free race and led all 18 laps as he won his 8^th race of the season.  He was five seconds ahead of Beard when he crossed the finish line.  Beard finished an impressive 2nd in his first RSR start.

Harder crossed the line in 3^rd place to earn his second podium finish in only three RSR starts.  Turner (4^th), Koscielniak (5^th), Daul (6^th), Sutcliff (7^th), Weiss (8^th), Schmidt (9^th), Feldman (10^th), Kabela (11^th), and Galica (12^th) all finished on the lead lap.  Young was scored one lap down in 13^th place, while Kyle retired early and was scored 17 laps down.

Turner was upbeat after the race.  “We sure had a tough crowd at Motegi tonight!  I made one little slip in the 2^nd double apex early and Troy got along side, then I had to put my head down and go as Ed was coming fast.  He had a great pace early tonight.  A few laps later an HPD came out of the pits and I managed to get past.  Ed got trapped behind and then I didn’t see him anymore.  I wasn’t sure what happened but Ed had me driving hard there for several laps.  Then John stayed out an extra lap and came out of the pits on my wing for 4^th place.  He pretty much stayed there until we reached the checkers.  I didn’t have anything for the leaders, but had my mirrors filled all night.  It was fun, clean racing by all out there tonight.  Welcome to our three new drivers and kudos to Paul for letting John and me settle it on the track.  The TeamDraft Batmobile team will take the clean run and the 4^th place finish.  We worked hard for it!”

Vincent, Beard, Turner, Daul, Weiss, Feldman, and Kabela all earned bonus points for completing the race without incident.

Vincent returned to the overall lead in the championship race.  Turner is eight points back in second place.  Daul, Koscielniak, and Sutcliff round out the top five spots.

Class B results

Hesla led all but one lap as he cruised to victory in the Corvette race.  His fast lap time of 1:45.88 was nearly 2 seconds faster than the next fastest Corvette.  It was his sixth win in eight RSR starts.  Griffen crossed the line in 2^nd place.  Duffey earned a podium spot in his first RSR race by edging out Thomas to capture third place.

Hesla was the only Corvette driver to complete the race without an incident.

Griffen has a twenty-five point lead over Thomas in the overall championship race after ten events.  Rhyne , Hesla, and Hardin round out the top-5 positions.

Next Race

RSR members take a week off before heading to Australia for the “Victorian 30 at Phillip Island” at the Phillip Island road course on 11/29/12.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2170

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/355

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Other action from the race

It was Brian Schoenburg who came away with a huge win and 380 big points to put him at the top of the pylon for Week Two. Schoenburg won in style leading 101 of the 110 laps from the pole, and managed to stay ahead of the always challenging Kenny Humpe. NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) driver Jason Karlavige rounded out the podium, while Kevin King and eventual NiPS race winner Chad J Laughton finished out the top five.

Brian Schoenburg leads the near 6000 SoF field around PIR

A staggering amount of points were handed out at PIR, with six drivers topping the 300 point mark, and 26 drivers kicking in the door to 200 points. However the top level drivers continued their dominance as NiPS and above rated drivers filled in nine of the top eleven spots on the week. If history repeats itself, this is a bad sign for Class A hopefuls who will need to step up their game if they plan on making a trip to the winner’s circle.

There were a few very active drivers this week, being led by Howard Bell with fourteen starts at the tricky one mile track. Bell was unable to find victory lane, but did manage a top five in nearly half his starts. Scott Austin and James Robinson were the only other drivers with over ten starts on the week, each with thirteen. Unfortunately the high number of starts were unfriendly to them as well as neither found victory lane.

The NiCAS continues to follow the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule as the series heads to Homestead Miami Speedway for 110 laps around the unique 1.5 mile speedway. Homestead offers many different grooves for drivers to choose from, but most will run about a lane and a half from the white line. Although no champion will be crowned, the racing will be just as intense as some drivers try to keep momentum rolling, while others try to correct a slow start. All that and more will be covered here on inRacingNews.com, next week.

After taking an unscheduled week off to recover from the effects of Hurricane Sandy, members of the Red Sox Racing League returned to action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course in the “Gasoline Alley 30″.  The course features 13 corners along a flat 2.6 mile layout which utilizes just enough of the speedway section to allow drivers to reach full speed before returning to the infield section.

Twenty league members participated in the event, some just days after getting power back at their homes.  Most drivers took advantage of the extra off week to adjust their driving styles to fit the tricky layout at Indy.

Brad Vincent earned his 8th pole of the season with a qualifying lap time of 1:16.765.  No one else in the HPD field was even close to that speed.  Les Turner started in 2nd place after posting a lap time of 1:17.556.  John Koscielniak (1:17.662) and Troy Harder (1:17.715) started in row two.  Ed Sutcliff (1:18.101), Divina Galica (1:18.880) started in row three.  Andrew Feldman, Terry Schmidt, David Weiss, William Kabela, David Berry, and Kevin Kyle completed the Class A grid.

Paul Hesla earned his 5th pole of the season in the Class B Corvette field with a lap time of 1:21.33.  Tommy Rhyne started on the outside of row one with a lap time of 1:21.778.   Dennis Griffen (1:22.778) and Jeff Thomas (1:23.000) started in row two.  Dean Moll (1:23.109) and Ricky Hardin (1:23.702) started in row three.  Scott Husted and Jason Brown completed the Class B grid.

League officials tweaked the fixed setups for the HPD cars for Indy, leaving drivers with less down force than at other tracks and some drivers found it difficult to control their cars in the infield section of the track.  The result was that for the first time in recent memory, more Class B drivers finished the race without incident than did their Class A counterparts.

The first few laps were exciting as a number of HPD drivers had off track incidents.  RSR newcomer Terry Schmidt made a good start and got past Feldman prior to turn 1, but was the first HPD driver to fall victim to the HPD’s lower than usual down force before completing the lap when he slid wide exiting T11 and drove into the grass.  The mistake cost him two positions as both Feldman and Weiss  passed him before he returned to the track.

Weiss had almost the exact problem in T11 on the next lap.  His resulting slide into the grass costing him several positions.

Galica’s return to action after missing the league’s last race at Sebring was marred when she lost control exiting T4 on lap two.  The mistake dropped her from 6th place to last place behind nearly the entire corvette field.

Moll, normally a very fast driver who is near the front of the Class B field, seemed distracted at Indy.  He got through the opening lap in one piece, but things went downhill for him on lap two.  He barely escaped a cutting course penalty in T1 and then lost third place to Griffen before pitting to serve the 15 second penalty that the marshals issued him for his T1 infraction.  Coming back out in front of the lead HPD cars, Moll was forced to tip-toe his way through the infield as he let them pass.  In his attempt to let the HPDs through while losing as little time as possible he tangled with the third place HPD car driven by Turner at the apex of T6.  Moll and Turner were both forced off course by the contact.  Moll retired rather than continue what had suddenly become a nightmarish race.

Turner attempted to get back up to speed, but the tires on his car were overheated and he ended up spinning out between T6 and T7.  Kabela was directly behind as Turner’s car spun off of the track.  Despite his surprise, Kabela deftly avoided hitting the Team Draft Batmobile.  Those two incidents dropped Turner from 3rd to last place in the HPD field.  Hoping to salvage the race after his shaky start, Turner’s crew quickly changed strategy and called him into the pits for new tires and fuel rather than risk another incident.

After his scare with Turner on lap four Kabela put Berry in a similar scary situation a few laps later when he lost focus exiting T2 several laps later and spun off the track in front of the Indiana driver.  Kabela lost three positions before he got back onto the track.

After setting his fastest lap of the race on lap 17, Schmidt lost control of his HPD exiting T7 on lap 18 but he escaped damage and was able to continue racing.  The final incident of the race saw Hardin spinning out at the exit of T10 on lap twenty while trying to hold off Griffen for 3rd place.  The spin cost Hardin two positions.

Class A results

RSR newcomer Troy Harder earned his first RSR win after only two starts, and did it by overtaking two of the toughest HPD drivers on the circuit.  His race to victory lane began with a daring pass for 2nd place as he and Turner entered T1 on lap two.  Illustrating why the RSR league is so well respected, Turner left Harder room to make the pass rather than forcing the issue and risking contact.  Harder solidified his chances for the win by making an early pit stop on lap ten to ensure a clean exit off pit road.  The strategy worked perfectly as Harder gained over twelve seconds on Vincent, and eight seconds on Koscielniak during their respective pit cycles.  “We gambled with the pit stop, but it was the right call” said Harder after the race.  “The Peak Performance HPD was a rocket tonight.  Thanks to Brad for racing me clean in the closing laps.”

Vincent led the opening sixteen laps and posted the fastest lap of the race (1:17.235) on lap twenty, but he couldn’t overcome the slow pit stop in time to make a clean pass on Harder as the race wound down.  Vincent crossed the line a mere .178 behind Harder.

Koscielniak was fifteen seconds back when he crossed the line for 3rd place.  It was his seventh podium finish in eight starts.  Sutcliff crossed the line in 4th place to earn his highest finishing position of the season.  Turner battled his way through the field to earn fifth place.

Berry (6th), Feldman (7th), and Kabela (8th) all finished on the lead lap.  Galica (9th) and Schmidt (10th) were both scored one lap down.  Weiss (11th) and Kyle (12th) rounded out the HPD scoring.  Harder and Kyle (who retired early) were the only drivers to complete the event without incident.

Turner kept his lead in the overall points race, while Vincent, Sutcliff, Feldman and Terry Daul, who was missing from the action in Indy, round out the top five spots.

Class B results

Hesla posted the fastest lap of the race (1:21.991) and led the way for the Corvette field until mid race.  A disastrous pit stop gave the top spot to Rhyne and meant Hesla had to fight his way back into contention in the closing laps.  Taking a page from Harder, Hesla made a hard charge down the front stretch and made a spectacular pass in turn one of the last lap to overtake Rhyne.  Rhyne did not give up easily however and the two remained nose to tail throughout the lap.  Hesla beat Rhyne to the finish line by a car length.  The victory was Hesla’s fifth in only seven RSR starts.

Rhyne’s second place finish was his sixth podium finish in his last eight starts.  Griffen battled hard throughout the race and crossed the line in third place for the fourth week in a row.  It was his seventh podium finish in his last nine starts.

Thomas has shown the same sort of consistency this season.  His fourth place finish was his sixth top-5 finish of the season.  Hardin settled for fifth place.  He was the last Corvette still on the lead lap with Hesla.  Husted (6th), Moll (7th), and Brown (8th) all retired early from the race.

Hesla, Rhyne, and Thomas each earned bonus points for completing the race without incident.

Consistency is the name of the game in the Corvette championship battle.  Griffen has a twenty-six point lead over Thomas in the overall championship race after nine events.  Rhyne , Hardin, and Hesla round out the top-5 positions, but look to leap-frog into contention once their drop weeks kick in.

Next Race

RSR members race at the “Satoyma 30 Twin Ring Motegi Presented by LessTuna.com” at the Twin Ring Motegi Grand Prix Course on 11/15/12.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2169

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/355

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Close racing at high speeds is the norm at TMS

Chad J Laughton made a return to the series, picking up where he left off at the top of the charts, this time scoring 341 big points. Laughton held off NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) runner up Michael Conti, who came home second with a solid 329 points to get his season kicked off with early momentum. Nicholas Morse rounded out the top three in the 5312 SoF race, while Jake Stergios and Brandon Buie filled out the top five.

Kwame Adjei strung together a solid week to start his season, with twelve starts tying Howard Bell for the most on the week, Adjei scored six top fives and two wins. Former NiSWC driver Steven Gilbert was the only other competitor with 10 or more starts on the week. Gilbert led the way in top fives, scoring an impressive nine in his ten starts. Thomas Lewandowski won three of his five starts, matching Gilbert to lead the way in the win column. Although quiet in the stats sheet, John Bunton of the Carolina Club started nine races, logging 988 laps without scoring a single incident point.

The next stop on the NiCAS tour takes us to Phoenix International Raceway, where the aging surface continues to make lives difficult for anyone hoping to get their 750+ horsepower to grip the pavement. One hundred and ten laps around the one mile circuit is no easy task and drivers will be desperate to find rear grip as the tires age and the track surface bakes in the Phoenix sun.

Fifteen members of the Red Sox Racing League traveled to Florida for the “Ghost Festival Hallowed Eve” during week eight of the 2012 Season Three schedule.  The Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida was the site of the event.  Hosting races since 1950, the track’s 3.7 mile, 17 corner layout is a favorite amongst drivers and fans alike.  An extremely wide front stretch invites passing, but the rest of the course forces drivers to remain focused on their next corner instead of the competition.  Situated on an active airport, the track includes a variety of racing surfaces as drivers transition from smooth hard concrete and softer asphalt sections.

After missing last week’s race at Spa, defending Class A champion Brad Vincent celebrated his birthday by returning to racing action in Florida.   He started the night off in typical fashion as he secured his 7th pole in as many starts with a blistering lap time of 1:46.018.  RSR newcomer Troy Harder earned the outside position of row one with a lap time of 1:46.531.  Les Turner (1:46.976) and John Koscielniak (1:47.406) started on row two.  Terry Daul (5th), Ed Sutcliff (6th), William Kabela (7th), Andrew Feldman (8th), and David Weiss (9th), competed the HPD grid.

Like his Class A counterpart, Paul Hesla returned to racing action after a missed start by earning his 4th pole of the season in the Class B Corvette field.  Hesla’s lap time of 1:54.174 edged out Jason Brown’s effort of 1:54.344.  Ricky Hardin (3rd), Tommy Rhyne (4th), Dennis Griffen (5th), and Jeff Thomas (6th) completed the Corvette grid.

Lengthy pre-race practice and qualifying sessions gave everyone a good chance to prepare for the dangers of the race, but none of it mattered once the green flag flew.  Weiss was the first to make a mistake when he failed to brake in time for traffic entering turn two on lap one.  His momentum carried the # 5 HPD into the rear of Feldman’s # 46 Applogic HPD with enough force to knock the rear wing off.  “We were toast after that”, said Feldman after the race.  “This track is tough enough to tame with aero, so I knew I would have to park it when we lost the wing.”  Feldman’s early exit from the race resulted in his first DNF of the season.

The rest of the field held form on the opening laps, with Daul the only driver able to gain position through lap five.  In a scene no one saw coming, Harder gave Vincent everything he had in the first few laps and appeared to unnerve the leader with his presence on lap five.  Vincent entered the always dangerous turn one too aggressively and scraped the left side of his HPD along the inside wall.  Sparks could be seen flying behind the # 18 HPD as it continued barreling through the corner with Harder hot on his heels.  Vincent somehow avoided serious damage and was able to maintain position into the pit cycle.

Hardin was running in third place in the Corvette race when his night ended abruptly at unlucky corner # 13 (Tower) on lap seven.  Going too fast as he approached the corner, Hardin was unable to correct the car’s direction of travel once it left the track surface and began skidding through the grass.  The # 24 Carolina Corvette was tossed onto its roof by the ensuing impact with the tire barrier.  Hardin was not injured in the wreck, but was forced to retire with extensive damage.  “It’s too bad about the accident, we had a great car tonight.  I hope nobody else got caught up in my mistake.”

Harder’s hopes of a podium finish took a huge blow when he gambled by staying out for an extra lap before pitting.  The mistake cost him valuable track position when his car ran out of fuel approaching his pit box.  Another miscue during the pit further damaged his chances of racing for a top-3 finish, but Harder returned to the track determined to make up for lost ground.  He was in 5th place and gaining ground when the “Nightmare at Sebring” decided it was time to appear.  Harder’s car # 13, entering corner # 13 on the thirteenth lap, was just too much for the Halloween gods to ignore.  So instead of allowing the league rookie to continue his race back into contention, the track shook him back to reality as he tried to catch Koscielniak and Daul.  Losing traction and spinning back across the track as he exited T13, Harder watched helplessly as P3 and P4 disappeared into the night.  Making matters worse, Sutcliff overtook him for P5 before Harder was able to rejoin the track.

Thomas suffered light damage, but was able to continue racing after losing control of his Corvette in T10 on lap 16.  Rhyne nearly blew a solid finish when he hit the inside and outside walls in T17 of the last lap.

Class A results

After dispatching the early challenge of Harder, Vincent crossed the line with a comfortable 34 second lead over Turner to earn his 7th win of the season.  “Earning my 7th pole and 7th win, in 7 starts, was definitely a great way to celebrate my birthday”, said Vincent.  “Lucky 7 for me at the casino tonight!”

Turner had his own connection to the lucky number seven when he won his 7th “bridesmaid” finish of the season.  “I thought I had gotten rid of that dress after the win last week, but I guess I better keep it handy for a while longer.”

Koscielniak got past Daul after the pit cycle to earn his 6th podium finish of the season.  Daul slowed in the late going, but managed to hang on for 4th place.  Sutcliff (5th), Harder (6th), Kabela (7th), and Weiss (8th) all finished on the lead lap.  Feldman’s early exit from the race put him 16 laps down and in  9th place in the final standings.

Vincent, Turner, Sutcliff, and Kabela completed the race without incident.  Turner enjoys a three point lead over Daul in the overall championship points battle after eight events.  Feldman, Vincent , and  Sutcliff round out the top five spots.

Class B results

Hesla had his hands full in the Corvette race, but held on to win his fourth race of the season.  Brown and Rhyne also led laps during the race, but Brown put his foot down in the second half of the race and kept 2nd position to himself in the closing laps.  It was Brown’s second podium finish in only three RSR starts.

Griffen earned his sixth podium finish of the season when he crossed the line for third place (for the third consecutive race).  Rhyne (4th), Thomas (5th), and Hardin (6th) completed the Corvette scoring.  Griffen was the only Corvette driver to earn a bonus point for completing the race without incident.

Griffen’s consistency through the first eight races of Season Three keeps him in first place in the overall championship race.  He has a twenty-six point lead over Thomas.  Rhyne, Hardin, and Hesla round out the top five positions.

Next Race

The “Gasoline Alley 30” at the Indianapolis Road Course will be delayed one week due to fallout from Hurricane Sandy.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2168

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/355

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

]]> http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/all-news/vincent-and-hesla-victorious-at-sebring/feed 0 http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/all-news/joey-brown-leads-the-nicas-charge-into-nips http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/all-news/joey-brown-leads-the-nicas-charge-into-nips#comments Fri, 26 Oct 2012 04:58:59 +0000 JSpies20 http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/?p=127504 With the NASCAR iRacing.com Class A Series (NiCAS) season coming to an end this past week at Twin Ring Motegi, all questions have been answered and the the field for the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) has been finalized. Joey Brown asserted himself to the front of the field near the mid season mark, and road the momentum all the way to the end to claim the overall 2012 Season Three NiCAS Championship. Brown leads ten happy Class A licensed drivers that will be promoted to the NiPS for Season Four.

Brown scored eight wins and fourteen top fives in his twenty one starts, good enough to claim the title by nearly 200 points. Dustin Montgomery overcame a huge deficit early in the season to finish out in second, while NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) driver Michael Conti rounded out the top three in overall points.

Landon Huffman finished fourth overall and third of the drivers advancing to the NiPS. Jarl Teien closed a solid season which saw him score nine top fives in twenty three starts in fourth of his competition, while the Californian Carson Downs rounded out the top five. Matt Bussa was able to make his way solidly into the NiPS this time around, along with Peter Bennett. Back in nail biting territory, but inside the top ten nonetheless, were former NiSWC driver and former NiPS race winner Jason Burstein, followed by Danny Hansen and Benjamin Burmeister.

The final week of the season was hosted by Twin Ring Motegi and it was two NiSWC top dogs leading the charge. Conti took the overall points title on the week with 347 points, edging his NiSWC foe Ray Alfalla who scored 328 on the week. Benjamin Burmeister came up big in the clutch with 311 points while Peter Bennett and Jarl Teien rounded out the top five in the final week.

In an effort to place competitors with other drivers with similar skill sets, iRacing.com breaks drivers into ten divisions, awarding championship honors to the top points scorer in each division. With Joey Brown locking up Division One, as well as overall honors, it leads us into Division Two. Brian Day wrestled the championship away from Garrett Dorsey to claim the title, while Division Three went to Dylan Spears of the Texas Club in a run away. In a much closer battle, Joe Viszket scored seven wins to help him over Joe Reymann in Division Four. Division Five was a three man battle with Kevin Pankow coming out on top of Joshua Campbell and New York’s Dylan Murcott.

Headed now to Division Six, Doug Kaster took eleven top fives to the number one spot over Willian Vandiver. Jeffery Morrisette took Division Seven in a run away, while James Ray took home the Division Eight title. Rounding out our list of champions for 2012 Season Three is Division Nine’s Scott Dillner and Division Ten’s Conner Ojeda.

With iRacing.com headed now into their week 13 fun week, it will give drivers a chance to prepare for a title run in Season Four. The season will kick off at one of the fastest tracks on the circuit, Texas Motor Speedway, for 110 laps around the lightning quick oval.

Sixteen members of the Red Sox Racing League traveled to the Circuit De Spa GP road course in Belgium for the “Belgium GP at SPA” during week seven of the 2012 Season Three schedule.  The historic track was designed in the early 1920s and follows a triangle shaped route between Francorchamps, Malmedy, and Stavelot.  First laid out by European aristocrats, the scenic route is located in the Ardennes and offers drivers and fans stunning views of the mountain terrain.

Defending Class A champion Brad Vincent was unable to make the trip missing his first start of the season.  Likewise, three time Class B winner Paul Hesla pulled out after qualifying when a seat opened up in the iRacing.com Grand Am Sports Car Series.  The rest of the field took full advantage of their absence.

Les Turner earned his first pole of the season with a qualifying lap time of 2:04.464.  John Koscielniak earned P2 with a lap time of 2:04.749.  Terry Daul (3rd), Andrew Feldman (4th), Ed Sutcliff (5th), Kevin Kyle (6th), Divina Galica (7th), David Weiss (8th), and William Kabela (9th) completed the HPD grid.

The Class B Corvette field was also led by a fresh face as Jason Brown secured his first pole of the season with a qualifying lap time of 2:13.550.  Hesla’s 2:13.852 would have put him in P2 had he not withdrawn from the race after one lap of qualifying.  His exit meant Tommy Rhyne’s lap of 2:14.862 led the rest of the field.  Dennis Grifffen, Ricky Hardin, and Jeff Thomas completed the Corvette grid.

Racing action started off cleanly, but it didn’t take long for things to get interesting.  Indiana driver Kyle was the first to lose position when he spun his tires exiting T19, which is a tight and tricky corner known together with T18 as the Chicane.  Galica and Weiss both got past Kyle before he wrestled his Honda Prototype back under control.

Kabela, who is known as the cleanest driver in the league, was the third car behind when Kyle got loose  exiting T19.   Kabela nearly spun his car as he exited T19, but did a great job of keeping the car on track.  Both drivers managed to avoid damage to their cars during the incidents.  Kabela pressed his luck in three additional incidents as the race continued.  He went off track at T14 on lap five, and then did the same thing at Les Combes after making a pass on Hardin’s Corvette on lap seven.  His car was slightly damaged when he lost control exiting T7 and skidded into the right side wall.

Mistakes on laps three and four cost Weiss track position and speed.  The first occurred when he entered Les Combes carrying too much speed after making a pass of Galica.  His car spun out and made light contact with the wall before coming to a stop as Galica and Kyle went by.  Afterwards, in an effort to regain lost time, Weiss forgot to brake in time for T8 and went into the gravel at Rivage.  The same corner almost got him on the next lap when he went wide at corner exit and steered back across the track towards the inside line.  His car was thrown airborne when it hit the right side curbing on the downhill straight section.  Weiss had more trouble at T18 on lap nine, but the wide run-off area allowed him to avoid contact with the wall.

Les Combes caused trouble for several other drivers throughout the race.  Thomas succumbed to the dangerous corner when he entered it too quickly on lap five and skidded through the infield grass.  Unable to stop the car before it slid across the track between T6 and T7, Thomas watched helplessly as Weiss blew past his front fender.  Galica was the next victim when she went off track on lap twelve.  Hardin did the same trying to hold off Griffen on lap thirteen.

Sutcliff got through Les Combes without trouble on lap thirteen, but was close enough to Hardin and Griffen to be distracted by their battle.  Sutcliff made a critical mistake when he took his eyes off the track to gauge the speed and direction of the slower Corvettes ahead.  Going too fast to set up for the right turn, he became a helpless passenger as his car skidded hard into the outside wall at T7.  “I knew we were done as soon as I hit the brakes”, said Sutcliff afterwards.  “The sound of my car hitting the wall just cemented the fact.”    

Hardin recovered from his mistake at Les Combes and was in position to retake 3rd place in the Corvette race when he and Griffen reached T19.  He tried too hard however, and looped his car after getting back into the gas too quickly at the exit of the final corner.  Griffen took full advantage of Hardin’s mistake and went on to a well earned podium finish.

Class A results

Les Turner earned his first win of the season by outpacing Koscielniak to the finish line.  The two drivers were rarely separated by more than a couple of seconds during the race, so only a clean race by Turner kept him out front.  “We hated to see Brad miss a start, but the TeamDraft Batmobile team is happy to finally get rid of the bridesmaid dress and get back onto the top step of the podium!  We would like to dedicate this win to our longtime friend and fellow RSR member, Jim Albertson.  He is in all of our prayers again this week.”

Koscielniak crossed the line two seconds behind Turner to earn 2nd place.  It was his sixth podium finish of the season.  Daul earned his third consecutive 3rd place finish when he crossed the line 17 seconds behind Turner.

Feldman had a scare at Malmedy on lap six, but kept his car out of serious trouble for the rest of the race and crossed the line in 4th place for his highest finish of the season.  A fast pit stop kept him close to Daul, but Daul’s consistency meant that Feldman remained in his mirrors.  Feldman ended up having to give up his pursuit of Daul to conserve fuel on the last lap.  Kyle, seeing Feldman falling back to him, tried to keep pace, but had to settle for 5th place.  Galica (6th), Weiss (7th), and Kabela (8th) all crossed the line on the lead lap.  Sutcliff’s early exit from the race earned him a 9th place finish.

Turner and Daul were the only HPD drivers to complete the race without incident.  Turner and Daul are tied for the overall championship lead after seven events.  Feldman, Sutcliff, and Vincent round out the top five spots.

Class B results

Brown led every lap of the Corvette race as he earned his first RSR victory.  Rhyne couldn’t match Brown’s speed, but was able to hold off Griffen and Hardin to earn 2nd place and his fifth consecutive podium finish.  Griffen’s pass of Hardin on lap thirteen proved decisive earning him 3rd place.  He fought hard to maintain that position to the checkered flag and earned his fifth podium finish of the season.

Hardin had to settle for 4th place with Thomas, on the lead lap, crossing the line for 5th place.  Brown and Rhyne were the only Corvette drivers to complete the race without incident.

Griffen’s consistency through the first seven races of Season Three keeps him in first place in the overall championship race.  He has a twenty-two point lead over Thomas.  Rhyne, Hardin, and Hesla round out the top five positions.

Next Race

RSR members travel to Florida for the “Ghost Festival Hallowed Eve” at Sebring next week.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2167

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/355

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

The NiCAS took on Charlotte Motor Speedway for Week Eleven

The top two overall drivers in points are the top two drivers on the week as Brown once again leads the way, this time with 351 points. Brown dominated the near 5500 SoF field, filled with big names. Leading 106 laps Brown was able to take the victory over NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) runner up Michael Conti. Dustin Montgomery is on fire as of late finishing third in this race, ahead of NiSWC driver Jason Karlavige and NiPS driver Brandon Schmidt.

A second big race of the week saw the same names at the front, just in a different order. Schmidt was able to claim the slightly over 5500 SoF race on Sunday night, earning himself 354 points but did not score the overall top spot because he was forced to average together his top two races when he made four starts. Montgomery was able to edge out Brown in this race as they finished second and third, ahead of Jason Burstein and Carson Downs.

James Robinson once again tops the most active drivers on the week, making thirteen starts in Charlotte, NC., scoring five top fives. Dylan C Jones and Terry Garska were the only other drivers with ten or more starts, with Garska earning two wins on the week, and Jones making one trip to victory lane. Anthony Federico of the Pennsylvania Club scored the most wins on the week, winning four of his nine starts. Al Rodriguez, Brandon Schmidt and Joshua B Gerrald were all tied for second most wins with three.

With only one week to go in the season we are beginning to get a much clearer look at the points, however still with many spots capable of changing places. Joey Brown is the clear favorite to take home the title, holding a 158 point lead over the hard charging Dustin Montgomery. Landon Huffman now sits third, 218 points back of Brown. Carson Downs sits a solid fourth with former NiSWC driver Jason Burstein Rounding out the top five. Matt Bussa and Danny Hansen are somewhat comfortable sitting sixth and seventh, but it gets cloudy behind them. Jarl Teien sits eighth among NiPS hopefuls, three points ahead of Peter Bennett who is one spot ahead of the transfer spot in ninth. Brad Mahar currently holds the tenth and final spot, twelve points ahead of Benjamin Burmeister, and sixteen ahead of Steven Eszenyi.

Next week is the final week of the season, and the last chance for anyone to race their way into the 2012 NiPS. Drivers and teams will be thrown a curve-ball from iRacing.com as the final race of the year will be held at Twin Ring Motegi for 110 laps around the mile and a half oval. Although similar in length to many tracks the NiCAS competes on, Twin ring Motegi stands alone as the most unique oval on the tour. Be sure to check back next week for a full recap, as well as a list of Champions from 2012 Season three.

Dusett leading Karlavige at Charlotte.

The weekly Strength of Field race took place at the normal time slot, 8:30pm EST on Friday night. The field had 28 drivers and an SoF of 4941, which paid 316 points to win. Dusett started the race from the pole and lead the first 11 laps before losing the lead to Jason Karlavige (Pennsylvania). Karlavige would lead 30 laps before Dusett retook the lead on lap 57 and lead the rest of the race. Dusett would finish in the lead, half a second ahead of Karlavige. Dusett scored 316 points while Karlavige scored 304 points. Armando Vargas (California) finished in the third position while Ashley Miller (Carolina) finished in the fourth position. Vargas scored 292 points while Miller scored 280 points. Brandon Buie (Atlantic) rounded out the Top Five. Buie scored 269 points for his finish. The race had five cautions for 20 laps and had eight lead changes among 3 drivers.

Click here to watch broadcast.

Dusett still sits on top of the season points standings. Dusett brought his season total to 2111 points. Matthew Wright2 (New York) still sits in the second position with 1805, 307 points behind Dusett. Aleksi Elomaa (Finland) jumped back into the Top Five after recently falling out. Elomaa has 1782 points. David Cater (Carolina) moved up to the fourth position after finishing last week in fifth. Cater has 1740 points. Rounding out the Top Five in the standings is Joe Holt (Mid-South). Holt has 1733 points and is currently six points out of the fourth position.

Dusett sat on top of the qualifying charts after turning a 28.325 second lap under the lights. Cater finished the week in the second position with a 28.364 while Joshua Laughton (California), Christopher Roberts (New York) and Ryan Luza (Texas) finished third, fourth and fifth with the same lap time of 28.384 second lap.

For the 12th and final week of the season, the NiCBS series will travel to Michigan International Speedway, a two mile superspeedway located in Brooklyn, Michigan. Dusett has the championship locked up at this point but there is a close battle for the rest of the Top Five. Who will win the battle for the second position in points? Find out next week at InRacingNews!

Members of the Red Sox Racing League paid tribute to their friend and fellow driver, “Gentleman Jim” Albertson when they traveled to Florida for the “Gentleman Jim’s 24 Laps of Daytona” at the Daytona International Speedway road course.  One of the founding members of iRacing and an original RSR league member, Albertson has been unable to race since early 2012.  Always a calming presence on the track, his absence from online racing has been felt by the entire online racing community.

As one RSR driver put it before the race “All of us have a favorite memory about Jim. He is the consummate gentleman; always willing to lend advice to new drivers, always quick to share setup tips, and eager to help others learn the fastest way around the tracks.  Jim gave everything he had to helping others improve their skills. It’s not just his helpfulness. It’s also his approach to helping his fellow drivers; he did so with genuine thought and care about how his words and actions would be received by others.  Jim’s approach to life reinforced to everyone, the idea that we should always be civil. Whether it was in the heat of an on track battle, or just in everyday conversation, Jim was the same… a gentleman. I wish we had more like him.”

In further tribute to Jim, Corvette driver Corey Wolf arrived in Florida with a newly painted # 13 car designed to resemble the POW/MIA car Albertson last drove in competition.  “I want the fans to know how much Jim has meant to us all”, said Wolf before the race.  “I hope he gets a big smile on his face when he sees the car in action tonight.”

As usual, Brad Vincent arrived to the track as the heavy favorite to win the Class A HPD event.  He didn’t disappoint in qualifying, earning his sixth pole of the season with a lap time of 1:33.586.  Les Turner started in the second position with a lap time of 1:34.173.  Rows two through five were occupied by; John Koscielniak, Terry Daul, Ed Sutcliff, Andrew Feldman, David Weiss, Divina Galica, William Kabela, and Bill Pawluckie.

Paul Hesla earned his third pole of the season in the Class B Corvette event, barely edging out Jason Brown for the top spot.  Both drivers were almost a full second ahead of the remaining Corvette drivers when they posted 1:38.9+ lap times.  Scott Husted, Corey A. Wolf, Jeff Thomas, Dennis Griffen, and James Prostell, Jr. completed the Corvette grid.  Brown’s car experienced electrical problems after qualifying, so he was forced to begin the race from pit road.

Daytona’s 12 corner, 3.56 mile road course offers drivers a combination of tightly angled infield corners and wide open racing on the steeply banked superspeedway.  The relatively flat design of the infield section means drivers have to pay special attention to the corner exits that lead onto the long straights, something that would come into play throughout the race as drivers pushed to gain speed.

Perhaps in tribute to the calm, cool driving style of their good friend Albertson, the RSR field got off to an incredibly clean race when the green flag dropped.  Weiss, Wolf, and Griffen all gained positions early on, and Wolf and Husted traded spots several times in the opening laps.

On lap 5 Thomas was the first of three drivers to succumb to the hazards exiting turn five when he lost traction and spun harmlessly into the infield grass.  Hesla and Prostell would lose valuable time in the same corner later in the race.

Vincent had gained such a huge lead on the HPD field that despite a spin exiting T3 on lap thirteen he didn’t  lose the lead.  Turner’s spotter barely had enough time to mention the incident before Vincent had corrected his vehicle and accelerated back to race pace.

Sutcliff did a good job of keeping pace with Daul in the first half of the race, but gave up 5th place when he flubbed his exit from pit road on lap fifteen.  “I’m not sure what happened”, said Sutcliff after the race.  “I was exiting pit road with plenty of time to maintain my position, when I suddenly realized my car was skidding into the infield grass!”

Husted’s hopes for a podium finish were dashed on lap eighteen when his car spun sideways in T9 and skidded hard into the outside wall.

Overall, the race was run in the way “Gentleman Jim” Albertson would have liked it, with 7 of 17 drivers completing the event without incident, and no major dustups affecting the outcome.

Class A results

Vincent wrapped up his sixth consecutive victory with another dominating performance.  Unscathed by his lap thirteen incident, he crossed the finish line thirty seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.

Turner earned a third consecutive runner-up finish, and his fifth 2nd place finish of the season.  He crossed the line four seconds ahead of Daul in 3rd place who got past Koscielniak in the pits when he was caught speeding and held by the officials for 15 seconds.  Koscielniak finished 4th  5 seconds behind Daul. Weiss (5th) edged Sutcliff (6th) at the line, while Feldman (7th), Galica (8th), Kabela (9th), and Pawluckie (10th) all finished on the lead lap.  Turner, Daul, Weiss, Sutcliff, Feldman, Galica, and Kabela earned bonus “Albertson” points for completing the race without a penalty.

Vincent continues to enjoy a ten point lead over Daul in the season’s championship race.  Turner is still in third place, but moved up one point and is just two points behind Daul.  Feldman and Sutcliff are separated by one point and round out the final top-5 spots.

Class B results

Hesla’s car suffered considerable damage during his off-course adventures on lap eighteen, but the car didn’t require extensive repairs.  “The spotter told me to pit, so I gave up the lead to let the team check the damage.  The pink paint on my car must be extra tough because they sent me back onto the track without so much as swinging a hammer at the body!”  Hesla laid down three consecutive sub 1:40 laps to reel in Wolf after his brief pit stop, and then made a daring pass in turn one on the last lap to regain the lead and earn his third victory of the season.

Wolf drove his MIA/POW Albertson car hard all night and appeared to be on his way to victory after Hesla’s mishap.  “I really wanted to bring the car home in first tonight”, said Wolf.  “But Paul just had too much speed in the closing laps and I didn’t want to risk a podium finish by blocking on the last lap.  We’ll take 2nd and the knowledge that Jim will be proud of the way we represented his team tonight.”

Griffen earned his forth podium of the season when he crossed the line in 3rd place.  “We weren’t flashy tonight, but I’ll take the solid finish.  There were several faster drivers, but Jason’s electrical problems and Scott’s crash at the bus stop were like Christmas presents.  I had a tough time staying in front of JT and James, but got some breathing room when they made small mistakes.  I’m sure both would have driven away from me had they been able to get past me early in the race.”

Prostell (4th) was the final Corvette driver to finish on the lead lap with Hesla.  Thomas (5th) was scored one lap down.  Husted (6th) finished eight laps down.  Brown (7th) retired after completing six laps.

Griffen’s consistency through the first six races of Season Three puts him in first place in the overall championship race.  He has a nineteen point lead over Thomas.  Rhyne, Hesla, and Hardin round out the top five positions, but look as if they will be neck and neck with Griffen and Thomas once the drop weeks kick in.

Next Race

RSR members travel to Belgium for the “Belgium GP at SPA” next week.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2166

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/355

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

]]> http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/all-news/gentleman-jim-night-at-daytona-rc/feed 0 http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/all-news/nicas-points-battle-tightens-in-dega http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/all-news/nicas-points-battle-tightens-in-dega#comments Fri, 12 Oct 2012 02:16:56 +0000 JSpies20 http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/?p=125867 It is always an adventure when the NASCAR iRacing.com Class A Series (NiCAS) rolls into Talladega, Alabama for seventy laps of drafting, and Week Ten of the tour lived up to expectations. With the championship hanging in the balance, as well as a coveted spot in the 2012 NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS), the stakes have never been higher. With so many drivers in contention this late into the season, it made the always constant fear of “The Big One” even scarier knowing it could put an end to their NiPS hopes.

There’s always plenty of action when the NiCAS comes to Talladega.

Where there is risk, there is reward, and it was Dylan Duval who was able to steer clear of the big wreck and take home 359 points for top honors of the week. Although already having a spot clinched for the 2012 NiPS, this gave Duval much needed momentum heading into the challenging Pro season. Overall points leader Joey Brown continued his stellar season earning 354 points at the 2.66 mile “D” shaped oval, placing him second overall on the week behind Duval. Although Brown beat all of his competition on the track, he saw his points lead shrink as the hard charging Landon Huffman utilized a drop week and his 331 points were enough to move him into second overall in the standings, trimming Brown’s lead to just over 100.

Brandon Kettelle is another driver already locked into the 2012 NiPS, but will be entering with some momentum as he went third overall in Week Ten at Talladega with 341 points. In fifth behind Huffman was the former NiPS race winner and NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) driver Jason Burstein. The solid week for Burstein was vital as he now sits seventh in the standings, but still not comfortably inside the top ten which will transfer to the NiPS.

Participation soared as the playing field was leveled from the draft, making all the races of the week not only jam packed, but extremely fun to be a part of. John Cordon of the Florida Club made his mark on the week with twenty eight starts and ten top fives. Two other drivers started twenty or more races on the week, Corey Hefley and William Roberts. Hefley took his twenty five starts and turned them into eight wins, leading the way of all the 1,095 drivers who took parts in the weekly racing. Adrian Duncan was second overall on the week with three wins, ahead of Frank Buschini and Kyle Robinson who were the only drivers with over two wins.

With the points battle tightening up the NiCAS will head to Charlotte Motor Speedway for 110 laps around the mile and a half speedway. A trip back to the intermediate sized track is exactly what the doctor ordered for a few bubble drivers hoping to claw their way into the NiPS, while for others these tracks have been a struggle to this point in the season. Brown heads in with the points lead and momentum but he has a hard charging Huffman and Dustin Montgomery in his rear view mirror. Charlotte will be the second to last race of the season, so the time is now for any driver hoping to make a late season charge. As always check back at inRacingNews.com for a full recap of the week’s racing action!

October 4, 2012 – Story by Ed Sutcliff and Andy Feldman

Members of the Red Sox Racing League returned to the United States for the “Trackpedia.com Presents Road Atlanta” for week five of their 2012 Season Three schedule.  With 12 corners spread along a 2.54 mile layout with constantly changing elevation, Road Atlanta has more in common with a roller coaster than it does with the other tracks on the RSR schedule.  Located 35 miles north of Atlanta, the track was carved out of 750 acres of rolling hills in northern Georgia.  Boasting one of the most liberal seating policies in road racing, the track is a great place for fans to catch a close-up glimpse of exciting, high speed racing action.

Brad Vincent earned his fifth pole of the season with a qualifying lap time of 1:10.084.  Les Turner secured the outside of row one with a lap time of 1:10.732.  Terry Daul (1.11:362) and Kevin Kyle (1.11:614) started in row two.  Divina Galica (1.12:029) and Andrew Feldman (1.12:296) filled row three.  David Weiss (1.12:504) and Ed Sutcliff (1.12:672) occupied row four, while William Kabela (1.13:395) completed the HPD starting grid.

Several Corvette drivers skipped the Road Atlanta event to recover from the long trip back from England.  However Paul Hesla, returned in his pink colored car and led the way in practice and qualifying, earning his second pole of the season with a lap time of 1.15:986.  Tommy Rhyne earned the outside position of row one with a lap time of 1.16:210.  Jeff Thomas (1.17:373), Dennis Griffen (1.17:543), and Ricky Hardin (1.17:930) completed the Corvette grid.

Things started off cleanly as RSR league members were content to settle into a safe rhythm around the difficult track before challenging for position.  Kyle, who has recovered nicely from an early season illness that kept him out of the seat, lost several positions on the opening lap as did Thomas in the TeamDraft Corvette, but the leaders in both classes maintained position as they focused on putting distance between themselves and their pursuers.

Kyle had a scare as he approached Suzuki Bridge at the top of T11 on lap two.  Going wide to the left edge of the roadway, Kyle somehow kept his car on the track surface as it barreled down the hill to the start/finish line.  He wasn’t as lucky during his approach to the same spot on lap six.  Having just completed his fastest lap of the race, Kyle was chasing Feldman and Galica for position through turns 10A-B when he went wide on the uphill and allowed his left side tires to go off the curbing.

The mistake proved very costly for Kyle.  His left side tires immediately lost grip as they hit the sand, causing his car to take a hard turn to the right.  And unfortunately for Kyle, a right turn at race speed at that spot on the track is not a recipe for success.  Helpless to stop the car before it slammed into the concrete supports at the bottom of Suzuki Bridge, Kyle watched the entire front end of his car fly into the grass before finally rolling to a stop in the middle of the track.  Next week should bring a better result for the Indiana native as the series returns to one of his favorite tracks in Daytona, Florida.

Sutcliff was a few seconds behind the accident, but his spotter couldn’t see where Kyle’s car stopped, so all the Georgia native driver knew when he approached the hill was that someone had gone off course to the right.  Aiming left of center as he crested the hill, Sutcliff narrowly avoided disaster when his right front fender just caught the left side of Kyle’s car.  After the race, Sutcliff expressed surprise about his close call.  “I thought I had completely missed Kevin.  My pit crew didn’t even tell me about the minor damage until I got it back to the trailer.”

Feldman shadowed Galica early in the race but was himself challenged by David Weiss who was quicker and by lap 7 was shadowing the AppLogic Honda’s bumper.  Weiss capitalized on a mistake when Feldman ran wide in T7 and Weiss passed him on the back straight.  Weiss followed Galica closely until she pitted on lap 14.  Galica lost time when she overshot her pit stall and was initially unable to get her car into reverse.  Weiss stayed out one more lap before pitting for fuel and tires on lap 15.  Feldman stretched his fuel one lap further and his crew turned in a flawless fuel only pit stop on lap 16.  He returned to the track with a 6 second lead over Weiss and Galica and trailed Terry Daul’s ITT Honda by only a couple seconds.  Feldman was able to keep pace with Daul in the final stage of the race but was not able to seriously challenge him for the final podium position.

The rest of the field stayed out of trouble as the race continued, but Vincent built up an insurmountable lead in the HPD race.  Just when it looked like he would coast to another victory, Vincent gave his team a scare as he prepared to pit for tires on lap fifteen.  Lulled into a false sense of security by his huge lead, Vincent lost focus as he entered the downhill twisting road leading to the pits.  The sickening sound of metal scraping against the inside concrete wall jolted Vincent back to reality just in time for him to jerk the car away from further danger.  The mistake could have cost Vincent his perfect record of 5 straight wins from the pole, but he never lost a beat as he calmly instructed his team to ignore cosmetic damage when he reached his pit stall.

The last incident of the evening involved the Northern Tool Corvette leader Tommy Rhyne and HPD driver Divina Galica who was trying to make up time lost in her pit cycle.  Rhyne, riding a string of three consecutive victories, was holding onto a slim lead over Hesla on lap nineteen when Galica caught up to him exiting T7.  Excellent communication between their spotters gave both drivers a chance to coordinate a pass at the bottom of the hill leading to T10A.  Things looked like they would go smoothly, but Galica’s shallow approach to the corner caused her car to lose traction and speed.  Rhyne was back on the gas and aiming for the low line of T10B before he realized Galica was off pace.  The result was a painfully slow accident that spun both cars out on the uphill.  Hesla got past Rhyne before he could get back up to speed.

Class A results

Vincent wrapped up his fifth consecutive victory in convincing fashion to remain unbeaten in Season Three.  His lead at the finish line was sixteen seconds over the second place car of Turner.  Turner has grown accustomed to the bridesmaid finishes, but remained upbeat about his race. “The TeamDraft Batmobile was fast again this week.  I’d like to dedicate this podium finish to my Dad.  He has been battling some tough medical issues for the past year, so I’m really hoping he will be able to return home for Christmas.  Happy Canuck Thanksgiving everyone!”

Daul (3rd) outdueled Feldman (4th) for the final podium spot.  Sutcliff (5th) made up three positions from his 8th place start to earn his 3rd top-5 finish of the season.  Weiss (6th) lost 5th place when he was forced to pit for fuel on the last lap.  “I can’t believe we didn’t take enough fuel during the first cycle”, said a dejected Weiss afterwards.  The mistake put him a lap down to the leaders in the final scoring.

Galica (6th) recovered from her late race incident with Rhyne to finish a lap down.  “This is the third race in a row we’ve finished much lower than we should have.  The car has been great, the team is doing their part, now I just need to catch a break!”

Kabela (8th) was the last HPD still racing when he crossed the finish line on the same lap with Weiss and Galica.  Kyle (9th) retired from the race after his lap six accident.

Turner, Daul, and Kabela all received bonus points for completing the race without incident.

Vincent enjoys a ten point lead over Daul in the season championship race.  Turner is three points back in third place.  Feldman and Sutcliff round out the final top-5 spots.

Class B results

Hesla took advantage of a late race mistake by Rhyne to earn his second victory of the season.  “We needed this win tonight”, said Hesla.  “The team has forced me to drive a pink car since the Barber race, so although I’m happy to have supported “Breast Cancer Awareness”, I am looking forward to getting back into my normal car!” 

Rhyne led most of the race, but crossed the line in 2nd place.  He was not happy about the way the race turned out.  “We were the car to beat tonight.  The HPD drivers were doing a good job of passing us, so I was stunned when I got caught up with Divi.  Congrats to Paul on the win, he did exactly what he needed to do to take advantage of my mistake.”

Hardin (3rd) earned the final podium spot by outpacing Griffen (4th) and Thomas (5th) to the finish line.

Hesla and Griffen earned bonus points for completing the race without incident.

Rhyne leads Griffen by two points in the season championship race.  Hardin is sixteen points behind Rhyne, while Thomas is nineteen points back.  Hesla is in fifth place.

Next Race

RSR members travel to Florida for the “Gentleman Jim’s 24 Laps of Daytona” next week.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2165

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/355

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Miles the Monster welcomes racers to Dover International Speedway

Former NiPS competitor Joey Brown not only shot to the top of the overall points standings during week nine, he did it in style with 348 huge points to earn him the top spot in the weekly standings as well. Brown led forty six laps on his way to securing top honors, dethroning NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) driver Brian Schoenburg who would be the brides made once again. Benjamin Burmeister gave his bid for the NiPS a much needed shot in the arm with 322 big points to move him up to thirteenth in the overall standings.

Landon huffman is a name to watch as the Limited Late Model driver from Claremont, NC has come on very strong this season and is carrying a ton of momentum into the 2012 NiPS. Huffman once again went over the 300 point mark, with 308 in Dover, Delaware. The Californian Carson Downs rounded out the top five, and was the last driver with over 300 points, with Downs ending the week with a solid 306.

Scott Austin of the Michigan Club was far and away the most active driver on the week, putting up some good numbers in the process. Austin scored a top five in half of his sixteen starts, as well as earning a trip to victory lane at the “Monster Mile”. James Robinson is always near the top in activity and this week was no different as Robinson took part in eleven races, one ahead of third place Howard Bell. Wins were a little harder to come by as only four drivers made multiple trips to victory lane, being headed by Lafayette, Louisiana‘s Cody Vincent who won all three of his starts. Vincent led 320 of the 330 laps he completed while having a total of 0 incident points in three races, thoroughly dominating his competition.

Joey Brown currently holds a healthy 304 point lead over the Cromwell, Connecticut driver Peter Bennett in the battle for the NiCAS Championship. It is razor thin from Bennett back to both Huffman and Matt Bussa, with Danny Hansen in a solid transfer spot in fifth. Former NiSWC driver Jason Burstein holds down the number six seed right now, with Lee Herron and Steven Eszenyi behind him. Tyler Laughlin and Dustin Montgomery are drivers needing a strong finish to their seasons as they hold a slim lead over Brad Mahar and Jorn Jens who are scratching and clawing to find a way inside the top ten. There is still plenty of time for drivers and teams to get on a hot streak and race their way solidly in, but that hot streak needs to come in the very near future.

Next week for the NiCAS is a trip to the Talladega Superspeedway for 70 white knuckle laps around the 2.66 mile oval. Making the right moves in the draft at the right times will be the deciding factor in who wins, and who goes home second guessing themselves. It is always a week to remember, and is truly anyone’s race when the NiCAS takes on the restrictor plate racing at Talladega Superspeedway. Be sure to check back at inRacingNews.com next week for a full report of all the highs and lows of the tight, draft style racing.

Big wreck on the front stretch.

Friday night’s Strength of Field race took place at the normal time slot, 8:30pm EST. The race featured a full field of 30 drivers and had an SoF of 5169. Simon Crochart (France) started from the pole and dominated early in the race. Crochart lead the first 47 laps of the race before losing the lead to Dylan Duval (Eastern Canada) on lap 48. Duval would dominate the final half of the race, leading 47 laps including the final lap. Duval scored 331 points for the win. Josh Laughton (California) would finish the race in the second position after starting eighth. Laughton scored 319 points for second. Carson Downs (California) and Byron Daley (New York) finished third and fourth and scored 308 and 296 points respectively. Rounding out the Top Five in the finishing order was Garrett Grant (Massachusetts). Grant scored 285 points for his finish. Point’s leader Richard Dusett (New England) was the only other driver to lead a lap, leading six in total before being caught in a wreck. Dusett finished 15th and scored 171 points.

Duval (7) leading Laughton (6) at Dover.

Click here to watch broadcast.

Even though he had a terrible Week Nine, Dusett was able to add to his point lead. Dusett added 171 points at Dover and now has a total of 1962 points. Matthew Wright2 (New York) now sits in the second position in the season standings. Wright scored 278 points at during Week Nine and brought his total to 1773 points, 190 points out of first. Joe Holt (Mid-South) moved into the third position in the standings. Holt has a total of 1718 points. Alex Scribner (Texas) and Aleksi Elomaa (Findland) round out the Top Five in the season standings. Scribner scored 193 points at Dover and now has a total of 1710 points. Elomaa scored 255 during Week Nine and brought his season total to 1664 points.

Crochart turned the fastest lap of the week in qualifying after turning a 22.786 second lap. Justin Brooks (Carolina) finished the week in the second position in qualifying with a 22.803 second lap. Duval finished the week in the third position with a 22.814 second lap while Alan J Elwood (Ohio) finished the week in the fourth position with a 22.836 second lap. Rounding out the Top Five for the week was Scribner, who turned a 22.872 second lap.

For Week 10 of the season, the NiCBS series will travel to the mecca of stock car race, Daytona International Speedway. Daytona is known to draw a large number of racers which also means there will be plenty of points up for grabs. Will anyone be able to trim Dusetts lead? Find out next week at InRacingNews!

Members of the Red Sox Racing League have raced on three continents in four weeks, but a pattern has developed which could spell trouble for the field if they don’t react quickly.  Brad Vincent has a perfect record, winning all four races in the Class A HPD field, while Tommy Rhyne has been nearly perfect with three wins in a row in the Class B Corvette field.  Both drivers were at the top of their game for this week’s event, the “Brands Hatch Fall Festival” at Brands Hatch in Kent, England.

Vincent earned his fourth pole of the season with a qualifying lap time of 1:12.925.  Les Turner secured the outside of row one with a lap time of 1:13.289.  John Koscielniak (3rd), Terry Daul (4th), Divina Galica (5th), Ed Sutcliff (6th), Andrew Feldman (7th), Kevin Kyle (8th), David Weiss (9th), William Kabela (10th), and Kyle Young (11th) completed the HPD starting grid.

Amongst the Corvettes Rhyne earned his second pole of the season with a qualifying lap time of 1:20.682.  Paul Hesla arrived in a pink car after a poor performance at Barber and a lost bet with his crew.  Nonetheless, he secured the outside position of row one with a lap time of 1:21.224.  Griffen (3rd), Thomas (4th), Husted (5th), Prostell (6th), and Hardin (7th) completed the Corvette starting grid.

Brands Hatch is a technically challenging course.  Its 9 corner twisting, turning, 2.3 mile layout is full of elevation changes, off-camber corners giving drivers a roller coaster-like experience.  Passing opportunities are few and far between, while the potential for going off-track lurks at every section of the track.  The difference in speeds between the prototype and the GT classes had the potential to play a major role in the outcome of this race.

The points leaders in the HPD field have been very consistent in Season Three, with most finishing in almost the same position week after week.  Koscielniak was riding a streak of six consecutive podium finishes stretching back to last season and looked to be one of the few drivers who could challenge Vincent and Turner at Brands.  His night got off to a horrible start however, as he locked up the brakes and spun off in T4, perhaps due to his cold tires or cold brakes.  Going off course in what was a scary slide, Koscielniak managed to bring his car to a stop without incurring damage, but he was forced to wait as the HPD field went past before he could safely rejoin the race.

The field racked up a steady count of 4-off penalties as they tried to tame the course, but gave each other plenty of room as the event continued.  Weiss managed to avoid damage while doing a nifty 360 spin after losing control exiting T2 on lap six.  Luckily there was no one immediately behind his car as it slid across the track.  T1 and T4 seemed to give drivers the most trouble as Prostell, Hardin, Weiss, and Kyle all took turns sliding off track in those corners.  Weiss retired from the race with heavy damage after his incident on lap eighteen, but the other drivers were able to continue racing.

Class A results

Vincent took the checkered flag with a 25 second lead over Turner.  The pair of drivers had relatively little competition from the rest of the field.  Koscielniak recovered from his lap one mistake to charge back through the field and earn his 7th consecutive podium finish in his ITT Honda.  His race back to third place was both daring and exciting to watch as he was forced to make on-track passes of drivers hungry for their first podium finish of the season.

Koscielniak’s ITT teammate Terry Daul (4th) and Ed Sutcliff (5th) in the FBI prototype battled to a close finish, with Daul crossing the line 2/10s of a second ahead of Sutcliff.  Feldman (6th) in the AppLogic Honda and Galica (7th) had a similar battle as they finished within 3/10s of a second of each other.

Galica’s car got a major electrical overhaul prior to the race, so she was optimistic at the start of the race.  “The car has never driven this smoothly”, said the F1 veteran after qualifying.  But despite the upgrade, Galica had to overcome two major obstacles during the race just to stay on the lead lap.  First her steering columnloosened  in its mount at race speed and it took all she had to maintain control of the car.   And then a short time later her pit crew failed to count her down to her stall on pit road and she over-shot her pit stall.  She lost valuable time and track position to Sutcliff and Feldman during both incidents.   Galica was disappointed about her finish, but she is confident about her chances at next week’s race.  “We’ll make it up at Road Atlanta because this new car is too fast to be running behind those guys!”

Young (8th), Kyle (9th), and Kabela (10th) all finished one lap down to the leaders.  Weiss was scored seven laps down and in 11th place after his early departure from the race.   Sutcliff and Kabela both earned bonus points for completing the race without incident.

Vincent now holds a ten point lead in the season championship.  Koscielniak and Daul are tied for second place.  Turner and Feldman round out the top five spots.  After the race Turner commented “I had a very busy week but managed to get enough practice and was confident in my chances to contend for the win at Brands Hatch.  I needed a good finish after a disastrous result in Alabama.  Brands is an extremely fast circuit and danger lurks in every corner.  Early on I made the decision to race the track to ensure I finished on the podium. This was the last outing for the TeamDraft 911 Tribute car.  My team honors the memory of those who paid the ultimate price on that awful day and for everybody who has fought for our freedom since then.  The Batmobile will be back next week at Road Atlanta and it will be looking to gain back some more of the valuable championship points I lost in Alabama.”

Class B results

Hesla tried hard to make up for his poor performance in last week’s race, but even a pink paint job couldn’t give him the extra boost needed to outpace Rhyne’s NorthernTool.com Corvette to the finish line.  Hesla posted the fastest lap of the event, but Rhyne completed the race without incident as his consistently low lap times kept the rest of the Corvette field behind him.  The win was Rhyne’s third in a row and his sixth podium finish in the past seven RSR events.  Hesla was happy with his finish.  “We had an off week at Barber, so it felt good to get back to the front pack.” 

3rd place Griffen earned his third podium finish of the season by qualifying well and running a solid race.  Griffen would have finished the race without incident if not for a slight error at Westfield corner on the opening lap.  Husted (4th) ran another solid race and was the last Corvette driver to cross the line on the same lap as Rhyne.  Hardin (5th) and Thomas (6th) both of whom ran their fastest laps late in the race were both scored one lap down, while Prostell (7th) finished two laps down after his pit crew was forced to make extensive repairs caused during his lap seven incident.

Rhyne and Thomas were the only Corvette drivers to complete the race without incident.

Rhyne has a slim two point lead over Griffen in the season championship battle.  Hardin (3rd) has a one point lead over Husted (4th), while Thomas (5th) is one point behind Husted.

Next Race

RSR members travel to Georgia for the “Trackpedia.com Presents Road Atlanta”  next week.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2164

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/355

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Adam Gilliland grabbed top honors Week 8 in Loudon

Adam Gilliland was able to put together a late “Bump and Run” in the top rated race of the week to take home top honors with 350 points. Gilliland only led two laps in a race dominated by NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) driver Brian Schoenburg, but Gilliland was able to capitalize on a late race restart to grab the lead, followed by an immediate caution for a wreck behind the leaders. Schoenburg led 105 of 110 laps but finished second, while NiPS challenger Danny Hansen finished a solid third.

Schoenburg was able to redeem himself in a race later in the week, earning himself the victory and 348 points to put him second overall on the week. In a reverse of the NiSWC race at Loudon earlier in the year, it was Michael Conti this time looking at the back of Schoenburg’s bumper cover for the majority of the race, unable to find a way around. Conti went on to finish second, while former NiPS driver and current NiCAS top five in points Joey Brown rounded out the top three.

Brian Schoenburg led 205 of his 220 completed laps at New Hampshire

As expected at the tricky little one mile track, participation numbers dipped a bit as drivers could not find a handle on their racecars. In total 351 drivers took part in races on the week, with six drivers racing ten or more times. James Robinson once again headed the most active category with fifteen starts, earning five top fives and an average finish inside the top ten. Burkhard Maring of DE-AT-CH Club put together a solid week earning the most wins, with four in his seven starts. Cody Vincent was the only other driver able to score more than two victories, with three.

Next stop for the NiCAS is a trip to a completely different one mile speedway, in the likes of Dover International Raceway. Although similar in length, the only thing NHMS and Dover have in common are that the turns are left. The high banked, concrete “Monster Mile” is often compared to a roller coaster by many NASCAR stars who take to the blistering fast track. With the season coming to a close, Dover is many drivers last chance to make a late move in the points, and give themselves a shot at making the 2012 NiPS. Be sure to check back next week for a full wrap up of all the week’s biggest movers.

Dusett (3) leading Teien (1) into turn one.

Friday night’s Strength of Field race had a field of 27 drivers and an SoF of 4722. Richard Dusett (New England) once again proved that he is the driver to beat with a victory over Simon Crochart (France), although Dusett didn’t dominate the race. Jarl Teien (Scandinavia) dominated most of the race, leading 54 of the 100 laps after starting the race in the third position.  Dusett was able to take the lead at lap 70 and never looked back. Dusett scored 302 points for the victory after leading 36 laps. Crochart finished second after leading 10 laps and scored 290 points. Matthew Wright2 (New York) managed to finish in the third position after starting 23rd. Wright scored 278 points. David Cater (Carolina) and Aleksi Elomaa (Finland) rounded out the Top Five. Cater scored 267 points for fourth while Elomaa scored 255 points for fifth. There were six lead changes between three drivers and nine cautions for 35 laps.

Click here to watch broadcast.

Dusett still maintains the point’s lead after his victory on Friday night.  Dusett’s season total is now 1791 points. Wright moved up to the second position in points after a good week at Kentucky. Wright brought his season total to 1682 points.  Elomaa sits in the third position in the standings while Alex Scribner (Texas) sits in the fourth position. Elomaa, after a fifth place finish on Friday, added 255 points to his total bringing his season total to 1627 points. Scribner scored 192 points during Week Eight and brought his season total to 1594 points. Chris Seymour (Western Canada) rounded out  the Top Five in the season standings after Week Eight. Seymour had another less than stellar week after finishing 18th in the SoF race on Friday night. Seymour brought his season total to 1562 points.

Dusett turned the fastest qualifying lap of the week after turning a 30.817 second lap. Crochart finished the week in the second spot with a 30.834 second lap while Teien finished the week in third with a 30.841 second lap. Neal Dobson (Mid-South) was fourth in qualifying with a 30.857 while Johnny Housley (Mid-South) rounded out the Top Five with a 30.862 second lap.

Week Nine of the season will see the NiCBS series travel to “The Monster Mile”, Dover International Speedway. Drop weeks will come into effect and will more than likely scramble up the point’s standings. With one less week counted so far, Dusett will greatly increase his points lead with a decent week. Will any other driver be able to keep pace? Find out next week at InRacingNews!

After several weeks of testing and racing in Japan to open their 2012 Season Three schedule, the Red Sox Racing League finally returned to the United States for this week’s event, the “Tracksunlimited.net presents Barber Motorsport Park” in Leeds, Alabama.  Nineteen drivers made the trip to northern Alabama to test their skills on the tricky 2.38 mile, 16 corner layout.

Brad Vincent, confident he could keep his winning streak alive after back to back wins in Japan, led the way in the Class A HPD qualifying session and earned the pole with a lap time of 1:12.136.  Justin Kirby (2nd), Les Turner (3rd), and John Koscielniak (4th) also posted sub 1:13 lap times as they looked to knock Vincent out of victory lane.  Terry Daul (5th), Ed Sutcliff (6th), and Andy Feldman (7th) posted sub 1:14 qualifying laps.  David Weiss (8th), Kevin Kyle (9th), William Kabela (10th), and Kyle Young (11th) completed the HPD grid.

Paul Hesla led the way during qualifying in the Class B Corvette field as his lap time of 1:19.211 was good enough to hold off Tommy Rhyne (1:19.466) and Dennis Griffen (1:19.691).  Dean Moll (4th), Corey A. Wolf (5th), Scott Husted (6th), Jeff Thomas (7th), and Ricky Hardin (8th) completed the Corvette grid.

Normally a clean group, RSR drivers must have been suffering from jet lag in Alabama because sixteen drivers collected a season high 91 incidents, while only three managed to complete the race incident free.  Racing action got off to a blistering pace as Turner got past Kirby and into 2nd place with an excellent start.  Approaching the s-curves of turns 7-8-9, where there is only room for one car to pass at a time, Turner made an error in his braking and his Honda’s back end broke loose catching Kirby by surprise, who was unable to react to Turner’s mistake and ended up slamming into the rear of Turner’s car.  The impact forced both drivers off course on opposite sides of the track.  Fans lining the front of the Barber Museum had a great view as the rest of the hard charging HPD field negotiated their way past Turner and Kirby coming out of T9.

Kirby’s night got worse when he collected additional damage entering pit road for repairs.  Turner’s pit crew was MIA when he nursed his car to pit road.

Moll was in 4th place in the Class B race when he overshot the corner exit at T1 on lap two.  His car spun back across the track before doing a lazy 360 spin.  Moll did a nice job of driving and managed to keep the car off the wall.  He wasn’t as lucky when he spun out in T5 and crashed into inside wall a lap later.  Moll kept racing and somehow avoided further damage when he spun out in exactly the same spot a lap later.  Unfortunately, his nightmare continued half a lap later when he went off course in turns 13-14 and collected Koscielniak while rejoining the track.  Moll was forced to retire from the race after bringing his car to a stop.  Koscielniak continued racing with nose damage, but lost several spots as he nursed his damaged car around the track.  But he was back up to speed after his crew replaced his nose in the pits.

T5 collected Kyle and Young in separate incidents on lap five, but both drivers were able to continue racing.  The curbing of the s-curve was abused by most of the drivers all night, but Feldman took an unusually brutal shortcut when he barreled through the corners on lap eight.  Barely maintaining control of his car, Feldman cut across the infield grass just missing Sutcliff.  Koscielniak had a clear view of the action and was able to get past Feldman coming out of T9.  Feldman regained his composure and a lap later re-passed Koscielniak who was at an aerodynamic disadvantage due to his damaged nose.

Hardin lost valuable track position when he went off track and spun towards the inside wall while exiting T2 on lap eight.  Kyle provided the most fireworks of the night when he launched Kirby into orbit on lap eleven.  Having passed a Corvette on the front stretch, Kyle carried too much speed into T1 and overshot the corner.  His tires found no grip on the grass and allowed Kyle’s car to continue sliding back onto the track in T2.  Kirby had nowhere to go as Kyle’s car slid into his path and the resulting impact sent Kirby high into the sky.  Luckily, neither driver was seriously injured in the incident.

A similar incident collected Hesla and Young at the exit of T4 on lap sixteen.  Hesla lost third place as a result of the mishap and eventually retired from the race.

Class A results

Vincent took full advantage of the mess behind him on lap one and quickly put an insurmountable lead over the rest of the HPD field.  He went on to lead all 25 laps while lapping most of the field before he crossed the finish line.  Daul finished a minute behind Vincent after inheriting 2nd place from Koscielniak on lap six.  Koscielniak battled back from his early race damage to finish in third place, one second behind Daul.

Feldman finished in 4th place after executing a perfect pit stop to overtake Sutcliff half way into the race.  Feldman was the last HPD driver to finish on the lead lap.  Sutcliff (5th), Weiss (6th), Kabela (7th), and Young (8th), were scored one lap down.  Kyle (9th) and Kirby (10th), both finished fifteen laps down.

Turner retired after three laps and finished in last place.  Reporters found him grilling hamburgers with Wilbur Gildersleeve, Jr after the race.  Turner was disappointed with his finish, but sounded upbeat about his chances to keep pace with Vincent in the overall standings.  “I missed the corner entry and had to lift to get the car under control, but got slammed pretty hard from behind.  The pit crew was over at Wilbur’s grill getting snacks when I came in, so I had to go back out with a damaged car.  I parked it and joined Wilbur once I realized my night was over.  We’ll come back strong at Brands next week.”   

Kabela was the only driver to complete the race without an incident.

Vincent continues to lead the season championship race after three events.  He has a seven point lead over Daul.  Koscielniak, Feldman, and Turner round out the top five spots.

Class B results

Hesla dominated the early going, but Rhyne worked his way into victory lane with clean, smooth driving.  The win was Rhyne’s second in as many weeks.

RSR newcomer Dennis Griffen crossed the line in 2nd place.  Husted finished in 3rd.  “We had several goals tonight”, said Husted.  “We hit the first two by qualifying ahead of last place, and by avoiding the lap one incident.  Then we managed to get into a fast race pace, so I knew it was going to be a good night.  We had some scary moments with the HPD cars going past, but otherwise it was a very clean race.  Corey and I had some great racing and I think I could have gotten closer to Dennis if we’d had a few more laps.  No penalties and no mistakes on pit road were the keys to this podium finish!”   

Wolf was the last Corvette driver to finish on the same lap with Rhyne.  Thomas (5th), and Hardin (6th), were both scored one lap down to the Corvette leaders.  Hesla (7th) and Moll (8th) both retired early from the race.

Rhyne and Griffen were the only Corvette drivers to complete the race without incident.

Next Race

RSR travel to England for the “Brands Hatch Fall Festival”  next week.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2163

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/355

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Taking full advantage of the opportunity for big points, Class A licensed Dustin Montgomery (Paintsville,KY) came up clutch among the best drivers iRacing.com has to offer, snagging the top split of the week and the 364 points to go with it. The great week was a huge boost for Montgomery as he currently sits outside the top twenty five in points, but with only four weeks counted he has a great shot and moving into the top ten with drop weeks, if he can continue the solid runs.

The NiCAS blew into Chicago for Week Seven of their twelve week season.

The top split of the week won by Montgomery was dominated by Kevin King who led 93 of the 110 laps, but faded to sixth in the closing laps. Defending NiSWC Champion, and current points leader Ray Alfalla brought it home third, with NiPS hopeful Joey Brown the next highest finishing Class A driver.

Participation was up as iRacing.com members took to the high speed mile and a half in great numbers. In total 412 drivers took on the challenges presented by Chicagoland Speedway, with some having a more enjoyable trip than others. Eight drivers started ten or more races on the week, with the overall leaders being James Robinson and Guy Vandiver with sixteen starts to their credit. Although neither driver was able to drive his Chevrolet Impala into victory lane, Robinson had the more successful week with six top fives. Surprising no one on the service, it was sim racing veteran and current NiSWC driver Kevin King bringing in the most hardware on the week, winning four of his six starts, and leading well over half of the laps he completed.

Matt Bussa is still riding high from his great week in Richmond, and currently holds the overall points lead for the NiCAS. A change near the top this week as former NiPS competitor Joey Brown slides into second ahead of Brandon Coppinger and Peter Bennett. Another driver hitting mid season form as of late is Landon Huffman as he now edges his way into the top five with only five weeks of racing remaining.

Following the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule as they continue their Chase for the Cup, the NiCAS haulers will head northeast for a trip to the always eventful New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The relatively flat NHMS is always a nightmare for setup gurus, as the seemingly endless corners make getting the Chevy Impala to turn in the center, without over rotating on the exit nearly impossible. This gives bubble drivers a fighting chance to make up points and front runners if they can get their cars handling to their liking. Be sure to check back at inRacingNews next week for a full recap of all the ups and downs at the always challenging New Hampshire Motor Speedway

After a thrilling opening race at Suzuka during week one, RSR drivers took a few days off and toured Japan as they prepared for the “Hadaka Matsuri 30 Okayama” at the Okayama full course in Mimasaka, Okayama.  Not content to take in the nighttime sights in the Shinjuku district or the famous shopping district in Ginza, several drivers visited the National Museum in Ueno, Tokyo before heading to Okayama to begin pre-race testing.  Unseasonably good weather allowed fans to enjoy the race weekend and gave drivers plenty of track time to learn the tricky 11 corner, 2.314 layout.

Brad Vincent dominated the Class A HPD qualifying session and won his second pole of the season with a lap time of 1:19.159.  Les Turner (2nd) was the only other driver to break the 1:20 barrier.  John Koscielniak (3rd), Terry Daul (4th), Andrew Feldman (5th), David Berry (6th), Kyle Young (7th), Ed Sutcliff (8th), David Weiss (9th), Divina Galica (10th), William Kabela (11th), Bill Pawluckie (12th), and Kevin Kyle (13th) completed the HPD starting grid.

Tommy Rhyne led the way in the Class B Corvette field after winning his first pole of the season with a lap time of 1:25.278.  Corey A. Wolf (2nd), Jeff Thomas (3rd), and Scott Husted (4th) gave Rhyne all he could handle as they laid down sub 1:26 laps.  Dean Moll (5th), Dennis Griffen (6th), Jeff Sharp (7th), Ricky Hardin (8th), and James Prostell Jr (9th) completed the grid.

Early lap mistakes by several drives gave leaders in both fields breathing room as the field was stretched out.  Young was the first to lose position when he went wide in turn two and spun into the outside wall.  His mistake was minor, but cost the new RSR member valuable track position as he was forced to let the field pass before rejoining the racing action.

Griffen was chasing Husted into turn four on lap two when he got into the rear of “The Racing Historian” Corvette and spun Husted as a gang of competitors bore down on his car.  Husted was damaged in the accident but was able to continue racing.

Galica, who missed the first race of the Season Three schedule to participate in the Mike Stott Enduro Race at Watkins Glen, was hoping her thrilling seat time in the 1985 Swift Sports 2000 had prepared her for the challenges in Okayama.  “I raced against the big engines (Corvettes, Porsches, Ford GTs) at Watkins Glen, but had a blast!”, said Galica before the race.  “Mike Taradash and I finished 3rd in our class and 15th overall out of 45 cars, so we were very pleased with our effort.”  Unfortunately, the extra aero in the HPD lulled Galica into a false sense of security and she eventually pushed the limits of her car too far.  The result was a lazy spin exiting turn seven on lap three which saw her car slam violently into the inside wall.  The resulting damage forced Galica to pit for repairs.

Similar mistakes by Thomas, Moll, Kyle, Weiss, and Feldman cost them track position to the lead pack.

Class A results

Vincent led all 21 laps on his way to his second victory of the young season.  Turner crossed the line in 2nd place, 29 seconds behind Vincent and 5 seconds ahead of Koscielniak.  Daul (4th) edged Feldman (5th) to the line after Feldman made a late race mistake which cost him 4th place on lap eighteen.  The top-5 positions mirrored the week one results, so the overall championship standings remained the same after week two.

Sutcliff (6th) and Berry (7th) completed the race on the lead lap, while Young (8th), Kabela (9th), Weiss (10th), Pawluckie (11th), and Kyle (12th) were scored one lap down.  Galica’s lengthy pit stop for repairs put her two laps down and in 13th place.  Vincent, Turner, Koscielniak, Dual, Sutcliff, and Kabela earned bonus points for completing the race without incident.

Class B results

Rhyne won his first race of the season despite strong challenges by Wolf, Hardin, and Moll.  Moll took advantage of the early incidents to get past Husted and Thomas, then gave up a position to Griffen when he went off track to avoid running into the back of Wolf in turn five on lap four.  Moll pitted ahead of the field to replace his tires, then slowly climbed his way back into contention.  He crossed the finish line in 2nd place.

Wolf earned 3rd place, while Griffen held on for 4th and Hardin finished in 5th.  Wolf was happy with his second consecutive podium finish.  “Wolfpack Racing had another good finish tonight despite a slow pit stop which allowed Dean to get past us.  We are looking forward to tackling Barber next week.”

Demonstrating the strength of the Corvette field, Thomas (6th), Prostell, Jr (7th), Sharp (8th), and Husted (9th) all finished on the same lap with Rhyne.  Rhyne and Sharp received bonus points for completing the race without incident.

Unlike the HPD field, week two shook up the standings in the Corvette.  Griffen leads the standings with a one point advantage over Wolf.  Rhyne, Hardin and Thomas round out the top five.

Next Race

RSR travel to Alabama next week for the “Tracksunlimited.net presents Barber Motorsport Park”.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2162

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/355

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Dusett (6) leading Duval (3) at Chicagoland Speedway.

Friday night’s broadcasted SoF race had a field of 26 drivers and had an SoF of 4836, which would pay 309 points to win. Dylan Landry (New England) started on the pole and lead the field to the green but would quickly lose the lead to Brandon Buie (Atlantic). Buie would lead the first seven laps before being overtaken by Richard Dusett (New England), who started fifth. Dusett would dominate the rest of the race, leading 82 of the 100 laps, in route to a 2 tenth of a second victory over Dylan Duval (Eastern Canada), who managed to lead 11 laps throughout the race. Dusett scored 309 points while Duval scored 296 points. Kevin Burris (Carolina) would finish third and receive 284 points while Alex Scribner (Texas) would finish fourth and score 271 points. Matthew Wright2 (New York) would round out the Top Five and received 259 points for his finish. The race had three lead changes among three leaders. Dusett led 82 laps while Duval led 11 and Buie led seven. The race had 7 cautions for 25 laps.

Click here to watch broadcast.

After his victory at Chicagoland, Dusett took over the top position in the season standings. Dusett has 1489 points with only six weeks counted. Seymour, who previously led the points, dropped to the second position after a less than stellar week. Seymour was only able to net 129 points which brought his total to 1458 points. Wright moved up to the third position this week, being seventh after Richmond. Wright brought his season total to 1404 points. Scribner moved up to the fourth position in the points after a good showing in the SoF race. Scribner added 271 points to his total, bringing his total to 1402 points. Aleksi Elomaa (Finland) dropped from fourth to fifth in the standings. Elomaa finished eighth in the SoF race and scored 185 points, which brought his total to 1372 points.

Landry turned the fastest qualifying lap of the week with a 30.600 second lap. Buie was close behind in second with a 30.613 while Seymour was third with a 30.632 second lap. Duval finished the week fourth in qualifying after turning a 30.636 second lap. Neal Dobson (Mid-South) rounded out the Top Five on the qualifying charts. Dobson turned a 30.641 second lap around the 1.5 mile oval.

Week Eight will see the NiCBS travel to another D shaped 1.5 mile track, Kentucky Speedway. Drivers will look to score as many points as possible under the lights at Kentucky. Dusett is now the point’s leader with only six weeks counted with every other driver in the Top Five having seven weeks counted. Will anyone be able to overcome the odds and knock Dusett of the top of the standings? Find out next week at InRacingNews!

Despite stellar weeks by a few Class A regulars, it was NiSWC driver Byron Daley who won his only start in the highest rated race of the week to snatch top honors with 337 points. Daley was able to capitalize on the misfortune of former NiPS winner Kenny Humpe, who dominated the race leading 115 of 130 laps. When the checkered flag flew it was Daley up front, with the surging Landon Huffman in second and Matt Bussa rounding out the top three. The next NiSWC regular was Michael J Johnson in forth, with former NiPS driver Joey Brown rounding out the top five in the 5282 SoF race.

The NASCAR iRacing.com Class A Series took to Richmond for Week Six

The solid run paid dividends for all the Class A licensed drivers in the top five. With his third place effort at Richmond, the 310 points propel Bussa to the overall lead in the points, while it moves Huffman into solid contention now sitting ninth overall. Brown also sits well inside the top ten which transfer to the NiPS next season, currently sitting fifth.

Thomas Osbon headed the seven drivers with ten or more starts on the week with fourteen. Despite starting plenty of races, success was hard to come by for many of this weeks leaders in starts. You have to go back to Scott Austin in fifth to find the only driver who made ten or more starts to find victory lane at the tricky short track. Keeping with the theme, Kyle Peddle (3 wins) and Thomas Lewandowski (2 wins) were the only two drivers to score multiple wins at Richmond.

Much like their physical world counter parts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, next week will be a huge change of pace for the NiCAS. The series will shift gears from one of the toughest short tracks on the circuit, to the mile and a half “cookie cutter” layout of Chicagoland Speedway for 110 laps of near 200mph racing action. Although the same basic shape as many other tracks on the circuit, Chicagoland offers unique challenges to both drivers and setup gurus. For starters, both ends are completely different in every way imaginable. With the wide, sweeping, smooth turns 1&2, to the tricky, bumpy, and choppy turns 3&4, this track with be sure to challenge even the top drivers on the tour.

Week six marked the halfway point for the Izod IndyCar oval series at the Texas Motor Speedway.

Monday night produced a full field of 26 strong divers.  Slowpoke Racing swept the first three rows and nearly one quarter of the starting grid for the evening.  Panther Online Racing’s Joe Branch repeated his Atlanta win in the same manner as he did earlier this season.

When asked after the race how confident he was going into the night Branch replied “I didn’t think I was going to win, but I thought if I stayed out of trouble and got a bit of luck, I could get a top five.”

Branch did have luck go his way as he ran out of fuel on the cool down lap as the race ended.  “I knew it was going to be close but I felt sure I could make it.  Even though I didn’t have the fastest car, I was sure of my abilities and in the feedback from my team regarding my fuel situation.”

Despite starting 18^th, Branch was still able to lead the most laps Monday night on his way to the win.

Top 10:

1) Joe Branch

2) Dave Judson

3) Eric Vanek

4) Rob Unglenieks

5) Jeff Yeager

6) Brandon Traino

7) Danno Brookins

8) Terry Matthiensen

9) Jon Porzuc

10) Brad Sanford

Lap Leaders: Branch (66) Traino (32) Jeremy Poole (22)

Lead Changes: 3

Cautions: 5

Notes: None of the top five started in the top ten.  Branch started 18^th, Judson started 16^th, Vanek started 12^th, Unglenieks started 24^th (and was the biggest mover), and Yeager started 23^rd.

Wednesday night, the field was whittled down from Monday.  After the split only 15 sim-racers took the green flag, perhaps due to not only the race splitting, but also it coincided with the beginning of the N.F.L season on television.  I guess too many drivers also play Fantasy Football.

While the Monday night affair was won with track position and fuel strategy, this race had no yellows.  Having good pit stops were paramount in finishing up front.

After the opening laps, packs of three to four cars scattered the track.  The lead pack had four cars and pulled away from the rest of the field.  Matthew Lambertson was part of the four car train until lap 37. He drifted up in turn two and consequently was forced to pit. He dropped out a few laps later.

After that it was a battle between Cary Bettenhausen, Randy Freeman, and Doyle Johnson.  The race was decided on the final pit stop.  Bettenhausen nailed his pit stops while Freeman and Johnson both made costly errors on theirs.

Even though the field wasn’t as strong as Monday’s, this didn’t diminish Bettenhausen’s joy for the win.

“I’ve lost far more races on pit lane than I’ve won.  A win is a win in my book and I don’t feel any less sense of satisfaction for this one.  Other races may be more memorable, but when it comes to wins there’s only good and better.  When Matt dropped out about 40 laps in this didn’t really alter my strategy.  I was content to stay in the lead draft, save fuel, hope the race stayed caution-free, and do my best to win on pit road and that’s how things worked out this time.  The lead pack drivers were being respectful of one another, and I wasn’t going to stick my nose under Randy (Freeman) unless I could make a clean pass, which I couldn’t on-track”.

Top 10:

1) Chuck Bettenhausen

2) Andrew Mitchell

3) Doyle Johnson

4) Warren Rodgers

5) Randy Freeman

6) Ron Borden Jr

7) Chuck Eisenbarth

8) Jon Grogan

9) Andrew King

10) Robert Blouin

Lap Leaders: Bettenhausen (63) Johnson (55) Eisenbarth & Freeman (1)

Lead Changes: 4

Cautions: 0

Notes: Andrew Mitchell started 12^th and finished 2nd.

To begin the 2^nd half, the shortest track on the schedule at the Richmond International Speedway will bring out the best (and worst) in the drivers.  We’ll see you next week here at inRacingnews.com.

Season Three of the Red Sox Racing League’s 2012 multi-class racing schedule kicked off this week as twenty drivers traveled to Japan to test their skills on the Grand Prix layout at Suzuka Circuit.  This season marks the last season under the current format of multi-class racing for RSR.  As league veterans looked to renew old rivalries, newcomers Kyle Young, Paul Hesla, Ricky Hardin, Larry Hale, and Dennis Griffen hoped to join the list of talented drivers who have won a RSR event.  The “Honda/Hugenholtz 24 Laps of Suzuka GP” promised to be an exciting event for league veterans and newcomers alike.

Brad Vincent returned to the track as the reigning points champion in the Class A HPD field.  Fresh from a five week break, Vincent looked to be in top form as he secured the pole with a blistering lap time of 1:47.150.  Les Turner secured the outside position of row one with a lap time of 1:47.625.  John Koscielniak (3rd) and Terry Daul (4th) were the only other drivers to post sub 1:50 laps.  Andrew Feldman (5th), David Weiss (6th), Ed Sutcliff (7th), William Kabela (8th), Kyle Young (9th), and Bill Pawluckie (10th) completed the HPD starting grid.

The Class B Corvette field was also led by a returning champion as Corey Hastings earned the pole with a lap time of 1:56.053.  Newcomer Paul Hesla’s lap time of 1:56.226 just edged out Tommy Rhyne’s effort of 1:56.272.  Unfortunately Rhyne’s crew discovered electrical problems shortly after he earned his qualifying spot and Rhyne was forced to start the race from pit road.  Corey A. Wolf (4th), Dennis Griffen (5th), Ricky Hardin (6th), Jeff Thomas (7th), Scott Husted (8th), and Larry Hale (9th) rounded out the Class B grid.

While Vincent easily maintained his lead over the HPD field in the opening laps, Hastings had his hands full in the Corvette lead from the outset.  Turns eleven and thirteen proved to be problem corners for many drivers who suffered  mishaps at those locations.  Newcomer Hale was involved in several incidents,  as was RSR veteran Pawluckie.  But the most costly incident saw the top two cars in the Corvette field drop all the way to the rear of the field on lap three.  Hastings set the fastest lap in a Corvette on the opening lap matching his qualifying time of 1:56.053.  His second lap was only slightly slower, but on lap 3 he ran wide exiting turn 9 and didn’t setup the line for turn 11 properly.  He hugged the inside of the hairpin and his car over-rotated as it exited the corner.  Hesla, with no place to go was unable to avoid Hastings’ stopped car.  Showing great poise, the pair pulled into the grass and allowed their fellow competitors to pass safely before attempting to rejoin the race.

Class A results

Vincent began Season Three the way he ended Season Two; with a dominating victory.  He was never challenged in the race and cruised to a 45 second margin of victory.  Turner finished in second place.  He  slowed down on his last lap to allow a close battle between the second and third place Corvette drivers to play out.  “This was a good start for the TeamDraft Batmobile”, said Turner after the race.  “We didn’t have anything for Brad, so I just settled into a rhythm and tried hard to keep John off my rear bumper.  A great pit stop wrapped up 2nd place, so we’ll take it and start concentrating on Okayama.” 

Koscielniak spent most of the race in 3rd place and led a lap when the leaders pitted.  A slow pit stop and a speeding penalty dropped him into 4th place with five laps to go, but Koscielniak climbed back into 3rd place with a daring pass of Terry Daul in turn fifteen with two laps to go.  Daul’s car spun off track after the cars touched lightly in the middle of the slow-speed corner, but both drivers were able to continue racing.

Daul finished the race in 4th place.  Feldman earned 5th place on the back of a clean race which saw him outpacing Sutcliff (6th) and Weiss (7th) throughout the event.  Young (8th) showed flashes of speed in the early going, but 10 incidents kept him from gaining ground on the cars in front of him.

Kabela (9th) finished one lap down.  Pawluckie (10th) was scored seven laps down.  Feldman and Kabela earned bonus points for completing the race without collecting an incident.

Vincent, Turner, Feldman, Koscielniak, and Daul lead the championship points battle after week one.

Class B results

Hastings led the early going but his uncharacteristic mistake on lap three and the resulting damage was so upsetting that he retired from the event.  Hesla continued racing and eventually worked his way back into contention for a podium finish.  The effort paid off when he crossed the line for a win in his first ever RSR event.

“I knew I had to stay close to the leader to have a chance tonight”, said Hesla.  “The incident on lap three put us at the back of the pack, but the other drivers gave me plenty of room as I began making my way through the field.  Nobody blocked, so I was able to make up some time before the pit cycle.  I gambled by not taking tires and almost lived to regret it as the car was a handful by the end of the race.  I spun the car letting a HPD past, but only lost one position.  I was in 2nd place with 5 laps to go.  Dennis raced me clean and gave me a lane to make the pass with three to go, so I just concentrated on running clean laps until we took the checkered flag.”

Like Hesla, Griffen began his RSR career with a fantastic finish when he held off Wolf to secure a 2nd place finish.  “I got an early gift when Rhyne had electrical problems and missed the start.  The empty spot on the grid allowed me to move into row two for the green flag.  I got a great jump on Wolf and was up to third place by turn one.  I was in the right place at the right time when the leaders went off course on lap three.  Their misfortune gave me the lead and allowed me to put some distance on Wolf.  He maintained pace with me so I focused on trying to hit my marks.  I came out of the pits in 2nd place, but regained the lead when Paul bobbled at Spoon.  The top three Corvettes were only separated by about 2 seconds for the last several laps, but I lost the lead by going into the hairpin too wide and allowing Paul to get by.  I barely held off Corey on the last lap and am very pleased to have earned a podium finish in my first RSR race.”   

Wolf was happy with his third place finish.  “Great racing by everyone tonight, can’t wait for next week.”

Ricky Hardin had a successful first race with RSR (4th), Husted (5th), and Thomas (6th) all finished on the same lap as the leaders.  Rhyne (7th) was scored two laps down.  Hale finished fifteen laps down and in 8th place, while Hastings (9th) was the last place finisher due to his early exit from the race.  Griffen was the only Corvette driver to complete the event without collecting an incident.

Griffen, Wolf, Hesla, Hardin, and Husted lead the championship points battle after week one.

Next Race

RSR remain in Japan for next week’s event, the “Hadaka Matsuri 30 Okayama” at Okayama.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2161

League Standings:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/355

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

]]> http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/iracing/rsr-returns-to-suzuka/feed 0 http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/all-news/chad-j-laughton-wins-big-in-atlanta http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/all-news/chad-j-laughton-wins-big-in-atlanta#comments Fri, 07 Sep 2012 03:36:19 +0000 JSpies20 http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/?p=122006 It is always exciting when the NASCAR iRacing.com Class A Series (NiCAS) schedule aligns with the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) schedule, and last week in Atlanta provided a season’s worth of excitement jam packed into one week of racing. With the current iRacing.com build, the speeds are blistering fast around Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the level of grip is unworldly. That combined with top notch drivers driving top notch setups gave everyone a week to remember.

Keeping with the theme of this third and final season for Class A licensed drivers to race their way into the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS), the week was dominated by Pro/NiSWC drivers. In fact, top rated drivers took every position in the top five of the weekly standings. Chad J Laughton went one for one on the week, overcoming a fourteenth place starting position to claim the 5669 SoF and the 361 points that came with it. Much like many other races on the week, this race had Pro/NiSWC drivers making out the entire top five.

Pro/NiSWC drivers shined in Atlanta

Defending NiSWC champion and current points leader Ray Alfalla also strung together a solid week, racing four times and earning three wins that averaged out to 351 points and second overall. Much like in the oval NiSWC championship battle, Michael Conti was nipping at Alfalla’s heels with 345 points, while Tyler D Hudson and Dylan Duval rounded out the top five.

The top finishing Class A licensed driver on the week was Brodie Kostecki of Perth, Western Australia. Kostecki led forty laps and came home third in a race won by Alfalla, earning Kostecki 317 points towards his battle to race into the NiPS. Other top Class A performers include Bob Bryant, Dustin Montgomery, and the former NiSWC tandem of Steven Gilbert and Jason Burstein.

James Robinson was by far the most active driver on the week, banking ten top fives and three wins in his overall leading seventeen starts. Almost as impressive as his top five percentage on the week, it goes worth saying that Robinson only compiled eight incidents in seventeen races. Jason Naves came in three starts behind Robinson, while Howard Bell and Doug Kaster each started thirteen races on the week.

Just as the NiCAS drivers were getting familiar with the high speeds and high grip of Atlanta Motor Speedway, it is time to follow the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule and head to Richmond for 130 laps under the lights. Tire preservation is key at Richmond, and becomes even more vital if the setup is not exactly where it needs to be. Richmond has always been a fine line between finesse driving, and brute force, so buckle up tight as the NiCAS takes on the uncertainty of Richmond International Raceway next week.

A bit of a shake up this week, with the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) headed to Atlanta, many top drivers decided to sit out the trip to Bristol. This provided a huge opportunity for a Class A licensed driver to step up and steal the spotlight in a season dominated by Pro/NiSWC to this point.

Bristol is notorious for close racing and hot tempers

Landon Huffman of Claremont, North Carolina made a huge statement at Bristol winning both races he started and locking up 326 huge points to propel himself into NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) contention. Huffman won two races against very strong competition, the drop points for Huffman on the week were an impressive 324 points. Peter Bennett was in the talk for the NiPS last season, and he is in the thick of it again with a 314 point effort week four at Bristol, with Jarl Teien rounding out the top three. Malik Ray was fourth with a still impressive 302 points while former NiSWC driver Jason Burstein rounded out the top five

Scott Austin of Michigan was one driver that took a liking to the competitive nature of Bristol, competing in seventeen races. Austin Compiled three wins and six top fives in his seventeen starts. The most wins on the week goes to Shane Walters who won half of his ten races, leading a total of 536 laps in the process. A total of 408 drivers tried to take advantage of a week where many NiSWC drivers sat out, allowing many new faces to get the spotlight.

Next week for the NiCAS it is on to Atlanta Motor Speedway where the pavement is aging under the hot Georgia sun. AMS is notorious for very loose racecars, making it a nightmare for drivers who need a snug feel from their chassis. Grip is hard to come by, no matter what racing groove you choose, but that is what makes AMS a favorite among many drivers on the circuit. Be sure to check back at inRacingnews next week for a full recap on the high speed action of Atlanta Motor Speedway.

High speed and close racing is always the norm at MIS

As mentioned last week, this is the third and final season for drivers to race their way into the 2012 NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS). Until this point, it has been current NiPS and NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) drivers leading the way, without much of a fight from NiPS hopefuls. While every one is eagerly waiting to see which of the Pro hopefuls will step up and take charge of this fight, the top level drivers continue waxing the floor with their competition.

Perhaps foreshadowing his win in Tuesday night’s NiSWC race at Michigan International Speedway, former NiCAS Champion Jason Karlavige took top honors of the week with 352 points and, perhaps more important, the valuable knowledge that could have helped in Tuesday night’s big win. Although Karlavige was on top for the week, he actually finished second to Kevin King in the highest rated race of the week, however King raced five times, hurting his overall point average. Continuing the domination, NiPS and NiSWC license holders took the top six spots in the race, with the first Class A licensed driver being Peter Bennett in seventh.

The hgih speeds of MIS always draw a crowd, and this week was no different as 594 drivers took part in races around the fast superspeedway. James Robinson and John Clayman headed a group of ten drivers that took part in ten or more races on the week. Robinson and Clayman both started fifteen races, with the edge of average finish going to Clayman who averaged a tenth place finish. A week worth a mention is NiSWC driver Thomas Lewandowski who started six races, earning six top fives, and five wins.

Now three weeks into the season it is Matt Bussa who finds himself leading the points over Ashley Miller and Jorn Jens. However the only driver in the top ten with a win thusfar is Danny Hansen who sits seventh. Going into week four, it will be another week of seeing if a Class A driver will reach out and take this championship, or if it will be another week of drivers waiting for it to fall into their lap. Any driver in the top fifteen is capable of going on a hot streak, and now is a good time to get the ball rolling in hopes of a NiPS birth.

Next week for the NiCAS it is onto one of the most challenging tracks on the circuit. Bristol Motor Speedway has the unique way of challenging drivers not only with setup, but with race craft as well. It takes more than a solid setup to win at Bristol, it takes a determined driver who is smart and careful with every turn of the wheel. Be sure to check back for a highlight of all the racing action, next week from “Thunder Valley”.

This week saw the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship hit the two-mile Michigan International Speedway, while the iRacing.com World Championship Grand Prix Series was once again in the United States at the Road Atlanta race course. This was one of the craziest weeks of the season for both series, and it is shown in the rankings with Pro Series drivers making the rankings for the first time!

I hope you all enjoy this latest edition of the rankings and see you next time for Atlanta and Spa, two of my favorite tracks!

NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship
Power Rankings- Michigan

Rank  Prev. Rank  Driver  Summary

1 1 Ray Alfalla- It seems as though the only way the field was able to close the gap on Alf was to have him diconnect before the race even started.

2 2 Michael Conti- A seventh place from Conti helped him captialize on the unfortunate disconnect of Alfalla. The Kid still has some work left, though.

3 3 Kevin King- K2 finished position 2 at Michigan, and is now only 13 points behind Conti for second in the points standings.

4 4 Brian Schoenberg- Two top 5 finishes in a row for The Show, which happen to be his only two of the season. Double 5s for driver 55.

5 10 Patrick Baldwin- Baldwin rebounded in a big way at Michigan, finishing third and solidifying his top 5 position in the points standings.

6 7 Jon Adams- The Camoflauge Wheelman is now so close to the top 10 in points, he can smell it. What a turn around after a slow start.

7 5 Nick Ottinger- It wasn’t a bad day for Ottinger, he had a decent 14th place finish. He just didn’t finish ahead of everyone he needed to.

8 6 Tyler D Hudson- Similar to Ottinger, TDH had an ok day at Michigan, finishing 16th. The DWC vet currently sits 9th in points.

9 NR Robert Hall- Hall, along with Byron Daley, have been up and down in the rankings the past several weeks. This was an up week for Hall.

10 NR Jason Karlavige- The first Pro Series driver to make the rankings, Karlavige took the checkered flag in Michigan. Let me tell you, he is the real deal, folks.

Also considered: Carson McClelland, Byron Daley, Steve Sheehan, Brad Davies, Chad J Laughton

Dropped out: Brad Davies, Byron Daley

New this week: Robert Hall, Jason Karlavige

iRacing.com World Championship Grand Prix Series
Power Rankings- Road Atlanta

1 1 Greger Huttu- Might as well ring the bell, because unless Huttu falls of the face of the Earth, he will win his second DWC title.

2 2 Hugo Luis- I considered moving Luis down to third, but he still does have a sizeable hold on second in the points.

3 3 Jake Stergios- More consistancy was shown by Stergios on his home soil, coming home with yet another podium finish.

4 NR Roland Ehnström- The Scandanavian makes a return to the rankings. Ehnström finished 6th at Road Atlanta and keeps a hold on 4th in points.

5 NR Matthias Egger- The DWC’s top Italian also makes his return to the rankings, finishing 7th in Atlanta and currently sitting 6th in the points.

6 10 Pablo López- An up day for the Radicals driver, as GoPro brought his car to a solid 9th place finish. He also remains in the top 10 in points.

7 5 Jeremy Bouteloup- The Frenchman finished 13th at Road Atlanta. One of the surprises of this season, Bouteloup remains a threat each week.

8 4 Martin Krönke- A disappointing 20th place finish for Krönke, who is currently 9th in points. He looks to rebound at Spa.

9 NR Riku Alatalo- Career defining day for the Pro Series driver. A pole position and a second place finish put Alatalo in the rankings.

10 NR Stephen Michaels- Another Pro driver who has had an outstanding couple of weeks, the American also makes his first appearance in the power rankings.

Also considered: Andre Boettcher, Ilkka Haapala, Atze Kerkhof, Fulvio Barozzini, Petteri Kotovaara

Dropped out: Ilkka Haapala, Atze Kerkhof, Andre Boettcher, Martti Pietilä

New this week: Roland Ehnström, Matthias Egger, Riku Alatalo, Stephen Michaels

Drivers making a green flag pit stop.

“That was a fun way to finish my final race for the Friday Night Showdown series!” – Jon Adams

Friday night’s SoF was a good one. The SoF for the race was 5421, which broke the record for highest SoF. The race saw a full field of 30 drivers and paid 348 points to win. The race had 34 lead changes among 15 different drivers with no driver leading more than nine laps. When it was all said and done, Jeremy Thornton came out on top with help from David Cater (Carolina), who finished second.  Cater received 336 points for his second place finish. Point’s leader Adams finished in the third position, after starting 15^th, and received 324 points. Crawford and teammate Richard Dusett (New England) rounded out the Top Five. Crawford received 312 points while Dusett received 300 points. The race was slowed one time for four laps. Jason Karlavige (Pennsylvania) and Joey Schmidt (Benelux) tied for most laps lead with 9 each.

“That was a fun way to finish my final race for the Friday Night Showdown series!” Adams said after the race. “The team worked perfect lastnight out front! It’s just too bad I got a huge lead over second in points and I won’t be able to finish the season out”

Thornton (14) getting the victory.

After receiving 324 points on Friday night, Adams extended his points lead to 182 points over Dusett. Dusett sits in second with 769 points. Brandon Buie (Atlantic) dropped down to the third position in the points after only netting 120 points at Talladega. Chad Laughton (Carolina) moved up into the fourth position in the points. Laughton scored 288 points during Week Three and brought his season total to 662 points. Chris Seymour (Western Canada) rounds out the Top Five in points. Seymour finished 11^th in the SoF race and scored 228 points, bringing his total to 629 points.

Jeffrey Sykes (Mid-South) turned the fastest qualifying lap of the week around the 2.66 mile track. Sykes turned a 52.185 second lap. Arthur Lucas (Virginias) was second on the speed charts after turning a 52.209. Ondrej Kover (Central-Eastern Europe) was third on the charts with a 52.210 while James Howard (Mid-South) was fourth with a 52.211. Logan Sheets (Northwest) rounded out the Top Five in qualifying. Sheets fastest lap of the week was 52.216.

Week Four will see the NiCBS travel to the world’s fastest half mile, Bristol Motor Speedway. Bristol is known for rubbin’ and trading paint and is sure to be exciting. Who will come out on top at Bristol? Who will be the favorite for the championship in Jon Adams’ absence? Find out next week at InRacingNews!

Chad Coleman earned top honors at Daytona

No surprises at the top this week as NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) driver Chad Coleman put his stamp on the week, collecting 354 points. Coleman is always a favorite at resticter plate tracks, and he once again proved he can get it done at the home of stock car racing. Kenneth O’Keefe put in a solid week as the former NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) driver could be gearing up to make a charge once again. Rounding out the top three on the week was Tyler Hudson, with another solid 341 point effort.

As always at Daytona, the turnouts were unbelievable as 1089 drivers took to the high banks in hopes of claiming a win at the historic stopping grounds. Two drivers tied for the most trips to victory lane with seven, both Fabian de Jong and Joey Schmidt of Benelux proved they knew how to get it done while Mike R Johnson was the first American on the board with five wins. John Sanna, Schmidt, and Johnson were the only three drivers to start more than thirty races, with the most going to Sanna who had a disappointing zero wins in his thirty three starts.

The smooth repave provides thrilling racing

Now two weeks into the season, the theme has been NiPS and NiSWC drivers having their way with NiPS hopefuls. As in the last two NiCAS seasons, the top ten Class A licensed drivers will be promoted to the NiPS at season’s end, but thus far into the season no one has stepped up and made a statement much like Cody byus and Joshua B Gerrald made last season. In week three we will look to see if the top rated drivers continue their tear, or if a Class A license holder can step up and take command of this points battle.

From one favorite amongst the drivers to another, as the haulers head northwest as the series shifts to Michigan International Speedway. MIS races extremely well in the iRacing.com simulations, allowing drivers to be aggressive with three, and sometimes four, wide passes all the while nearing 210mph into turn one. As always be sure to check back at inRacingNews for a full week recap including the big winners, and most active competitors.

Field pacing before the race.

“I had an awesome feel for the car and track this week” – Jon Adams

The weekly SoF race took place Friday at 8:30pm EST, which has become the norm for this seies. 25 drivers took to the track for the race, which had an SoF of 5282. Jon Adams (Georgia) started from the pole and dominated the race from start to end, leading 46 of the 60 laps and finishing over two seconds ahead of second. For his victory, Adams received 337 points.

“I had an awesome feel for the car and track this week, I have always loved Indy as it is similar to Pocono in some ways and I am usually pretty good at big flat tracks” said Adams after the race. “The guys back at Wheelmen Inc made one hell of a setup this week, so thanks to all of them.”

Jason Karlavige (Pennsylvania), who started 14th, finished in the second position after leading nine laps during the race. Karlavige received 322 points for his finish. Brandon Buie (Atlantic) finished the race in the third position while Alex Warren (Illinois) finished in the fourth position. Buie and Warren received 308 and 294 points respectively. Richard Dusett (New England) rounded out the Top Five after starting fourth. Dusett received 280 for his fifth place finish. The 60 lap race had four leaders, six lead changes and 4 cautions for 15 laps.

Winner Jon Adams sporting the ETV colors.

After the second week of the season, Adams still maintains the top spot. Adams added over 300 points during Week Two and brought his point total to 627 points. Buie sits in the second position with 564 points, 63 points out of the lead. Aleksi Elomaa (Finland) sits in the third position in the season standings with 494 points. Dusett is fourth in the standings while Chris Seymour (Western Canada) rounds out the Top Five. Dusett has 469 points after two weeks while Seymour has 401 points.

The fastest qualifying lap of the week belongs to Adams after he turned a 50.754 second lap around the 2.5 mile oval. Jarl Teien (Scandinavia) finished the week with the second fastest time, a 50.804 second lap. Jared Crawford (Michigan), who won the championship last season, turned the third fastest time of the week with a 50.819. Cody Byus (Pennsylvannia) was fourth with a 50.889 while Warren rounded out the Top Five with a 50.890 second lap.

After two weeks of the season, Jon Adams has proved that he is a contended for the championship this season. Week Three will see the NiCBS travel to Talladega Super Speedway, a track known for big points and big wrecks. Will Adams be able to leave Alabama with the points lead? Find out next week at InRacingNews!

Jeremy Allen came out on top after Week One

Lots of big names near the top of the board, but none bigger than former NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) driver Jeremy R Allen taking charge of the points early. Allen led 36 of the 70 laps around the “Tricky Triangle” to claim top honors of the week with 335 championship points. Current NiSWC license holder Tyler Hudson fell just one point behind Allen with 334, and for NiSWC driver Paul Kusheba rounded out the top three for Week One.

Benjamin Burmeister was the odd man out last season in the race to make the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS), but he proved he will be tough to beat this season with 310 points to jump starts his NiPS hopes. Jordan Hightower, Justin Trombley, Joey Brown, and Greg Spears are all former top level drivers who could quite possibly be gearing up to make a charge in Season Three.

NiSWC competitor Tyler Hudson put together a strong week

While some drivers shy away from the challenges Pocono Raceway presents, others are drawn in. Nearly 500 iRacing.com members took to the unique track, embracing the three vastly different corners. Of the nearly 500 competitors, only four (Scott Austin, James Robinson, Doug Kaster and Gabriel Solis) made over ten starts, with the most going to Austin and Robinson each with sixteen starts on the week.

By far the biggest week for NiCAS competition, next week the haulers pack up and head south for the famed Daytona International Speedway. The freshly repaved tracked has been laser scanned by iRacing.com and is ready to host draft packs of 30+ cars at well over 200mph. Racing at DIS always provides wild racing, wild crashes, and unpredictable winners. It is sure to give the points standings a shuffle, and put new names into the NiPS hunt. Check back on inRacingNews next week for a full recap of all the weeks big winners, and big losers.

Crawford leading the field to green.

The weekly Strength of Field (SoF) race took place at the usual time, Friday night at 8:30pm EST, and was broadcasted by ETV. 27 drivers ran the 120 lap race that had an SoF of 4928. Crawford started on the poll and led all 120 laps of the race while also turning the fastest lap of the race. For his victory, Crawford received 315 points. Brandon Buie (Atlantic) finished the race in the second position, seven tenths behind Crawford, after starting the race in ninth. Buie received 302 points for second. NiSWC driver Jon Adams (Georgia) finished in the third position while Richard Dusett (New England) finished in the fourth position. Adams received 290 points while Dusett received 278 points. NiSWC driver Andrew Fayash III rounded out the Top Five, after starting 20^th. For his efforts, Fayash received 266 points.

Crawford (1) leading under caution.

Crawford finished the week at the top of the point’s standings. Crawford ran two races, winning both, and finished the week with 215 points. Adams finished the week in the second position after finishing third in the SoF race on Friday. Fayash finished the week in the third position after his fifth place finish on Firday while Buie finished the week in fourth. Buie ran four races during the week, winning 3, and finished with 256 points. Chad Laughton (Carolina) finished the week fifth in the standings. Laughton ran two races, winning one, and finished the week with 254 points.

Crawford turned the fastest qualifying lap of the week after turning a 21.956 second lap around the Iowa Speedway. Joshua B Gerrald (Texas) turned the second fastest lap of the week with a 21.994. Dusett was third on the charts with a 22.023 while Adams was fourth with a 22.034. Joe Holt (Mid-South) rounded out the Top Five in qualifying. Holt was able to turn a 22.062 second lap.

After the first week of the season, it is clear that the front runners for last season’s championship will be the favorites for this season.  Crawford continued his domination of the series and showed that he is the favorite again this season. Will anyone be able to stop Crawford? Find out next week at inRacingNews!

Fourteen members of the Red Sox Racing League traveled to Elkhart, Wisconsin for the “It’s Cool to be Cheesy” 30 minute timed race at Road America.  The scenic track is considered by many to be the best test of road racing in North America and is a favorite of many drivers.  Road America’s 4 mile, fourteen corner layout includes many elevation changes which provide for some of the most exciting passing opportunities of the season as well as a long front stretch where speeds can reach 200 mph.  Hosting as many as 400 events a year, the track offers open seating which allows spectators to move throughout the grounds.  Experienced fans migrate to the bottom of turn five to see their favorite drivers coming down Moraine Sweep and into the sharp left-hand corner leading to the short uphill into turn six.

Brad Vincent arrived in Wisconsin as the odds on favorite to secure the championship in the Class A HPD field.  Earning the pole with a lap time of 1:52.701, Vincent served notice on the rest of the field they would have to pass him on the track if they hoped to prevent his coronation as the season champion.

Impressive qualifying laps by Les Turner (1:53.135), John Koscielniak (1:53. 401) and Terry Daul (1:53.512), demonstrated they had the speed to keep Vincent in sight, but everyone knew luck would have to enter the picture if they hoped to prevent him from winning his tenth race of the season.  Andy Feldman (1:54.353), William Kabela (1:55.252), Divina Galica (1:55.416), and Ed Sutcliff (1:55:884) completed the HPD starting grid.

Corey Hastings held a slim lead in the Class B Corvette standings after last week.  Like Vincent, he outpaced his competition in qualifying to win the pole at Road America.  Hastings’ qualifying lap time of 2:00.786 was the only sub-2:01 lap posted by a Corvette driver.  Patrick Guerin (2:01.088), Scott Husted (2:02.839), Jeff Thomas (2:03.375), Tommy Rhyne (2:04.262), and Dean Moll (No time), completed the Corvette grid.

The race began without incident as everyone gave room in turn one and allowed their tires to warm up before they started challenging for position.  Racking up only 29 incidents in 218 laps of racing, league members posted the cleanest race of the season as they once again demonstrated why the RSR league is known as a great place to race.

Thomas was the first driver to swap positions when he waved Rhyne and Moll through along Moraine Sweep on the approach to turn five.  The pair of Corvettes then set off after Husted in third place who was just ahead of them on the climb towards turn six.  But their gain was short lived as Moll misjudged Rhyne’s pace through turn 6 and made impact with his rear bumper sending both cars off track.  An amazed Thomas continued past the pair having first lost then regained 2 positions in a matter of seconds.  Such is the excitement of Road America.

But despite his careful race, Thomas’ night was not to be.   At two third’s distance having worked his way up to the class B lead when Hastings pitted on lap 9, he spun out in turn fourteen as he prepared to enter the pits for a splash of fuel to finish the race.  Thomas lost positions to Rhyne, Hastings, and Guerin while he waited in the grass for a safe opening to rejoin the field.  He pitted after the incident and was not a factor in the closing laps.

Moll was in third position with 4 laps left, when Terry Daul’s HPD caught him at turn 3.  Moll stayed wide, but Daul cautiously backed off allowing Feldman to close in on the pair.  As the three cars raced down Moraine Sweep, Dean weighed his options and decided to run off line at turn 5 to allow the quicker HPD’s through.  He accomplished his goal, but then cut turn 6 a little tight and lost time to a fast charging Tommy Rhyne in the Northern Tools Corvette.  With Rhyne filling up his mirrors, Moll went wide at the exit of turn fourteen and Rhyne drafted past him on the front stretch to move into 3rd place.  Rhyne made the most of the opportunity and held on to earn his third podium finish in as many starts.

Patrick Guerin, trailing Hastings by 2 seconds, tried the undercut by pitting early on lap 7, but after Corey’s pit stop on lap 9, Hastings was 3.5 seconds clear of Guerin.  Guerin’s early pit stop left Husted running in 2nd position behind Hastings.  Scott followed Hastings into the pits on lap 9, but his pit limiter malfunctioned and he was penalized for a pit lane speed infraction and he dropped back to 5th place in class.

Passing opportunities were rare in the HPD race as Vincent and the rest of the HPD field did a good job of keeping their cars on track throughout the race.  Of the first 5 starters only 3rd place starter Koscielniak and 2nd place starter Turner exchanged positions.  However, Koscielniak failed to earn the bonus point for an incident free race due to his 3 off track incidents, the result of his aggressive use of the curbing throughout the event.

The fiercest battles for position involved Kabela, Galica, and Sutcliff.  Sutcliff got past Galica when she lost focus and went wide exiting turn six on lap seven, but gave the position back when he pitted with Kabela on lap nine.  Sutcliff managed to pass Kabela as they exited pit road, but a fuel-only pit stop by Galica on lap ten placed her back in front of the pair of HPDs with six laps remaining in the event.  It took a daring move to the inside on the steep uphill leading to turn six in order for Sutcliff to get past Galica on lap ten.  Galica conceded the position, but she hounded Sutcliff for the remainder of the race as she outpaced Kabela to the finish line.

With under half a lap remaining, the fourth place HPD of Terry Daul caught up to Patrick Guerin who trailed Corey Hastings for the lead of the Corvette race by 2 seconds.  Comfortable in his 3 second lead over the fifth place HPD, Daul backed off so as not to interfere with the Corvettes battle which allowed Feldman to catch him at turn 14 on the way to the checkered flag.  Daul manage to carry just enough speed through the corner to beat Feldman to the finish line for fourth place in Class A.

Class A results

Vincent coasted to his tenth victory in as many starts by leading every lap at Road America.  He was never seriously challenged and crossed the finish line with a seven second margin of victory over Koscielniak.  Turner crossed the line in third place.  Daul (4th) held off a hard charge by Feldman (5th) as they both crossed the 28 seconds behind the leader.  Sutcliff (6th), Galica (7th) and Kabela (8th) battled each other throughout the event and provided some of the most exciting racing action of the evening.

All of the HPD drivers finished on the lead lap, with Vincent, Turner, Daul, Feldman, Sutcliff, and Kabela completing the event without incident.

Vincent locked up the championship with his league leading tenth win of the season.  Koscielniak and Turner are seventeen points back and tied for 2nd place in the overall standings, while Daul and Sutcliff round out the top five positions.  Feldman is only two points out of the top-5 and could knock Sutcliff out of fifth with a good showing in Japan.

Class B results

Hastings led every lap but one on his way to his third race in the past five events.  Guerin (2nd) and Rhyne (3rd) both took advantage of minor mistakes by Moll, Husted, and Thomas to earn podium finishes.  Their good fortune allowed them to stay within striking distance of Hastings in the championship battle.  Moll (4th), Husted (5th), and Thomas (6th) completed the Corvette scoring.

With one race remaining in season two, the championship race is too close to call.  Hastings with 3 wins in eleven starts, has a slim two point lead over Rhyne (3 wins in nine starts), and a seven point lead over Guerin (4 wins in nine starts).  All three have finished in the top-5 of every race they’ve entered this season.  Husted, and Moll round out the top five positions, but a good finish by Carpentiere at Suzuka could move him into the top-5.

Next Race

RSR drivers travel to Japan next week for the final event of the season, the “SEASON 2 CHAMPIONSHIP FINALE 24 LAPS OF SUZUKA”.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/1555

League Standings (2012 – Season One):  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/285

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

“My teammates and I worked on the setup for literally 8 hours” – Jon Adams

The last Strength of Field race of the season took place two hours later than normal on Friday night race due to an iRacing service failure. Despite the setback, the race featured a full field of 30 drivers and had an SoF of 4959. Jason Karlavige (Pennsylvania) and Andrew Shirley (Mid-South) dominated most of the race as they lead a combined 79 of the 100 laps in the race. Neither would finish it out as both Shirley and Karlavige would run into trouble in the final two laps of the race. Shirley was leading the race with two laps to go before hitting the wall off of turn four and giving up the lead to Jon Adams (Georgia). Adams wild win the race as Crawford would run into trouble on the last lap. Adams received 318 points.

“My teammates and I worked on the setup for literally 8 hours and we were a tenth faster than anyone else” Adams said after the race. “So we went out there to win and one of us did.”

Adams (4) chasing Shirley (21)

Justin Thompson (Georgia) would finish the race in the second position after starting 28^th and leading one lap during the race. Thompson received 307 points for second. Karlavige led 35 laps during the race but finished third, netting 296 points.  Dustin Montgomery (Mid-South) finished in the fourth position while Shirley, who led the most laps with 44, finished fifth after giving up the lead coming to the white. Montgomery and Shirley received 285 and 274 points respectively. Point’s leader Crawford finished 17^th while Laughton, second in points, finished sixth. The race had eight cautions for 30 laps and 11 lead changes.

Click here to watch broadcast.

At the end of the week, Adams was on top of the weekly points after his SoF win.  Adams finished the week with 318 points.  Karlavige finished the week in the second spot with 296 points after his third place finish in the SoF race. Laughton was third at the end of the week after his sixth place finish on Friday. Laughton had 263 points. Montgomery and EJ O’Rourke rounded out the Top Five in the weekly standings. Montgomery won one of his three races and netted 255 points on the week while O’Rourke finished seventh on Friday and received 252 points.

2012 Season 2 Champion Jared Crawford

When it was all said and done, Jared Crawford finished the season on top of the standings. Crawford dominated the races he ran in route to his championship. Crawford averaged 285 points a week and finished the season with 18 wins in 27 races with 25 Top Five’s while leading 77% of the laps he ran. Chad Laughton finished the season in the second position, coming up 57 points short of Crawford. Laughton won three races in 27 starts and had 22 Top Five’s. Jason Karlavige finished the season in the fourth position with 1977 points. Karlavige had 6 wins in 17 starts with 15 Top Five’s. Brad Mahar (New England) finished the season in the fourth position with 1897 points. Mahar had two wins in 19 starts with with eight Top Five’s. David Cater (Carolina) rounded out the Top Five in the standings with 1770 points. Cater had 10 wins in 41 starts and had 24 Top Five’s.

Division Champions

Overall – Jared Crawford

Division 1 – Jared Crawford

Division 2 – Chad J Laughton

Division 3 – Liam Lambert

Division 4 – Kyle McCormick

Division 5 – Michael Kearns

Division 6 – Bill Rowlands

Division 7 – Patrick Davis Jr

Division 8 – Brian Cross

Division 9 – Isaac Mensink

Division 10 – David Pearce

Rookie – Jeffrey Thomas3

The Red Sox Racing League honored former league member Gary W. Clark during this week’s event, the “Gary W. Clark Memorial 30 at Silverstone GP”.  Held at the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit in Towcester, Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom, the race was the second memorial event held in Clark’s name. “Gary was only 53 years old when he died earlier this year”, said Les Turner.  “His outgoing personality and clean racing style helped create the friendly atmosphere that makes this league what it is.  We really miss him.”

RSR drivers have competed at the 17 corner, 3.19 mile GP layout at Silverstone for several years and past races have been action packed, so race organizers were optimistic that the event would be exciting for the league’s fans.  The fourteen RSR drivers who started the race did their best not to let them down.

Despite having missed last week’s race, Brad Vincent showed no signs of rust as he returned to action in top form and secured the HPD pole with a qualifying lap time of 1:35.005.  Les Turner qualified on the outside of row one with a lap time of 1:35.357.  John Koscielniak and Terry Daul started in row two.  Jeff Sharp, Divina Galica, Andrew Feldman, and Joshua Friedrichs completed the Class A starting grid.

Patrick Guerin won his sixth pole of the season running only 3 laps in qualifying with a lap time of 1:43.616.  Corey Hastings started on the front row beside Guerin with a lap time of 1:43.863.  Jeff Thomas, Scott Husted, Dean Moll, and Casey Carpentiere completed the thin Class B Corvette field.  “It was nice to get back onto the track this week”, said Guerin.  “Getting our equipment out of British Customs took a lot longer than we thought it would!”

Silverstone’s history as a World War II airfield means it is a relatively flat course. It offers a barrage of high speed corners sprinkled between several sharply angled turns.  Turn one, known as Copse, is dangerously quick and has ruined many a racer’s race, but it is tame compared to the dangers lurking in turn eight.  Known as Vale, the sharp left-hand corner is a brutal test of both driver and equipment as drivers must slow suddenly from 140 to 55 mph and patiently wait to apply the accelerator through Club corner which follows to the right.  Not surprisingly, the difficult corner would prove to be a problem for several RSR drivers.

Things got off to a rocky start in both classes as drivers jockeyed for position through the opening corners.  Koscielniak went wide through the exit of turn one in his HPD, but maintained speed and rejoined the action with Daul hounding him through turn two.  Daul in turn was being pursued by Sharp for 4th position.  Koscielniak checked his mirrors to assess his situation and perhaps trying too hard to stay in front of Daul, he was too fast through turn four and went off track in turn five.  He plowed through yards of grass before regaining the racing surface, fortunately with only minimal damage, but the field streamed by and John found himself at the tail end of the HPD field.  With less than a quarter of a lap completed, Koscielniak set off to regain the 5 positions he’d lost.  And it didn’t take long to regain those spots.  Within 3 laps he was back into fourth position.

The Corvette field tightened up dramatically when the green flag dropped, creating an exciting entry into turn one for Thomas, Husted, and Moll.  All three held position before Thomas finally gave way to Moll in turn seven.  Having let Moll through, Thomas picked up his pace and held off Husted as they continued towards Vale.

Husted, sensing that Thomas was vulnerable, braked late in an attempt to get the inside position as he set up for Vale, but could not slow in time to safely negotiate the corner.  Carrying too much speed into the sharp corner, Husted nearly crushed the driver’s side of Thomas’ car before he sailed straight through the corner and into the grass.  “I had no idea Scott was there until I felt the contact”, said Thomas after the race.  The mistake was costly for Husted as the incident dropped him to last place in the Corvette field.  Carpentiere was a beneficiary of Husted’s mistake. Casey moved up as high as 2nd position in the GT class before technical problems cost him a number of laps in the pits.

Daul, still being pursued closely by Jeff Sharp, was the next driver to suffer the pains of Vale when he lost 3rd place in the Class A event on lap two.  Racing hard to keep Vincent and Turner in sight, Daul overshot the exit of turn eight, and then watched helplessly as Sharp, Galica, and Koscielniak got past him before he could get back up to speed.

Drivers spent the rest of the event avoiding the dangers lurking at Vale.  Friedrichs may have thought he’d conquered that section of the track on lap five, because he was too aggressive on the throttle and spun out in turn nine.  After his spin, he attempted to continue, but retired from the race after spinning again in turn fourteen on the same lap.

Thomas gave his team a scare with spins on laps eight and ten, but avoided damage in both incidents.  A well executed 360 spin on the exit of turn one on lap ten had fans on their feet as they cheered while Thomas left the scene unscathed.

The RSR drivers only collected fifty incident points during 238 laps of racing.  Turner, Sharp, and Hastings completed the race without incident.

Class A results

Vincent coasted to his ninth victory in as many starts by leading every lap at Silverstone.  He crossed the line 11 seconds ahead of Turner.  Koscielniak secured the final podium spot by edging holding off Sharp (4th) in the final laps.  Daul (5th), Galica (6th), and Feldman (7th), all finished on the lead lap.  Friedrichs (8th) was scored 15 laps down.

After ten events, Vincent has a twenty-seven point lead over Daul in the championship battle.  Turner, Feldman, and Koscielniak round out the top five championship spots.

Class B results

Guerin led every lap of the Corvette race until he relinquished the top spot to Hastings during a pit stop on lap ten.  Hastings kept the lead until he pitted two laps later.  The victory was Guerin’s forth of the season.  Hastings crossed the line in 2nd place and earned his seventh podium finish of the season.  Moll finished in 3rd place.  Husted (4th), Thomas (5th), and Carpentiere (6th), completed the Corvette scoring.

Hastings increased his lead over Husted to twenty-three points in the championship race.  Rhyne, Carpentiere, and Moll round out the top five.

Next Race

RSR drivers return to action at Silverstone for the “It’s Cool to be Cheesy” at Road America” on July 26, 2012.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/1554

League Standings (2012 – Season One):  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/285

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Experience paid off as defending NiCAS Champion Jared Crawford took the victory in a stacked 5384 SoF to lead the way with 342 points on the week. Although ending up with the trophy, it was not smooth sailing for Crawford as he had to fend off both Alex Warren, and up and coming Chad J Laughton to squeak out the victory.

Jared Crawford grabs the win in the top split of the week

As in typical NHMS fashion, most all of the races this week featured multi-car wrecks, sometimes involving favorites to win. The end result of crashes either online, or at the top level of NASCAR, result in race ending damage, which usually leads to upset drivers. Fairly common in any form of racing are over reactions by drivers, but it is hardly ever seen at the top level where empathy often triumphs. Unfortunately for many top drivers in this weeks highest rated race of the week, their race was cut short after a competitor bowled through the field under caution, in a failed retaliation attempt. As in physical world racing, there are consequences for on track displays, and hopefully next week we can have much cleaner racing.

A total of 352 drivers were daring enough to take part in races at the extremely tricky New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a far cry from the 1,410 who made the trip to Daytona last week. Five drivers started ten or more races on the week, being headed with Howard Bell who made thirteen starts. The most trips to victory lane went to Zsolt Nagy of Central-Eastern Europe Club who grabbed three wins.

As for the points as the season now heads into the final week, the real story is Chad J Laughton putting Division 2 on his back and jumping into a transfer spot for the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS). Laughton has had an outstanding season, and with his 312 point outing at NHMS, he slots into the sixth transfer slot, solidly inside the top ten. Cody Byus and Joshua B Gerrald still lead the charge with Alex Ciambrone not far behind.

Sliding down the chart to the bubble drivers in the fight to make it into the 2012 NiPS, it is currently Rob Ackley and Lee Herron holding down spots nine and ten. However the experienced Matthew Moose is only three points back headed into the final week, with Peter Bennett and Matt Bussa still within striking distance.

Next week is the last week on the 2012 Season 2 NiCAS tour, and the series will go out with a bang as it heads to the famous Brickyard for seventy laps around Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Indy is a huge momentum track, giving drivers with less than stellar setups the chance to overcome it with their driving techniques. It will be a challenge, but for whoever overcomes the demanding track will find themselves in victory lane at one of the most coveted racing venues on the planet.

Steven Gilbert (24) leading under caution.

“Gotta thank my VPR team mates” – Brad Mahar

Friday night’s Strength of Field race featured 25 drivers and an SoF of 5084. Jared Crawford once again started from the pole and dominated the race, leading 98 of the 100 laps while also turning the fastest lap of the race. For his efforts, Crawford received 324 points. Chad J Laughton (Carolina) started and finished in the second position. For finishing second, Laughton received 310 points. Brad Mahar (New England), who needed a good week, finished in the third position after starting the race is sixth. Mahar got a much needed 297 points which will catapult him in the season standings.

“Gotta thank my VPR team mates for another bad ass set this week” Mahar said after the race. “Casey and I put in so many laps trying to find a good balance and finally an hour or so before the race we decided what we wanted to run. Macklin hammered out a solid Qualifying setup to get us up towards the top 10. Thanks to Garry Mercer Trucking Inc. (http://www.gmercer.com) and ETV for making these Friday nights so much fun to run. The competition is fantastic and I bet next season will be even better.”

Casey Malone (Texas) finished in the fourth position after starting third and received 283 points. Paul Kusheba rounded out the Top Five. Kusheba, who started the race in fourth, received 270 points for his Top Five finish. Steven Gilbert (Mid-South), who started eighth, was the only other driver besides Crawford to lead a lap. Gilbert took the lead on lap 14 after not pitting under caution and led two laps before losing the lead to Crawford. The race had nine yellows for 32 laps and two lead changes.

Click here to watch broadcast.

Jared Crawford celebrating his victory.

At the end of the week, Laughton was at the top of the weekly points standings. Laughton only attempted one race, the SoF race, where he finished second and scored 310 points. Mahar was second on the week after running two races and scoring 297 points in the SoF race. Malone was third in the weekly standings after his fourth place finish in the SoF race netted him 283 points. Kusheba finished the week in fourth after only running the SoF race on Friday, which he scored 270 points. Jeremy Thornton (West) rounded out the Top Five. Thornton attempted two races on the week, scoring 256 points in a sixth place finish in the SoF race.

After 11 weeks of the season, Crawford remains at the top. Crawford has 2283 points on the season with a 110 point lead over second place Laughton. Laughton managed to shrink the gap from 233 to 110 points after a solid Week 11. Laughton now has 2174 points. Mahar jumped up from fifth to third after a solid week at New Hampshire. Mahar was able to bring his points total to 1897, 387 points out of the lead. Jason Karlavige (Pennsylvania) slipped back to the fourth position after not making a start during Week 11. Karlavige has 1808 points and trails Mahar by 89 points. Rounding out the Top Five is David Cater (Carolina). Cater was only able to add two points to his total during Week 11 and he now has 1765 points, 519 out of the lead and 44 points behind fourth.

Jared Crawford, for the eighth time this season, turned the fastest lap of the week in qualifying with a 29.794 second lap. Laughton finished the week in the second position after turning a 29.818 second lap. Malone finished the week in the third position with a 29.852 while Kusheba finished the week in fourth with a 29.912 second lap. Rounding out the Top Five was Justin Brooks (Carolina), who turned a 29.918 second lap.

With 11 weeks in the books, it’s safe to say that Jared Crawford will win the championship. Crawford’s next lowest drop week is 230 while Laughton’s is 210. In order for Laughton to take the points lead, Laughton would need to scored 321 while Crawford scored less than 230 points (rough estimate, numbers may not be exact). With that being said, Week 12 is looking like it could be exciting because in racing, anything can happen. Week 12 of the season will be run at Chicagoland Speedway. Who will come out on top after the dust settles? Find out next week at InRacingNews!

Phillip Island Circuit in Victoria, Australia was the site of this week’s Red Sox Racing League event, the “Bass Coast Shire 30 at Phillip Island”.  The scenic 2.76 mile, 12 corner track is a driver favorite because of its proximity to the deep blue waters of the Bass Straight which separates the Australian mainland from Tasmania.  Technically challenging, the circuit includes an incredibly long front stretch on which drivers reach maximum speeds before negotiating a pair of high-speed turns that lead into a tight hairpin.  The back section of the course includes drastic elevation changes leading to another hairpin and a critical multi apex turn which leads to the long front straightway.  The hilly section known as Lukey Heights through turns nine and ten is often the site of crucial mistakes as drivers push their equipment and talent to the limit.

Australia has  close historic ties to England having achieved full political independence only in 1986 and many RSR teams took advantage of the off-week in the RSR schedule to travel to Australia via England for extended practice sessions at Silverstone before continuing on to the Australian Commonwealth.  Unfortunately for many of them, increased security brought about by the 2012 Summer Olympics meant their equipment and personnel had to undergo untold hours of delays while trying to get through customs.  Terry Daul was one of the unlucky HPD drivers caught up in the bureaucratic nightmare.  “We were in 2nd place in the standings after last week”, said Daul.  “So I was excited about getting to Silverstone for some extra practice.  We got the car dialed in pretty well, but our engine got stuck in British customs so I had to borrow an older one for practice in Australia.  The older engine just didn’t have enough speed so we decided to sit this one out.” Daul’s absence from the race cost him several positions in the overall championship battle, at least temporarily.

As it turned out, only six HPD drivers and seven Corvette drivers made the long journey to Australia.  Brad Vincent, winner of the first eight events, was amongst the missing.  Seizing the opportunity to end his season long run as the HPD “Bride’s maid”, Les Turner leveraged his team’s past success at Phillip Island to earn his first win of the season.  “This has always been like a second home track for us”, said Turner after the win.  “I knew I had to take advantage of this opportunity with so many heavy hitters out of the lineup.”

Turner began his race to the checkered flag from the pole position.  It was his first pole since May 11th and his lap time of 1:18.636 was the only sub-1:19 lap of the session.  Andrew Feldman started on the front row after posting a lap of 1:19.800.  Divina Galica (3rd), Ed Sutcliff (4th), and Jeff Sharp (5th), completed the HPD grid.  William Kabela, who arrived late to the track due to a blown tire on his car transporter, failed to post a qualifying lap and was forced to begin the race from pit road.

Corey Hastings led qualifying in the Corvette field with a lap time of 1:24.943.  It was his first pole of the season.  “We were really hoping to get a good start here tonight”, said Hastings.  “The field is incredibly close this season, so every little bit of track position helps!” Dean Moll secured the 2nd qualifying position with a lap of 1:25.239.  Tommy Rhyne (3rd), Scott Husted (4th), Casey Carpentiere (5th), Jeff Thomas (6th), and James Prostell Jr. (7th) completed the Corvette grid.

Things started out smoothly as Turner and Hastings led their respective fields across the start line.  On lap two, Husted was the first driver to lose track position when he spun in turn 6 into the sand trap known as Siberia.  Husted who was running in third place at the time executed a nifty 360 spin through the sand while avoiding contact with the wall, and returned to the track undamaged, but fell all the way back to 6th place.  He managed to climb back into the top-5 before a mistake on his entry to the pits by selecting the wrong access road killed his chances of a decent finish.

Galica and Sharp had an exciting battle for position in the prototype race during the early laps.  Galica used her past F1 experience to hold off Sharp lap after lap.  “Divi knows how to make her car wide and I just could not get past her”, said Sharp after the race.  Their battle had fans on the edge of their seats for the first ten laps but things went from exciting to excruciating as Galica and Sharp drove into turn one on lap eleven.  Racing at full speed, Galica came upon Corvette driver Dean Moll and she seemed surprised by his line through the sweeping right hander.   The result was that she put the front of her car right into his rear bumper.  The impact sent Moll’s car careening into the outside tire barrier at a sickening speed.  Heavily damaged by the impact, his car had to be towed back to the pits.  Moll’s night ended with a mandatory ambulance ride to the infield care center and he was still groggy when reporters caught up with him after the race.  “I stayed high to give the HPDs room to get past me, but I guess my gray colored car blended into the road so well that those HPDs never saw me!”

Sharp, anticipating the corvette’s slower speed through Doohan Corner took the inside line through turn one and was able to avoid the carnage from Galica’s accident with Moll.  He got past Galica as her car skidded off track and took a wild ride through the infield grass before crossing back over the track in turn two.  Galica’s car was undamaged, but she was forced to pit for new tires.  The incident cost Galica, who was in 4th position at the time, any hope of a podium finish.

As expected, Lukey Heights was a problem for several drivers.  Carpentiere got the worst of it though, as he went off track twice at the uphill left hander leading to turn nine late in the race.  His car was still spilling out sand after the race, and several pieces from the front of his car were left imbedded in the tire barrier after light contact in both incidents.  Carpentiere managed to drive away from both accidents however and finish the race in 4th position ahead of Prostell.

Feldman was headed for his first podium of the season but his hopes were dashed when his crew, suspecting a puncture, changed tires during his pit service.  The extra time in the pits allowed Sharp by for 2nd place, and then a frustrated Feldman over drove the Honda Corner hairpin and allowed Sutcliff through for 3rd position.  Feldman’s fate was sealed when, with the laps counting down, he learned that his team had not been able to fill his car with fuel and he needed to back off in order to finish the race.  Afterwards Feldman commented that “it was exciting to start up front, but my team will need to raise the level of their game if we intend to finish ahead of drivers like Sharp and Sutcliff.”

Minor off-track incidents gave several other drivers a scare during the race, but overall the event was very clean as the field collected only 38 incidents during 264 laps of racing.  Six drivers, Sharp, Sutcliff, Hastings, Rhyne, and Thomas, completed the race without incident.           

Class A results

Turner led every lap on his way to victory at Phillip Island.  It was Turner’s first win of Season Two.  “Fuel was our biggest challenge tonight.  We had a huge lead, but had to slow down for the last couple of laps to ensure we’d get to the finish line!  I love this track and have usually been able to score well here.  I knew this was the perfect opportunity to get back into victory lane.  I had such a large lead in the early going I decided to take tires as well as fuel during the pit stop.  Unfortunately, the gas man misjudged the race distance, so we were on fumes when we crossed the line.  It felt good to bring the TeamDraft Batmobile back to the top of the podium!”

Sharp finished in 2nd place.  “We were lucky to have escaped that lap eleven incident between Divi and Dean.  I pitted ahead of the other HPDs to get a clean shot at pit lane and the strategy worked because I came back out ahead of Ed and Andy.”

Sutcliff earned his third top-3 finish of the season when he crossed the line in 3rd place.  “Andy was faster than me at the start, so I feel very fortunate to have earned a podium finish.”

Feldman (4th), Kabela (5th), and Galica (6th) all finished on the lead lap.

After nine events, Vincent has a five point lead over Turner in the championship battle.  Feldman, Daul, and Sutcliff round out the top five championship spots.

Class B results

Hastings was the class of the Corvette field as he earned his second win of the season.  Outpacing Rhyne through the early going, Hastings only surrendered the lead when he pitted.  The two continued to battle throughout the race as they put on one of the best shows of the season, Rhyne battling Hastings for the win up until the last corner.  Their average lap time for the event was separated by a mere 1 one thousandth of a second, and Rhyne was only two car lengths behind Hastings when he crossed the finish line to earn his seventh top-5 finish of the season.

Thomas finished in third place.  “Wow, what a great performance by the TeamDraft Chevrolet Corvette tonight!  After three weeks away from competition, it felt really good to get back onto the podium.  It was great to see my teammate, Les Turner, back in winner’s circle.  Phillip Island was a good event for TeamDraft.”

Hastings increased his lead over Husted to nineteen points in the championship race.  Rhyne, Guerin, and Moll round out the top five.

Next Race

RSR drivers return to action at Silverstone for the “Gary W. Clark Memorial 30 at Silverstone GP” on July 19, 2012.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/1553

League Standings (2012 – Season One):  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/285

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11

Night Falls on Daytona International Speedway (Photo Courtesy Alex Ciambrone)

The participation numbers this week were staggering, as 1,410 drivers took to the high banks for a chance to pull their Chevrolet Impala into the victory lane where so many iconic names have stood. When it was all said and done, of the 1,410 drivers who participated, 161 would draft their way to the front to grab the trophy. Just as any other week, while some raced for the trophy, others raced for points, and a small minority would come up with both.

Mitchell Hunt was the man out front this week, scoring 347 championship points to go along with the rush of winning at Daytona. Hunt led 26 of the 70 laps, grabbing the win by -0.155 seconds over NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) driver Brandon Schmidt. Current Class A licensed driver, but soon to be NiPS competitor Brandon Kettelle was third, while Tyler D Hudson and Chad J Laughton rounded out the top five in the 5420 SoF race.

(Photo Courtesy Alex Ciambrone)

It was a big week for a few bubble drivers looking to solidify their spot at the next level of NASCAR sanctioned online racing. Both Rob Ackley and Matt Bussa are drivers on the edge of the top ten, and both drivers had stellar weeks. Ackley is currently on the outside looking in, but his 336 points will definitely get him moving in the right direction. On the other end of the spectrum, Bussa is trying to maintain a spot in the NiPS, and he scored 323 points to make his life a little easier as the season only has two weeks remaining.

Pack racing was especially nerve racking for bubble drivers (Photo Courtesy Alex Ciambrone)

Now to discuss the most active drivers on the week, who all deserve a gold medal from iRacing.com. Twenty three drivers started twenty or more races on the week… Yes you read that correctly. However, the man out front blew those numbers away. It was Mike Burnell of the Midwest Club who started 43 races on the week to earn him top honors. Believe it or not, he had competition in the form of Rick Savage of the Northwest Club who started just two fewer races. In total five drivers started 30 races or more, with Joey Schmidt, Terry Garska, and Division Four’s Greg Harvey the other three.

For those who are curious, Rick Savage completed the most laps around the 2.5mi Superspeedway, with 2,517. That is a total of 6,292.5mi driven on the week, enough miles to drive from Hollywood, California to Loudon, New Hampshire… and back, with miles left over. With an average lap time of 44 seconds, that is a total of 30.7 hours behind the wheel (excluding caution laps). What all that equates to is hopefully the nice folks at iRacing.com sending Rick a tee shirt or two.

From a track beloved by nearly everyone, to a track only loved by competitors who love a challenge, New Hampshire Motor Speedway. For some it is a welcome trip back to a track where you can control your own destiny better than the pack style racing at Daytona. No matter how you look at it, the flat one mile track is a challenge for everyone, be sure to check back next week at inRacingNews.com to see who steps up to the test.

Thompson (18) leads field to a late restart.

“Had a great run tonight.” – Justin Thompson

Friday night’s broadcasted SoF race had 26 drivers and an SoF of 5158. The 100 lap race was plagued with cautions as the race was slowed 12 times for 46 laps. Jared Crawford (Michigan) started on the pole and dominated the first 86 laps until an untimely caution and yellow flag pit stop caused him the win. Justin Thompson (Georgia) won the race of pit road and would lead the last 14 laps, which were mostly run under caution. Thompson received 329 points for the win.

When asked about his race, Thompson said “Had a great run tonight. Horrible q run but was pretty confident in the race setup. Started 15th got a speeding penalty early in the race on the first yellow and slowly worked my way back close to the front and started working the tape onto the car. I started with minimum tape and after I cracked the top 15 I taped up to 25%. Rode around and survived the attrition and once I hit the top 10 it was time to cover the grill and start moving. Got super lucky at the end on a 2 tire stop cautions fell at the perfect time was fun wish we could’ve finished the race under green.”

For his second place finish, Crawford netted 315 points. Casey Malone (Texas) finished the race in the third position, after starting tenth. Malone received 302 for his finish. Jason Karlavige (Pennsylvania) and Chad J Laughton (Carolina) rounded out the Top Five. Karlavige, who started second, received 289 points for his finish while Laughton, who started fourth, received 276 points. The only other driver to lead a lap, besides Crawford and Thompson, was Brandon Buie (Atlantic), who led four laps.

Click to watch broadcast.

Thompson celebrates his victory.

Crawford finished Week Nine with the most points after his 315 point race on Friday. Malone was second on the week with 302 points while Karlavige was third with 289. Laughton finished the week in the fourth spot after netting 276 points in the weekly SoF race. Thompson rounded out the Top Five after winning the SoF race on Friday. Thompson opted to run three races during the week, winning all three of his races. After running more than two races, his top two finishes were averaged together giving him 259 points for the week.

With drops taking place starting during Week Nine, Crawford got a huge boost in the points along with Laughton. Both drivers had one less week counted up to this point. With his second place finish on Friday, Crawford increased his points lead significantly. Crawford now has 2283 points and is 363 points ahead of second place. Laughton jumped up to second after getting his eighth week counted. Laughton now has 1921 points. Brad Mahar (New England) dropped to third place in the season standings. Mahar has 1761 points and his 523 points out of first and 160 points out of second. David Cater (Carolina) now sits in the fourth position in the standings. Cater has 1675 points and is 609 points out of first. Buie rounds out the Top Five in the season standings. Buie has 1599 points and is 685 points behind Crawford.

Crawford once again turned the fastest lap of the week after turning a 30.958 in qualifying. Karlavige was second with a 30.979 while Richard Dusett (New England) was third with the same time as Karlavige. Laughton was fourth on the charts with a 30.980 while Jarl Teien (Scandinavia) rounded out the Top Five. Teien turned a 30.995 second lap around the 1.5 mile track.

With nine weeks in the books, it looks as though the top two spots in the standings are pretty secure. The battle looks to be for the third, fourth and fifth spots. One driver to watch out for his Jason Karlavige, who sits in the sixth position with 1561 points and only seven weeks counted. One good week could catapult Karlvige up into the Top Three in the season standings. For Week Ten, the NiCBS will travel to Daytona International Speedway which will see huge participation numbers and a high SoF race on Friday. Will anyone of the series regulars be able to cash in on Friday night? Find out next week at InRacingNews!

Fresh off his first ever NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) win at Pocono Raceway, Jon Adams kept the ball rolling as he put his GSR Impala at the top of the scoring pylon with with a huge 351 point week. Overcoming a starting spot of twentieth, Adams led a grand total of one lap in the only race he ran all week, grabbing the win in the 5505 SoF. Robert Hall led the majority of the race, but fell just -0.048 from sealing the deal in the stout field.

Hard racing at Homestead Miami Speedway

While drivers like Adams were racing for points, others were racing for nothing but pride, and a trophy. Not going unnoticed, Al Rodriguez, who has progressed through the sim over the past few seasons, put together one of the most solid weeks of anyone thus far in the season. Rodriguez raced nineteen times, winning twelve, and scoring a top five in fourteen of his starts. Those numbers not only earned him the most wins, but the most starts, and the most top fives on the week as well.

With Kentucky in the books, the iRacing.com scoring system will now start counting drop weeks. Drivers are aloud four drop weeks over the twelve week season to allow for drivers trying to compete and advance in the sim, without purchasing all the tracks or dedicating twelve straight weeks to the season. Eight weeks in, it is the up and coming Cody Byus leading the charge over his fellow Pennsylvanian Alex Ciambrone. Rounding out the all Class A licensed top three is Brandon Kettelle, 455 points back of Byus.

Next on the schedule will be a very interesting trip to Kentucky for many setup gurus. The 110 laps around the mile and a half speedway looks normal on paper, but one thing that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet is just how bumpy the aging track is. Many teams were unhappy with how their cars handled over the bumps a few weeks ago at Pocono, but that is a mere warm-up for what they are going to face next week at Kentucky.

Sitting on the grid of the weekly SoF.

“Unreal that the race went caution free that was awesome!” – Devan Hall.

Friday night’s Strength of Field race had 25 drivers and an SoF of 5039. The race was one of the best races of the season. Crawford would start on the pole and lead 125 of the 130 laps in route to a two second win over Casey Malone (Texas), who started in the third position. Crawford received 321 points for the win while Malone received 307 points for second. Tyler D Hudson (Mid-South) finished in the third position, just over five seconds behind, after starting in the sixth position.  Hudson netted 294 points for his finish. Brad Mahar (New England) and Paul Kusheba (Connecticut) rounded out the Top Five. Mahar finished six seconds behind Crawford and netted 280 points while Kusheba finished 11 seconds behind and received 267 points for fifth. The race had zero cautions and only three lead changes. Kusheba and Joshua B Gerrald (Texas) combined to lead five laps during a green flag pit cycle.

Click here to watch broadcast.

Drivers were excited after the race. “Unreal that the race went caution free that was awesome!” said Devan Hall. “Great win Jared and awesome job to everyone that participated!”

“Was a great race. Man caution free!” said Crawford. “Setup was good, should have went with my set from a couple season ago that was so good on the long run. Instead we kind of worked with an experimental set that was too tight in the center and had good forward bite. Set was still awesome but there was room for improvement.”

The Top Five in the weekly standings yet again matched the Top Five from the week’s SoF race. Crawford won both his starts for the week and finished with 321 points. Malone, Hudson and Mahar each won one of their two races and finished the week in the same order as they did in the weekly SoF race. Kusheba was the only driver in the Top Five to only run one race for the week, his fifth place finish on Friday night.

The Top Five in the season standings remains the same after eight weeks. Crawford remains at the top with 1968 points but he did manage to increase his lead to 208 points. Mahar remains second in the points but continues to lose points to Crawford while padding his lead over third. Chad J Laughton (Carolina) still holds the third spot after his seventh place finish in the SoF race. Laughton has 1645 points and is now 324 points out of first. David Cater (Carolina) and EJ O’Rourke (Massachusetts) still round out the Top Five. Cater added 227 points to his total at Richmond which brought his season total to 1616 points. O’Rourke only managed to add 106 points to his total and now has a total of 1463. He was able to maintain his fifth position but lost a big chunk of points to the other drivers in the Top Five.

Crawford once again turned the fastest qualifying lap of the week with a 20.523 second lap around the short 0.75 mile track. Chad Laughton turned the second fastest lap with a 20.594 while his brother Joshua Laughton (California) turned the third fastest lap, a 20.617. Malone and Justin Brooks (Carolina) rounded out the Top Five in qualifying with a 20.658 and 20.659 respectively.

Week Nine of the NiCBS travels to Kentucky Speedway. Week Nine will be the week when drops come into play so look for Crawford, who has one less week counted so far, to dramatically increase his points lead after Kentucky. At this point in the season, it looks like Crawford is well on his way to a championship and nothing will be able to stop him. With things looking good for Crawford, the battle for second will start to heat up. Will Brad Mahar be able to maintain second? Or will Chad Laughton be able jump Mahar in the standings? Find out next week at InRacingNews!

Nineteen members of the Red Sox Racing League traveled to Francorchamps, Belgium for the “Armco Crash Barriers Presents Circuit De Spa 30″at the world famous Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps road course of the seventh race in the 2012 Season Two schedule.  The track’s modern configuration offers a scenic 4.35 mile layout containing nineteen corners.  Home to more than 40 Grands Prix, an annual 24 hours endurance race, and the Fun Cup’s 25 Hours of Spa, the twisting and hilly track is one of the most technically challenging circuits in the world.

Brad Vincent, leader of the Class A HPD championship points race, arrived in Belgium with an impressive six race winning streak and confident his success would continue at Spa.  Corey Hastings, leader of the Class B Corvette championship points race, has six straight top-5 finishes, but was yet to score a win.

Vincent’s qualifying lap time of 2:05.547 nudged out Les Turner’s 2:05.957 for the Class A pole.  John Koscielniak, Terry Daul, and Jeff Sharp, Andrew Feldman, Divina Galica, William Kabela, David Weiss, Ed Sutcliff, Joshua Friedrichs, and Terry Schmidt completed the HPD grid.  Schmidt was forced to begin the race from pit road after failing to post a qualifying time.

Leading the Class B field, Patrick Guerin secured his fourth pole in a row with a lap time of 2:14.669.   Corey Hastings was almost as quick with a lap time of 2:14.701.  Tommy Rhyne, Scott Husted, Casey Carpeniere, Dean Moll, and Greg Harris completed the Corvette grid.

With nearly perfect weather and track conditions, drivers were eager to start racing when the green flag finally waved.  Seasoned drivers knew the race would not be won in the opening laps, but that fact did not prevent several from pressing the point in the early going in the hopes of creating the extra space needed to recover from mistakes.

Perhaps too eager to make up ground, Harris lost control of his car entering turn fourteen after venturing too far over the curb.  Harris tried valiantly to correct the car, but spun off track and backwards into the outside wall.  Despite his damage, Harris was able to continue driving, but was soon forced to retire after hard impact at Raidillon.  Harris was able to walk away from the accident, but was still sore after the race.  “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a wreck that violent.  The car is a complete loss.  I’m glad nobody else got caught up in our mess.”

Schmidt was the next driver to lose focus and suffer the consequences.  In hot pursuit of Sutcliff  and Friedrichs battling for a top 10 position Terry spun the tires exiting La Source and made light contact with the inside wall exiting the corner.

Vincent gave up the lead to Turner on lap five when he spun sideways across the track while getting up to speed exiting the chicane.  Undamaged, Vincent was able to rejoin the racing action once Turner got past him.  A lap later, Moll lost his chance for a podium finish when he spun at Les Combes and allowed Husted by for third.

Vincent nearly regained the lead on lap seven, but again had trouble in the chicane when his brakes appeared to fail and he overshot turn eighteen.  Turner and Koscielniak both blew past Vincent as he recovered from the mistake and dove into the pits to top up his brake fluid reservoir.

Sharp, Feldman, and Weiss entered the pits nose to tail on the next lap.  Feldman brushed the inside wall but got away with only cosmetic damage.  He then overshot his pit stall and was forced to reverse his car in order to take service.  The seconds he lost cost him his best chance to get past Sharp who ran a solid race.  Daul inherited the HPD lead when Turner and Koscielniak pitted on lap nine.

Daul would have surrendered the lead to Turner when he pitted on lap eleven, but mistakes by several drivers upset the running order before the lead change could occur.  Turner’s chance for his first win of the season was foiled by the black cloud of bad luck which has been following him all season long.  Entering turn fifteen with Vincent a mere four seconds behind, Turner tried to pass Husted’s Corvette.  Entering the corner 20 mph faster than Husted, Turner had no time to react when the two drivers both went for the same spot on the track at the same instant.

Vincent could not have scripted a better story line for his seventh win of the season.  Far enough behind the Turner/Husted incident to see both cars sliding off course, Vincent never lifted as he powered through the corner and regained the lead position.  Daul was 20 seconds behind the leader after his pit service on lap 10 but his chances for a podium finish ended on his out lap when he overshot turn 14 and allowed Sharp through.  Feldman ducked in behind Daul, who fought back and regained 4th position from Sharp on the following lap.  But by then he was too far back to challenge Koscielniak for 3rd.

Class A results

Vincent overcame several uncharacteristic mistakes to earn his seventh win in a row.  His twelve second margin of victory over Koscielniak was impressive given the time he lost early in the race.  Koscielniak scored his 6th podium in 6 outings, and finished 2nd for the fourth time this season.  Turner recovered from his late race incident to cross the line in third place.

The battle for the forth through seventh positions was hotly contested, as all four drivers crossed the line within four seconds of each other.  Daul secured 4th place when he made a daring pass on Sharp as the two drivers barreled through turns sixteen and seventeen on lap twelve.  A lap earlier Sharp slid wide in the chicane nearly letting Daul and Feldman through, but he was able to regain control of his car and rejoin the track to complete the corner and maintain his lead over Daul and Feldman.

Sharp hung on for 5th place, barely beating Feldman (6th) and Weiss (7th) to the line.  Weiss gained 2 positions from his 9th starting position to finish 7th, but several off track incidents prevented him from moving higher.  Friedrichs (8th), Galica (9th), Sutcliff (10th), Kabela (11th), and Schmidt (12th), completed the HPD scoring.  Kabela was the only HPD driver to complete the race without incident.

Vincent enjoys a nineteen point lead over Daul in the championship battle.  Turner, Koscielniak, and Feldman round out the top five championship spots.

Class B results

Hastings completed the race without incident and just held off Rhyne and Guerin to win his first race of the season.  The Spa finish produced one of the closest 1-2-3 Corvette finishes in RSR history, as all three drivers were within sight of each other at the finish line.  Rhyne and Guerin both led laps during the event, but neither could get past Hastings once he took the lead on lap 10.  “Our car felt great again tonight” said Hastings.  “It has been a rocket all season long, so I was not surprised to finally get it into Victory Lane!”

Rhyne did everything humanly possible to stay with Hastings, but fell just a bit short at Spa.  “It felt good to be back on the podium after the Watkins Glen race.  Congrats to Corey on his first win!” Guerin also finished the race without an incident and was pleased with his third place showing.  It was his forth podium finish of the season.

Moll (4th), Husted (5th), Harris (6th), and Carpentiere (7th), completed the Corvette scoring.

Hastings increased his lead over Husted to sixteen points in the championship race.  Moll, Rhyne, and Guerin round out the top five.

Next Race

RSR returns to action at the at the Mosport Road Course in Canada for the “Strawberry Fields Festival at Mosport 30″ on June 28, 2012.

Results / Standings / Video coverage

Race Results:  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/1550

League Standings (2012 – Season One):  http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/285

League Video Site:  http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11