Drivers run close to the wall at Darlington.

Week Two’s Strength of Field (SoF) race took place at 8:30pm EST on Friday night. The race had 27 drivers and an SoF of 4222. Nascar iRacing.com Pro Series driver Jared Crawford (Michigan) dominated the race, starting from the pole and leading all 100 laps while also turning the fastest lap of the race. Crawford received 270 points for his victory. Last season’s runner up Brad Mahar (New England) finished second to Crawford after started seventh.  Mahar netted 259 points for his second place finish. Brenden Queen (Virginias) started 24^th and finished third while Brian Macklin (Atlantic) started 11^th and finished in the fourth position. For their finishes, they received 249 and 238 points respectively. Rounding out the Top Five was David Cater (Carolina). Cater started ninth and finished in the fifth position and received 228 points.

Watch the broadcast here.

The Top Five in the Weekly standings for Week Two was the same as the Top Five in the week’s SoF race. Crawford finished the week in the first position after winning one of his two races and netting 270 points. Mahar finished second with 259 points after his runner up finish in the SoF race. Queen was third with 249 points after only running one race during the week. Macklin and Cater rounded out the Top Five with 238 and 228 points.

After two weeks, Mahar leads the point’s standings with 511 points. Mahar has run three races and has one Top Five. Devan Hall (Georgia) is second in the season points standings with three starts and one Top Five. Hall has 394 points, 117 points behind Mahar. Cater sits in the third position after making five starts in the first two weeks. Cater has two wins and three Top Five’s and has 391 points. Cody Vincent (Mid-South) and Zach A Hudson (Eastern Canada) round out the Top Five in the season standings. Vincent has five starts with two Top Ten’s and 381 points while Hudson has three starts with two Top Ten’s and 377 points.

Crawford finished the week with the fastest qualifying lap after turning a 28.151 second lap. Ian Hann (Mid-South) finished the week in the second position after turning a 28.213 second lap. Jason Karlavige (Pennsylvania) was third on the week with a 28.241 while Hall finished the week fourth with a 28.265 second lap. Rounded out the Top Five in qualifying was Eric Brundles (Midwest) with a 28.279 second lap.

After Two weeks of the season the top contenders are already making their way to the top. Mahar looks to win the championship after coming up short last season while Crawford looks to dominate the season on his way to the championship. Week Three will see the NiCBS travel to Iowa Speedway. Will anyone be able to stop Jared Crawford? Find out next week at InRacingNews!

Daley (2) beating Coleman (15) to the line.

“I’ll have to say that was one of the best races I’ve been a part of on iRacing.” – Byron Daley

For season two, the high Strength of Field (SoF) races were moved to Friday nights. Week One’s SoF race had 28 drivers and a SoF of 5060. When it was all said and done, NiSWC driver Byron Daley (New York) came out on top after taking the lead for the final time with 4 laps to go. Daley had help from teammate Chad Coleman (Georgia), who finished second after pushing Daley to the win. Byron received 324 points for the win while Coleman received 312 points for finishing second. Lee Herron (Carolina) finished in the third position while Peter Bennett (Connecticut) finished in the fourth position. For their finishes, Herron netted 300 points while Bennett netted 288. Alex Ciambrone (Pennsylvania) rounded out the Top Five and received 276 points. The race had three cautions for 11 laps and 14 leaders for 38 lead changes.

Daley had this to say after the race, “I’ll have to say that was one of the best races I’ve been a part of on iRacing. The competition was stout and it made for an action packed race. I think the key that race was when I got tagged and about wrecked out of turn 4 that gave me the run laps later to make a 4 wide pass which put me out front for the end. Narrowly sliding in front of Chad Coleman sealed the win as everyone fought for position to the start finish line.”

Five wide at Talladega.

After the first week of the season, Daley led the weekly and season standings with 324 points after his victory in the SoF race. Coleman was second in the standings with 312 points after his second place finish while Herron was third at the end of the week with 300 points. Defending NiSWC champion Ray Alfalla (Florida) finished the week in the fourth position after finishing sixth in the SoF race and winning his second race of the week. Alfalla finished the week with 281 points. Ciambrone rounded out the Top Five for the week after his fifth place finish in the SoF race. Ciambrone finished with 276 points.

At the end of the week Gary Czlapinski (New Jersey) sat on top of the qualifying charts. Czlapinski turned a 52.728 second lap. Adrian Duncan (Eastern Canada) was second on the charts with a 52.732 second lap while Helge Gravemeyer (DE-AT-CH) was third with a 52.736 second lap. Chris Jessee (Plains) finished the week fourth with a 52.737 second lap while James Howard (Mid-South) rounded out the Top Five with a 52.747 second lap around the 2.66 mile track.

Week one of the NiCBS saw high participation with high points. Week Two looks to be just as exciting as the series will travel to the track that is too tough to tame, Darlington Raceway. Racers will look to gain as many points as possible in route to possibly taking the crown from defending champion Phil Juhring (Atlantic). Who will make their names known at Darlington? Find out next week at InRacingNews!

Side by side racing in the NASCAR iRacing Class C Series is a common occurance.

The season long battle between Justin Brooks and Heath Hindman for the NASCAR iRacing Class C Series (NiCCS) crown came down the final two weeks of the season. Hundreds of sim racers came out to test their skills at the Darlington Raceway and Kentucky Speedway in the final two rounds, but when the final laps were ran and the checkered flag fell on 2012 Season One, it was Brooks who would ultimately edge out Hindman for the prestigious title.

Week Eleven of the series took the Trucks to the Darlington Raceway where Phil Juhring took the top spot over 400 others who took a green flag at the track “Too Tough to Tame.” Juhring’s big win of the week came during a 2801 sof race on April 10th in which he led all but two laps in the race en route to the win over Michael Simons II, Sam Edwards, Eric Purcell2 and Greg McKinney. Juhring started the 90-lap race from the pole and had to outlast four cautions to punch his ticket to victory lane. The top two in this race were awarded with the top two spots of the week with Juhring and Simons II taking 175 and 163 points away from the race, respectively.

Also on the podium for the week at Darlington was Canadian Jordan Westfall. Westfall would wind up in victory lane on April 11th during a 2582 sof race in which he led 36 laps, including the most important one, ahead of Craig Jernigan, Shelvin Johnson, Wes Weidman and Gary Fridinger. Johnson started from the pole and led 54 laps before surrendering the lead to Westfall, who started third on the grid. For the victory, Westfall was credited with 159 points.

Patrick Smart made the most starts of the week at Darlington, taking 11 green flags over the seven day span. David Krikorian and Chad Pruitt each won four times on the week, the most of any others who were in the search for the checkers at “the Lady in Black.” Jukka Savolainen was the quickest in qualifying, putting in a time of 28.246 seconds around Darlington. Krikorian, Eric Hoggarth, Brooks and Jason Karlavige completed the top five in single truck qualifying. The top Time Trial honor went to Dustin Bartee on Week Eleven, over Manuel Bubbers, Matthew Shanks, Roger Stanley Jr and Earl Landry.

The final round of the season took the NiCCS drivers to the Kentucky Speedway. Pruitt continued his winning ways from Darlington and followed it up with a big win at Kentucky to capture the weekly victory during Week Twelve. His win, which tipped the scales at 3138 sof, saw Pruitt lead exactly half of the 90 laps in the race after starting from the inside of Row Three. In fact, five of the 18 drivers who started the race led at least one lap in the event. Finishing second in the race was McKinney, followed by Fridinger, Tony Monge and Dominic Krischke. Michael Tasillo, who started on the pole and led a dozen laps of the 90 completed would finish 12th. Pruitt was awarded with 197 points for his win.

Casey Malone was second for the week at Kentucky after a win on April 22nd in a 3094 sof race. Malone started tenth and led ten laps en route to the win over Gene Miller2, Edward Burch Jr, Joey Israelson and Billy Weeks. Marko Viitanen led over half (48) of the laps but would cross the line in seventh, faring better than pole sitter Patrick Davis, who finished 15th in the event. Three cautions slowed the event while the lead was exchanged eight times amongst seven drivers. Malone pocketed 194 points for the win.

Rounding out the podium at Kentucky was NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship driver Pat Baldwin. The 3120 sof affair on April 21st which saw Baldwin pull into victory lane featured two cautions and saw the winner lead 50 laps after starting in the 11th spot. Following Baldwin to the line was Aaron Lovell, followed by Chris E Pence, Edward Szigeti and Sean Hall. Davis once again found himself on the pole but would up coming home ninth in the race. Baldwin captured 194 points in his victory at Kentucky.

Maxx Harris closed off the season by making 26 starts in the final week of 2012 Season One while Rob Miles put 13 wins up on the board, the only driver to hit a double digit win total at Kentucky. Savolainen once again flexed his muscle in qualifying as his 31.020 second lap was quicker than that of Tasillo, Ray Schoder, Michael McLain and Robert Lee. Victor Vollrath was the top driver in the final week of the Time Trial competition as his run at Kentucky was better than that of Tasillo, Kirschke, Christopher DiBenedetto and Bubbers. Bill Brown was crowned the NiCCS Time Trial champion for 2012 Season One with 785 points. Stephen Riggs, JD Bartone, Chris Allex and Bartee completed the top five of 843 who attempted a Time Trial run in the first quarter of ’12.

After the final laps were ran and the points tallied, Brooks will go down as the 2012 Season One champion of the NiCCS with 1576 points, 37 points more than Hindman’s total of 1539. Division Two titlist Jernigan rallied to finish third overall this season with 1385 points, four more than Trey Jarrell’s 1381. Savolainen completed the top five with 1362 points, just five more markers than Pruitt’s 1357 total. Divisional champions from Division Three to Ten include Tom Moustakas, Michael Atkins Jr., Rock Harris, Michael Valentin, Fausto Bessa Gomes, Robert Cori, Sean Cummings2 and Robert Mason2.

The NASCAR iRacing Class C Series fires up again for 2012 Season Two action at the start of May.

The action was fast and furious during Week Eleven action at Bristol.

After 12 weeks of action and thousands of laps in the 2012 Season One iRacing Late Model Tour (iLMT) season, it was Mark Lambert who came out on top of over 3,100 drivers to become champion of the series. While he was relatively quiet in the last two weeks of his championship season, many others took the chance to make some noise in the final two rounds of the popular short track series.

The final two weeks of the season took the series to the Bristol and Stafford Motor Speedways. When the series went to the Bristol high banks for Round 11, it was Tanner Stoops who took the checkered flag in the race to the top of the weekly standings. Stoops won three of the four races he ran during the week, including a 3033 sof race on April 16th in which he led wire-to-wire in the 50 lap race from the outside pole. Charlie Foster was second, seven tenths of a second behind Stoops at the finish. Steven Landry was third, followed by Mike Costrello and Todd Laribee within the top five. Pole sitter Heath Smith went on to finish eighth in the race. At the completion of seven days of competition, Stoops ended his run at Bristol with 175 points.

Ian Blanchard was second for the week after he took command of a 2807 sof race on April 16th. Blanchard led the final 35 laps of the race after taking the point from pole sitter Dylan Cecce. Cecce finished a car length behind the winner in second place and was followed to the stripe at Lap 50 by Donald Hagan, Miles Crabbe and Brian Babb. Blanchard, who started fourth in the race, captured 174 points for the week at Bristol with that victory.

Meanwhile, Cecce went on to set weekly highs in most categories, making a whopping 44 starts, turning those into 36 victories. He completed 2160 laps and led 1948 of them, or 90% of the laps he ran over the seven day span. At the completion of the week, he came home with 154 points and the third place position overall in the weekly standings. Cecce also started on the pole for the week, blasting around Bristol in a time of 14.471 seconds. Just a shade behind (at a 14.472 second lap) was Jeff Ford, with Johnny Housley, Smith and Crabbe completing the top five. Smith was the top in the Time Trial competition for the week, followed by David Deschenes, Satoru Ohno, Anita Frederiksen and Jeremy Ahlum.

Gareth Gonder left the Stafford Motor Speedway on Week Twelve as the top driver from the last seven days of the season point wise after a second place finish in the highest rated race of the week. The highest sof race, rated at 2963, saw Virginia’s Daniel Williamson lead all 65 laps of the event en route to the win from the first starting position. Gonder finished in second, nearly three seconds back with Gregg Johncock, Clay Jones and Kenneth Lang completing the top five in the race. Gonder put up 166 points in this race to lock up first place for the week.

What about Williamson you might ask? Well, the Virginia native went on to make 18 starts over the seven day span at Stafford, winning in ten of those starts which tied Shawn Stitt atop the win count for the week. Stitt was perfect for the week, winning in all ten appearances he made in Connecticut for the week. When it came to the point picture for the two most successful drivers for the week, it was Stitt edging out Williamson by a single point, 162 to 161.

Tying Stitt for second on the week was Brandon “The Boss” Atkinson. Atkinson topped a 2662 sof race on April 18th in which he led all 65 laps and defeated Christian Pedersen by nine seconds at the finish. Scott Blackburn was third in the race, followed by Thomas Fleming2 and Johncock. Atkinson took home 162 points for the victory.

Stitt was the top driver in qualifying at Stafford with a lap of 19.513 seconds. Smith was second, followed by Jeremy Davis, Williamson and Eric Purcell2. Smith closed in on the Time Trial championship with a win at Stafford over Bill Brown, Davis, Ty Majeski and Stitt. It wasn’t enough to steal away the title from Lambert though as his perfect 800 point total was just three points better than Smith’s. Ahlum, Ohno and Ford rounded out the Top Five overall in the Time Trial standings for the season.

Lambert will go down as the 2012 Season One champion of the iLMT with 1364 points, 79 more points than Smith and his 1285 point total, which was good enough to top Division Two. Housley won Division Three with 1229 points, just seven points (1222) better than Division One’s Jeff Conover. Maxime Paquette edged out fellow Canadian Blanchard by 20 points to take the fifth place overall in the series amongst 3,109 entries. Divisional champions from Four to Ten include Scott Blackburn, Jade Williams, Jeremy Poole2, Fausto Bessa Gomes, Darrell Phillips, Cale Thompson2 and Petie Madrid.

Next up for the iRacing Late Model Tour is the season opener for 2012 Season Two, which will take place during the first week of May.

iGPS moved into its final quarter and the venue for this week was Suzuka.

With Indianapolis now in the books, the iGPS moved into it’s final quarter, with Round 10 of the 12-round season welcoming Suzuka International Circuit – one of the most celebrated Formula 1 events on the calendar, allied to it’s iconic high-speed sweeping ‘S’ bends and the profound history carried in its wheel tracks – ranging from the boiling point duos between Prost and Senna, to the title thrillers involving Schumacher and Häkkinen in their primes.

Not an uncommon sight this season is the predictable pole position time set by Max Dell’Orco, and this week he didn’t break that tradition, being the sole man to break the 1:28 barrier – closely pursued by Riku Alatalo – to put himself at the front of the grid for two of three Strength of Field (SoF) races, all held on Sunday evening GMT.

A hard charging Alatalo and Iivonen chasing the damaged Dell'Orco for second place - who had the strenght to hold off the Finnish duo.

On Sunday’s 6:15GMT race, Dell’Orco had another brief scare from fast-starting 3rd placed Jake Stergios, but held his ground continue his strong form in the iGPS. From now, Stergios could only follow the Italian’s wheel tracks – under pressure himself from Riku Alatalo who wouldn’t make life easier for Stergios early on. Teemu Iivonen got a great launch off the grid as he jumped from 7th to 4th at the start. This top 4 would begin to distance themselves from the pack behind. Meanwhile one of the closest contenders for the last Pro license – Pierre Urbizu got involved in a first lap crash ending his race,making his task even harder – whilst Aleksi Uusi-Jaakkola who started from 5th dropped to 6th during the opening laps and was not able to rebound back to the top 5.

This instead saw Formula Renault 3.5 driver Richie Stanaway steal fifth and put his sights on the trio ahead consisting of Alatalo, Iivonen and Dell’Orco. The latter seemingly offpace due to a half spin in the tricky Turn 11 hairpin, which saw the Italian scrape the wall, damaging his car in the process. This not only let Stergios through to an unchallenged victory, but it gave a golden opportunity to Stanaway to catch up as the Finnish duo could not get past the Italian’s damaged FW31. The four cars were separated by only a couple of seconds as the white flag was waved, but nobody would dare risking their strong points finishes, meaning Dell’Orco took second, followed by Alatalo in third, Iivonen fourth and Stanaway fifth.

Stergios ran wide in the Casino Triangle which promoted Alatalo to second.

In the following SoF race, Dell’Orco again took to the first grid slot – fired up from his previous excursion – he again held his nerve before Turn 1 to hold onto a cherished start to finish lead and take home 256 points. However, a big incident involving Pro license-elect Laurent Beteille and Stanaway at the end of lap 1 would be a big talking point of the race. Stanaway made an attempted dive past Beteille, but the two made contact on the corner exit causing a multiple car pile-up which claimed 6 cars. At the front, Stergios again would be the man to keep Dell’Orco company in the opening laps, until an off-track saw him fall behind strong performer Alatalo and slot ahead of Simon Cattell. These three kept within relatively close contact all race, along with Iivonen for the first 7 laps, until a moment from Cattell saw him slide off in reaction entering Degnar 1, forcing a premature pit stop. This promoted Urbizu to a crucial 5th position, who held a big gap to the cars behind. As Dell’Orco continued to pull away, Alatalo also edged himself away from DWC driver Stergios and looked comfortable for a 2nd place.

Close behind Cattell had little answer for the top 3 pace but kept Stergios in sight, whilst Urbizu remained 5th, it became abundantly clear the hard-charging Stanaway looked threatening in 6th, the two emerged from their pit stops in close company. On lap 29, Stanaway forced his way through past the Frenchman who settled for a comfortable 6th position. However, this would become 5th as firstly Cattell got around Stergios, only for the latter to crash on the following lap whilst chasing the fastest lap, promoting Stanaway and Urbizu. Stergios took the chequered flag in 6th place with a tortured car, amusing the spectators in the process. Meanwhile Dell’Orco cruised home to win ahead of Alatalo.

Filho can only watch as Stanaway takes the lead after the Brazilian had a quick off entering Degner 2.

20:15GMT turned into a 17-car SoF race with Stanaway taking the pole position. Directly behind him, Mogar DG Filho made the rest of the field look stationery, bagging an early lead from Stanaway. The two would fight nose to tail for the remainder of the first stint until the Australian started to put enough pressure on Filho who put a tire on the gravel at the end of the first stint going in to Degner 2, promoting Stanaway to the lead and his first SoF win. The fight for Pro licenses would embroil in this race with Busoms and Caton both running in the top 5. However Busoms appeared to have the edge – lapping faster than his rival and even overtaking Filho in the pit stop phase.

But onto lap 26 and after being overtaken by Filho, Busoms made a misjudgement in the “draft” entering Dunlop corner – he spun into the path of Cardoso taking both cars out on the spot. By this time, Stanaway continued to pull away after running longer in the first stint, whilst Filho sat 2nd with Caton assuming 3rd from the crash ahead. The order would stay like this until the finish, adding fuel to the fire for the Race for Pro. Paul Ilbrink slotted in 4th and Tuomas Kekkonen secured 5th and staying out of trouble after Isaac Price crashed in the infamous Degnar 1 corner just ahead.

Jake Stergios enters the penultimate round with a 226 point lead over Dell’Orco and looks set to claim back-to-back iGPS championships. Alatalo is in third, 318 points back. Terpstra sits in fourth with Beteille in fifth. With another two drivers looking secure for Pro – taking the total to nine – Xavier Busoms now holds the tenth and final spot for obtaining a Pro-license this season. But the Spaniard is closely pursued by Marcus Caton, emerging as his main threat and setting up a rivalry that will surely be resolved only at the final round in Silverstone.

Barrichello is looking for a strong performance this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park.

Barrichello is looking for better results in Round Two of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park.  With good reason:  He already has a couple of legs-up compared to last weekend.  Sure, he and the KV Racing Technology team tested at the 2.38 mile road course a few weeks ago.  Thanks to iRacing.com, however, Barrichello knew his way around BMS before he ever turned a wheel at the track.

Shortly after signing with KVRT and faced with the prospects of racing on a steady diet of new tracks this season, the Brazilian turned to iRacing.    Soon after he took to the Alabama track at the test, he realized the proof was in the pudding.

“iRacing taught me Barber Motorsports Park,” he says.  “It helped short-cut my learning curve.  The way they’ve done the laser-scan is pretty amazing.  I was able to learn the track visually and, for sure, I knew the track pretty well when I went there for the test.”

"iRacing taught me Barber Motorsports Park," says Barrichello

Barrichello is no stranger to motorsports simulations, of course.  He competes in GTR Brasil every month, an online racing series featuring touring cars.

“It’s quite a lot of fun,” he says.  “Good competition and some very good drivers.”

And, of course, driving for Williams, Brawn, Honda and Ferrari in recent seasons, he had access to multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art simulators.

So when Rubens Barrichello says he is impressed with the authenticity of iRacing’s version of Barber Motorsports Park, he’s not just whistling Dixie.  No wonder iRacing figures in his plans for the rest of his rookie season of IndyCar racing.

“When I get the chance, I’ll definitely go back to iRacing and learn the tracks,” he says, “especially the ovals.”

Hindman’s Week Seven triumph came on March 17th during a 3499 strength of field (sof) race at Pocono. Hindman led 15 of the 50 laps of the race after starting in 12th place and finished two seconds up on Craig Jernigan at the finish. Mark Wright was third, followed by Tony Monge and Richard Hillenburg. Mason Weitzel started on the pole and led four laps before falling to 15th place in the finishing order. Wright led the most laps as he paced the field for 18 laps in a race which featured four yellow flags. Hindman scored 216 points for the victory.

Made in the shade. . . . Hightower edged Coleman by .008s at MIS.

Second for the week at Pocono was Stephen Dotson. Dotson, who represents the Indiana club, won a 3182 sof race on March 16th (also) from the 12th starting spot. Dotson led the final eight laps after taking the top spot in the only lead change in the event from pole sitter and second place finisher Jimmy Helie. Randall Robertson was third in the race while Jeff Chandler and Brad Bubel rounded-out the top five. The race saw five yellow flags slow the tempo of an online race that netted Dotson 197 championship points for the win.

Third for the week went to Bubel after he went on to win a 2903 sof race later on March 16th. Bubel led only the most important lap in the race, taking the lead on the final lap and creating the sixth lead chance in the event. Michael McLain led 12 laps and finished second, crossing the line ahead of Michael Vandish, Douglas Lemire. Weitzel once again started from the pole and led 30 of the 50 laps in the event but was out before the finish in 15th place. Bubel, who started sixth in the five caution affair would be rewarded with 182 points for his efforts on the Tricky Triangle.

Nick Ritcey made the most starts of the week, appearing in 34 races at Pocono. Jason Richardson was the most successful in hunting checkered flag as the New England sim racer collected eight wins in Pennsylvania. David Krikorian was the quickest in qualifying, lapping the big track in 55.454 seconds. Championship contender Justin Brooks was second, followed by Cody Byus, Brian Viola and Weitzel. Bill Brown was the top Time Trial competitor for the week over Chris Allex, Kenville Inniss, Dustin Bartee and Paul Conway.

When it came to Week Eight, Hindman was the top when it came to the points as he amassed 248 points in his win at MIS.  His triumph came on March 21st during a 3937 sof race in which Hindman led 25 of the 65 laps after starting third. Alan Gray, who led 37 laps from the pole, finished second, ahead of Austin Lamberth, Greg McKinney and Richard Beasley. The race saw two caution periods and three lead changes amongst four drivers.

“I was digging in the final two laps . . .” — Jordan Hightower.

The top split race of the week was rated at 4347 sof and took place on March 23rd. Jordan Hightower started fourth on a green-white-checkered finish and ended up in victory lane after leading only one lap of the event – the last one. “I was digging in the final two laps,” said Hightower, who started in 13th place in the race, which saw four cautions. Chad Coleman was second, followed by Jeremy Thornton, who won six races in 12 starts at Michigan. Completing the top five were Kevin King and Beasley, who run similar paint schemes on their race trucks. While the top three went on to make multiple starts on the week which would play into their point total, King, who celebrated the birth of his first child on the weekend, was awarded with 228 points on the week and second place amongst 1,488 drivers.

Pat Baldwin was third on the week after his two win performance in four starts resulted in 222 points at Michigan. His biggest win of Round Eight came on March 24th during a 3620 sof race where he led 24 laps en route to the victory after starting in tenth place. Mike McKinney was second, followed by Mitchell Kelley, Mike Burnell and pole sitter Brandon Hauck, who led 17 laps. Three caution flags and nine lead changes set the tone for the race.

Jason Richardson made the most starts of the week at the two mile oval as he raced 39 times at Michigan. He turned those 39 starts into 11 wins, the most of any driver in the Irish Hills. Brooks set the pace in qualifying with a lap of 39.761 seconds. Michael Guest, Brian Viola, David Krikorian and Hunter Davis completed the top five in qualifying. Brown took the top spot in Time Trials over Milt Matice, Edward Szigeti, David Ankeney and Chris Allex.

Hindman has went to the top of the board when it comes to the standings with 1454 points, 68 more than Brooks, who has 1386 points. Jernigan, Division Two leader has 1368 points and is currently ahead of a three driver battle for fourth overall involving Phil Brown (1186), Trey Jarrell (1184) and Hauck (1183). Divisional leaders from Divisions Three to Ten include Tom Moustakas, Brock Garis, Rock Harris, Michael Valentin, Fausto Bessa Gomes, Robert Cori, Sean Cummings2 and Robert Mason2.

Next up for the series is “the Paperclip” as the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series heads to the Martinsville. Who will come out of the shortest venue of the season on top of their peers? Find out here at inRacingNews as the series heads towards crowning a 2012 Season One champion.

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

Online Motorsports Simulation Service & Its 30,000 Members To Prepare & Sponsor Action Sports Star in 2012 Season

When 11-time X Games gold medal winner and action sports superstar Travis Pastrana takes on the NASCAR world in 2012 a key weapon in his arsenal will be iRacing.

With its laser-scanned tracks and cars, the online motorsports simulation site will serve as a vital tool in preparing Pastrana for the tracks he’ll race on in the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide and K&N East Series competition.  In addition to practicing on his own, Pastrana will compete with his fellow iRacers in online races using digital versions cars and tracks he’ll be seeing in the two NASCAR series.

iRacing logos will also be on the side of his car as primary sponsor in four East races: Richmond Intl. Raceway on April 26, Langley Speedway on June 23, Iowa Speedway on Aug. 3 and New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sept. 22.

“iRacing is the best tool I can imagine to get ready for my season,” said Pastrana who’ll race with iRacing’s 30,000 members online several times in 2012 with exact digital versions of the cars and tracks he’ll race.

“iRacing has the cars and tracks I’ll be racing, and I’ll be up against the best sim racers in the world every week getting ready for my races. So even though I haven’t actually been to many of the tracks we’ll be racing on this year, when practice starts I’ll already have some races under my belt against some tough competition.

Pastrana has been successful in every form of motorsports he’s tried – from motocross and supercross to rallying. But he’s well aware of the challenges ahead of him as he transitions to the top ranks of stock car racing. He knows iRacing will prepare him.

“It’s really exciting to think my fellow iRacers will get a chance to be part of my season. The harder they race me, the better . . . and the more fun we’ll all have. I can’t wait to get started.”

Pastrana Nationwide Schedule

Richmond                             April 27

Darlington                             May 11

Charlotte                                May 26

New Hampshire                   July 14

Chicagoland                         July 22

Indianapolis                          July 28

Atlanta                                   Sept. 1

Pastrana K&N Schedule

Bristol                         March 17

Greenville Pickens  March 31

Richmond                 April 26

Iowa                            May 19

Bowman Gray           June 2

Langley                      June 23

Iowa                            Aug. 3

Greenville-Pickens  Sept. 3

New Hampshire       Sept. 22

Dover                         Sept. 28

Rockingham             Nov.3

As has become the custom this season, V8SC Americas kicked off the week with the first official race, at 02:45 GMT Friday (9:45 PM EST).  29 sim racers made the grid, strong enough attendance for the race to split. Canadian Curtis Chippeway won, for the second straight week, with Charlotte-based Jeremy Burris and Californian Ray Butcher completing the podium. Same time the next day, and the Americans were at it again; this time, however, Chippeway was joined on the podium by Dutchman Thomas van Bussel (the winner) and Aussie Curt Bond (in third).  Van Bussel then went on to win the best-attended European time zone race of the week (18:45 GMT Sunday), taking victory over Trevor Johnson, Kevin Duwel and 18 other drivers.

Hamstead was in a class of his own at the Glen.

The biggest events of the week, as always, were held Monday evening, Australian/New Zealand time: the 08:45 GMT early event, and the 10:45 GMT big race. The top split of the earlier race, (Strength of Field 3352) was won by Richard Hamstead, who was joined on the podium by Mitchell McLeod and Cal Whatmore. John Latham won the second split, and Graeme Phyland the third.

The big event split four ways, with Stephen Jenkins and Richard Stamenkovic winning the lower pair of races, while Josh Smith won over a powerful field (SOF 2400) in the second split, with Latham and Mitchell Boulton also on the podium.

Hamstead sat on the pole for the top split (SOF 3846), with McLeod joining him on the first row, Rens Broekman and Stuart Wood on the second, three-time series defending champ Madison Down and Whatmore on the third and Fujitsu V8Supercar and V8 SuperTourers Series driver Scott McLaughlin sitting to the inside of Simon Madden on Row Four.

Hamstead led the field into the first turn (“The 90”) in a clean and fair start. Down had a strong start initially, but then couldn’t get a fast line through the Esses, losing momentum and positions to Wood, Whatmore, and McLaughlin. Racing was tight into the Inner Loop, and Mick Claridge made a big pass on Madden on entry, only to have Madden gain the advantage again on the way out to the Carousel. Compared to the previous two races there was little opening lap drama, however, with positions settling quickly. Hamstead crossed the start-finish line first, followed by Broekman and McLeod, then Wood, Whatmore, McLaughlin, Down, and Joshua Muggleton—a group that was to provide some excellent action in the coming laps—with Madden and Justin Ruggier leading the chase pack.

Hamstead leads Broekman, McLeod, Wood, Whatmore into The Inner Loop on the opening lap.

On Lap Three, Whatmore was heavily pressuring Wood for fourth position, having a look underneath him into The 90, with Down giving McLaughlin a “good to see you mate” push in the braking zone right behind. Yet Down’s car just didn’t seem to be carrying the momentum through the Esses, and his TTR teammate, Muggleton, was able to move by easily on the exit to the Back Straight: Muggo now had McLaughlin, Whatmore, and Wood in his sights.

At The 90 next lap on, McLaughlin made a huge move to the inside of Whatmore, scrubbing some speed with a flick of the tail and placing himself into fifth position; Muggo played a bit of “follow the leader” on the pass to get by him too, with Whatmore losing a bit of momentum toward the Esses—and three spots in the bargain.

As the field came to the Inner Loop, Claridge and Ruggier, among this same group of drivers but battling for tenth, got together at the entry to the Chicane with Claridge getting the worst of it.  Off-line and out of momentum, he and Emerson (running twelfth) subsequently touched in The Carousel, and the first major incident of the race occurred as both cars spun.

Muggleton has a ringside seat as McLaughlin has a go at Wood in the final corner.

McLaughlin started pressuring Wood for fourth spot by Lap Seven, and on the final corner made his move: track camber proved difficult at this spot, however, and instead of gaining a position to Wood, McLaughlin lost fifth to Muggleton on the ensuing straight. Wood was clearly battling his setup a bit, however, losing tiny bits of momentum here and there, and Muggo seemed intent on making a better go of it this week than the previous two.  While the top three—Hamstead, Broekman, and McLeod—were having a clean open drive up front, fourth through tenth positions—Wood, Muggleton, McLaughlin, Down, Whatmore, Madden, and Ruggier—were poised for drama, tragedy or both.

Muggleton makes the save of the day in Turn Six.

As if on cue, Muggleton nearly lost it all on the exit to Turn Six, as the rear stepped far out on to the curbing, but he was not going to let it all go wrong this time—willing his car back into line with an exquisite bit of skill. By Lap 13, Wood’s car was not getting power onto the pavement with enough consistency: he wiggled on the front straight and Muggleton made a move into The 90, taking fourth position in the Esses, while Wood dropped back to sixth behind McLaughlin and Whatmore slipped inside of Down for seventh.

By Lap 14 the tires were starting to show some wear, and more action occurred at The 90: McLaughlin tried to nab fifth from Wood, got loose, and gave up a position to Whatmore in the Esses, as errors in the first corner continued to be paid in full.

Truth in advertising. "Speedy" Whatmore gets by McLaughlin on the run to the Esses.

With clean running for the front four—Hamstead, Broekman, McLeod, and Muggleton—and tires dropping off, the fifth through eighth spots were still close and taking chances: on lap nineteen, McLaughlin lost it a bit going into The 90, and he would have gone off had he not given Whatmore’s Ford a hard slap in the side to straighten out and make the pass. Whatmore lost momentum into the Esses, dropping to tenth place behind Down, Madden, and Ruggier.

On Lap 22 McLaughlin nearly passed Wood into Turn Six, but Wood continued to hang on. Three laps later, McLaughlin got inside Wood in The 90 and held momentum through the Esses to take fifth.

Meanwhile up front, Broekman just got onto the inside grass exiting the Esses, and McLeod, who had been applying increasing pressure for some time—including an excellent but unsuccessful pass attempt in the Carousel—pounced to take second place away from him.

Broekman's late bobble enabled McLeod to snatch second place.

With no one in his mirrors at this point, and having led every lap from pole while setting fastest lap (1:11.308), Hamstead cruised to victory, with McLeod and Broekman on the podium as well. In fourth, Joshua Muggleton may as well have been in comparison to the start of his season, and Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top five.

Several other drivers, not already mentioned as having done so, won official races at Watkins Glen last week: John Briggs; Thomas Guerrini; Muggleton; Robert Rosengreen; Adam Surplice; and Kris Tarrant all had honors (or honours, as the case may be).

Next week the series returns to home ground Australia for the race at Phillip Island.

Just to add a little spice to the already-hot iRacing V8 Supercar Series finale, series points leader Madison Down was unable to front for the maximum points Monday Night Showdown at Road Atlanta due to pressing travel arrangements.

While some would argue that it detracted from the event, leaving the series destiny at the mercy of an SOF points variable, it also meant that Mitchell McLeod and Rens Broekman, both trailing Down, would have a genuine shot at series victory. At the very least, the points gap would be minimal.

Broekman tries to break the field

Broekman drew first blood with pole position by a tenth of a second, which is a country mile in this series. McLeod put the Tatts.com Falcon on the front row.

Mick Claridge made a return to Split One third on the grid, alongside Justin Ruggier, another strong performer from the alternate splits. Josh Muggleton, Cal Whatmore, Scott U’Ren, Stuart Wood and Troy Cox were next. Richard Hamstead was in tenth, not reflecting his late season form.

Broekman got the break at the start from McLeod, Ruggier, Muggleton and Whatmore. The Benelux driver decided that the best way was to stop worrying about points, and win. McLeod was thinking the same thing. While Broekman pulled out a few seconds’ lead, by lap 14 of 25, the Tatts.com Falcon had pulled right up to the Nfinity Esports bumper. McLeod: “I kept putting my car in his mirrors trying to … force him in to a mistake, but he was driving way too solid for that…”.

A crucial move for McLeod

“What a way to end the season!” -Mitchell McLeod

Indeed, the pressure was intense but Broekman was not succumbing. Several times, into the plum overtaking area at the end of the back straight, Broekman covered his line and made McLeod go the long way, if at all.

It was crunch time. With Down watching anxiously from…somewhere, he had nothing but a 42 point margin, and Broekman, to protect him from the coming of McLeod.

With barely three laps to go, that opening came. Broekman ran wide onto the back straight. McLeod had to get out of the throttle, but when Broekman showed no sign of blocking into the esses, he had a look up the inside anyway. “I didn’t really get much more of a run then any other lap, but I think Rens was a little bit (more) rattled, so I had a bit more of a look..to my surprise Rens braked earlier than normal, so I went up the inside and we went side by side through the esses..”.

By the time they reached the start finish line, and scarcely before, the move was done. McLeod to the lead.

But was it enough?

Wood's night ends ingloriously

Most attention was on the title fight, even with one of the contenders only via proxy, but some races finished early for some top ten players. Stuart Wood’s stellar end to the season fizzled with an unlucky blown engine at the end of Lap One. Hamstead, also with mega results in recent rounds, copped a drive through penalty for a cut track on lap 2, later falling off the track in frustration.

Black, Fullerton and Rodgers hard at it

McLeod won by a little over a second from Broekman. Ruggier was an impressive third from U’Ren and Muggleton, who had enjoyed a healthy battle, heading U’Ren until his tyres went off. Whatmore was sixth from Cox, while Simon Black, George Fullerton and Paul Rodgers rounded out the top ten covered by a small blanket.

In the end, the iRacing virtual points boffins decreed that McLeod’s stirring victory was not enough, much to the spectating Down’s relief. “Not truly knowing if i’d done enough to win… pretty nervous stuff. It was a great feeling to finally get confirmation.”

The plaudits for young Madison flowed, not least of all from his main rival McLeod. “What a way to end the season! I’m making a habit of winning the last race or two and just missing out on the title. Congratulations to Madison on yet ANOTHER championship..!”

We keep saying this series always gets better- and it always does.

SERIES FINAL TABLE TBA

Alfalla scored three wins and eight more top five finishes en route to the 2011 NiSWC, clinching the title with one race remaining in the season.  In addition, he enhanced his reputation as a fine all ‘round sim racer by taking a pair of top five finishes en route to fifteenth in the NVIDIA Grand Prix Series (NGPS).

Alfalla and Nick Rend from NASCAR with the Championship trophy

“First I’d like to thank all of the iRacers who voted for me. This is the icing on the cake to a great year, not just for me but for iRacing,” said Alfalla, who will be featured in Racer magazine’s upcoming Drivers of the Year issue.  “There are so many wonderful people on the service, not just good sim racers but great sportsmen.  I considered myself fortunate to have done well in both the NiSWC and NGPS, but for the members to vote me Driver of the Year is truly a special honor.”

The iRacer Member of the Year is awarded to a member for their “technical contributions, helping other drivers and/or simply adding to the fun, fellowship and sense of community.”  As founder of Trading Paints, the service which enables iRacers to share their custom-designed vehicle paint schemes with other members, Luvender is a most deserving winner of the award.

“This is quite an honor—not just for me personally, but for everyone connected with Trading Paints,” said Luvender, “especially our programmer, Shawn Brant. Without Shawn’s constant efforts and the ongoing support of the iRacing community, Trading Paints wouldn’t exist in its current form today. There were a lot of deserving people nominated for Member of the Year who formed the iRacing community into what it is today through efforts of their own, which makes it even more gratifying to have been chosen for the award by the iRacing membership.”

Luvender and Fellow iRacer and NASCAR driver Landon Cassill

“On behalf of everyone at iRacing, I’m delighted to congratulate Ray and Steve on being named iRacers of the Year,” said Tony Gardner, president of iRacing.com.  “Being selected for these awards by our membership is a real tribute to the contributions Ray and Steve made to iRacing, on and off the virtual race tracks.  That they were chosen from a field of truly outstanding candidates only serves to underline the significance of their achievements.”

In addition to Alfalla, candidates for the iRacing Driver of the Year included Chris Hughson, Greger Huttu, Hugo Luis and Yang Ou.  The iRacing members selected Luvender as iRacing Member of the Year from a field featuring John Bodin, Glenn Chalder , Rusty Greer, Chris Hall , Nick Neben, Pete Ness, Tim Terry, Stephane Turpin and Jari Ylimainen.

The green flag waves on the inaugural iRacing.com Pro Race of Champions (iPRoC) this Wednesday, December 14.  Make that two green flags, as top professional race drivers from around the world will compete in a pair of online races Wednesday evening, both of which will be broadcast on www.iRacing.com/live beginning at 8 pm EST.

The first event will see the Pros racing their digital Chevrolet Silverados for 25 laps under the lights on iRacing’s virtual version of Charlotte Motor Speedway. In the “night cap,” the Pros will tackle Watkins Glen International’s Cup Course for ten laps in their Mazda MX5s.

More than two dozen professional race drivers are expected to compete in Wednesday’s races including NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Bobby Labonte, GRAND-AM Rolex Series champion Alex Gurney, ALMS GT champion Joey Hand, IndyCar drivers Justin Wilson and Sebastian Saavedra, perennial NHRA Funny Car winner Ron Capps, Australian V8 Supercar front runner Shane van Gisbergen and Formula One veterans Stefan Johansson and Scott Speed.

“Everyone at iRacing is tremendously excited by the prospects of this event,” says Tony Gardner, President of iRacing.com. “How cool is it to have big names from most of the top series racing each other . . . from the comfort of their living rooms around the world? It’s a testament to the incredible strides online racing has made in just the past couple of years.  And the best is yet to come.”

Ron Capps will display his familiar NAPA logo on his race cars in the iRacing Pro Race of Champions

“I’m really looking forward to Wednesday,” says Capps. “It’s going to be fun racing against guys from NASCAR, F1, IndyCar, ALMS and GRAND-AM . . . showing everyone I can race for more than a quarter mile, not to mention turn left AND right. And the fact that fans all over the world can watch it live makes it even more special.  I can’t wait.”

Aside from bragging rights, there’s nearly $2,000 at stake, as iRacing will make contributions to the top three finishers’ favorite charities. The overall winner will be determined by the cumulative results from both races, with iRacing donating $1,500 to his favorite charity, $500 to the charity of the runner-up and $250 to the third placed driver’s charity of choice.

A list of expected participants for the iRacing.com Pro Race of Champions is below.

Qualifying for the iPRoC starts at 8 pm eastern time on Wednesday, December 14.  Be sure and catch all the action on www.iracing.com.

Joey Logano – NASCAR

Alex Gurney – GRAND-AM

Bobby Labonte – NASCAR

Ron Capps – NHRA

Justin Wilson – INDYCAR

Shane van Gisbergen – Aussie V8 Supercars

Scott Speed – NASCAR / F1

Stefan Johansson – F1 & CART

Matt Plumb – GRAND-AM

Colin Braun – NASCAR

Joey Hand – ALMS

Timmy Hill – NASCAR

Tommy Kendall – IMSA / TV Broadcaster

Matt Halliday – Aussie V8 / Porsche Supercup

Trevor Hopwood – GRAND-AM

Frank Kimmel II – ARCA

Martin Plowman – INDYCAR

Barry Waddell – GRAND-AM

Sebastian Saavedra – INDYCAR

Josh Wise – NASCAR

Eric Curran – GRAND-AM

Brandon Davis – NASCAR

Dominic Cicero – ALMS

David Ragan – NASCAR

Peter Dempsey – INDYCAR

Chad McCumbee – NASCAR

Coleman Pressley – NASCAR

Brandon Buchberger’s name may not quite be synonymous with the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series, but that’s not for wanting of trying – or a lack of results – on the part of the Sugar Grove, IL resident.  Consider that, since first running the NiCCS seriously in 2009, Season 4, Buchberger has never finished worse than ninth in the overall standings; or that he’s amassed nearly 80 wins in that stretch.

True, the NiCCS title has been elusive – so far – the 24 year old Buchberger wheeled his Silverado into the series points lead in the early going on the strength of three wins in six starts, to enjoy a narrow edge on rivals Alex Warren and Tyler D Hudson.   A frontrunner in the GSRacing.net Truck Series league, Buchberger is also making a run at qualifying for the 2012 NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship.  He currently sits 31^st in the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series standings, six places shy of the cut-off mark to qualify for the third edition of the NiSWC . . . not bad, considering he missed the NiPS season opener at Texas Motor Speedway.

With a NiCCS title and a spot in the 2012 NiSWC in his sights, it’s safe to say 2011 Season 4 is an important one in Buchberger’s sim racing career.

Q:        How long have you been sim racing?

A:        Since 2000.

Q:        What attracted you to iRacing?

A:        I played NR2K3 and my friend Jamie Macari gave me an invite before iRacing went public.

Q:        What are favorite iRacing cars/tracks?

A:        Nationwide COT is my favorite car. Bristol and Dover are my favorite tracks.

Q:        What do you like most about iRacing?

A:        The competitiveness.

racing games

Q:        What would you change about iRacing?

A:        Rating systems for IR and SR.

Q:        How many hours a week do you spend on iRacing?

A:        20

Q:        Tell us about the paint schemes on your helmet/car(s). hi

A:        Tanner Stoops and Mason Baker painted-up all my cars. They are mostly remakes of my favorite cup driver, Matt Kenseth.

Q:        What other sim racing activities (Forza, Gran Tourismo, etc.) do you do?

A:        Gran Turismo 5 and Forza 3.

Buchberger battles with Thomas Hazard (9) under the lights at Richmond. (photo GSRacing.net)

Q:        What are your favorite video games?

A:        iRacing, Battlefield, Driver

Q:        What is your most memorable iRacing moment?

A:        Making Pro for the 2011 Pro Series.

Q:        What is the iRacing moment you’d love to forget?

A:        Every time I wreck.

Q:        What car/track would you like to see iRacing add to the service?

A:        I would love to see super late models and either Slinger Speedway or Madison International Speedway.

Q:        What person, living or dead, do you most admire? Why?

A:        Alan Kulwicki.  He ran things how he wanted to, and his Cup championship proved that he could do it his way.

Q:        What’s your favorite real world racing series?

A:        Sprint Cup Series

Q:        Name the title of the most recent book you read.

A:        The Golden Age of Wisconsin Auto Racing.

Alan Kulwicki . . . ran things how he wanted to, and his Cup championship proved that he could do it his way.

Q:        Name of your favorite movie/TV show?

A:        How I Met Your Mother.

Q:        How many of your close friends are iRacing members?

A:        Probably about 3.

Q:        Has competing with iRacers all around the world influenced your opinions/outlook on life/world events? How?

A:        Nope, I come home and race to have fun and get away from the stresses of my job.

Kerkhof motored to a second consecutive win and a 100% winning average in the iPSRR.

Although Kerkhof was pipped to pole position by Martin Kronke, who set a time of 1:06.416 during his solitary qualifying run, Team Redline’s newest member soon redressed the balance by snatching the lead at the opening corner. “The start was not one of my best to be honest,” conceded Kronke. “I released the clutch a little bit too fast and Atze got past me pretty easily.”

Whilst the front row got away from the line cleanly, the remaining grid was thrown into turmoil when Simon Crochart in third and Jeremy Bouteloup in sixth position, suffered simultaneous engine failures. Although the sim racers limped their cars off the racing line, unsighted by the twin plumes of black smoke, Roy Kolbe powered his Williams-Toyota FW31 into the back of Bouteloup’s car.  Further back, Klaus Ellenbrand steered into Andrew Slocombe, who then collected Gerd Hoeffer on their way to an early retirement.

The start was punctuated by the smoke of burning rubber and exploding engines.

Capitalising on the baulked start for the majority of the field, Kerkhof, Kronke and Samuel Libeert made an immediate breakaway, with the trio establishing a two-second gap over the pack within a few laps of the green flag. By the time the leaders had visited the pits for their first scheduled stop around Lap 24, less than three-seconds covered the trio. And when Kerkhof stopped for his second service on Lap 56, Kronke was getting a jewellers-eye view of the leader’s gearbox.

Undeterred by the attention, Kerkhof continued to post hot lap after hot lap, before completing his final trip to pit-lane for fuel and tyres with a six-second margin. From here the Finn maintained the gap to the chequered flag, to crown a flawless drive around the virtual 2.6 mile Okayama track.

“I’m really happy with this one. Okayama was a complete new track for me and I struggled a lot to find the pace here.” the Pro Series points lead shared this week. “Martin turned out to be on the same strategy and at every end of the stint I it seemed that I was a bit more comfortable with the car. I must say that Martin drove a flabbergasting pace and big kudos to him and Samuel!”

For Kronke, his final stint proved to be a nervous one, as Libeert found a step-up in pace in the closing laps of the race.

“In the end I was shocked that Sam closed the gap so quickly forcing me to push a little bit in the final laps. And what I’ve learned this race: 83 laps of Okayama are exhausting,” My3id’s Kronke told inRacingNews.

“83 laps of Okayama are exhausting.” — Martin Kronke

Following an immense battle to finish in the top-five, Rudy Van Buren clawed his way through the field, to claim fourth position ahead of Emil Spindel. After picking his way through the smoke at the green flag, Van Buren found himself in seventh position and hot on the heels of Jeffrey Rietveld, Andre Boettcher and Spindel, who had pulled off a daring double-pass on the second corner to jump up to fourth spot. With the fleet’s first scheduled stops complete, Boettcher had gained as spot, as had Van Buren, when the pair poached the respective positions from Spindel and Rietveld. However, Boetcher’s promotion was short lived, as the German hit the wall hard on Lap 32 after getting a wheel on the grass on the exit of Turn Two, handing the advantage back to Spindel.  But 17 laps later, Spindel dropped a position when Van Buren slipped past the Scandinavian through the infield complex.

Van Buren (left) forged past Spindel through the infield for an eventual fourth place.

Meanwhile, My3id’s Marcus Saari who was playing out a two-stop strategy, leap-frogged his way into fourth position by the half-way stage and looked set for his first top-five finish of the season as the race drew to a close. Then with just 11 laps remaining, a lapse in concentration sent him falling down the order and out of the race, following an innocuous contact with the tire-wall at Turn Ten.  Saari’s exit left the path clear for Van Buren, Spindel, Rietveld and Schmalenback to claim fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Saari's late race "off" cost him a potential fourth place finish.

“Starting off on the stints pace was good,” Spindel said. “But it got exponentially worse as the stints went on, as usual on high (downforce) tracks for me . . . I need to understand why this is. Why my pace on worn tires sucks so hard. If it’s a set-up issue or a confidence issue.  I need to look into this.”

Rounding out the top-ten, Marius Golombeck made a net gain of thirteen positions over the course of the race, besting Pablo and Daniel Lopez to eighth position in the process.

Two rounds of the iRacing.com Pro Series Road Racing are now complete, and Atze Kerkhof holds a maximum 100 points in his pocket. With the Dutch sim-racer being the only one to show consistent form in the opening races, his lead stands at an impressive 38 points over Spindel, who is just four ahead of Roland Ehnström, who came home in 12th spot at Okayama.

Round Three of the iPSRR heads to Indianapolis in less than seven days time, where the fight for that all important top 25 in the standings and promotion to the 2012 World Championship will continue unabated.

Tim’s Corner officially announced Friday that they will be bringing live updates from 18 NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series and iRacing Road Pro Series races to TimsCorner.ca that are not currently slated for live video streaming on PSRtv. The live updates will include text and photo reports as the events happen on the track as the cars and stars of the Pro Series vie for their shot at their respective Drivers World Championship Series, which will begin in February 2012.

Tim Terry, owner of Tim’s Corner and one of the voices of the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship will be one of the producers of the live updates throughout the races and is excited to once again bring the racing to the fans of iRacing. “I wanted to create an extra venue for those who either couldn’t watch the race live for whatever reason or do not gain access to watching the race within the sim,” explained Terry. “Fans will be able to come to TimsCorner.ca and join in the fun five minutes before qualifying begins. We will be doing our best to keep fans abreast on who is leading qualifying in addition to race updates.”

Terry also adds that there will be an interactive segment to the event as well. “With the CoveritLive software we will be using, fans will be able to comment throughout the race. We will also be experimenting with live trivia and polls. Our main goals with this project are to keep iRacers and fans alike up to date with what’s going on at the race and also to have some fun with it.”

The first race that will feature live updates will take place on Saturday, November 12^th as the iRacing Road Pro Series takes to the track at Okayama International Circuit for Round Two of their 12 week season. Fans will be able to take part in trivia throughout the race with the overall winner receiving a $12 iRacing Gift Card. iRacing Gift Cards can be used to purchase subscriptions or content from iRacing.com.

2011-12 Tim’s Corner Live Update Schedule

Date – Series – Track

November 12^th, 2011 – iRPS – Okayama International Circuit

November 15^th, 2011 – NiPS – Homestead-Miami Speedway

November 19^th, 2011 – iRPS – Indianapolis Motor Speedway

November 22^nd, 2011 – NiPS – Atlanta Motor Speedway

November 29^th, 2011 – NiPS – Ricmond International Raceway

December 3^rd, 2011 – iRPS – Phillip Island Circuit

December 6^th, 2011 – NiPS – Charlotte Motor Speedway

December 10^th, 2011 – iRPS – Circuit Park Zandvoort

December 13^th, 2011 – NiPS – New Hampshire Motor Speedway

December 17^th, 2011 – iRPS – Virginia International Raceway

December 20^th, 2011 – NiPS – Dover International Speedway

*December 23^rd, 2011 – iRPS – Road Amerca

December 27^th, 2011 – NiPS – Pocono Raceway

*December 30^th, 2011 – iRPS – Oulton Park Circuit

January 3^rd, 2012 – NiPS – Las Vegas Motor Speedway

January 7^th, 2012 – iRPS – Watkins Glen International

January 10^th, 2012 – NiPS – Michigan International Speedway

January 14^th, 2012 – iRPS – Sebring International Raceway

iRPS – iRacing Road Pro Series – held on Saturday (Eastern)

NiPS – NASCAR iRacing Pro Series – held on Tuesday (Eastern)
*Races to be held on Friday due to holiday.

Much like the Las Vegas IZOD IndyCar finale’s celebrations were horribly muted by the loss of Dan Wheldon, this end-of-term party was spoiled by yet another motorsport tragedy, this time the death of MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli. It was a dark week for world motorsport. As said last week, the whole motorsport community feels it heavily, and sim racers are no different.

Still, the V8 iRacers got on with business and with Madison Down atop the series ladder with a margin of 68 points to Mitchell McLeod, a solid result would secure his second title.

But this is sim racing,  where real life tends to get in the way somewhat more than it does for the people who race in real life. Down was absent on work duties, so McLeod took advantage with pole position in Split One of the 7.45pm race, a whisker from Nfinity teammate Broekman. With Down’s points lead however, hauling him in would prove to be a tall order.

McLeod returned, and showed the way. Race two, the roles were reversed.

Cal Whatmore and Paul Larkin were having red-letter days, filling out the second row.

Next was Stuart Wood, Josh Muggleton, Samuel Collins, Richard Lock, Marty Atkins and series sponsor Bigpond’s Vern Norrgard in tenth.

The top three launched in grid order. Wood and Muggleton mugged Larkin and took over fourth and fifth respectively, shuffling him back to sixth.

Whatmore holds off Wood

By Lap Ten, McLeod had eked out a three second lead on Broekman. Whatmore was not having it so easy, being molested by Wood. Road Atlanta’s flowing curves punish all errors but don’t reward the pursuer easily. Whatmore got tail happy and all but left the road at Turn Two more than once, but Wood was unable to capitalise on the awkward downhill slalom before the back straight.

Muggleton was getting similar attention from Larkin.

“I was probably a bit kind to Rens in Turn One” – Mitchell McLeod

Further back Collins, Lock, Atkins and Hingston were spread out. Norrgard in eleventh was being harrassed by Trevor Johnson. Johnson almost pulled off one of those passes which took several corners to construct, taking the outside of eight and nine, dragging up the back straight to position himself on the inside at 10A, only to outbrake himself, run wide, and allow Norrgard back through.

Norrhard and Johnson fight it out

By Lap 21, Whatmore had dropped Wood, who had in turn fallen into the clutches of the Larkin and Muggleton duel. In fact, Whatmore did more than just drop Wood- he caught Broekman.

Lock and Atkins were also hard at it, a squirming Lock even offering Atkins a free pass, but Atkins was suffering equal tyre trouble, so they elected to race it out anyway. Atkins prevailed eventually, with a slight touch into Turn One.

Larkin eventually took his spot back from Muggleton

For an “uneventful” V8 supercar race, there sure was plenty of action. McLeod won by over 13 seconds from Broekman, Whatmore, Wood, Larkin, Muggleton, Collins, Atkins, Lock and Norrgard.

The second split was won by Warren Pead from Thomas Guerrini and Darren Smith. Split Three saw Paul Gallen break through for his first win from Yoon Ho Choi and Robert Northway.

RACE 2 at 9.45pm was basically the same suspects. McLeod started from pole from Broekman, U’Ren and Muggleton.

Broekman took the lead and was never headed.”I was probably a bit too kind to Rens going in to turn one” said McLeod, who shadowed him for the entire race. U’Ren came in third, making it an Nfinity 1-2-3.  Cal Whatmore was fourth from Beau Cubis, Samuel Collins,  and Jakob Fredriksson. Joshua Muggleton was running third until he looped it at the final corner on Lap Ten, running in fifth, but limping home eighth after contact with Cubis.

Next were Simon Black, Richard Lock, George Fullerton and Vern Norrgard.

Split Two was won by Bryan Godsall from Kevin Duwel and Trevor Johnson. Split Three: James McKnight, Todd Gibson and Andrew Cooper.

For McLeod, in the end, it wasn’t enough.”I thought I had (Down) covered at the beginning of the series, but he came back strong. Well done to him…”

DIVISION WINNERS:

1. MADISON DOWN

2. CRAIG WOODHOUSE

3. COLIN BOYD

4. ANGELO MASTRANTONI

5. WAYNE CULLEN

6. THOMAS GUERRINI

7. CARWYN MAY

8. PAUL GALLEN

9. KEVIN JOHNSON

10. SIMON WILLIAMSON

11. JOHN BRIGGS

FINAL OVERALL STANDINGS SEASON 3

At Week Ten of the iRacing V8 Supercar Series by Bigpond Sport, the battle was revisited under the night skies of Sebring. Unlike NASCAR, Australia’s premier race cars’ headlights are real.

With daylight savings the focus, and the availability, of the competitors was divided over two evening races. For “Race 1″ of Week Ten, Rens Broekman was on pole from series leader Madison Down. Joshua Muggleton followed up his VIR podium with third grid spot here.

The boys light up

Next was split one newbie Beau Cubis from Lewis Dodimead, Cal Whatmore, Simon Black, Richard Lock, Paul Larkin and Gavin Barton. With the divided evening, and the Bathurst real-world casualties, it was a depleted field, highly uncharacteristic in this iRacing bonanza category.

As the green lights pierced the darkness, Broekman got the jump, while Down was surrounded by Muggleton and Cubis. Down and Cubis made contact, which spun Cubis into Broekman. This sent all three trackside while Muggleton broke free into the lead, followed by Dodimead. “It was just racing” said Down. “Three into one didn’t go”.

Muggleton heads in the right direction. Down, Cubis and Broekman don't...

All three continued, Down in 12th, quickly dispensing with Trans Tasman teammate Troy Cox, Broekman 13th, and Cubis 14th. There was further carnage at the hairpin with Lock, Boulton and Larkin heading to the grass.

Lost in the dark. Lock, Boulton and Larkin scramble for some light

Muggleton asserted himself in the lead. Dodimead could not stay with him, but had a clear gap from a battling Black and Whatmore. Behind that pair was Samuel Collins, Gavin Barton, David Hingston, Sam Cashen and Paul Rodgers, all battling wildly. They were all about to be swept up by a charging Down.

“Three into one didn’t go” -Madison Down

By lap seven, Down had cleared that lot and caught up to Whatmore and Black. He made short work of both of them. Then, anticlimactically, his internet failed, ruining a great comeback.

Broekman, meanwhile, had made it to fourth place. On Lap 12 he hounded third placed Whatmore, getting the position at the hairpin. Whatmore then spun gracefully exiting onto the back straight, grabbing a gear and setting off only one position the poorer.

Heading into the unknown: Boulton, Cubis, Cox, Collins, Rodgers, with Hingston and Broekman up ahead

Down had reconnected, a lap down, and set to work recovering some dignity. Amazingly, the next position (14th placed Matt Anderson) was only half a lap up the road. With series rival McLeod sitting this one out, any points would do.

Muggleton was free of all this with a 12 second lead over Dodimead and Broekman, who was catching second place hand over fist, but ran out of laps. Muggleton ran out the winner.

Lewis Dodimead in his newly skinned FG01 brought it home in second ahead of Rens Broekman

Barton was now fourth, Rodgers fifth and Whatmore sixth. Cubis’ recovery netted him seventh from Black, Cox and Collins.

Muggleton was humble in victory, more worried about whether he had played a part in the first corner melee, unnecessarily so as it turned out. Relieved, he was free to enjoy his first win, somewhat of an inevitability, in a season of rising form.

Two other split winners at 7.45 were Thomas Guerrini and Wayne Cullen. Guerrini also took out the second split at 9.45.

In the 9.45pm race, Madison Down made no mistakes and won from Rens Broekman and race  one winner Muggleton, still leaving us with an interesting series table, with two rounds to go.

OVERALL DIVISION TABLE.

Real world V8 Supercar racer Scott McLaughlin loves the sweeping, razor-edge curves of the full VIR layout, and he duly snared pole position from Rens Broekman. Series leader Madison Down was third from Richard Hamstead. Fifth was Mitch McLeod after his absence in Round 8, hoping to claw back some margin having slipped to 3rd in the title. Craig Woodhouse was next from the third Nfinity driver Scott U’Ren.

Next was Richard Lock, Stuart Wood and Bigpond Sport’s Vern Norrgard giving a season-best qualifying performance to be tenth.

McLaughlin leads, but no foregone conclusion

Some new faces appeared in Jason Brunton, Blake Haswell, Gavin Barton (qualifying 12th only a smidgeon behind Simon Black) and John Evans. Meanwhile, Okayama nearly-man Shane Van Gisbergen was spectating, in readiness for the race which stops Australia, the Bathurst 1000, this coming weekend.

With the red lights out, McLaughlin got away cleanly and shut the door on Broekman. Down got a shocking start by his standards (probably okay by Mark Webber’s) and had to fend off Hamstead, who duly got sandwiched into Turn One and rear-ended by Woodhouse. Hamstead then made an awkward attempt on McLeod into Turn Three NASCAR bend, both sliding sideways but continuing as they were. U’Ren trumped Woodhouse and Norrgard did the same to Wood.

Hamstead and McLeod get cosy behind the Barn

McLaughlin was showing serious form in the Hyper Stimulator Falcon, pulling out to a near- 2 second lead by lap 3. Down was clearly in championship consolidation mode, although with Broekman in front of him, now second in the series, he was in no mood to let the leaders escape, keeping the yellow Nfinity car well under the pump.

With Australia's biggest enduro approaching, McLaughlin hopes his errors are confined to the virtual world

Just when things looked settled, McLaughlin spun exiting Turn 5A before the “Snake”, copping a whack from McLeod as he rejoined. Moments later, Broekman did the same thing at the Oak Tree, gifting his pursuer Down with what was now the lead.

Tie a yellow Falcon round the old oak tree... Broekman inherited the lead for a few corners

And Down didn’t even need to pass anyone. When you’re hot…

McLaughin was having all sorts of handling dramas, with another spin on lap eight at Turn Four this time, dropping to sixth  just ahead of the recovering Broekman.

The title cream had risen to the top. Down was leading, now McLeod was behind him in second place. A better script could not be written, save for perhaps a series finale!

There was a six second gap back to Hamstead, then U’Ren, McLaughlin, Broekman, Norrgard now a brilliant seventh, Woodhouse, then Wood in ninth having squeezed past Lock in a handy move into Turn One on Lap 11. Lock was now having a fearsome battle with Cal Whatmore and Dylan Gulson, back in the top split after some absence.

Wood, Lock, Whatmore and Co do battle

Newcomer Barton was an impressive 12th, from Black, Wauchope, Vouch, Haswell, Brunton and Evans.

Broekman’s troubled run came to an end commencing Lap 12, when his engine cried enough with that telltale ugly puff of grey.

McLeod tried to keep his championship rival within grasp, but the gap was out to 2 seconds with two laps to go.

Hamstead, McLaughlin and U’Ren soldiered on with similar gaps between them. Norrgard was now a season best sixth, having scored well in the Sunday Evening races.

Lock had now caught Wood, and Barton was past Whatmore. McLaughlin also was closing in on Hamstead for that final podium spot. As always, the race was shooting sparks in the closing laps.

Norrgard is enjoying a Bigpond spring.

McLeod, with dwindling hope of reeling in Down, settled for second in the end, Down victorious by two seconds, which was enough.

Hamstead fended off McLaughlin to claim third. Fifth was U’Ren from a happy Norrgard, then Woodhouse, Wood, Lock, Barton tenth in his first split one, Whatmore, Black, Gulson, Wauchope, Vouch, Haswell and Brunton.

While McLeod moves back into second in the series, bumping Broekman back one spot,  Down already has one hand on the trophy.

The other split winners were Mark Rayner and Carwyn May.

170 million of the 380 million laps were completed in the more than 30 racing series sanctioned by iRacing.com, which stages some 1,500 official races weekly including many in partnership with organizations such as NASCAR, IndyCar, GRAND-AM and the Super V8 series in Australia.   115 million laps took place in open practice, where iRacers can practice on-track with fellow members from more than 80 countries, while another 11 million laps were run during official qualifying sessions.   Some 30 million laps were turned in iRacing’s time trial competition, along with 15 million laps in “fun” races and special events like the iRacing Daytona 500 and iRacing Indy 500.

iRacing is also home to more than 200 private racing leagues, which generated another 50 million laps of sim racing competition.   Additionally, iRacing estimates its members have run hundreds of millions more laps in single car testing mode, although these laps are not included in the overall figures as the service does not store those laps in its database.

“400 million laps in 4 years?  That is pretty amazing,” said iRacing CEO Dave Kaemmer.  “To put it in perspective, that is about 400 million miles . . . or almost 800 round trips to the moon . . . or 16,000 times around the earth.”

iRacing’s President Tony Gardner mused, “ If we included laps in testing, we could be closing in on one billion laps, all without one drop of real fuel consumed or one car repair bill.”

Gardner added that iRacing plans to have some fun celebrating the milestone 500 millionth lap . . . which is just around the corner.   Whoever drives the 500 millionth lap will receive a 5 year membership to iRacing.   Also, any drivers who run any official series race lap on the day of the milestone 500 millionth lap will receive $5 of iRacing credit.   In addition, whoever runs the most official series laps between now and the 500 millionth lap will receive $500 of iRacing credit.  Since road courses tend to be longer than ovals, iRacing will also award $500 to the member completing the most official road course laps. Lastly, whoever has the most official wins between now and the 500 millionth lap will also receive $500 of iRacing credit.

“The laps are adding-up quickly now that we have over 30,000 active and passionate members,” he said.  “We estimate the 500 millionth lap will be run early in 2012.  We are very proud of this milestone because, obviously, people are having a lot of fun on iRacing to be driving this much.”

There are some strong candidates for the $500 of credit. Ralph Shipman of iRacing’s New York Club has already driven 324,416 laps or, to put it another way, has circled the earth over a dozen times by himself. Carmen Comeau (Eastern Canada) has driven 249,939 laps while Carl Sundberg (Scandinavia) is not far behind at 243,986 laps completed.  Some other noteworthy iRacers include Chris Hughson (New York), who has 1,649 official wins, followed by Nicholas Vandal (Eastern Canada) and Shawn Haverly (California) with 1,221 and 894 respectively.

Although real world drivers often use iRacing for private testing to help with their real jobs, they are no strangers to mixing-it-up with everyday members, running official laps and official races in the simulated racing world.   For example, Sprint Cup drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr, Joey Logano, AJ Allmendinger, David Ragan, Scott Speed and Brad Keselowski have combined for over 80,000 laps and 283 wins. NASCAR Nationwide drivers Landon Cassill, Matt DiBenedetto, Kevin Swindell and Josh Wise have combined for 65,000 laps and 111 wins.  NHRA driver Ron Capps has 3,400 laps to his credit and has visited the iRacing winner’s circle, and ARCA’s Frank Kimmel II and Parker Kligerman have combined for over 61,000 laps and 69 wins. GRAND-AM Rolex Series drivers Jordan Taylor, Matt Plumb and Spencer Pumpelly have over 25,000 laps and 131 iRacing wins to their credit, while ALMS drivers Simon Pagenaud and Dion von Moltke have in excess of 8,000 laps and 15 wins between them.  IZOD IndyCar Series drivers Ed Carpenter, Simona De Silvestro, Martin Plowman, Will Power, Oriol Servia and Justin Wilson have combined for 130 iRacing wins in almost 20,000 laps. Star Mazda drivers Alex Ardoin and Sage Karam have combined for 18,000 laps and 71 wins, and USAC National Midget competitor Dillon Welch has run more than 7,000 laps with 17 wins.   V8 SuperCar drivers Fabian Coulthard and Shane van Gisbergen have driven over 25,000 laps with 176 victories, while South Africa Can-Am champion Darryn Lobb has over 22,000 laps on the iRacing service with 90 victories.

In celebration of the many milestones already achieved, iRacing is offering a special subscription package for new members including six cars, eight tracks and rookie licenses in both oval and road racing at more than 60% off the regular cost (http://www.iracing.com/2-free/).  And catch iRacing’s latest video  (http://www.youtube.com/user/iRacingTV#p/c/55FD8A5F9F5FB3E2/0/s5BZU_XOEmU) to see what all the fun is about.

With less than half the season to run and only three points separating series leader Mitch McLeod from the rapidly closing Madison Down, things were getting tense.

McLeod did what he needed, duly taking pole from Madison Down, by 5/1000ths of a second, the story of the season. Once again, Down was the cat amongst the Nfinity pidgeons, with U’Ren and Broekman third and fourth.

Richard Hamstead was an excellent fifth in his first Monday night top split appearance. Next was Craig Woodhouse, Shay Griffith, Joshua Muggleton, Lewis Dodimead and Richard Lock. Outside the top ten were Cal Whatmore, George Fullerton, Simon Black, Simone Gelli, Marty Atkins, Darrin Vouch, Guy Leach, David Hingston, David Bente and another Split One first timer, Finland’s Roope Turkkila.

Sadly for Griffith, connection issues sidelined him before the green light. McLeod watched his pole position fizzle as Down squeezed through paddock bend into the lead.  Broekman, U’Ren and Woodhouse followed from Hamstead, Muggleton and Dodimead.

Richard Hamstead's superb qualifying performance came undone on Lap One

Muggleton tapped Hampstead into Graham Hill, unloading the newcomer. Muggleton duly spun out of sixth place a lap later exiting Paddock Bend. It halted Muggleton’s impressive performance thus far in the season “Very disappointed this week in myself. I wasn’t there mentally and paid the price.”

Fullerton had made a mother of a start and was up to seventh by lap three, working over the back of Dodimead, until he slipped through to sixth with a demon move into the Druids Hairpin.

Muggleton put himself out of his own misery early

Much like the series leaderboard, both Down and McLeod pounded out the early laps nose to tail with a gap opening out back to Broekman in third, who was still followed by Nfinity teammate U’Ren. Behind Woodhouse in fifth and Fullerton sixth were Dodimead and Whatmore. A little further back were Gelli, Vouch, Leach and Lock, ninth back to 12th.

A recovering Hamstead began working over Atkins with some contact through Turn Seven on Lap Four, before sliding past awkwardly at the hairpin a lap later. Atkins was also passed by Bente while unsettled. Atkins returned fire on Bente into the uphill left hander at the end of Cooper Straight unloading Bente out of contention. There were definitely some terse moods going on.

By lap Six U’Ren had squeezed past Broekman but Down and McLeod were already six seconds up the road. Broekman stayed with him and kept eachother occupied as the lead pair extended the gap. Craig Woodhouse was still in fifth, and George Fullerton was a season best sixth, keeping Woodhouse in check. Behind him in seventh and eighth were Dodimead and Whatmore.

The field tries to chase Down

Commencing Lap 13 Broekman got a run on U’Ren and passed him into Paddock Bend, U’Ren then tapping him into a half-spin at Druids Hairpin. It was the cardinal sin between teammates, but U’Ren backed off to let Broekman back in front on the run down the hill into Graham Hill. A lap later, Fullerton got past a squirming Woodhouse who had got it all wrong into the uphill left hander, allowing George to drag past him on the long forest section straight. Fullerton now fifth.

U'Ren sees a possible pay cut coming at Nfinity Esports

Eventually, Dodimead and Whatmore joined the fun. Meanwhile Darrin Vouch spun into the pit entrance wall at the end of Lap 14, and reset a lap down. He had another spin later on at Turn Seven, wondering what ladder he’d walked under.

Gelli was ninth, under pressure from Leach, the red-misted Hamstead and Richard Lock. Hingston  was a relatively lonely 13th, ahead of Muggleton, Atkins, Bente and Roope Turkkila staying out of trouble in 17th.

Whatmore nailed Dodimead for seventh lap 17 at the end of long forest section straight, and eventually got past Woodhouse also.

“In the cockpit I was under big pressure” – Madison Down

Up front, Down had pulled out a 2.5 second lead. For McLeod, in terms of the championship, it may as well have been 2 laps, as they closed on the chequered flag. Thus they finished, from Broekman and U’Ren in Fourth. Fullerton and Whatmore fought tooth and nail for fifth on the last lap. Fullerton: “I saw Cal in the mirror with 1 to go…I spun up off the curb and hit the grass (at the penultimate turn). The next corner was ugly, both myself and Cal …driving off into the sand pit.” Whatmore and Fullerton limped home fifth and sixth, George still happy with his season best finish.

Fullerton scored an eventful sixth place.

Dodimead looked set to claim seventh from Woodhouse who was having all kinds of grip dramas. On the final lap, Woodhouse lost it into the Cooper Straight left hander and collected a helpless Dodimead. Woodhouse continued and finished seventh. but Dodimead crawled home with damage.

Hamstead was next after a charging recovery drive, then Gelli. Lock was tenth from the crabbing Dodimead, Hingston, Atkins, Muggleton and Bente.

Down: : “It looked like an easy race but I can tell you it was far from it. In the cockpit I was under big pressure, any mistake made and I knew that Mitch would’ve beaten me..”. Sure enough, five rounds to go, and Down now leads by 9 points.

While most would be thrilled with second place, McLeod was circumspect as his series lead disappeared. “I worked so hard to get pole this week because I knew how hard it was to pass around here, only to blow it off the line…”

Other split winners from four splits overall were Jay Boving, Stuart Chugg and Sean Carter.

SERIES OVERALL STANDINGS

Bedford, MA (September 14, 2011) – iRacing.com and McLaren Automotive today announced plans to build a virtual version of the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 race car.  Based on the groundbreaking McLaren MP4-12C road car, the first production car wholly designed and built by McLaren since the McLaren F1 – the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 marries Formula 1™ and innovative road-car technology with GT3 specification performance enhancements to create a new generation of racing car. iRacing.com will apply expertise in creating a state-of-the-art digital version of the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 that will be available to iRacing members in 2012.

The McLaren MP4-12C GT3 project is the second development from iRacing.com and the McLaren Group. Earlier this year, iRacing.com incorporated McLaren Electronics’ ATLAS Express data analysis software into the iRacing service, providing the more than 30,000 iRacers access to data acquisition and telemetry software similar to that used on every car competing in the FIA Formula One™ World Championship.

“It’s great to be working with McLaren on another exciting project that utilizes the outstanding technical know-how of our two organizations,” says Tony Gardner, president of iRacing.com. “We’re excited that we’ll be making our version of the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 available to the more than 30,000 iRacers next year.”

A McLaren spokesman said “McLaren Automotive are delighted that iRacing.com has chosen to develop a virtual edition of the MP4-12C GT3. We believe that the innovative features of the MP4-12C alongside our GT3 specification modifications will make an exciting proposition for online simulation racing fans. McLaren made extensive use of simulator technology in the development of the MP4-12C, and we hope this project will allow our fans to get a taste of the GT3 car and inspire the online community to show their support for the McLaren GT teams during the 2012 season.”

The McLaren MP4-12C GT3 utilizes the same carbon MonoCell chassis as the 12C road car, mated with the M838T 3.8 litre V8 twin turbo engine tuned in accordance with FIA regulations. The 12C GT3 features an aero package which was developed in McLaren’s Formula 1™ simulator together with the engine calibration, power steering, spring rates, weight distribution, gear ratios and differential settings.

Designed to be made available to a limited number of customer teams in 2012, McLaren began development of the 12C GT3 in March of this year. Initial tests at the MIRA proving ground and Silverstone were followed by additional testing at Circuito de Navarra in northern Spain and Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal. The McLaren MP4-12C GT3 made its competition debut in the British GT Championship at Spa-Francorchamps in July and has since raced in the Total 24 hours of Spa and Blancpain Endurance Series race at Magny Cours. In August, McLaren announced that the first 20 MP4-12C GT3 race cars had been sold.

You can see for yourself the performance of McLaren’s MP4-12C GT3 in the following videos:

http://youtu.be/375-d3t0guw?hd=1

http://youtu.be/en0n-XD03TA

Early in the race, it appeared that it was Parker’s race to lose. He started on the pole and was quickly building a gap when a massive crash happened off of Turn Two on the second lap of the race. The wreck was sparked when Derek Wood made contact with Patrick Baldwin, sending Baldwin spinning in front of the back half of the field. The incident collected over a dozen cars including Brad Wright, Connor Mackenzie, Jameson Spies, and Pedro Mojica, all of whom were force to retire with crash damage just a handful of laps into the event.

The wrecking was not over as the yellow flag would fly three more times before the race was fifty laps old. Patience was nowhere to be found as many drivers were doing everything they could to keep from losing any positions. As the field thinned with each crash, the racing took a turn for the better. The middle part of the race was full of green flag racing and even featured green flag pit stops.

Alfalla moved into second place behind Parker when the run started and slowly began reeling him in. Just before the two ducked for pit road for service, Alfalla passed Parker going into Turn One. Shortly thereafter, the caution came out which saved Alfalla. He risked losing time to those who had already stopped by staying on the track until his fuel tank was dry. This ended up being the winning call. “With the way the race was going under green, I knew Brad was going to take it if it stayed green,” Alfalla explained. “Too much of a risk though, so I decided to run the tank dry. Yellow came out, and it paid off.”

For the rest of the race, all Alfalla needed to do was survive the restarts, which he did without a problem. Parker was not so lucky. He lost his track position during the pit stops and ended up getting crashed out of the race. It was the latest in a long line of disappointments this season for the JRM driver. Alfalla easily held off John Gorlinsky over the last ten lap run for the win. Teammates Steven Sheehan and Brad Davies were third and fourth while Bryan Blackford scored a career best fifth place finish.

Last week’s winner Thomas Lewandowski was sixth while Thomas Hazard had another solid run, finishing seventh. John Prather, Vinnie Sansone, and Chad Coleman also had great runs, finishing eighth, ninth, and tenth respectively.

More importantly than getting his third victory of 2011, the win moved Alfalla to the brink of wrapping up the championship and the more than $10,000 in cash and prizes that come with it. Alfalla would wrap up the championship next race with a finish of twenty-first or better. Not a lock by any means but with an average finish of eighth this season, there is no reason not to believe Alfalla will have a great shot at being crowned champion after the penultimate race of the season in Phoenix.

At this point, the battle appears to be for second place in the championship. However, stranger things have happened in the NiSWC and last year’s race at Phoenix was one of the most action-packed of the year. Alfalla seems to have the title in hand. Can Gorlinsky or Hazard accomplish the impossible? Tune into PSRTV in two weeks’ time for all the action from the Valley of the Sun!

Weekly High Strength of Field

Ottinger, no stranger to winning, took home his seventh win of the season when he lead all 50 laps during this weeks Strength of Field (SoF) race. For his win, Ottinger added 167 points to his season total. Finishing in the second spot was Donny Moore (New England), over 15 seconds behind the race winner. For his efforts, Moore netted 151 points. Third was Andrew Humphrey (Mid-South), who was the only other driver to finish on the lead lap, nearly 17 seconds behind. Humphrey gained 136 points for his third place finish while Chase Raudman (California) gained 121 points for fourth. Rounding out the top five was Jeffery Weston (Illinois), who received 106 points.

Weekly Standings

Once again, Ottinger found himself on the top of the weekly standings after leading every lap in his two races this week. With his win in last weeks SoF race, Ottinger received 167 points. Moore found himself in the second spot in last weeks standings after finishing runner up to Ottinger in the weeks high SoF race in which he received 151 points. Third in the weekly standings belonged to Robert Williams (Northwest) after finishing second in last weeks second highest SoF race behind Kevin Holley (Plains), which earned him 151 points. Aliaksei Smolski (Central-Eastern Europe) found himself in the fourth position, with two wins in two starts and 150 points. Rounding out the top 5 was Elmar Erlekotte (DE-AT-CH), with one win and 149 points.

Season Standings

Ryan Field (Massachusetts) still finds himself at the top of the season point standings, after winning his only start of week six. Field gained 143 points to bring his season total to 955. Erlekotte still holds the second overall position. Erlokette gained 149 during week six, which brought his total points to 938, 17 points behind Field. Smolski moved up another spot this past week, moving into the third position. Smolski gained 150 points at Oxford Plains, which brings his points total to 873 points. Michael Vaughn (West) moved up one position last week after winning one of his two races and gaining 149 points and bringing his total to 865. Rounding out the top five in the season standings is James Trimple(Pennsylvania). Trimple, who was third in points before the trip to Oxford, won his only race from the pole and netted himself 121 points, which brought his total to 855 points.

Weekly Qualifying

Ottinger set the fastest qualifying time of the week with a 17.536 second lap around the 3/8th mile track. Erlekotte was second on the charts with a 17.566. Trimple qualified third overal with a 17.578s while Eric Purcell turned a 17.622s lap which was good enough for fourth overall. Fifth on the speed charts for the week was Smolski, who turned a 17.629 second lap.

For week seven of the season, the Street Stock Series will travel back to one of the most famous short tracks in the country, South Boston Speedway. Will Nick Ottinger continue his dominance or will a new face come and ruin his show? Find out next week on inRacingNews.

At the halfway mark of the iRacing V8 Supercar Series, as expected, a tight battle is unfolding at the sharp end of the points ladder. Mitchell McLeod leads by a slender 13 points from Madison Down, with Rens Broekman and Mick Claridge not far behind.

Even with points up for grabs in other splits and timeslots, regular participation in the “Monday Night Main” and consistent finishes, certainly pays off.

The form guide continued at Suzuka, it was Down who poled with a time of 2:03.914, the only driver in the 03′s, from Mitchell McLeod just a whisker behind on 2:04.057. Broekman was third from Scott U’Ren. An excellent fifth was Craig Woodhouse, from the consistently improving Joshua Muggleton.

The field plunges into Turn One

Seventh was Terry Nightingale Jr, again preferring the steering wheel to the microphone, then John Emerson, Richard Lock, and Shay Griffith tenth.

Outside the ten were Simone Gelli, Cal Whatmore, Darrin Vouch (fresh from a second place at Mid-Ohio in the Ford GT the night before), Colin Boyd, Guy Leach, David Hingston and Matt Anderson stepping up from lower splits, Bigpond’s Vern Norrgard, Mark Foley, Marty Atkins, Paul Rodgers, Mitchell Boulton and Mathew Probert among some of the new faces.

Down took the lead at the start as McLeod and Broekman fought over second, McLeod winning that battle. Muggleton pulled a demon start, passing  both U’Ren and Woodhouse to take up fourth, showing that his run of impressive finishes have been no fluke, a worthy front runner. Griffith was the only Turn One casualty, after moving into the path of Gelli. It was not quite Senna-Prost stuff but the contact was enough to put Griffith out of contention.

Muggleton had a great finish, and his start was even better

U’Ren got past Woodhouse and gave Muggleton no rest for fourth until Muggleton got sideways exiting the chicane at the end of Lap Four. U’Ren and Woodhouse pounced. Nightingale would have done so too, but for a cut track penalty at the same moment taking the wind out of his sails.

By Lap Six it was Down, McLeod, Broekman, U’Ren, Woodhouse and Muggleton. Nightingale carried on in seventh, with some choice drifting through the esses, appreciated by John Emerson in eighth. Lock was ninth and Boyd was hanging on to tenth by the skin of his teeth, as Hingston was all over the back of the TradingPost Falcon. Gelli and Norrgard soon joined this battle.

As the furiously drifting Nightingale closed up to the back of sixth-placed Muggleton, tyres were squirming, knuckles were white, and it was only Lap Eight of 23.

Up front, it had spread out somewhat, but McLeod was not letting Down out of his sight. That was his championship lead disappearing down the road.

Fully sick! Nightingale drifts...

Commencing Lap 11 and David Hingston bowed out of the battle for tenth with a pitstop for new tyres, which he regretted with hindsight. At the same time Muggleton was getting leery, giving XSG’s Nightingale a sniff at sixth. It didn’t end well for the XSG driver however, with a lose under brakes after going wide at the frightening 130R. Muggleton saw him coming, only slightly alarmed at the sudden appearance of Nightingale flying backwards at the chicane. Muggleton carried on serenely in sixth.

Whatmore and Boulton squeeze into the hairpin together

Behind them, Boulton, Whatmore and Leach battled over 13th-14th-15th, with some contact between the front pair into the hairpin.

Lap 13 and Nightingale’s night ended with a spin on the astroturf at Turn Two, getting clobbered by Lock.

“Ironically, I understeered straight off the road…” – Madison Down

Lap 14 and now first through to seventh was well spread, with Down in control. Now it was Boyd in eighth, fending off Norrgard, Gelli and Lock. Leach and Whatmore now fought over 12th and 13th. Atkins, Vouch, Griffith, Foley and Anderson filled 14th to 18th respectively. This entire bunch were covered by barely seven seconds.

Norrgard was the first to blink, albeit compulsorily, as he got a cut track penalty at the chicane on Lap 16. This simply allowed Gelli and Lock to have a crack at Boyd. Leach then snuck through Norrgard also, and not without some bumper-car action ensuing.Norrgard: “I tapped a few people, a few people tapped me…it was all just good hard racing.”

The furious battle for eighth

Whatmore and Atkins then starting pressuring an ailing Norrgard. It was action aplenty. The excitement carried on lap after lap, but Boyd would not relinquish eighth. Finally Lock, who had passed Gelli on Lap 17, nailed Boyd a lap later.

Things had not changed much up front. It was uncharacteristically processional by iRacing V8 standards, but the championship battle was tense enough, as still McLeod would not let Down away by more than 1.5 seconds. Just one mistake from Down was all he needed. He almost got it, too, with Down running widewhen he “softened off the front anti-roll bar … I wanted more turn and ironically I understeered straight off the road..” Still, the “Tilke Tarmac” saved him.

Lap 21, and Atkins and Whatmore came together on the run into 130R. Both drivers blamed the other, something which has never happened before in the history of motorsport incidents. (/sarc)

McLeod had closed right up to Down on the final lap but it was not to be. “I think I left it a little too late, gave Madison too much at the start, and then pushed too hard catching him..”

Down victorious by 0.6 seconds. In third was Broekman from Nfinity teammate U’Ren. Woodhouse, Muggleton and Emerson were rightfully elated with fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Lock withstood the furious midfield battle finishing eighth from Boyd, Gelli, Leach, Norrgard, Foley, Atkins, Hingston, Anderson, Whatmore, Vouch and Rogers still on the lead lap.

In the second split, the top three was Leigh Ellis, California’s David Comstock and Curt Bond. Split Three: Carwyn May, France’s Thibaut Bentejac and Clayton Brooks.

And McLeod’s championship lead? Pardon the pun, but it’s Down to 3 points….

Images courtesy of Bigpond Sport.

Broadcast at LiveStream.Com

DIVISION OVERALL STANDINGS

In an action packed 47 laps of the 4.048 mile virtual Road America, Hugo Luis held off a spirited attack in the closing minutes to seal his fourth win of the iRacing.com Nvidia Grand Prix Series and further increase his lead in the World Championship standings.

As the green flag dropped, Luis made the jump on Greger Huttu, who saw his pole-position immediately evaporate as he struggled to get traction off the line; and by the time the current Champion reached Turn One, he was surrounded by a swarm of My3id FW31s. Whilst Luis sailed off into the distance, the sister cars of Klaus Kivekas, Jesse Nieminen and then David Williams pushed Huttu down to fifth spot with passes at the opening bends and Turn-Five, where the Team Redline pilot struggled for control over the bumps.

Fortunately for Huttu, within three laps of the start, Nieminen dropped out of the top-twenty, following a collision with the outside wall of Turn-six, but the Finn continued to lose time on the leader, as My3id’s Williams used all his guile to keep him at bay for the benefit of Luis and Kivekas ahead. By the time of lap six, Huttu had carved a way past Williams on the inside of Turn-Five, and was looking to close the gap on Kivekas over five-seconds ahead.

When Luis headed to pit-lane for his first scheduled stop, his lead over second position was just over two-seconds, with Huttu a further six back; but just when it looked like a My3id fight for the win, Kivekas saw his Championship hopes fade when a hand cramp lead to his ultimate retirement a few laps after his pit-stop. “I got a cramp in my left hand all of a sudden and had to drive one-handed while trying to stand the pain at the same time.” Kivekas shared with inRacingNews. “I managed a few laps and then went to the wall. Can’t remember when I last had a cramp or anything like that, nice timing for it to happen. I didn’t even feel like I was gripping the wheel any differently than in any other race.”

Electing to short-fuel for his middle-stint, Huttu was just a half-second from the gearbox of Luis by the time he headed to pit-lane for the final time on lap 34; but with an extra lap in his pocket and a textbook service, the Brazilian maintained his position and extended his lead to three-seconds by the time he rejoined the circuit following his second stop. From here, it was a question of whether Luis could hold off Huttu for the remaining 12 circuits, as the gap between them narrowed over successive laps, until 1.5 seconds separated the pair. Unperturbed by the approaching World Champion, Luis kept to his lines to claim is fourth win of the iRacing.com Nvidia Grand Prix Series by a margin of a second.

“The start of the race was way, way better than what I’ve expected.” Luis wrote this week. “I had a good launch while Greger didn’t had a good one, so I was able to lead the race in Turn-One. I noticed this could be my shot for the win if I didn’t overdrive, and chose to manage the lead instead of pushing.

“Greger had a one-lap longer first stint, so I noticed things would get complicated for me. I was not taking any risks with the margin I had and he was on a short, aggressive stint. Before I knew it he was all over my rear. Last stint I had to hurry up, because the win wasn’t looking so secure by then. Anyway, things went well and I could take the victory.”

Dropping points on the Championship leader, Huttu was ruing what might have been by the time the Road America dust had settled. “I pushed hard on the last stint but it wasn’t quite enough and I finished one second behind.” Team Redline’s principal driver offered post race. “The bad starts have cost me quite a lot this season but I would have still had a great chance to get the win without the lock-up in Turn-Five on the first lap. I also would have liked to have gotten better results from this and the previous race because I don’t think the next tracks will work so well for us. Well, hopefully we’ll find something extra for Okayama and go from there to Suzuka which should be fun. ”

Behind the main Championship protagonists, Pro-licensed Jake Stergios claimed a hard fought podium spot, which keeps his hopes of a finish in the top twenty-five of the season standings and subsequent assurance of a World Championship license for 2012. The independent online-racer secured his best finish of the season, after starting thirteenth on the grid and watching the cars ahead of him fall off the track like ten-pins. “Wow. I still can’t believe I got third.” explained the American post race. “My strategy for this one was just to survive and not take any unnecessary risks. Once it started to settle down I was in the top 10 and just riding, but people kept crashing and I kept gaining positions. I leapfrogged Alberto Baraldi in the pits on my first stop because I went one lap longer than he did, which put me in fifth. I then passed Aleksi Elomaa in Turn-One and passed Klaus after he crashed due to his hand cramp and suddenly I found myself in third.”

Similarly, Richard Towler ended Round 15 of the iRacing.com Nvidia Grand Prix Series in fourth position, his best finish of the season, despite struggling with an ill-handling Williams-Toyota F1 car; quite a contrast from 2010 when the Englishman was chasing Huttu all the way to the Championship title. “That was fun, I had a great brawl with a random Italian and Dom Duhan.” the 2010 NASCAR iRacing.com Champion enthused. “I had a random bounce which put me into a half spin and my car bottomed out on low fuel, but I managed to bring it home in fourth for my best result of the season. The car drove horrible at this track, curbs, bumps were a nightmare and the second to last corner felt really well, wrong.”

By driving within his limits and playing out a long game in the 47 lap race, Alberto Baraldi claimed his first top-five finish of the season, enough to keep his bid of a top-ten finish in the World Championship, firmly on track. As he watched the likes of Ben Cornett, Aleksi Elomaa, Atze Kerkhof, Nieminen and Kivekas fall by the wayside, the Italian progressed his way up the order to finish twelve-seconds behind Towler. “Finally a good result after almost two-months of bad luck, it was getting frustrating.” the Twister Racing Team sim-racer affirmed this weekend. “I feel I deserved a top five at this time of the season and I’m glad it came, even if I didn’t have the pace of most of my other races.”

In only his second appearance in the iRacing.com Nvidia Grand Prix Series, Jeremy Bouteloup stood out as a name to watch out for in the future, after the Frenchman secured sixth spot ahead of Petteri Kotovaara, who amazingly finished in the top-ten from his start position of twenty-seventh. Bouncing back from a collision with the wall early in the race, which resulted in a drop to twenty-third place, Nieminen clawed his way back through the field to claim eighth position a couple of seconds ahead of Derek Wood, who bested Dion Vergers to the chequered flag.

With three rounds of the iRacing.com Nvidia Grand Prix Series remaining, My3id’s Hugo Luis holds a 55 point advantage over Greger Huttu in the Championship standings. With Huttu registering 14 rounds as opposed to Luis’ fifteen, the fight for the 2011 title looks set to come down to the wire and dropped weeks. Will Huttu struggle in the closing stages as he predicts? Or is the Champion playing a mind game on the leading Brazilian? Find out in two-weeks time when the Championship heads for it’s first ever visit to Okayama International.

Rens Broekman has proven to be a worthy signing for the Nfinity Esports team. He helped out the team by snaring pole, and helped out the commentators by sporting a new, less green livery to help tell the Nfinity cars apart.

Splitting those two Nfinity cars was Madison Down, enjoying a return to (his usual) form. Mitchell McLeod was next from Mick Claridge and Simon Madden. Lewis Dodimead was sixth, finding even more speed since his return to the top split. Nfinity’s third driver Scott U’Ren was next from XSG’s Shay Griffith, then Richard Lock and Stuart Wood rounded out the top ten.

Down powerslides to another Season Three win

All of our well-known split one regulars were there to add more depth, with names like Joshua Muggleton, Paul Larkin, Simone Gelli, Craig Woodhouse, Cal Whatmore, and George Fullerton. Relative newcomers Mitchell Boulton and David Bente built on their experience, while Bigpond’s Vern Norrgard made a return, as did XSG’s Terry Nightingale Jr, taking a break from his commentating duties on XSG’s excellent live broadcast, leaving Corey Slade holding the baby there.

They all launched without major incident, although Down described his start as “craptastic…”, Broekman made the best of it, while Down followed him from McLeod and Claridge. Dodimead momentarily trounced Madden to run fifth, but got it wide into  Maggotts, letting Madden back through. U’Ren then got past at the end of the back straight, and Griffith threw an opportunist dive at Dodimead also. There was contact, but Griffith made it through.

Dodimead’s woes culminated in Stuart Wood giving him a serve into Brooklands at the end of the first lap. Lock rear-ended Wood as a result, and Muggleton capitalised on all of this by sneaking into eighth.

Dodimead dropped back to 16th from all that. Wood was a little sheepish: “Do I get a prize for most incidents? I feel like a rookie again…”

Broekman was putting the hammer down, but couldn’t eke out a gap on his pursuer Down. McLeod was well clear from Claridge and Nfinity’s third driver U’Ren.

At the other end of the field, Dodimead began a fightback, sizing up Norrgard, while at the same time Nightingale shaved Copse (Turn One) too fine and clipped the guardrail, putting him out for the night, alerting everyone to his displeasure. That was Lap Ten.

“I hugged the apex like my favourite grandma”  – Scott U’Ren

Stuart Wood had caught Muggleton and was having a look every which way, in a battle which would last for the entire race. It included Wood enjoying a frightening trip onto the grass after the kink onto the back straight, at full pelt.

While this was going on, Down had pulled up to the rear of Broekman, looking very serious for the lead. On Lap 14 Broekman could hold off the Trans Tasman car no longer, locking up and sliding wide at the hairpin past Abbey, at the end of the back straight. And that was all she wrote. Down pressed on, leaving Broekman and McLeod to fight it out for the Nfinity honours.

Broekman falls foul at Abbey and Down takes the lead

Best of the rest was still Claridge, followed by U’ren, Madden, Griffith, and Muggleton with Wood still in hot pursuit in ninth.

Behind them were Lock, Whatmore and Fullerton all over each other for that final top ten spot. It went in Fullerton’s favour, overtaking first Whatmore at the end of Lap 15, then a squirmy Lock within a lap, putting George into his customary top ten position. “I lucked out with a few bold moves” said George.

Fullerton loses it at Abbey, with Lock and Gelli ready to pounce

Unfortunately his luck ran out three laps later, with a spin at Abbey, which allowed Lock into tenth. Not satisfied with this, Lock went off at the same spot, allowing Whatmore, Gelli and a recovering Dodimead to fight over tenth place, which seemed to be cursed tonight.

Vern Norrgard works over Briton Mark Foley

While this was going on, McLeod  quietly slipped past teammate Broekman into second, and set off after Down. He closed the gap considerably with two laps to go, both leaving Broekman and the rest well behind. The Season One champion is stealthy and consistent, if not fastest, always looking at a points haul. In fact “I went a bit conservative on my set up to look after tyres rather than outright speed”. It turned out to be a good strategy, as some runners had fried rears by Lap Four.

Madden hands fifth place to U'Ren mid-race

Wood was still not letting up on Muggleton, having a huge lunge on the penultimate lap into Brooklands, with some heavy contact. Muggleton hung on, both appearing to be in a drifting competition with tyres respectively shot. Muggleton was delighted with yet another top ten finish, although “a poor setup was my undoing, (if only) I could speak Dunlop..!”

Meanwhile, on the final lap, U’Ren had a go at Claridge at the same spot, having lined up the move at the previous corner: “I tried to spook him a bit out of Bridge and hugged the apex like my favourite grandma…” Apart from winning cliche of the night, it worked, U’Ren into fourth for Nfinity.

“…a bit hard when you can see a green monster hunting you down”  – Madison Down

That's all it takes- Whatmore cops a cut track penalty within metres of the finish

Behind them, Claridge’s fellow Briton Mark Foley (who had started 20th and chipped away) did the same to a wildly powersliding Fullerton, for 13th place.

McLeod almost ran Down down. The leader said “My tyres were stuffed and I was just telling myself to…ignore the mirror. That’s a bit hard when you can see a green monster hunting you down…”

However, McLeod was beaten by the chequered flag and Down prevailed for the win.

Broekman was seven seconds behind in third, from U’Ren, Claridge, Madden, Griffith, and Muggleton with Wood still glued to his bumper across the line.

The curse of tenth place struck again- Whatmore was all set in that position after a dreadful Phillip Island round, but for a few virtual feet too many over the apex cones at Woodcote within sight of the flag. The ensuing penalty dropped him to 18th, and elevated a surprised Gelli into the tenth position. With only 50 or so virtual metres to the finish line, the curse didn’t have time to affect Gelli.

Dodimead recovered to be 11th from Lock, Foley, Fullerton, Woodhouse, Norrgard, Boulton in 17th ahead of the penalised Whatmore.

The remaining split winners were David Comstock, Thomas Guerrini and the aptly-named Carwyn May.

Screenshots courtesy of Bigpond Sport/Stuart Wood

Broadcast replay at Livestream.com

DIVISION STANDINGS at WEEK FIVE.

The extra dimension of pitstops added some spice which was, if the forums and the corporate box buzz was anything to go by, a highly popular move. It would take a brave man to try on a no-stop strategy here at the tyre-shredding Island.

It was an Nfinity 1-2-3- qualifying extravaganza with new boy Scott Andrews poling at 1 min 30.718 from Nfinity teammates Mitchell McLeod and Rens Broekman. There would have been a fourth Nfinity driver in the top ten but for Scott U’Ren being plagued with internet dramas pre-race.

The consistent Mick Claridge was fourth from XSG Motorsport’s Michael McCabe. Trans Tasman Racing’s Madison Down was sixth, again showing uncharacteristically low qualifying form, albeit form which 90% of the field would kill for.

The Nfinity prime mover steams into Honda.

Series regulars filled the remaining top ten grid spots. Simon Madden was seventh, claiming that it was the equivalent of pole “for humans”. Shay Griffith was next, then Craig Woodhouse, and Dylan Gulson. Outside the ten was Darrin Vouch, Joshua Muggleton, Stuart Wood, George Fullerton, Richard Lock, Simone Gelli, Lewis Dodimead, David Bente and Mitchell Boulton.

“I resorted to powersliding everywhere…” – Madison Down

At the start the Nfinity train launched from the station- Broekman got a blinder and split his two teammates to take the lead from McLeod and Andrews, who duked it out with McCabe. Andrews- McCabe and Down went all but side-by-side into the Honda hairpin, but Andrews pulled ahead into third while Down squeezed past McCabe through the Hayshed, of all places. Broekman, McLeod, Andrews, Down, McCabe.

Disaster befell leader Broekman, as into the Honda Hairpin on Lap Two he outbraked himself and slithered up the escape road, dropping to ninth. It handed the lead to McLeod. McLeod-Andrews-Down-McCabe.

Claridge, Madden, Griffith, Woodhouse and Broekman waged war for fifth-sixth-seventh-eighth and ninth. In tenth was Muggleton holding off Vouch, Whatmore, Fullerton and Lock.

Griffith had it all to do holding off Woodhouse, who was in turn seeing Broekman big in his mirrors. Indeed Woodhouse had a big moment into Honda on Lap Five either trying to pass Griffith, or hold off Broekman, or a combination of both.

On Lap Seven Shay Griffith tagged Simon Madden into Honda, sending them both to the green green grassy infield, but they soldiered on in fifteenth and sixteenth.

Griffith and Madden come together at Honda, the scene of many dramas today

Later that lap Whatmore had ambitions on Muggleton, with a tap or two at MG. Muggleton let him by down the pit straight. Whatmore promptly undid his hard work by getting it sideways out of Siberia the following lap, letting Muggleton and Vouch past. Meanwhile, Dylan Gulson had snuck up on Fullerton after George had a scary moment at Turn One.

There was action everywhere, so it was business as usual for the iRacing V8 Supercar Series. Lap eight saw Fullerton go off at the treacherous Honda Hairpin.

Whatmore’s woes continued on Lap 11 with an off at the mega fast Turn One. His re-entry was less than glamorous at the Southern Loop and it caused Richard Lock, Simon Madden and Shay Griffith to pinball off each other, with nowhere to go. It generated much chagrin, including a frustrated Lock rubbing panels with an apologetic Whatmore on the outfield.

Madden managed to continue in 14th, pursuing Gelli, Griffith hobbled on with damage 2 laps down.

Whatmore's troubled re-entry...

...causes trouble for Lock, Griffith, Madden and others. (pic courtesy Stuart Wood)

Muggleton was enjoying another solid performance, showing conservative maturity rather than raw, tyre-shredding aggression. He gave Vouch no trouble as the latter sought to pass him, preferring again to preserve a top ten position.

Dylan Gulson trailed that pair in tenth until he oversteered out of the final corner into the pit wall on Lap 17, ending up precariously in the wrong direction. At the same time, Vouch pitted, which put Stuart Wood into ninth, having a handy run considering some of the action which had transpired on his doorstep. Lewis Dodimead fired off at Siberia out of an impressive fifteenth place in his return to the top split.

The Nfinity duo up front were having no such dramas, enjoying a four second gap back to Down, with McCabe a further three behind him. Down was struggling.”The front right took a huge pounding, I just could not turn the car at all over about 160km/h. I resorted to powersliding everywhere…suprisingly the rears tyres held on really well…”. Not as surprisingly, it was an entertaining sight.

Pitstop time was looming. Broekman was the first of the main players, pitting on Lap 19, stationary for 15 seconds, and emerging in a handy ninth place.

In this previously un-tested realm of pit strategy, Broekman’s move of pitting early would turn out to be the best one.

Andrews pitted from second place on Lap 20, stationary for 16 seconds, then Claridge and McCabe, who was “…looking to under cut Madison and gain track position, but I over shot my pit bay, costing me dearly”.

Leader McLeod came in Lap 21.”I thought (Andrews) was going to undercut me for sure, but I heard over TeamSpeak that he made a small mistake coming out of the pits…” Sure enough, McLeod scrambled out ahead, but with hardly a gap between them as he worked the tyres up to temperature.

Down carried on in the lead until he pitted the following lap, but Broekman’s strategy had worked, and he leapfrogged the Trans Tasman pilot into third place. It was Nfinity 1-2-3.

As the dust settled it was McCabe next in fifth from Claridge, Woodhouse, Muggleton, Vouch, Wood, Madden, Atkins, Fullerton, David Bente and Simone Gelli in fifteenth.

Lewis Dodimead (middle) had a solid return to the top split despite a late race error

The added drama of pitstops and the unfolding strategy kept the spectator gallery buzzing and guessing, it was hard to know where to look. Darrin Vouch experienced the pros-and-cons complexity: “For some reason it never clicked to run more fuel to make the pitstop a little quicker…I lost heaps of time there…”.

There would, no doubt, be lots of head-scratching, data examination and time-and-motion studies post-race to determine the best strategy. This is simulated motorsport, after all. It simulates almost everything.

“Nfinity have a fair bit of momentum at the moment,…”  – Scott Andrews

The Nfinity sweep was far from decided, however, as Down began to apply the blowtorch to Broekman, with a hefty lunge into MG on Lap 25 which looked precarious as Down threw it sideways, but they lived on. All this, and there was still 12 laps to go.

While this was going on, Wood nailed Vouch into Honda, taking ninth. A Lap later, Madden relegated Vouch one more spot.

But all eyes were on the battle for that final podium spot, Broekman now defending heavily from Down into the key braking points at Honda and MG. It allowed McCabe to close up. By Lap 30 it was nose-to-tail business for all three. At any time, Down could have sent Broekman firing into the penguin colonies but didn’t. It was hairy-chested racing, hard and fair.

As exciting as this was, almost unnoticed, Andrews took the lead from McLeod under brakes into Honda on Lap 29. “I’ve got no idea how he got that thing stopped and claimed the lead.” said McLeod, who hung on to him.

Andrews takes the lead

Finally the cork became unplugged for Broekman as he squirmed sideways exiting Honda on Lap 31. It took Down until the hayshed to squeeze past in a brilliant move around the outside, duplicating his move on McCabe from Lap One. Broekman almost fell off the road in surprise, allowing McCabe through up the hill to Lukey Hights.

Broekman from third to fifth, and Nfinity’s 1-2-3 spoiled, in the blink of an eye.

Again, pit strategy had played a role. Down had pitted later, so his tyres were fresher.

Within five laps of the 38 lapper’s end, McLeod signalled his intentions by closing right up to the back of teammate Andrews. At the same time, Broekman moved back into fourth with a daring move around the outside of McCabe into Turn One.

“I only want to win races that I earn”  – Mitchell McLeod

It was pressure all over for leader Andrews. The real world Formula Ford driver not only had McLeod to worry about, but serious internet lag began playing havoc with the car. At one stage it was unclear whether his penultimate lap would even be counted, let alone whether his car would re-appear, such was the lag. The spectator gallery held it’s collective breath.

In the end it held together for Andrews who emerged victorious.  McLeod backed off in the final seconds to preserve second place. Down was a full 10 seconds back in third with Nfinity’s wingman Broekman fourth. McCabe was fifth from Claridge, Woodhouse, and Wood who had dodged several bullets to arrive in eighth. Muggleton and Madden rounded out the top ten. Marty Atkins was a big mover, finishing 11th from 21st on the grid, passing Vouch on the final lap.

The winner was elated on many levels, real and virtual. “It means a fair bit to me this track…this is where I got my first win at a National level in Commodore Cup.” And the much talked-about issue of team orders? “I asked Mitch if team orders apply, he replied ‘I only want to win races that I earn’ “.

Just when it looked like Season Two champ Madison down was reasserting dominance, a new question is now being asked; can anyone stop Nfinity Esports?

Images courtesy of Stuart Wood/ Lewis Dodimead/ Bigpond Sport

The iRacing V8 Supercar Series by Bigpond Sport is now broadcast on LIVE STREAM.COM.

OVERALL DIVISION STANDINGS (All divisions)

Reality and its virtual counterpart were colliding in many meaningful ways. It was less than a week since Aussie Marcos Ambrose scored his maiden Sprint Cup win at the same (real world) venue. Meanwhile, iRacers Shane Van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin had hit the podium at least once in the weekend just gone, at the Queensland Raceway V8 Supercar round.

The Nfinity Esports crew threw everything they had at the opposition

The rolling green hills of The Glen were made even greener by no less than four Nfinity Esports Falcons in Mitch McLeod, Rens Broekman, Scott Andrews (another real world V8 racer) and Scott U’Ren.

Van Gisbergen was missing from this round, as was Peter Read. McLeod was on pole, scraping into the 1 min 10′s. His Nfinity Esports teammate Broekman was alongside him on the front row. Scott Andrews, also for Nfinity Esports, was third alongside Mick Claridge.

“Just 0.3 off the pace and it puts you a long way back” -Madison Down

Next up was McLaughlin in the Hyper Stimulator machine and alongside him, amazingly, was Madison Down, unaccustomed to such a “lowly” grid position. Next was XSG’s Shay Griffith, Dylan Gulson, Stuart Wood and Simon Madden.

The qualifying times were “just plain silly” according to George Fullerton, who wrung the neck of his Moffat/Ickx tribute Falcon, setting a personal best with a new setup, but was 18th on the grid! McLeod attributed the Nfinity express to lots of practice. “You can’t half tell we’re pushing the set ups to the limits…we were all within .03 of each other in qualifying.”

When the starter said “go”, McLeod got the jump, while Andrews managed to trump Broekman for second into the esses. It compromised Broekman up the hill, and McLaughlin duly snuck past him to spoil Nfinity’s 1-2-3.

The field pours into Turn One

Shay Griffith had some contact with Claridge into the bus stop, spinning into the sandtrap and out.

On Lap Three, Dylan Gulson looped it out of Turn One into the path of the field and was collected by McCabe. It was a virtual crashfest eerily reminiscent of the real one at the scene of Ambrose’s victory the week before. It spreadeagled the rest of a wide-eyed field. Fullerton snuck through the carnage with some deft avoidance which George humbly described as “a complete and utter fluke…”. The comparisons to Days of Thunder and other hilarities carried on in the post-race chat.

Gulson and McCabe weren’t filled with quite as much mirth. “I must have walked under a ladder or something” said McCabe, putting the last nail into the coffin of XSG’s meeting.

McLeod's day begins, Griffith's ends abruptly

Gulson and McCabe get together in a terminal fashion on lap 3

Lap Eight, McLaughlin was getting keen to further spoil Nfinity’s party. He was all over Andrews, leaning on him out of the carousel, and giving him a tap into the bus stop a lap later. Andrews survived, in fact McLaughlin dropped back into the clutches of Broekman as a result, but slight damage eventually took the edge off Andrews’ Nfinity Falcon. Broekman worked over McLaughlin intensely for a few laps, with no success.

Out in front, McLeod extended his lead.”All I had to do was keep focus and not make a mistake like I did at round 1..”. Easier said than done.

Three laps later, the McLaughlin-Broekman battle re-caught Andrews and resumed the three-way negotiations over second place.

Around three seconds back was Claridge, with Down after him.

Another four seconds behind them were Stuart Wood and Scott U’Ren in the fourth Nfinity Esports car. A similar gap behind was Joshua Muggleton and Craig Woodhouse, squabbling for tenth place. They were dancing in pairs all through the field.

Muggleton and Woodhouse battled race-long, until Muggleton looped at Turn Six

By Lap 15, the McLaughlin-Broekman battle had pulled up to Andrews’ bumper again. McLaughlin nailed Andrews under brakes into the bus stop. Leaving the Nfinity pair behind him to swap positions, Broekman sliding through Andrews at Turn One a lap later.

Gradually, McLaughlin set about eating into McLeod’s lead, which at that point was around four and a bit seconds.

Meanwhile on lap 18 U’Ren stole seventh place from Wood under brakes into Turn One. Wood  “…ended up conceding rather than blowing a top 10 finish”, rightly chuffed at his best drive yet.

Lap 19, Down challenged Claridge, going side by side into the treacherous esses, until Claridge favoured survival and conceded fifth place to the Season Two champ. Down set off after Andrews.

Down preserves a points haul, here dealing with Claridge and taking aim at Nfinity

McLaughlin’s pursuit of leader McLeod had halted, and Broekman was back on his tail by Lap 22. They were glued together, nose to tail, for the duration of the closing laps. The battle was fierce, with McLaughlin covering his line more than once or twice, and Broekman communicating his response via morse-code.

On Lap 27 Muggleton had a spectacular lose exiting  Turn Six with clouds of smoke and curses, but carried on in ninth. George Fullerton was behind him, in his rightful top ten position. Claridge spun in the esses and retired after another solid drive.

By the penultimate lap, Down had caught Andrews and was working him over furiously. Broekman had all kinds of lunges at McLaughlin into the final corners. It was all happening.

McLaughlin came back to the Nfinity pair and had to fight for his life

Travelling serenely by comparison, McLeod cruised to his first victory in what must have seemed like an eternity, but for a late-season win at Mosport in Season Two. He was six seconds ahead.

The status quo was preserved behind him, but not for lack of drama. McLaughlin second from a sideways Broekman, Andrews, Down, U’Ren, Wood, Woodhouse, Muggleton, and George “Tom Cruise” Fullerton.

In a record 101 entries across 5 splits, the other split winners were Cal Whatmore, Stephen Jones, Nick Percat (yet another real-world racer in the V8 Supercar series) and Kane Baxter-Smith.

Screenshots courtesy of Bigpond Sport

OVERALL DIVISION STANDINGS (includes all divsiions)

While Round One at Mosport was claimed by the reigning series champ, Madison Down did not have it all his own way, having to work through some obstacles in Mitch McLeod and Mick Claridge. This time Shane Van Gisbergen trumped them for pole at the tricky, undulating Infineon. Barely a tenth behind and sharing the front row was Peter Read.

Van Gisbergen was sporting the colours of Hyper Stimulator, sim racing’s timeless pioneer rig, which you can read more about here.

Van Gisbergen, now in Hyper Stimulator NZ colours, was untouchable, but he had to work for it

Broekman and Down shared the second row, McLeod and Claridge the third. Scott McLaughlin and Simon Madden were seventh and eighth, Shay Griffith and Dylan Gulson rounding out the top ten. Two 2011 champions, two real-world V8 Supercar pilots, and a host of talent-  a delicious mix.

“The highs are high and the lows are VERY low…” – Joshua Muggleton

Scott McLaughlin had a connection time out moments before the start, sim racing’s equivalent of a mechanical problem, and started from pitlane. As the engines reached peak revs, Van Gisbergen lurched forward a touch, wrong footing him for the (actual) green light. Read got the jump on him, while The Giz waited on the impending wrath of the virtual start-line steward. Down and McLeod followed closely.

On Lap Three heading into the fast Turn Ten before the pit lane, Josh Muggleton went dirt tracking after damage incurred a few corners prior when “someone bent my car in half..”. He was collected by Wayne Harris upon re-entry. With yellow flags flashing furiously Simone Gelli and Simon Black also clipped Muggleton and went spinning off. The smoke and damage was virtual, but the frustration was real.

Muggleton came crashing down, literally, after such a satisfying seventh place at Mosport.”The highs are high and the lows are VERY low…”

Joshua Muggleton (#12) ends up in a compromising position- also compromised were Simone Gelli (#16) and Simon Black (#8). Scott McLaughlin in the other Hyper Stimulator entry benefited.

The carnage allowed a recovering McLaughlin through to 16th from his pitlane start.

Meanwhile, Read had pulled out a gap. Van Gisbergen, with no penalty forthcoming it seemed, was hounded by the attentions of round One winner Madison Down. By lap 12, with a tenth here and a tenth there, the real-world V8 Superstar pulled in the leader, taking Down with him. Fourth placed McLeod could only watch as a three way fight for the lead developed in front. Very close behind him was his NFinity Esports teammate Rens Broekman.

Read puts the hammer down, but a handy lead can be gotten to...

By Lap 15 Van Gisbergen was all over Read, and Down was all over The Giz. The spectator gallery, full yet again, was enjoying this. Into Turn 7A at the bottom of the hill Read had Van Gisbergen sliding up the inside and through into the lead. It would have been clean but for a Van Gisbergen left rear making contact with a Read right front, putting Read out high and dry with no track remaining. Down needed no second invitation and pounced for second. Read to third.

The Giz pounces on Read, Down waits...

Read did not take this lying down and gave Down a couple of taps into the hairpin and beyond.

“He definitely had my attention well on truly focused on the mirror not on the road ahead of me” said Down. It was real-world V8 Supercar stuff, but it allowed Van Gisbergen to escape up the road.

It stayed this way, see-sawing somewhat, Van Gisbergen-Down-Read, with Read desperate to recover his lost ground. On Lap 20 at Turn 7A, the scene of his previous grief, he tried to fill a wedge-shaped gap inside Down and got pinched, looping it back to fifth behind Rens Broekman, who was otherwise lonely with his teammate McLeod four seconds ahead.

Read then had to try the same tricks on Broekman and gave him scarcely a moments rest, Broekman defending heavily in places.

Mick Claridge was almost unnoticed in sixth place. Simon Madden, Dylan Gulson and Michael McCabe were having a race-long fight over seventh, eighth and ninth. Shay Griffith was hanging onto tenth by a whisker, wearing George Fullerton all over the back of him like a bad suit.

Madden, Gulson, McCabe fight for seventh.

McLaughlin’s connection problems sidelined him for more or less the entire race, salvaging 19th place, one lap down. Fullerton, with at least 11th place in the bag, suffered the same connection fate, his car lighting up like a disco within sight of the flag.

Eventually The Giz triumphed by over 3 seconds from Down, with a similar gap back to McLeod, who had played the tyre conservation game well.”(Third place was) not really deserved tonight but it pays to keep your nose clean I guess!”

“He definitely had my attention” -Down on Read

Broekman held off a frustrated Peter Read for fourth. Read was unhappy with Van Gisbergen’s Lap 15 move, but the replay showed that the light contact, while Van Gisbergen was applying some opposite lock, made the Hyper Stimulator NZ Falcon steer left into the Target car of Read, entwining them awkwardly. “I had plenty of wheel in it” asid Van Gisbergen later, which is racer code for “I was trying not to hit you!”.

“Bummer” said Read. “It would have been a great duel”.

Van Gisbergen - Down - Read. But Read's woes were not over.

Claridge held onto sixth place, while Gulson got past Madden for seventh. Behind Madden was Craig Woodhouse, Shay Griffith, McCabe, Laszlo Kotrocz, Stuart Wood, Guy Leach, and the battle-scarred Harris in fifteenth.

In splits 2-4, the winners were Cal Whatmore, Stephen Jones and Kristian Lindbom, with over 85 competitors registering for the one “main event” timeslot.

As the sim racers pounded the virtual pavement at Infineon, over at the real-world Watkins Glen, Aussie Marcos Ambrose scored his maiden win in Sprint Cup. The Antipodeans will be hoping to pick up some of that fortune as they move to the virtual ‘Glen for Week Three.

Screen shots courtesy of BigPond Sport.

DIVISION TABLE- All divisions

I made my debut in Steve Lewis’ 9 midget last Thursday at Lucas Oil Raceway (also known as Indianapolis Raceway Park).  As part of Kroger Speedfest, this race has been around for a long time.  I grew-up coming to this race a lot and if you read the formal press release, you’ll remember that I always dreamed of driving the 9 midget.  So this was a neat opportunity for me to debut in my “dream ride” in a race that I really have grown to respect.

We had tested the week before so I felt confident.  We struggled a little bit in practice though.  The car was tight at the beginning of practice, and loose at the end of it so we were scratching our heads a little bit.  For qualifying, the crew got the car just right, but the driver didn’t quite do his part.  I think I ‘underdrove’ the car just a tick, but as a result we qualified 12th.

USAC decided to cancel the heat races as there were only 19 midgets, so we had a six hour break after qualifying before the feature.  I wanted to get out of the heat and so did most everyone else, so myself and a few other drivers actually left the track and went to a restaurant and had an early dinner.  It was fun getting to hang out with those guys away from the track and I enjoyed it a lot.

Feature time finally rolled around and I began to work my way forward from 12th.  This race was only 30 laps, so there was a very small margin for error regarding driving too hard and not hard enough.  I managed to do the first part too soon, and at the end of the race was really just trying to hang on.  I came home with a 10th place finish, but the position does not show how much racing was going on around me.  Raceway Park is a track that has a lot of room, and therefore a lot of options.  If your car isn’t working right, you can move down or up or wherever you please, and generally you’ll be able to help yourself out a little bit.  It was a lot of hard racing, but a lot of fun.

A big thanks goes out to my crew:  Glenn Martin, Krieg Poland, Dave Steele, Chuck Gurney Jr., and of course my car owner Steve Lewis.  I really enjoy working with these guys.  The atmosphere is always very fun and relaxed, but serious when it needs to be.  And that’s the way I think it should be.

Thanks for reading, and happy racing!

- Dillon

Editor’s note: 17 year old Dillon Welch hales from Carmel, IN and races in the USAC National Midget Series. Earlier this year he wrote about how his experience competing at iRacing’s virtual version of the Milwaukee Mile in sprint and silver crown cars helped him earn the pole position in his first visit to the “real” track. He made his debut with the illustrious Nine Racing Team at Lucas Oil Raceway — a track iRacing has already scanned, insuring iRacers an opportunity to race a virtual version of this classic Midwest oval in the future.

Perhaps “hostilities” is a bit unfair. The camaraderie in this series is second to none. Having said that, some of the series’ regulars were wearied by some early-lap carnage towards the end of Season Two. Many vowed to clean up their act, knowing that this series is famous for superb racecraft, intense action with nary a bent panel required.

Down shadows McLeod

Mitch McLeod declared his intention to wrestle back the title he lost to Madison Down in Season Two, by claiming pole position. Down was second from Mick Claridge and Rens Broekman. Barely hundredths covered this top four.

Peter Read made a welcome return for season three with fifth on the grid. Simon Madden was next from Joshua Muggleton, Troy Cox, then the two Scotts- U’Ren and McLaughlin.

Make no mistake, simply qualifying for this top split of four is a class act. Quality abounded all down the 21-car field with names like Vouch, Gulson, Griffith, Harris, Fullerton, Norrgard, and Black. Some semi-new faces in Boulton, Fredriksson Whatmore and Moore added to the excitement.

The final finishing order- but for the best part of 25 laps it was anybody's

As the green light dawned on Season Three, it was back to business for this epic series. Season two nearly-man McLeod made a clean getaway to lead Down, and by lap two the pair had pulled a slight gap on Claridge. Broekman held down fourth until running wide at the double-apex tight right hander, handing the place to Read, and almost Muggleton. Broekman re-took the position from Read on Lap Five up the back straight. It actually looked as though Read missed a gear but the Target Falcon pilot insisted “he just got a good run on me”.

By which time, Claridge had bridged that gap to the leaders and made it a three way fight for a few laps. No quarter was given or taken.

On Lap Seven Vouch unsettled himself on the kerb onto the start finish straight and collected the wall, giving him major front end damage. It was a shocking two days for Vouch, having traveled even less further in the GT race the previous night at Silverstone.”I made several small errors in the opening laps the field crucified me for them. …then a little too much happy pedal and I looped it..”

Still, he motored on and made a gallant charge to stay on the lead lap, just outside the top ten.

Vouch comes unstuck. They build 'em tough Down Under, and he nursed the damaged FAI Falcon home in 13th, on the lead lap

“Did I mention I hate Moss Corner?!” – George Fullerton

Behind Read was Muggleton in sixth and U’Ren in seventh. McLaughlin was holding off Shay Griffith, Madden, Wayne Harris, Bigpond’s Vern Norrgard and Cal Whatmore. McLaughlin’s defence came unstuck on lap 10, Griffith nudging the Fujitsu car into a spin exiting the double apex Turn Five and Six (Moss corner). Griffith was a little sheepish at having unloaded a real-world racer, bent steering not helping his cause either.

Further back, Simon Black had looped it in the same spot, causing mayhem for George Fullerton and Jakob Fredriksson. Turns Five and Six were claiming some scalps tonight, Fullerton quipping “did I mention I hate Moss corner?!” So do several others now.

Crunch time for Black, Fullerton and Fredriksson

Moss Corner claims another. Here Madden runs wide and is assaulted by McLaughlin, Griffith, Norrgard, Vouch and Whatmore

On Lap 13, leader McLeod was relieved of the pressure a bit, courtesy of Down who ran wide allowing Claridge past. So it was McLeod-Claridge-Down, with a small gap back to Broekman whose charge to haul in the leading trio had halted somewhat.

The see-saw begins. Down runs wide ("Thank God for Tilke tarmac!") but the pressure relief for McLeod was only temporary.

Perhaps it was worn tyres, perhaps season opening nerves, or possibly a mix of both, but the jitters were settling in to the leaders. On Lap 16 , just when things were looking good for McLeod, he ran wide at Moss Corner, dropping back to third behind Claridge and Down.

“Just goes to show how tough this season is going to be” – Peter Read

Now it was Claridge’s turn to feel the heat, and Down applied it mercilessly with some serious attacks into the ultrafast turns One and Two on Lap 18. Along the back straight Claridge had to defend to put Down in the wrong spot, all of which was sweet music to McLeod, who was able to latch back onto the leading pair.

Who wants a piece of the real-world V8 Supercar star? McLaughlin must have felt like a bowling pin, having contact first with Griffith, here with Whatmore

By Lap 20 it seemed that Claridge was slower, but with passing difficult here he had a red-hot go at holding the lead. Nonetheless, Down pounced, pulling off a demon move around the outside of the fast Turn Eight at the end of the back straight, going for the apex “literally a millimetre clear of his front splitter…thankfully Mick gave me room…”.

And that was it. Down cleared off, leaving Claridge to deal with McLeod and leaving the spectator gallery struggling to remember ever seeing a dull race in this series.

Down was not taking his win for granted.”Finally got the monkey off my back at Mosport…a hoodoo track for me, for what ever reason I’ve always struggled in races here. Tonight the setup just seemed to hold onto tyres a lot better”.

A decisive moment- Down swoops around the outside of Claridge into Turn Eight

Down was both victorious over, and oblivious to, the action for second place behind him. Claridge held off all of McLeod’s attempts, including a last corner lunge on the final lap. Despite his early dominance, third must have seemed a small consolation for the Season One champ but a podium and points in this hotly contested series is no small deal. Broekman was fourth, carrying on from his giant-killing performances in Season Two. Returnee Peter Read was fifth in the Target Falcon: “I just didn’t have the pace all week… it just goes to show how tough this season is going to be!”.

Scott U’Ren was a very impressive sixth, Muggleton an equally impressive seventh, with Madden and Harris eighth and ninth. Vern Norrgard in tenth place put on a worthy performance for the series’ new sponsor Bigpond, after many races away in Season Two.

Series' sponsor Bigpond's Vern Norrgard made a stellar return after some absence, with a top ten result

Screenshots courtesy of Bigpond Sport/ V8 Supercars Australia

SEASON THREE OVERALL STANDINGS (combined divisions)

Stewart held off a mid-race bid from Sammy Swindell and then slipped away in the final circuits aboard Paul Silva’s Wesmar-powered Rockstar Energy Drink No. 57 A.R.T. for his third career ASCS Knoxville Nationals championship and 24th career ASCS National triumph.

“I could hear him back there, you can’t mess around when he’s behind you,” the current Lucas Oil Sprint Car point leader explained after his second series win of the year.

Stewart ultimately took the checkered flag ahead of Tim Shaffer, who took second away from Swindell in the closing laps. Swindell settled for the show position, with Billy Alley and Davey Heskin rounding out the top five.

After accumulating the most points in Friday’s preliminary action to earn the pole position, Stewart led the feature field to the green flag with Randy Hannagan alongside only to have the initial start waved off when 20th-starter Dustin Selvage went for a wild ride in the opening pair of corners.

On the restart, Stewart beat Hannagan into turn one and held a slight advantage on the low side of the track before the red flag flew again on the fourth circuit for Derek Hagar’s turn two flip.

Stewart led Hannagan and third-starter Sammy Swindell when action resumed and began to slip away from his chasers by the sixth round, with Swindell moving past Hannagan for second on the seventh circuit.

With Stewart working the low side and Swindell on the cushion in the Big Game Tree Stands No. 1, the battle for the point was heating up just as the final caution of the race flew after 11 laps for Clint Garner, who came to a stop in turn one.

Stewart took off on the restart, sticking primarily to the low side over the remaining laps. Swindell tried to move in to challenge, but Stewart worked through traffic with ease in the final handful of circuits to secure the win.

“That seemed like the slowest 25 laps I’ve ever run here,” Stewart explained. “We watched Kevin (Swindell) win the 410 feature and figured the bottom was the place to be. You just have to be so patient on the bottom and being out front you don’t know exactly how hard you need to run.”

Stewart ran hard enough to take the checkered flag with a comfortable 1.451-second edge over ninth-starter Tim Shaffer, who took second away from Swindell on the 22nd circuit.

Swindell settled for the show position, with Alley making his way past Hannagan for fourth on the 17th round. Alley held fourth to the line, with Heskin making a late move to round out the top five.

]]> http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/stewart/two-straight-for-stewart-in-360-nationals/feed 0 http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/iracing-news/book-em http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/iracing-news/book-em#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:15:49 +0000 DavidP http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/?p=77275

Another season of the inRacingNews Challenge is in the books, and while the final results feature some new names atop the championship standings, others stay the same. Case in point: While the Pontiac Solstice class crowned a new champion in Marius Golombeck, replacing Chris Higgins (who still placed sixth overall despite only scoring points in six of eight weeks), Gabriel Tobar remained the champion of the SpecRacer Ford class.

The SRF racing action was much closer on the track than in the point standings.

Neither sim racer gave their opponents much of a chance at a fair fight. Golombeck’s line was an impressive 24 wins in 27 starts, with 17 poles to boot. Tobar, though, was on another planet entirely: 17 starts, with poles and top-five finishes in each, and a win in all but one.

Second place drivers Alessandro Fior and Henri Salminen, respectively, didn’t stand much of a chance. Fior took 19 wins in 21 starts, each from the pole, but still sat 240 points back of Golombeck when all was said and done. And no way could Salminen’s 20 wins in 26 starts even hold a candle to Tobar’s tear.

The battles were much closer in time trial points, however. Tobar could only edge Salminen 796-795 in Ford, with Frank Bloem coming third with 784. Fior took the Solstice division with 792, with Mark Dahlgren’s 776 coming in second.

The overall Pontiac Solstice TT championship was decided by just 16 points.

Wim Bries led most statistical categories in Solstice by virtue of most starts, taking 81 wins, 131 top-fives, and 90 poles in 143 starts. He finished fifth in overall points. In Ford, the same was true of Chris Hughson, who took 184 wins, 244 top-fives, and 191 poles in a whopping 249 starts. He, however, took third overall in that division.  Finally, a special shout-out to Ingrid Marti who swept the rookie honors in Solstice and SRF in both racing and time trials.  Well done!

Below is a listing of each division’s champions in the 2011 Season 2 inRacingNews Challenge:

inRacingNews Challenge Points Leaders (racing)
(Pontiac Solstice, Spec Racer Ford)

Division One: Marius Golombeck, Gabriel Tobar
Division Two: Kevin Browne, Mitch Weatherly
Division Three: Jens Denker, Diego Doni
Division Four: Corey Hastings, Kalle Ruokola
Division Five: Ray Myers, Brian Fitzpatrick
Division Six: Ringo Breitz, Dw Martin
Division Seven: Brian Karczewski, Russell Klaesson
Division Eight: Timothy Ridley, Gaston Flores
Division Nine: Stephen Card, Jonas Niederberger
Division 10: Scott Mahar, Daniel Haigh
Rookie Division: Ingrid Marti, Ingrid Marti

inRacingNews Challenge Points Leaders (time trials)
(Pontiac Solstice, Spec Racer Ford)

Division One: Juan Rodriguez, Gabriel Tobar
Division Two: Donald Peppele, Adam Guild
Division Three: Alessandro Fior, Jerry Burkacki
Division Four: Dakota Lowery, Jeff Johnson
Division Five: Martyn Harris, Brian Fitzpatrick,
Division Six: Mark Jedrzejczak, Kalle Ruokola
Division Seven: Brian Karczewski, Daniel Haigh
Division Eight: Mark Dahlgren, Jason Dunnington
Division Nine: Timothy Ridley, Scott Fox
Division 10: Åke Hansson, Justin Testcard
Rookie Division: Ingrid Marti, Ingrid Marti

Wise and JR Motorsports debuted the iRacing 2.0 Chevrolet at Lucas Oil Raceway.

Things got off to an encouraging start with Wise running in the top ten in practice, but when qualifying rolled-around he could do no better than twentieth.  Despite their best efforts, Wise and the JR Motorsports team never really got a handle on the car in race conditions and brought the car home in 19th spot.

They’ll get a chance to put the lessons from LOR to good use this weekend, as Wise will drive the iRacing 2.0 Chevrolet at Iowa Speedway which, by the way, is the newest speedway on the iRacing service.  The race will be broadcast on ESPN 2 starting at 7:30 pm EDT, with the radio coverage on MRN commencing with pre-race show at 7 pm EDT.  (Photos: HHP/Tami Kelly Pope)

His fellow iRacers picked Kevin King's striking design as the winner of the iRacing 2.0 paint scheme contest.

Not only is the bulging entry list a testament to this, the spectator gallery has become standing room only. For the Week 12 round at Silverstone, the virtual bouncer was turning people away, including yours truly. I forgot to flash my virtual media pass.

Adding to the weight of the series regulars such as Madison Down, Rens Broekman and Mitch McLeod, Mick Claridge joined the party having some major performances in the lower splits. Shane Van Gisbergen made a return for this epic, just to add a bit of spice.

“What a season ending that was!” – Mitchell McLeod.

Mick Claridge surprised the regulars by snaring pole at the Silverstone National circuit from series leader Madison Down. Rens Broekman was next from an impressive Paul Larkin, who edged out the outgoing series champ Mitchell McLeod. Next was Shane Van Gisbergen and Hungary’s Laszlo Kotrocz, having won an earlier split. Lewis Dodimead, Dylan  Gulson and  George Fullerton filled out the top ten, who were covered by little more than half a second.

Claridge fires the opening shot

Silverstone’s National layout is a flat, no-frills quick lap affair which produces action worthy of any title fight, including the type which includes fists, elbows and doorhandles.

Claridge got the jump at the start. Broekman had a look at Down into Copse but thought better of it, while McLeod watched it all. Behind McLeod, Larkin and Van Gisbergen went side by side into Maggotts. Larkin prevailed down Club Straight, but The Giz fought back into Brooklands, reclaiming fifth. A squirm sideways from Van Gisbergen exiting Luffield then gave Larkin another shot. This allowed Kotrocz, Gulson and Fullerton to pull up to the pair and join the fun.

Van Giz, Larkin and Kotrocz exited Copse all but side by side. The fun ended into Maggotts as Kotrocz tagged the back of The Giz and went grass tracking, taking Gulson with him. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the pair then made like bowling balls upon re-entry to the second part of Maggotts. The melee claimed Jay Boving, Darrin Vouch, Terry Nightingale, Scott McLaughlin and Simon Black, among others. All limped on, but damage claimed several.

Lap Two carnage commences

...and continues

The action was no less intense up front, just a little more sure-footed. Down harrassed Claridge mercilessly for the lead, with Broekman and McLeod close behind. The leading four stayed like this for many laps. It was tense, without many shots being fired, save for McLeod having a lunge at Broekman into Brooklands, but relenting. The Championship was clearly in mind, especially for Down, perhaps least of all for the leader Claridge.

Larkin was hanging into the lead group but conceding a small gap. Meanwhile, Mr. Consistency George Fullerton was alone in sixth, having survived the Maggotts carnage, albeit with bent steering.”Some guys need to pull their heads in…” said George later, a sentiment echoed by many, as a full moon seemed to be out.

Van Gisbergen under assault

Further back, Van Gisbergen, Dodimead, Kotrocz, Wayne Harris, Marty Atkins, Joshua Muggleton, Jay Boving, Mitchell Boulton and Henri Vierumaki were inseparable from seventh through to 15th.

Up front on Lap 14, someone blinked. Down outbraked himself into Brooklands, limiting the damage as only Broekman slipped past, although not from lack of trying from McLeod. McLeod succeeded the following lap instead, nailing Down in the same spot.”After this I just kept locking tyres and basically destroyed the front left and rear left” said Down.

They blinked again when on Lap 16, leader Claridge succumbed to Broekman’s pressure and slid wide into Copse. Claridge then began to struggle for grip, and McLeod sealed his fate into Brooklands with a tap which turned him around.

McLeod leans on Claridge

Meanwhile, Van Gisbergen was refusing to concede seventh, despite all comers taking turns in trying to wrestle it from him. By Lap 14, Harris was the candidate. He in turn was being harrassed by Kotrocz, until the Hungarian tagged Harris into Copse, spinning into retirement and taking out  Dodimead in the process. It also forced a cautious Harris to hand eighth to Muggleton. Muggleton then took his turn to apply the blowtorch to the real-world V8 Superstar, to no avail. He tried a lunge into Brooklands on Lap 19, which only succeeded in allowing Harris back past.

The leaders were somewhat more settled, with Broekman now pulling out a gap from McLeod, while Down was more than happy to be clear in third. Claridge had fought his way back past Larkin to claim fourth, with Fullerton still lonely in sixth: “More luck than skill tonight- but I’ll take it !”

“Some guys need to pull their heads in” – George Fullerton

While Broekman cruised to victory, Van Gisbergen was still contending with a nightmare of a pack behind him, all of whom wanted a crack at seventh. He withstood the pressure well, not surprisingly.

So, the final race of Season Two finished thus: Broekman, McLeod, Down, Claridge, Larkin, Fullerton, Van Gisbergen, Harris, Muggleton, and Nightingale, who tangled with Gulson on the penultimate lap. Series regular Vouch just missed out on a top ten finish.

And this was the final lap...

McLeod was relieved to have survived in second. “What a season ending that was! If only the championship was still up for grabs, would of been one hell of a dog fight!”. It was anyway.

Hence the Season Two champion was crowned, and Down was ecstatic. “Mid season for me was fantastic, that’s where I feel I won it because at the end I really had to fight for it. Always a pleasure racing up the front with those guys…”

Okayama was formerly named Aida, and hosted the “Pacific Grand Prix” in the early 1990′s. The ’94 event was noteworthy for being the penultimate Grand Prix for the late Ayrton Senna, before his tragic death at Imola. The Brazilian great didn’t make it past the first corner thanks to Mika Hakkinen.

In any case, the track has probably never seen as much action, in the virtual world at least, since it was added to iRacing’s expanding supply of world-class laser scanned tracks, in Season One.

“My strategy was just to drive at my limit and no harder” – Madison Down

Lonely and victorious- Down on his winning way

Madison Down continued his dominance in qualifying by snaring pole from his regular shadow of late, the Netherlands’ Rens Broekman. Round Eight also saw the return of XSG’s Michael McCabe, who secured third grid spot. Relative newbies to Split One were Paul Larkin and Mick Claridge, both only a few tenths down on the polesitter in fourth and fifth respectively.

The usual suspects of Dylan Gulson, Simon Black, Simone Gelli, George Fullerton and Craig Woodhouse filled out the top ten.Once again it was a packed field of 24.

Up front it was green-light business as usual with Down taking the lead after a clean start from Broekman and McCabe. Down didn’t look back. “My strategy was just to drive at my limit and no harder, this seemed to be the same speed that Rens was going so I was praying that his tyres would go off.” Eventually this paid off.

Larkin and Claridge argued over fourth for a few corners, Claridge  eventually prevailing as Larkin struggled with too much wheelspin off the line.

Ten pin bowling- iRacing style!

Further back, all hell broke loose. From the rear of grid, Mitchell Boulton had missed his braking point into Turn One and went diving into a wedge-shaped gap between Andrew Wauchope and the grass. This speared Wauchope into an unsuspecting Vern Norrgard. A few metres ahead, Stuart Wood had locked up after running into the back of Darrin Vouch, and Wood’s half-spin was turned into a full one by Boulton’s out-of-control Falcon. Wood then backed into Christopher Larmour, who had tried everything to stay out of the way.

Wood and Larmour extricated themselves from gravel while the rest continued, with various bits of virtual damage.

Despite the sponsor's claim, Booth wasn't so nonchalant about this incident. Off screen, Gelli is buried deep in the sandpit.

Moments later into the downhill Atwood Curve, Sebastian Hutchinson tagged Gelli into a spin, the ensuing carnage sending Hutchinson’s MEH Racing teammate Michael Booth backwards mid-corner, where he had the pleasure of watching the tail end of the field bear down on him.

Up front it was Down, Broekman, McCabe, Claridge, Latkin, BLack, Gulson, Woodhouse, Fullerton, Harris and Vouch.

The top three spread slightly, although Claridge did not let McCabe out of his sight. At the end of Lap Two, Vouch tried a pass on Harris around the outside of the fast penultimate corner, but wasn’t clear, and the contact sent them both sand-trap bound and out of top ten contention. “Not my finest hour” said Vouch later.”I really should’ve given him a bit more room”. Gulson shadowed Black intensely for sixth place, until on Lap 13 he outbraked Black into the hairpin at the end of the back straight.

By that time, Down was leading serenely, but Broekman had McCabe aplying the blowtorch, having closed the gap while lapping Michael Booth. Meanwhile, Guy Leach was putting on a storming drive from 19th grid, up to tenth by lap 15. Avoiding the first lap frivolities had certainly helped.

Black, Fullerton and Woodhouse spar- up for seventh, eighth and ninth.

In the closing laps, Black-Fullerton-Woodhouse were nose to tail for seventh-eighth-ninth but, as with McCabe on Broekman for second place, none could make the pass. Woodhouse was doing a good job in his first season in the “main game”, keeping the tyres fresh to mount a late-race challenge: “I did a few setup changes overnight which went in the right direction.” Likewise Fullerton enjoyed the challenge. “I could see a bit of sideways happening on worn out tyres.. but my own were pretty much all used up as well…”

McCabe didn’t let the laps wind down without some excitement, having a lunge at Broekman into Turn Eight on the last lap, the resulting contact causing them some synchronised spinning. It was “no harm no foul”, both continuing as before. McCabe owned up, calling it a “brain fart”, either a typo or the invention of an interesting new term.

And so it ended, Down winning from a bit of daylight, then Broekman, McCabe, Claridge, Larkin, Gulson, Black, Fullerton, Woodhouse and Guy Leach. Outside the top ten were Hutchinson, Norrgard, Lock, Harris, Gelli, Larmour and Matthew Probert on the lead lap. Over a lap down were Wauchope, Booth, Wood, Sobolewski and Vouch who had suffered another inglorious braking episode on lap 12.

The troops roll on to Road Atlanta for Week Nine, all a little battle-wearied. With the exception of Madison, Down, who has an extra spring in his step.

Editor’s Note:

Building a competitive race car can cost a considerable amount of money right?  If you’re a racer, rookie or not the decision on how to spend that money to run up front can be a brain-numbing decision.  Racing on a simulator in your game room can be the same way.

Confused yet?  Don’t worry that’s why I’m here. As a tech contributor to inRacingNews I’ll try to make some of these decisions a little less of a challenge.  The economy is hard and for most racers the money set aside for that simulation rig was hard-earned.  Most users want the best bang for their buck.  I’ll help you achieve that.  Bringing my background of over 20 years in PC building, backed by ten years of simulation racing, I’ll help you get the most out of your iRacing experience and offer several guideposts to get you where every sim racer desires to be:  Victory Lane.

Hold on, you don’t go straight to Victory Lane.   Just like Jimmie Johnson, we’ll do this one step at a time.  First we’ll cover that rig you have already built; we’ll talk about maximizing those all-important frames per second.  Do you need all those graphic options?  We’ll cover it.  After we get the basic rig dialed-in and you’re on the track we’ll start picking up speed.  Don’t expect to go out and run up front the first time you take the grid.  In the rookie series iRacing locks the setups of the cars down, so it’s about  getting comfortable on the track.  Assuming you’re an oval racer you’ll be advancing quickly on your way to the Sprint Cup car.  You’ll find the cars on your way aren’t as driver friendly as you might like.  You’ll hear terms such as wedge, sway bar, camber and caster just to name a few. Opening that setup screen can be a very scary moment with all the adjustments and choices.  I’ll help explain that setup screen to you and show you just a few simple changes to make to dial your car into your driving style.  I’ve often heard race cars described as evil and they can be if the setup doesn’t match your driving style.  We might not make your car an angel, but we’ll certainly make it more driver friendly.

If you’re an experienced racer, I’ve got something for you too.  We’ll discuss accessories, button boxes, headsets, steering wheels, and racing cockpits.  We’ll make sure you’ve got all the advantages with all substance and no fluff.  Got questions?  I’m always here, just drop me an email at news@iracespace.com and I’ll be glad to assist.  I have the same passion as you; every bit of time gained on the track is a step closer to victory lane.  I’m happy to be here and I’ll see that you are too!

Josh Berry became the overall winner at Charlotte for the NiCCS when he topped a 4426 sof race on May 21st and, in turn, took away 277 points. Berry led the “black stripe” podium as he raced to the line on lap 90 ahead of fellow NiSWC drivers Brad Wright and Jordan Erickson. Douglas Bell and Maxx Harris completed the top five in the race which featured four cautions and nine lead changes between six drivers. Tyler Hudson finished sixth in the event and led fifty laps. With their efforts, Wright and Erickson came home with second and eighth for the week. Of the top eight to emerge during the seven days of racing at Charlotte, five possess a World Cup Oval license.

The pros ruled the NiCCS roost at Charlotte.

Third for the week belonged to Jody Green. Green impressed last week with an impressive run at Dover and came home with one win in two starts at the 1.5 mile oval. The win saw the South Carolina driver lead twenty circuits in the 4141 sof race which featured five cautions. Halifax, Nova Scotia’s Dylan Duval led fifty-one laps en route to second place with NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Timmy Hill crossing the line in third. Rounding-out the top five in the race were Carolina Club’s Nicholas Maynard and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia’s Calum McNicol.

Bringing home fourth place for the week was Maryland driver Jesse Atchison. The NiSWC regular led 75 laps in a 4047 sof race on May 18th. Behind Atchison at the line included DJ Lyon, John Stafford, Nicholas Morse and Harris. The win garnered 253 points for Atchison. Though he didn’t win in his two starts of the week, Ashley Miller was scored in fifth for the week after coming home second to Tyler Scott on May 17th. Miller led the most laps (twenty-seven) of the 4240 sof race, which featured thirteen lead changes between seven leaders. Tommy Rhyne was third in the race followed by Jason “JLo” Lofing and Lyon.

Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge II winner Kenny Humpe paced the field in qualifying at Charlotte as he laid-down a speedy lap 30.461 seconds. Justin Thompson was second followed by Carson Downs, Parker Hammons and Nicholas Morse. The most starts for the week was set by Randy Crossno with forty-three while Rob Munoz visited victory lane the most with eleven trips. Harold James led the most laps over seven days with 641. Division Seven Time Trialer Tom LaRose shocked the NiCCS by topping the board at Charlotte. His effort for the week was just better than Andrew Berger, Norbert Sulzer, Arthur Lucas and Jason Conway.

How does seven days of racing in Concord shake up the points after three weeks? Last season’s champ Hudson (742 points) has the overall lead over a hard charging Green, who only sits thirty-seven points behind. Joshua Laughton is third, six markers back of Green while Hill and Lyon complete the top five after three weeks. Jim Johnson (459 points) is ahead of Division Two by thirty-six over Rick Geddes II. Travis Sollenberger sits a single point behind Geddes in third.

Divisions Three through Ten see tight point battles for the lead with the top spot in those divisions being separated by no more than twenty-one points. William Lark leads James Audi in Division Three (thirteen points) while the gap is two points greater in Division Four between Buddy Higgins and Michael Patton. A dozen points is the cushion that Edward Smith2 has on Brandon Kettelle in Divison Five with John Nemechek (son of NASCAR Sprint Cup star Joe) trailing Patrick Davis by eighteen points in Division Six. Thirteen points is the advantage for Sean Cheesman over Steven Mcgarrity in Division Seven while Steven Wiesner holds court with a twenty-one point lead over Willy Auer in Division Eight. Austin Grams has sixteen more points than Dan Hass in Division Nine while the point battle between the top five in Division Ten is tight with Chris Little, Kyle Robinson, Kevin Sockow, Melvin Mckinney and Bill Rowlands all within thirteen points of each other after Charlotte.

The NiCCS now heads to the Richmond International Raceway. A short track gem, Richmond always provides close racing throughout the week and will be the host for Week Four on the schedule. To see who prevails in Virginia, check back to inRacingNews next week.

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

Real-world V8 Supercar star, Stone Brothers Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen showed that he’s had just about enough of these sim racers keeping him off the podium’s top spot. He made his intentions known with a pole time of 1 min 23.26.

The Hague’s Rens Broekman made a return to the top split sharing the front row with Van Gisbergen. XSG’s Michael McCabe was also returning, replete with new livery, taking third grid spot just to prove he hadn’t lost anything. Normally, even so much as a short spell away from this top-level series means the entire world has moved on a quantum or two. Alongside him was defending champ Mitchell McLeod.

Yet another real world racer, also a Stone Brothers’ driver (in the level-two Fujitsu series) was young Scott McLaughlin on grid five, from the ever-improving Simon Madden. XSG’s Corey Slade was next, changing his pre-race music ritual from Taylor Swift to Chris Isaak.  Troy Cox flew the flag for Trans Tasman Racing, then relative newcomers Vail Riches and Cal Whatmore rounded out the top ten.

The rest were: Scott U’Ren, John Emerson, Darrin Vouch, Craig Woodhouse, Wayne Harris, Lewis Dodimead, Matt Yeomans, George Fullerton, Guy Leach, Simon Black, Justin Strickland, Christopher Larmour, and finally Yongil Jeong in a packed grid, chock full of talent. The SOF was over 3,500.

Things did not start well for Scott U'Ren after a touch with John Emerson

Van Gisbergen took off at the start. Exiting Turn One, Emerson and U’Ren in the mid pack touched lightly, but enough to send U’Ren skywards. Rens Broekman was shuffled sideways for the first two corners as he and McCabe squabbled over who got to chase Van Gisbergen. McLaughlin and McLeod had a drag race down the back straight and through Turn Three, touching more than once. Under brakes into Turn Four, McLaughlin pulled off a demon move outside a cautious McLeod and Broekman. He almost got McCabe, too, into Turn Five, but settled into third.

The Giz gets busy, while McLaughlin (right) makes up two positions in one swoop

McLaughlin glued himself to the back of McCabe, allowing The Giz to get away ever so slightly, by iRacing V8SC standards. They went side by side into Turn Two, but McLaughlin thought better of it and lived to fight on, looking racey and keen to have a crack at his Stone Brothers’ team mate. Slade passed Madden around the outside into Four, to nail sixth place. Cox fancied his chances on Madden as well, until Madden made it all too easy for him by sliding off at Turn Nine.

On Lap Five, McLaughlin nailed McCabe into his favourite spot, Turn Four, which put Van Gisbergen in plain sight. Now it was Van Gisbergen, McLaughlin, McCabe, Broekman, McLeod, Slade, Cox, Whatmore, Riches and Woodhouse doing a great job to be in the top ten. Vouch was next, with a small gap back to Harris who was trying to conserve tyres but all the time with some serious attention from Emerson.

Ouch. Harris gets hit by the Mafia.

On Lap Seven, Emerson locked up the brakes into Two and sent Harris into the gravel. Harris extricated himself into 19th, to see a penitent Emerson scrambling through the grass at Four. “Not my finest hour” said Emerson. Meanwhile, Harris got caught up in a race-long scrap with Leach, Strickland, Dodimead, Madden and Black which was “worth the price of admission” according to Wayne.

On Lap 11, McCabe spun out of third place at Turn Two. While he was waiting to rejoin a hapless Cal Whatmore spun off in sympathy an collected the XSG Falcon. Turn Two was becoming quite the Bermuda Triangle. They both waited like a couple of Melbourne motorists in a traffic jam, which McCabe admitted was quite comical, until he rejoined in 20th. It was actually not far from twelfth, the field being so compacted back there.

By mid race distance in the 25-lapper, McLaughlin was trying his trademark Turn Four move on leader Van Gisbergen, but The Giz was wise to his tricks. It raged thus for, more or less, the entire race, allowing the inseparable trio of Broekman, McLeod and Slade to close in a touch and enjoy the action. In sixth was the impressive Riches, having trumped Cox who was now seventh, then Woodhouse, Vouch and Fullerton finally into his customary top ten. Madden was a little lonely in 11th, but Leach, Harris, Black, McCabe and Dodimead were having a nuclear-sized conflagration from 12th through to 16th.

"You talkin' to me?" McCabe ignores the warning on Dodimead's rear wing and sizes up 14th place

“The racing is twice as hard as last season already, and it’s only just getting started…”  - Mitchell McLeod

Despite all the pressure from McLaughlin, Van Gisbergen hung on for the win. Broekman showed his class in third from McLeod, who could not mount an offense. “I was starting to rely on the guys in front of me taking each other out…I didn’t have the pace to even think about making a pass.” Slade threw everything but the kitchen sink at McLeod; “I tried to come on strong and make a pass just couldn’t get it done” He finished 5th. Next was Riches, Cox, Woodhouse, Vouch and Fullerton.

Last season’s champion McLeod summed up the sentiment well: “…The racing so far this season is twice as hard as last season already, and it’s only just getting started…”

The two V8 Supercar stars up front may think that’s the way it should be, but there are several fired up sim racers who will have something to say about it.

A little too familiar for Laughton for, as it was in 2010 Season 3 and 2011 Season 1, Hudson is out front.  Fierce as their rivalry may be, however, Laughton counts Hudson as a “great friend.”

But what else would you expect from a sim racer who says he was motivated to become an iRacing member by the opportunity to competing with online racing’s top talents in the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship?  Speaking of which, although the Fresno, CA-based Laughton is currently 29th in the NiSWC standings, still looking for his first top five finish but with an eighth place finish at Bristol his best result to date.  With 59 wins in 117 Class C starts in the past four seasons, however, it can only be a matter of time before Laughton hits his stride in NiSWC.

Q:     How long have you been sim racing?

A:     For about 12 years now. (I) started running Nascar Racing 3, Dirt Track Racing Spint Cars, Nascar 2003, rFactor, ARCA Sim Racng, and then finally iRacing.

Q:     What attracted you to iRacing?

A:     The iRacing Drivers World Championship.  I wanted to race with the best. To be the best you have to race against the best. I dominated ARCA Sim Racing for a couple years and decided it was time to move on.

Q:     What are favorite iRacing cars/tracks?

A:     All the short tracks. Richmond, Bristol, Dover, New Hampshire. For cars the trucks are my favorite.  I love the Sprint Cars, that’s what I grew up around.

Q:     What do you like most about iRacing?

A:     The amount of content the offer. It gets overwhelming at times ’cause there’s so much to choose from.

Q:     What would you change about iRacing?

A:     The tire model is the #1 and that is already coming out. Other things I would liked to see changed is the netcode and the areo revamped. Especially in the CoT, the further you get back in the back, the worse the car drives.

Q:     How many hours a week do you spend on iRacing?

A:     Depending on whether I’m working out of town or not. When I’m home I’m usually on everyday. I love racing. I work for Hoosier Tire West, we are the west coast distributer for Hoosier Racing Tire. So pretty much every weekend I’m at a race track. I can’t afford any real racing, besides racing my parents’ go kart from time to time and I’ve run a Ford Focus Midget a few times for a guy, but this is my racing fix.  It’s cheap, affordable and fun.

Q:     Tell us about the paint schemes on your helmet/car(s):

A:     My cars and helmet are usually always orange. I love the color orange.  It’s bright and stands out. My boss owns a USAC Race team and all of the cars were always orange, so it kinda stuck with me.

“To be the best you have to race against the best.” — Joshua Laughton

Q:     What other sim racing activities (Forza, Gran Tourismo, etc.) do you do?

A:     iRacing is pretty much it. I’ll still go run ARCA Sim Racing from time to time.

Q:     What are your favorite video games? Other hobbies?

A:     I’ll play Madden from time to time or NBA, or some other racing game at a buddy’s (place), but I don’t own a PS3 or XBOX360

Q:     What is your most memorable iRacing moment?

A:     Beside making PRO and then DWC in less that a year, it would probably winning the 2010 Bristol 200 in iRacing. That was a pretty big win for me.

Q:     What is the iRacing moment you’d love to forget?

A:     Any crashes I’m involved in.

Q:     What car/track would you like to see iRacing add to the service?

A:     I would love to see the USAC Midgets added. Would also like to see dirt racing in iRacing with wing & non-wing Sprint Cars as well as dirt Midgets, Dirt Late Models. For Tracks I would like to see ORP, Iowa, & Salem Speedway.

Q:     What person, living or dead, do you most admire? Why?

A:     Besides my dad, I would say Tony Stewart. Tony can race anything and win, I’ve seen it first hand, he is amazing in a race car. Kyle Busch would be another, that kid can flat wheel a race car.

Once again, the 2011 Season 2 finds Laughton (8) glued to Hudson's tailgate in the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series standings.

Q:     What’s your favorite real world racing series?

A:     USAC Sprint and Midget Cars.

Q:     Name the title of the most recent book you read.

A:     Books? Who wants to read books when you can be racing.

Q:     Name of your favorite movie/TV show:

A:     Blue Collar, Burn Notice, Entourage.

Q:     How many of your close friends are iRacing members?

A:     I’d say all the guys are our Wheelmen Inc. Team. We have a great group of guys. My best friend on iRacing would have to be Tyler D. Hudson. He’s really a great friend and always fun to race with and has made me a better racer.

Q:     Has competing with iRacers all around the world influenced your opinions/outlook on life/world events? How?

A:     I wouldn’t say it’s influenced me.  It’s cool to meet and race people from around the world; some you get to know on more of just a first name basis. I’ve made some great friends on iRacing, that I’ve never met in person, but maybe one day will get the chance to.

Week One sensation Peter Read made a welcome return by joining polesitter Madison Down on the front row, less than one-tenth behind the Trans Tasman racer. Behind them was Mitchell McLeod, then Shane Van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin making the field top heavy with real-world racers. Next came Vail Riches, impressing in qualifying for the third week running. The ever-improving Simon Madden was seventh, with a time which “would have put me on pole last season!”

Then came Cal Whatmore, another highly impressive newcomer from previous weeks. Cracking the top ten in this field with any level of experience is a big deal. Corey Slade made a welcome return to the high split for XSG Motorsport, and Stuart Wood was tenth.

The field of sim racers was packed to capacity at 25.

Pandemoneum reigned at the treacherous Turn Two right-hander atop the hill, while Down, Read and Van Gisbergen kept it reasonably clean. Further back, there was a Nethercote-Fullerton-Harris concertina, while alongside them Black and Leach did likewise. This sent Fullerton, Black, Leach and Jeremy Washington trackside, most with damage. Fullerton: “I reckon we all could have done that a little better…”.

Even more sensationally though, was Scott McLaughlin and Week Two winner Mitchell McLeod making contact exiting Turn 3A, putting McLeod out for the evening and giving McLaughlin an uphill battle to get back through the field with front right damage.

Moment of truth for McLeod and McLaughlin (both left)

“I reckon we all could have done that a little better…!” – George Fullerton

So at the end of Lap One it was Down, Read, Van Gisbergen. Madden was rapt to be in fourth place, having survived the carnage. Riches was right behind, followed by the XSG pair of Slade and Terry Nightingale. Dylan Sharman had likewise jumped up to eighth, ahead of Cal Whatmore, who had given the position away at the hairpin and was now fending off Stuart Wood. Next was Matthew Nethercote, Simone Gelli, Wayne Harris, Darrin Vouch and Dylan Gulson. They were all being hunted by the recovering McLaughlin.

Disaster struck for Madden on Lap Three as he spun, after taking too much kerb on Turn 8A, the fast right-left-right sweeping complex on the back section. Poor Vail Riches could go nowhere and hit him hard, while Slade took to the dirt and couldn’t avoid the wall. This put all three of them out. “Small error, big consequences…” said an apologetic Madden. Motorsport is like that.

The cream is rising to the top, and there's more to come.

Moments later Simone Gelli binned it up the road at Turn 10, while Nightingale snuck through Wood at the hairpin. Action aplenty.

This put Sharman in fourth, heading the depleted but still potent pack of Whatmore, Nightingale, Wood, Nethercote, Harris, Vouch, and Gulson who was now under attack from McLaughlin.

McLaughlin passed Gulson on Lap Five, Vouch on Lap Eight, Harris on Lap Nine, and Wood on Lap 15, to be in seventh. Up front, Down-Read-Van Giz slugged it out with fastest laps but the gaps were spread. Down had checked out, while Read had Van Gisbergen within a shout. Sharman was barely safe in fourth with the XSG Falcon of Nightingale filling his mirrors. Nightingale finally slipped through into fourth on Lap 17 with a clean move into the hairpin.

Nightingale pipped Sharman for fourth, earning George Fullerton's "man of the match" award

Whatmore was holding off a resurgent McLaughlin for sixth in the closing laps, and it wasn’t easy. Up front, Down was unfazed, and made no repeat of his Watkins Glen final corner fail, taking the win. Van Gisbergen had closed on Read but ran out of time. “One more lap and he would have had me” said Read.

Dylan Sharman tried to reclaim his fourth place from Nightingale with a lunge at the hairpin of the final lap, looping it within sight of the flag and allowing the angry train of Whatmore, McLaughlin and Harris close behind in sixth and seventh. Sharman limped home eighth. Next came Vouch, Wood, Gulson, Gelli, Black, Nethercote and debutante Jeremy Washington fifteenth and the last on the lead lap.

To make the field a little happier, winner Madison Down mentioned he’d be away for Week Four. The only thing left to worry about, is that the break might do him some good.

“Not the best way to have a win, but I’ll take it!” – Mitchell McLeod

After the thrills of Phillip Island, the iRacing V8 Supercar series moved to the Watkins Glen Cup configuration for Round Two of Season Two. The action from Round One might have seemed hard to top, but this is the iRacing V8 Supercar series, where anything can and usually does happen.

While the shape of some of The Glen’s curves may resemble those at The Island, those guardrails at The Glen are much closer.

Sadly, Round One sensation Peter Read was on “sick leave” for this top split of the feature race, but that reunited Season One rivals Mitchell McLeod and Madison Down on the front row, both qualifying well in the 1 min 11′s. The consolation for Read’s absence was V8 Superstar Shane Van Gisbergen, qualifying third. Vail Riches had impressed in his top split debut the previous week, and was back for more, sharing the second row with Van Gisbergen. Newcomer for this week was Cal Whatmore, alongside Simon Madden.

Dylan Gulson, Wayne Harris, Jason Spencer and George “Hitman” Fullerton filled out the hottest ten in a twenty car field.

The field plunges into Turn One, Wood already in trouble. McLeod lead at the first corner, one of only two places in which he held the lead!

McLeod got the jump, but his glory was short lived as Down muscled around the outside of the Nfinity Esports machine into the esses, leaving McLeod to fend off a keen looking Van Gisbergen. Stuart Wood spun to the inside of Turn One after suffering the sim racing equivalent of a mechanical issue (the force feedback failed), disconnecting and returning a lap down in frustration. Whatmore trumped Riches to slot into fourth, while Madden and Gulson crawled over Riches until he steadied and set off after Whatmore.

While Harris staked a claim on eighth, Jason Spencer held off Fullerton for ninth with some demon late braking into the Bus Stop.The duked it out for a few laps, with Fullerton trying him out under brakes into Turn One on Lap Six, only to have Spencer do the “over and under” on the run to the esses. Eventually Fullerton prevailed under brakes into the Bus Stop and took off up the road.

Down, predictably, began to pull a gap.

Riches nabbed fourth from Whatmore down the straight into the Bus Stop on Lap Seven. He set to work reeling in Van Gisbergen.

Up front, the gaps were uncharacteristically spread, but then, we were all a bit spoiled for action at Phillip Island. Still, in typical iRacing V8 style, the race was to come alive, big time, near the end. For now, Down lead McLeod by around four seconds.

Madden and Gulson have at it over sixth place. They were like this for the duration

On Lap  22 The Giz looped it into the Bus Stop, letting Riches past. Van Gisbergen did not go quietly, however, and harrassed Riches mercilessly for the next several laps, drawing up alongside in the final corner once or twice. Whatmore saw all this from a few seconds behind and set about joining in the fun.

On Lap 27, Van Giz “made a hole” around the Caroussel and got his third place back. Lap 28 Riches returned the favour into Turn One. Van Gisbergen repeated his Caroussel trick again that lap, by which time Whatmore had merged with the action and, down the final straight on Lap 28, the three had practically become one. Riches decided that conceding fifth to Whatmore around the penultimate corner was preferable to crashing. The trio continued their issues until the very end, showing deft control wheel to wheel and nose to tail.

George Fullerton's "man of the match" was Cal Whatmore, here giving V8 Supercar star Shane Van Gisbergen some curry over third place

Further back, Madden, Gulson and Harris were giving each other no rest in sixth, seventh and eighth, and had been hard at it like this since the start. Fullerton enforced his consistent top ten reputation in ninth “…but I expected better given I’m normally reasonably decent at Watkins Glen..”. Spencer was tenth.

Vern Norrgard was stuck in 12th behind Tibor Sandor, finding no way past until lap 23. It was 11th place-or-bust for Sandor who took to the grass as the Bigpond Falcon finally passed him into the right-left of the Bus Stop. This allowed Jeremy Washington and Matt Yeomans through also.

It all looked sealed for Down as he worked the final lap with five seconds on McLeod, who had all but conceded, dropping into the 18′s by the penultimate lap. At the final corner of the final lap, the unthinkable happened- Down spun into the outside guardrail, and McLeod, somewhat surprised, took the win. I’ll just type that again: Down made a crucial error on the final lap.

“Everyone should get a laugh out of that one… including myself..” -Madison Down

McLeod: "Now there's something you don't see every day..."

In real world scenarios the punters would, no doubt, pontificate over the merits of backing off and winning by the smallest practical margin. But Madison Down only knows one way- flat out. And that final corner at The Glen gets your confidence up, inviting you wider and wider every lap until drifting seems like the right thing to do. In this case, it caught out even the dynamic Down. “Not the best way to have a win, but I’ll take it” said McLeod. Who wouldn’t!

Down admitted later that he  “..went for my trademark powerslide to win the race. I did it nearly every race last season and last week, this week it didn’t go to plan. Everyone should get a laugh out of that one for quite some time….including myself.”

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? A scary thought for Down’s rivals. He sheepishly hobbled home in second, still six seconds ahead of third placed Van Gisbergen. Cal Whatmore was a satisfying fourth from Vail Riches. Gulson finally pipped Madden for sixth three laps from the finish. Harris, Fullerton and Spencer capped off their consistent runs inside the top ten.

The iRacing V8 Supercar Series continues to thrill, and will do so as it moves to Infineon Raceway for Week Three.

In a battle of the 'Brads,' Wright (13) kept Davies (6) at bay over the last few laps to score his first NiSCW win at Darlington.

Defending NiSWC champion Richard Towler won the pole and led the first stint of the race, which surprisingly consisted of nearly 50 straight laps of green flag racing as everyone seemed content just to race the race track and log laps. Staying on the lead lap was the key and those drivers who went down a lap in the early going were forced to play catch-up the rest of the race.

When the first caution flew and the field came to pit road on Lap 45, Towler made a critical error. The defending champ got caught for speeding in the pits, and the resulting penalty forced him to restart the race at the tail end of the field. Josh Parker took over the lead at that point and checked-out on the field, showing that he was clearly the car to beat. He held the lead until a round of pit stops under the caution flag, which saw Davies take two tires and grab the race lead. Everyone was curious, would two tires pay off?

The answer was ‘Yes.’ Davies used clean air to his advantage and held-off Parker for nearly 30 laps until the next caution flew on Lap 105.  This time around, Parker beat Davies off pit road and looked poised to drive into victory lane, as no one could come close to his race pace. The tables turned though when the yellow waved once again on Lap 117.

While Parker and most of the other front runners hit pit road for fresh tires, Ray Alfalla, Brian Schoenburg, Patrick Fogel, John Gorlinsky and Towler stayed out, hoping track position would mean more than fresh rubber.  But shortly after the green flew, disaster struck when Towler and Parker made contact, sending both cars spinning into the Turn Three wall and out of the race.

Towler and Parker each led at Darlington before a collision ruined their races.

With the two fastest cars out of action, the race was now wide open. The driver who played his cards right and made his final pit stop at the right time would have the best shot at winning.

Cautions kept breeding more cautions, which led Alfalla and the other leaders to stay out on track to keep track position. The Floridian held the lead until Lap 147 when Davies, armed with fresher tires, looked low on the front straightaway and took the top spot away. Another yellow slowed the field on Lap 155 and Davies, along with most of the other leaders, elected to pit one last time for tires. Thomas Hazard chose to stay out on old tires and press his luck, hoping a string of late cautions would lead to a victory.

The ensuing restart saw Chris Main spin his tires from third place, triggering a mad scramble behind him with Wright taking advantage, moving up to third. Wright then made quick work of Gorlinksy and Hazard to take the lead on Lap 167 and had only one man to beat:  Davies.  Davies made a valiant charge, but came up just short in the end, finishing just over three tenths of a second behind the winner.

Wright explained how restarts were the key to his win. “On the next to last restart, I had gained the lead from Thomas Hazard and stretched out an eight car lead.  The last restart, I had the lead, but was not comfortable at all due to Brad Davies being in my mirror the last 10 laps. After (Davies made) a few mistakes trying to catch me, I was fortunate enough to hold off his charge.”

“I had the lead, but was not comfortable at all due to Brad Davies being in my mirror the last 10 laps.” — Brad Wright

Behind the tense battle for first, Connor Mackenzie limped his battered car home to an impressive third place, with Hazard slipping to fourth and Gorlinsky holding-on to fifth.

After seven of eighteen races this season, Hazard (263 points) now holds the point lead by three points over Alfalla. Wright jumped all the way to third in the standings, 23 points behind the leader. Parker (224) sits in fourth, while Tyler Hudson rounds-out the top five after a fourteenth place finish at Darlington.

Week Eight sees the series shift back to a 1.5 mile track, Charlotte Motor Speedway. The track promises to be a welcome break from the tense action and caution- filled events from previous weeks, with long green flag runs being common place. Setting a car up for the long run will be a key to winning, and the driver who hits the setup the best will have a great shot at running away with the show. Will Towler break out of his slump, or will another new face end up in victory lane for the first time? Tune in to PSRTV’s broadcast on www.iRacing.com in two weeks’ time to find out!

The Race for Recovery willl feature the Chevy Silverados at Talladega on Monday, May 30.

Event organizers Dominic Carelli, Timothy Johnston and Darrell McKee are hoping Race for Recovery will have as many as 120 sim racers and four splits, and have worked in coordination with the International Sim Racing Association (ISRA), In The Zone Racing (ITZR)and the Short Track Pro Cup Series (STPC) leagues as well as iRacing.com to make Race for Recovery a reality. 

Race for Recovery will feature Chevrolet Silverados (fixed setups) and at Talladega Superspeedway, with practice starting on Monday, May 30 at 8 pm EST, qualifying scheduled for 9:15 pm EST and the race to follow.  Each race will be 80 laps long, with double file restarts and the Lucky Dog in effect.  Each race winner will receive $15 in iRacing credits but, more importantly, the following contingency donation awards will be in effect.

* Dominic Carelli – $25 and $1 for every lead change.
* David Boden – $200
* Karl Mumbower – $80 ($1 per lap for his race, and an additional $1 for green flag laps)
* John-Michael Shenette – $40 ($20 thanks to Dynasty Motorsports, $20 thanks to STPC)
* Barry Brooks – $61 (Barry’s Truck Number)
* Charles Carter – $14
* Rusty Arthur – $10
* Randy Peppler – $25
* Jacob Klein – $23
* Douglas Cromier – $25
Registration is easy.  Just send your name, location, license and iRating and preferred number to Dominic Carelli at: dcarelli6@yahoo.com. 

Anyone with questions about the Race for recovery, or who is interested in sponsoring additional contingency prizes or making a donation to Race for Recovery should contact Dominic Carelli at the same address.  Donations can be sent through PayPal to that same e-mail.

Series champ Mitchell McLeod, Madison Down and Michael McCabe slugged out the closing of Season One with some major heavy hitting. There were cameo appearances from Shay Griffith, Darrin Vouch, George Fullerton, and real-world V8 racers Scott McLaughlin, Shane Van Gisbergen and Scott Andrews among others. The racing became more intense, the series more popular, the skins more professional, and the spectator “corporate box” more packed with enthused punters every time.

As if the promise of Season Two was not tantalising enough, Peter Read joined the fray. Read is well known to many sim racers through his exploits in iRacing and other sims. His experience and setup data has been invaluable to many a sim racer, being one of the youngest ever champions on iRacing. His decision to join the main game had the corporate box drooling.

Qualifying was “insanely close” in Madison Down’s apt words, most of the front runners being in the same session right before the 8.45pm main race. Down, McLeod and Read traded fastest laps in the low 1 min 31′s. Scott Andrews (joining Season One Champ McLeod in Nfinity Esports) and Guy Leach also managed to get into the 31′s. In fact, you had to go all the way down to 17th grid in a packed field of 22 to find anyone struggling to get into the 32′s. Insanely close and insanely fast.

“We’ve waited years for this level of sim-racing…” – George Fullerton

In the end, Down pipped pole with a 31.246 from Read, McLeod, Andrews and Leach. Relative newcomer to split one was Vail Riches in sixth from Darrin Vouch, Troy Cox, Reg Burke and George Fullerton staking his claim to a consistent top-ten running. The talent didn’t end at the top ten, however, with Simon Black in 11th from Jason Spencer, making a welcome return to the V8′s top division in 12th.

Next was Andrew Wauchope, Matt Yeomans, Dylan Guslon, Barry Kennedy, Bigpond’s Vern Norrgard admitting to a little trepidation pre-race, then John Merritt and Nicholas Pratt.

Before the race, series godfather George Fullerton stated, rather prophetically, “We’ve waited years for this level of sim-racing. Competitively speaking these races are awesome, world class stuff…”

At the green light the top three of Down-Read-McLeod took off in formation. Leach managed to jump a blinking Andrews, but Andrews re-took the spot with the mother of all outbraking moves into Honda for the first time. Next came Vail Riches from Trans Tasman’s Troy Cox, who had Fullerton all over him, who in turn was receiving the same attention from Spencer in the sponsor-less white Falcon. Darrin Vouch had a small break from Burke and Black, while Harris in the Seeka Kiwifruit entry was commencing what was to be a race-long duel with Simon Madden. Gulson, Norrgard and Gelli made up the rear as, sadly, many of the tail enders hadn’t made the start.

The field streams through Siberia

Burke had closed in on Vouch, and on Lap Three thrust the InRacing News Falcon up the inside on Lap Three to squeeze into the top ten. Honda hairpin would be the scene of much of the action tonight. He then closed in on Spencer, out-dragging him down the Gardener Straight to claim ninth after Spencer had a huge slide in the final sweeper.

Down and Read had pulled a small gap on series Champ McLeod, who was in turn ahead of teammate Andrews by a margin. In this race, half a second may as well have been a country mile.

On Lap Four the volcano erupted. Down tested the limit of adhesion into Honda, and with the smallest of rear lock-ups, Read was through. “I then just focused on tyre conservation…which I failed at, red mist descended.” said Down. The spectator gallery were glad, the battle was superlative (which is my code for “I’m running out of superlatives”). It was an absolute thriller.

Meanwhile, Burke’s charge had drawn him to the back of Fullerton and he duly dispensed with George at, surprise surprise, Honda hairpin on Lap Nine. His hard charging work came undone as, one lap later in the same place, he scrambled off road under brakes and let Fullerton and Vouch back through.

"When at Turn One, do as the guy in front does..." Burke and Fullerton slide their way through a duel for eighth

Harris and Madden were swapping positions with regularity, on Lap 16 Harris thought he’d finally sealed it into Honda, but it wasn’t to be the last time.

At around the same point in the race, Read had pulled out a “mammoth” lead on Down….of 0.4 seconds. That was as big as it got. By Lap 18 the battle for the lead was revisited, then it simmered, then it sizzled, then it exploded. By lap 20, Read was defending vigourously. “My tyres were mush by Lap Ten…”. Covering the inside into Honda, holding out Down on the run to Siberia, side-by-side through the hayshed, defending furiously with the car on it’s nose into MG, this was the routine lap after lap. It kept the corporate box, and the occasional lapped traffic, on their toes.

Unlike the action just ahead of them, Nfinity Esports' McLeod and Andrews could do little more than enjoy the picturesque view.

A little further back Harris and Madden were still hard at it, closing to the back of Burke. There was action aplenty. Riches was being shadowed by Leach in the “forgotten positions” of fifth and sixth. Even the rear of field was awash as Norrgard and Black battled over the final placings.

“The Red Mist descended…” – Madison Down

Read’s squishy rears notwithstanding, he was positioning the car just right. Down had a lunge into the miniscule gap left by Read into Honda on Lap 21, and thought he had it, only to lose out in the drag race to Siberia.

Finally, that same lap Down took the lead through Lukey Heights, of all places. A big slide from the Target “100% Happy” Falcon left the door wide open, leaving Down 100% happy himself. While all this was going on, McLeod closed the gap slightly but “I killed my tyres trying to catch up…”. Read did not say die, turning a spirited pursuit of Down into an entertaining display of drifting through Turn One, knowing that one slip from Down and he was back in front when it mattered most. But it was not to be.

Down-Read-McLeod were covered by less than five seconds in the end, with Andrews a little way back in fourth. Guy Leach suffered the disaster of running out of fuel on the last lap, so one can hardly accuse him of not running an aggressive enough strategy. This put Riches into that much-coveted “best of the rest” fifth place. Next was Vouch, Fullerton Cox, Burke, Harris, Madden, Spencer, Gelli, Yeomans, Pratt, Leach, Kennedy, Gulson, Norrgard and Black. Merritt and Wauchope were one lap and two laps down respectively, but satisfied to be in this talent-heavy top split.

If this is to be the flavour of Season Two, hold on to your lunch, people.

]]> http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/iracing-news/blast-off-at-the-island/feed 2 http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/iracing-news/a-day-at-the-races http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/iracing-news/a-day-at-the-races#comments Sat, 07 May 2011 00:01:14 +0000 DavidP http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/?p=66772 Club Indiana took things to a different level in April with a day at the races at the FASTIMES Indoor Karting center on the north side of Indianapolis.   The event attracted a full field of 20 entrants  (including a couple of interlopers from Club Illinois and a pair of SCCA racers), many of whom got together to start the festivities with lunch at the nearby Chammps Americana restaurant.

Then it was time to get serious (sort of) at FASTIMES.   Everyone got at least an hour of track time, first by participating in two of four qualifying sessions, then three of six heat races, with points from the heat races placing competitors in A (Main) and B (Consy) “feature” races.   It sounds slightly more complicated than it was, thanks to an ingenious points system devised by event organizer L. Bryce Whitson, Jr.

Jeff Haas (36) hustles his kart around FASTIMES ahead of Scott Manifold.

In any case, Whitson and Brandon Perry were fastest qualifiers while Steven Dager, Jr. and Rick Fouts both won two of their three heat races with Cary Bettenhausen and Whitson each taking a single heat win.  Dager went on to dominate the A Main feature before running out of fuel (!) at mid-race, leaving James Legault to come home the winner (at the tender age of 56) over Fouts and Whitson, who finished the race on three wheels.

“Age and Treachery beats youth and enthusiasm. This time anyway…!” — James Legault

“I made every single pass at the lower level hairpin,” said Legault.   “And it was always the same scenario. The guy in front of me would drive it in hard on the inside, would make contact with the guy on the outside, both would slide to the high side, and I’d sneak underneath both of them on exit . . . I started sitting on those opportunities and just waited for the scenario to play out. P2 in my first heat. P3 in my second. P5 in my third.

“That got me into the A Main, starting P6. Then the same thing played out. I made one pass that way and then I passed 3 guys at once at the hairpin, when we caught a slower kart. One guy went low, one went high, and all three slid to the outside and I got by all of them. That was the key to my win, right there. I was P1, I had a fast kart, and all I had to do was bring it home. Thankfully there were no yellows!

“I’m 56 years old. I’m proud of this win! Age and Treachery beats youth and enthusiasm. This time anyway…!”

For one day it was iRacing.com at FASTIMES.

Whitson was equally thrilled by the day’s results, in terms of his personal finish of course but also from the standpoint of what it meant for Club Indiana.

“It was really nice to meet the other iRacers on a personal level and see how the club kind of jelled together,” he said.  “It was also interesting to hear the comments from the people at FASTIMES who said this is one of the most competitive fields they’ve seen.  And the thing was everybody took care of each other.  I guess they understood there’s a difference between getting a 1x or a 4x and hitting the wall.  No wonder we’re doing well in the World Cup of iRacing these days!

“No wonder we’re doing well in the World Cup of iRacing these days!” — L. Bryce Whitson, Jr.

“The other thing is that, although a lot of guys didn’t have much so called ‘real world’ racing experience, you could see how rapidly they improved.  I credit a lot of that to iRacing.  In the first qualifying sessions most of the guys were running laps in the 25s and a lap in the 24s was really good.  By the heats, nearly everyone was in the low- to mid-24s, and the fastest lap of the day – a 23.370s – was the second fastest of the month at FASTIMES.”

What’s more, the winners went home with an assortment of iRacing swag as well as some classic memorabilia, courtesy of former IndyCar driver and USAC Silver Crown and Sprint Car champion Gary Bettenhausen (father of iRacers Cary and Todd Bettenhausen) including signed posters and tee shirts.

Club Indiana's intrepid karters. A splendid time was had by all . . .

“I think everyone had a blast,” says Whitson, an opinion supported by numerous posts in the Club Indiana forum.  “There’s already talk of turning this into an annual or a semi-annual event.  We had a great time at FASTIMES but we’re thinking of going to different karting facilities, both indoors and out of doors.”

Check out the video highlights of Indiana Club’s day at FASTRACK, on YouTube.

Marcos scored a total of seven top fives, including five wins, to take the NVIDIA Cup title in Season 1c and the NVIDIA GTX 580 graphics card that goes with it.  Marcos wheeled his Mazda MX5 to three online racing wins at Lime Rock Park and two more at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca en route to the title.

“iRacing is the first sim in which I raced against other people,” he explains. “I found that laser-scanned tracks make all the difference to others, and that’s why I stayed.  As a rookie I obviously started with the MX5, which suits me and really enjoy to drive.  As it’s easy to control, it has a very large amount of players.  I think it is really good to race, lots of fun.”

Marcos may be camera shy, but there's no hiding from the fact he was a force to be reckoned with in NVIDIA Cup competition.

And although the NVIDIA Cup was broken down into three four week seasons (1a, 1b and 1c), Marcos also topped the points over the conventional 12 week 2011 Season 1 thanks to a fourth place finish in Season 1a and placing runner-up to Norbi Kiss in Season 1b before besting Jan Coomans, David Burns and Jason Stock in Season for the Season 1c crown.

“I didn’t really think I would be able to win the NVIDIA Cup any time, Marcos admits.   “But I placed fourth I think in the first one, which I also used to learn a few tricks and change the gap to the quickest guys, so I realised I might have a chance and gave it a try. Unfortunately in the second season Norbi was too quick for me, but I managed to win this one, also against very fast guys so I’m very happy.  It’s a pleasure to compete with all the people who take part in it. So, big thanks to NVIDIA and iRacing for everything.  The 580 is a killer card!”

“Big thanks to NVIDIA and iRacing for everything.  The 580 is a killer card!” — Alvaro Marcos

In contrast to Marcos, Trimbach only made occasional appearances in the NVIDIA Cup, focusing more on the inRacingNews Challenge, the Skip Barber and SK Modified Series.  Although he didn’t win any of those championships, he faithfully raced with NVIDIA as his primary sponsor and, as a result, was chosen at random from the more than 1200 iRacers who ran the NVIDIA logo as their primary sponsor in at least 20 official races.

Trimbach realized the benefits of running NVIDIA livery -- win or lose.

“I have used NVIDIA products and consider it the graphics industry standard,” he says.  “I was excited to see the contest but knew my chances were low. The likelihood of finishing in the top three overall seemed a bit unobtainable — the competition here is pretty intense and humbling!   But if I ran enough racing, I knew I might have a chance in a drawing; so I put the logo on every car I raced!”

Also in contrast to Marcos, Trimbach has iRacing – and its precursors – in his blood.

“A chance to race real people, rather than AI, drivers! Wow It’s great!” — Andrew Trimbach

“My sim Racing began, probably, like most of the persons on iRacing, with the first Papyrus Indy 500 simulation, then IndyCar Racing I and II,” he explains. “Then I went to console racing with the Playstation and the Gran Turismo franchise. Then this past December, I found out about iRacing! A chance to race real people, rather than AI, drivers! Wow It’s great!  I’m slow, but having a great time!  I love the real competition and excitement of iRacing! It is the most immersive racing sim I have ever used!”

In contrast to his Spanish counterpart, there's nothing shy about about Andrew Trimbach.

If Trimbach thinks iRacing is immersive now, wait until he gets installs his prize package from NVIDIA – a 3D monitor and 3D glasses.  It’s a package that could help him win Season 2a, 2b and/or 2c of the NVIDIA Cup.  Or if he’s really lucky, Trimbach might be chosen at random again for some more NVIDIA gear . . . but only if he runs the NVIDIA logo as his primary sponsor in at least 20 races in Season 2.

Learn more about the prizes and NVIDIA’s cutting-edge 3D technology at www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_family.html

Wise’s No. 7 Chevrolet will don the iRacing 2.0 paint scheme in back-to-back races at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis and Iowa Speedway later this summer. This is doubly significant as iRacing.com has just signed agreements with both venues to build the facilities to exacting detail within the simulation.

Wise will debut the No. 7 iRacing.com car during the Kroger SpeedFest in the Kroger 200 benefitting Riley Hospital for Children at the Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis on July 30th. The race will feature prominent racing all-stars including 2011 Daytona 500 winner, Trevor Bayne and ESPN X Games champion Travis Pastrana as he makes his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at the event.  The .686 semi-banked asphalt oval will be celebrating its 30th year hosting the Nationwide series, and Wise will be looking to improve on his 16th-place finish there last year.

“Our members can get a taste of what Josh will be experiencing when he races the iRacing.com Nationwide car.” — Steve Myers

The next weekend Wise will be heading to Newton, Iowa to compete in the U.S. Cellular 250 NASCAR Nationwide race at Iowa Speedway for his second race in the iRacing.com Chevy Impala on August 6th.  The 7/8ths mile semi-banked oval was designed by former NASCAR Champion Rusty Wallace and Wise will be looking to best his solid 11th-place finish last year in the race.

“We’ll be releasing Iowa Speedway prior to the U.S. Cellular 250 so our members can get a taste of what Josh will be experiencing when he races the iRacing.com Nationwide car,” said iRacing.com’s executive vice-president and producer Steve Myers. “Lucas Oil Raceway will follow later in the year as we look to round out our offerings of short tracks.”

“Our friendship with Dale Jr. and his race team go back to the beginning of iRacing so this is a natural progression to an already well-established relationship,” said Tony Gardner, iRacing president. “Our 25,000 plus members know Dale’s passion for sim racing and iRacing. So when it came time to get the word out about iRacing2.0, we called Dale and he happily obliged.”

“When it came time to get the word out about iRacing2.0, we called Dale and he happily obliged.” — Tony Gardner

Gardner continued, “We’re very excited about Version 2.0. Some of the great features will include the new tire model for all cars, improved drafting and more realistic downforce characteristics, Heat/Tournament racing for private leagues/sessions, and optional driver aids (ABS brakes, traction control, driving line, steering aids) for drivers looking to ease their way into the simulation, and much more.”

iRacing.com has a pool of professional drivers in the service. Dale Jr, along with many other pros provide tremendous feedback on the driving dynamics so iRacing can make the experience as real to life as possible for its members. iRacing has always been about allowing fans to not only watch NASCAR on the weekends, but to actually participate in the competition.

”When iRacing approached us about finding a way to work with them in announcing iRacing 2.0 we jumped at the chance to expand on what already is a terrific relationship,” said Kelley Earnhardt,  JR Motorsports General Manager and Co-owner.  “JR Motorsports prides itself on not only being a top tier racing team but a cross platform marketing company and we are excited to show them results on the track and in promoting iRacing 2.0.”

“I am excited that we get to go racing with iRacing this summer on the 7 car but I have to admit I am most excited about the advancements iRacing has made with their product,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr.  “I have had a chance to drive the iRacing 2.0 physics model quite extensively and I am absolutely blown away with what they have done.  I can’t wait for its release this summer so I can trade some paint with the members!”

“I am absolutely blown away with what they have done.  I can’t wait for (iRacing 2.0′s) release this summer so I can trade some paint with the members!” — Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

An an avid iRacer himself, Earnhardt has helped mold iRacing’s online competition and is currently a member of iRacing’s competition board. However, JR Motorsports involvement with iRacing doesn’t end there. Crew Chief Tony Eury Jr., who will be calling the shots for the No. 7 iRacing.com car, has been integral in helping iRacing with its stock car physics model, providing key data and even visiting the iRacing offices to work face-to-face with the iRacing engineering staff. The new JR Motorsports Nationwide car is the very car iRacing scanned when building the car for the service.  Driver Josh Wise, along with Dale Jr’s spotter TJ Majors, are both iRacers. In fact, iRacers regularly hear the voice of Majors as their in- simulation spotter.

“This is the best online racing experience! It’s second to none,” states Wise. “The tracks are as real as it gets. It’s simply a blast getting out on the track with my friends for some good old-fashioned short track racing or drafting at Daytona with a full on-line field of 43 cars. I am really proud to be representing iRacing and their customers in these two races this summer.”

iRacing members can get involved with the 2.0 launch as well. iRacing is kicking off a paint scheme contest – the winner will see his or her design on Wise’s car for the two mid-summer races. iRacing and JR Motorsport staff will judge the submissions and choose the one that best illustrates what iRacing 2.0 is all about.  For more details go to www.iracing.com/paint7. Be sure to tune in to ESPN2 on July 30th and August 6th to cheer on the iRacing 2.0 car.

Those not currently a part of the iRacing community can join by going to www.iracing.com/buy-1-get-2/  where they will be able to find a great special offer.  New subscribers will be able to buy one month and get two free months for only $12. The three-month subscription includes all of the cars and tracks needed for your rookie iRacing season.

Watch here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuOcjwd6AnM to watch an exciting iRacing preview video.

The Monday Night V8 Supercar sessions have produced some of the most memorable online racing seen on the iRacing simulation, along with capacity fields on an average of three splits for each of the two main Monday evening events. The standard of driving, competing and cameraderie has been exceptional, to the point where the iRacing spectator service has become quite the virtual corporate box.

Season One Champion Mitchell McLeod

Silverstone National is a short blast for the big Aussie V8s with sub-one minute times. Getting the power down cleanly and preserving the rears is the key. As a side note, your author ran an earlier race and made split 3 with a sixth place. Not a bad effort if I may say so…but wringing the beast’s neck even with low fuel, I could scarcely crack the 56′s, running a race pace in low to mid 57′s. On pole for the top split of Race Two was Madison Down with a 55.741- simply scintillating! Rest assured, to mix it with these guys at this level, you have to be good. Mighty good.

Having missed a few heats, Madison Down was third in the points race, with McCabe in second only 18 points behind the leader Mitchell McLeod. And it was these top title contenders who filled the top three spots. McCabe got his pursuit of McLeod off to a decent start, sharing the front row with Down, almost into the 55′s with a 56.022. McLeod qualified a “cautious” third, only a few hundredths behind. “I knew I had to (at least) beat Michael to win the series. After not doing any practice until a couple hours before the race I was beginning to get a bit worried…”

Many of the season’s regulars were there to join the championship party. Simon Black was next, from Stuart Wood, Matthew Nethercote and Justin Strickland. Next was rookie Dylan Gulson, making the quantum leap from the iRacing NVIDIA Mazda Cup, and doing so impressively by snaring eighth grid spot with a 56.371. Next up was George Fullerton, Darrin Vouch, and Andrew Paterson the token Englishman, with Mother England on a bank holiday. Bigpond’s Vern Norrgard was next from Jason Scully and Christopher Larmour. The entire field was in the 56′s.

The field streams into Copse. All we need now is the voice of Murray Walker..

At the green light, Down bolted. McCabe and McLeod knew they only had to keep him in sight, and worry about each other for the championship. Into Copse for the first time, on the limit of adhesion, Stuart Wood tapped Simon Black into a spin, which then turned awkward for Strickland and Nethercote behind them.  Wood was about to get away without until Gulson served up some instant karma, turning Wood around. Black and Nethercote got into a misunderstanding while both trying to recover, the pair spinning again in a tangled ballet. Strickland had threaded through all this and gotten away first, but retired with subsequent damage.

Wood turns Black...

Gulson turns Wood...

...then Black and Nethercote turn each other. All quite simple, really.

All of these fun and games left Down in the lead, from McCabe and McLeod. Fullerton was the best of the rest in fourth, while Paterson, Vouch, Norrgard and Gulson followed. McCabe stalked Down for a lap or two…”For the next few laps I ran with him…in some vain hope Madison might come back to us…” Sadly for the two Macs, it was not to be. Down was the first guy with nothing to lose.

By Lap Six McLeod had latched onto the back of McCabe, deciding that his safest bet for the title was to finish ahead of the XSG Motorsports’ car. On Lap Eight, McLeod lined up McCabe down the back straight and outbraked him into Brooklands. Second place, and one hand on the title.

Fullerton was well clear of Paterson, who had Vouch filling his mirrors. But there’s no such thing as status quo in the iRacing V8SC series and Fullerton soon found himself under attack. “I tagged the wall on the main straight…a momentary lapse in concentration,” he said.

After a nasty snap sideways out of Copse on Lap 18 saw George hung out to dry by Paterson into Turns Two and Three. Paterson sailed past on the right, but it wasn’t over. Fullerton got the power down and drag-raced Paterson into Brooklands, on the inside line. Another big late-braking slide saw Fullerton push wide and Paterson filling the gap, but this only put Fullerton back on the inside into Luffield. Sure enough, he muscled through Paterson, crossing the line to start the games all over again.

Fullerton fights tooth and nail for fourth.

Lap 19 was almost identical. Fullerton pushed wide through Copse, allowing Paterson alongside into Turns Two and Three. Again, Fullerton got impossibly sideways out of Turn Three, but gathered it up to out-drag Paterson into Brooklands.

“I refused to give him the spot without a fight…” – George Fullerton

Again, Fullerton powered out of Luffield ahead of Paterson. Vouch, meanwhile, had the ringside seat for the action.  They battled like this for two more laps. “I refused to give him the spot without a fight…” said George. Indeed, he was not going to easily let go of this, his best placing of the season in the face of this competition.On Lap 22 however, it all came undone at Turn Three, this time Paterson made it stick. Then, on Lap 28, Fullerton spun exiting Copse, allowing Vouch and Norrgard through. It was a spirited battle for, essentially, the title of “best of the rest”

McCabe’s XSG “team boss” Corey Slade cheered on his driver from the corporate box, as McCabe closed the gap on McLeod. But it was not to be, nor could either of them catch Down, who rediscovered his stunning mid season form. Down took the race. McLeod took second, and the championship, from third-placed McCabe.

Paterson enjoyed his bank holiday with fourth, from Vouch, Norrgard, Fullerton, Larmour, Black, Scully, Nethercote, and Gulson.

The series winner was elated. “Another great race…as they have been all season. It’s going to be one hell of a close championship next season! I can’t wait!”

If you feel like joining them, come on in. But remember, you’d better be good. Mighty good.

Jon Crooke, designer of the first sim rig.

I admire engineers. Not just inventors, who clang and bash metal in workshops with welders and grinders- but those who find the shortest way between point A and B. I admire them because they are everything I’m not.

Likewise, those with forward vision. I’m the guy who invests in something as it starts to dive, or predicts greatness only to see it dissolve into mediocrity. I am inspired by those who see potential, long before it is obvious to anyone else.

Australia’s Jon Crooke is one of those visionary types. Almost annoyingly so.

When you meet the 1986 Australian Formula Two Champion, you could mistake him for a librarian or, as Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1986-87 put it, a “medical student.”  Back in the 1980s the bespectacled 30-something year-old had a design company, Big and Little Solar Houses. It specialised in energy-efficient “kit” homes, long before the era of obsession with green issues and energy efficiency. Business was going well, so Crooke embarked on a career in motorsport.

But we need to go back a little further to explore why there was motorsport, as well as vision, in the Crooke DNA.

In 1904 Crooke’s great-grandfather, James Robert, had competed in, and won, the first ever motor car race in Australia. A little over one year later, the entrepreneurial J R Crooke built a motor racing track at his Aspendale horse racing facility, on the outskirts of Melbourne. Described in the day as “state of the art,” this mile-long high speed oval officially opened in January 1906 with motorcycle and car races, in front of over 1000 spectators.

Racing at Aspendale, circa 1920.

Over one year later, the famous Brooklands track in Britain was opened. Their claim that it was “the world’s first purpose-built racing track” Crooke tries to shrug off. “There’s a lesson- never let the British write history…”

Crooke’s great-grandfather… won the first ever motor car race in Australia

After Aspendale’s light faded, Crooke’s father Peter was a successful rally driver in the 1950’s. He became a highly innovative senior medical officer with Australia’s governing motorsport body. At a 1971 FIA conference, recommendations in safety improvements, involving helmet design, fireproof suits and seats, proposed by Peter Crooke were widely adopted by the FIA…things which, nowadays, we take for granted.

Crooke storming his way to one of seven victories, here at Adelaide Raceway.

The 1980s Formula Two cars were wings-and-slicks ground-effects open-wheelers, nervous, perilously fast beasts and a handful to drive at the limit. Jon Crooke dominated the 1986 season, winning seven of the nine rounds. The following year he drove for the works Touring Car team of folkloric Aussie  hero Peter Brock. Crooke came fourth at the Sandown 500. At the famous Bathurst 1000 in 1987, Crooke’s car was commandeered by the team boss after Brock’s own car failed. It won, but Crooke’s name was not on the winner’s list, having not been able to turn a lap in the race.

Now with a roof over his head, Crooke crests the rise at Skyline on a bittersweet Bathurst weekend.

And that was it. After 1987, the name of Jon Crooke, a man once dubbed “our Ayrton” by the Australian motoring press, had disappeared from the motorsport landscape. It was a brief, but prolific career. If you’re into statistics, he won 87% of the races he competed in at a national level.

Millions still talk of the late Peter Brock’s last-of-nine Bathurst wins, yet few know of Jon Crooke. The irony of that. Many know of Brooklands, yet few know of Aspendale. Many know that Sir Jackie Stewart lobbied hard for safety in the sport, but few know it was Peter Crooke’s recommendations which Stewart promoted in Europe. Perhaps undeserved obscurity is also in the Crooke DNA.

It might also explain why Crooke has what is seen by some as a confrontational personality. His association with motorsport, either as a driver or stakeholder, brought its share of detractors. But engage Crooke at a personal level, find what drives him, and it’s compelling.

In the early 1990′s, with that brief motorsport chapter seemingly closed, Crooke was back in the design business, but couldn’t shake a captivation which had infected him way back in the 1960s- motorsport simulation.

Then in his teens, he saw a “simulator” at a Melbourne department store: a Lotus 31 chassis connected to a screen, projecting images generated by a camera which sped through a scale model of the Brands Hatch circuit. “The car controls changed the direction and speed of the camera. It was quite clever for its day, the model of the circuit was like a train set. But the what really set it off was sitting in the seat of a real racing car,” Crooke recalls. “I lined up for hours to drive it”.

“It’s not right unless you are sitting in a racing cockpit..”

That very sim cockpit was used in an episode of the British spy series The Avengers, driven by the Emma Peel character (as fondly recounted on iRacing.com by David Phillips). Crooke saw that episode in 1967. “One sexy woman that Emma Peel…” he grins. Perhaps that was a contributing factor to his developing sim racing addiction – he had driven her car.

In the 90s Jon and his brother Terry were able to revisit that captivation, with early sim racing titles such as Microprose Grand Prix, on an Amiga. They had even dismantled one of the earliest sim “desk” steering wheels, and decided they could do better. “I was convinced that PC simulations were going to be serious toys in the near future,” said Jon. “But it’s not right unless you’re sitting in a racing cockpit.” He had just defined the importance of immersion in the sim racing experience.

Without direct access to engineering infrastructure, Crooke turned to his one-time Formula Two race car engineer Mike Borland to help build the F1 cockpits, wheels and pedals, while talented software engineer Jim Robertson worked on the interface between controllers and the (IBM) PC. Hyper Stimulator was born.

After a flurry of corporate orders and some punishing deadlines, the team started work on the original vision – a home unit for the consumer. It was completed and launched in 1995. The design was unique. It only loosely attempted to emulate the appearance of a real race car, oozing its own unique appeal. With its switchblade lines, it looked good in a corporate setting, or a living room.

This design is still appealing after more than fifteen years. Perhaps another legacy of the true visionary- what they design rarely dates.

Just as his great grandfather had built the word’s first race track, the Hyper Stimulator was the world’s first sim rig. These cockpits have been sampled or owned by countless top-level racing drivers the world over. This is not just empty spin- there are former F1 world champions who have, amongst their many lavish worldly possessions, a Hyper Stimulator. If we named them, we’d have to pay royalties (seriously). The Hyper Stimulator has also been repeatedly copied.

After the business expanded through the 90s and early 00s, Hyper Stimulator successfully opened a number of LAN race centres in Australia and internationally, yet another world first for Crooke. It brought the concept of sim racing to the masses in a way that had never been done before.

But Crooke baulks at being labelled “the Father of Aussie Sim racing.”

“I wouldn’t say that. When you talk of ‘simulation,’ it’s the software you’re talking about. The software programmer is where the genius is. I just designed a cockpit, with serious controls, and saw the demand early on,” he says. We discuss the concept of online racing, and how amazing graphics and driver inputs are being fired instantaneously through global internet connections.  He concurs. “It’s breathtaking, isn’t it? I’m a luddite, I have no idea how they do it. But it’s incredible”.

David Kaemmer and Randy Cassidy deep in conversation, and checking out a Hyper Stimulator at the 2000 E3 Expo in LA. (Inset- Tony West, Chris West, Jon Crooke)

He was described by Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1986-87 as “egotistical,” yet Crooke gushes at having fraternised with sim racing design greats over the years, such as Geoff Crammond and iRacing’s David Kaemmer.

“I knew years ago that the future of online racing would be a controlled and centrally-sanctioned system, to stop individuals tampering with the code to gain an advantage,” says Crooke.  In other words, something like iRacing. “It’s the fairest form of racing in the world,” he says. In fact, Crooke makes the bold claim that he was, at least, a cog in the machine which brought the iRacing vision to the feet of Kaemmer. It was at a gaming expo in the US in 2000. “I introduced guys like Chris and Tony West, to Randy Cassidy and Dave Kaemmer.” He says, adding that the subsequent conversation about those very concepts of online racing was long and spirited. He shows me a photo (above) and ponders, somewhat rhetorically “Could that be the moment iRacing was born?” You get the feeling he believes he already knows.

His real world racing experience in both tin tops and open wheelers makes him very tough judge when it comes to the physics model within the simulation. “In my own race centre, and until iRacing appeared, I only ran Nascar 2003” he says, which would be no great surprise to serious sim racers. He stuck with it until he sold the business in 2008. Interestingly, that race centre regularly attracted current real-world drivers.

The Hyper Simulator Race centres boasted high standards and attracted all kinds of racers.

Surely, I ask, with both virtual and real world experience, he had a consultative role with the development of some sim titles? “Not by invitation, no,” he grins. “Once I sent a list of recommended physics improvements to (a well known developer). They ignored it.” That developer has not been seen much, since.

He had a brief reunion with real-world racing in 2006, 20 years after his national F2 title, to join his son Dean in superkarts. Neck problems and the inherent violence of the rigid superkart ride cut it short. Speed, consistency and results, however, were not an issue because “I never left the sport. I was always driving throughout that 20 years. Simulations teach you discipline, hitting your marks, concentrating, and withstanding pressure. I was right about the potential back then, I’m still right about it now.” Even with the simulator rig business behind him, he never discounts the value of virtual reality.

On this, a news portal specialising in sim racing, it would be fitting to write of Crooke’s virtual motorsport vision as his sole defining factor, but that would be untrue. He is now embarking on another visionary journey. It was scribbled on a napkin back in 1998: a small, hybrid motorcycle-powered race car with kart components and price tag, but long-track car suspension, safety and speed, a niche which is not currently filled, at least not in an everday affordable price range. “The idea was floating around my head back in the eighties…” he says, sounding eerily familiar.

Jon’s son Dean, himself a gifted and highly decorated engineer and racer, has completed the prototype. The Hyper Pro Racer has already spawned orders here and overseas, and is being courted by major investors. Perhaps that long-standing and somewhat unwarranted obscurity in the Crooke DNA will end, with this machine.

Vision one day, then the next big thing. The Hyper Pro Racer goes through its first paces.

Will his latest vision lure him back to the drivers’ seat? “You bet it will,” Crooke says, or unprintable words to that effect.

It may be a cliché to ask a visionary what makes them tick, but I ask anyway. Crooke simply rattles off his favourite quote. “There are three types of people: Those who watch it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what the hell happened…”

Jon Crooke is many things. But he most definitely isn’t the third one.

The Premier GRAND-AM iRacing Online Sports Car Series traveled to beautiful Barber Motorsports Park.

DPs
After claiming a brace of flag-to-flag victories at the virtual-Barber Motorsport Park, András Király earned 170 points, the highest total of the round, to stride into the Daytona Prototype class championship lead by a margin of 29 points. The Benelux-based Király, who started from pole position in both of his races, overcame a mid-race scare in his highest scoring event of the weekend to reclaim the lead and eventual victory from America’s Zach Rupcic by fifteen seconds. By virtue of the ‘Strength of Field’ scoring system, Rupcic’s podium finish awarded him 153 points, which was his best haul of Round Two and enough to move him into the PGAiOSCS top ten, despite claiming an outright victory earlier in the day.

A flawless pole-to-flag win in his solitary race of Round Two of the Premier GRAND-AM iRacing.com Online Sports Car Series advances PJ Stergios into second position on the overall scoreboard ahead of former championship leader John Mallia. New York-based Mallia made just one outing in the digital Daytona Prototypes at the Barber Motorsports circuit, but that lone event secured a victory and 130 points. Just two-points behind Mallia, Matthijs Ottenhoff added to his credentials as a championship contender with an incident-packed run to the checkered flag in his only race at the 2.3 mile circuit, a result that puts the ‘Benelux’ sim-racer on a tasty 274 marks after two rounds.

Although Jacob Desmarias had a ‘race to forget’ in his opening run at Barber, the New Englander bounced back to claim a podium third place finish behind the incumbent championship leader. The third place finish for Desmarias maintains the American’s the title fight challenge in fifth position, 38 points away from the PGAiOSCS leader. Likewise, Ken Leach, Ales Nocar, Madison Down and Morgan Sowerby all took spots on the podium at iRacing’s version of the Barber Motorsports Park to keep them within  60 points of the top of the standings table.

The Mustangs and Rileys put-on a clinic in mixed-class online racing in Alabama.

Ford Mustang FR500
A massive 223 points haul for Dave Gelink sees the European online-racer take a firm grip of the Ford Mustang class championship lead by a margin of 55. The iRacing.com Grand Prix Series regular has dipped his toe in both the Ford Mustang and Riley Daytona Prototype this season, with his efforts in the FR500S reaping big rewards as he tops the points charts. Gelink’s promotion to the top of the standings came from a class victory is his lone outing at the digitally-rendered Barber Motorsports Park, where he started second on the grid behind Canada’s Curtis Fung.

It turned out to be a weekend of seconds for Frenchman Evan Maillard in Round Two of the Premier GRAND-AM iRacing.com Online Sports Car Series. Whilst he claimed a Mustang class victory, the 178 points awarded places Maillard as the second highest score of the week, and promotes him into second in the overall standings, 55 markers behind Gelink. Similarly, a faultless and unchallenged green-to-checkered flag victory for new Jersey’s Anthony Roselli garnered the third highest points total of the week, and placed him third on the season’s leader-board.

Although Steven Savolainen was the only top-five online-racer of the weekend to not take a Ford Mustang class win, the Finn still ended the Round Two proceedings sixth in the standings, following a podium finish behind Maillard. A slender 17 points away from Savolainen, Norbert Rebelski occupies fourth position on the leader-board, just ahead of Austin Cobb, who took a pair of class victories at Barber to finish the weekend as the fifth best in both the championship and individual round results.

A pole-to-flag Ford Mustang win for Jason Lisner, places the Virginian 101 points away from the series leader in seventh place, with Ohio’s Brian Strodtbeck just two digits behind. Chasing this pair’s shadow, England’s Scott Michaels and New York-based Ken Leach are just a handful of points off the two Americans and will be looking to move up the standings as the Premier GRAND-AM iRacing.com Online Sports Car Series season evolves.

The next round of the Championship introduces the Riley Prototypes and Ford Mustangs to the epic Virginia International Raceway.  Will there be a change at the top of the standings yet again, or do Kiraly and Gelink have the momentum remain as the series ‘top dogs?’

First the car won its class at the Le Mans 24-hour race in June, 2010; then less than four months later the HPD ARX-01c LMP2 capped a championship-winning campaign in the American Le Mans Series by Highcroft Racing with victory in the Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta.  Now the HPD ARX-01c is headed for glory at iRacing.com, where members of the world’s premier racing simulation and driving game will soon be able to experience for themselves the mind-boggling performance of this amazing racing car.

The production of the virtual version of the ARX-01c is a cooperative effort of HPD, Highcroft Racing and iRacing.com.  Following this weekend’s season-opening American Le Mans Series Mobil 1 Twelve Hours at Sebring, a team of iRacing.com engineers and technicians will join Highcroft for a special test session to gather performance and acoustic data.

The HPD ARX-01C-LPM2 is coming to iRacing this summer.

From the start the ARX-01c was a product of design in the digital domain.  It is therefore fitting that this record-breaking car should carry on in the virtual world of iRacing.com. HPD provided key technical information about the car to iRacing.com and at the company’s Bedford, MA headquarters construction of the virtual car’s chassis has already begun.

“Our members are going to be really impressed with the performance of the ARX-01c,” said Steve Myers, iRacing.com’s executive producer.  “When rumors about the car started showing up in our member forum, people got really excited.  We are bringing a lot of resources to bear on this project and plan to have the car ready by late summer, in time for our members to race it in our World Tour of iRacing Petit Le Mans tribute event at the end of September.  Given the ARX-01c’s performance, particularly cornering and braking, people are going to want plenty of time to practice before they start racing this car.”

Myers also noted that the car will also incorporate a new tire model – three years in the works – that will give the ARX-01c even more accurate and realistic performance in the simulation.

The HPD ARX-01c LMP2 will be the second Honda-powered vehicle to join iRacing.com’s fleet (currently 26 cars).  The Dallara IndyCar features a normally-aspirated V8 Honda engine.  iRacing.com’s members drive the Dallara-Honda in several regularly-scheduled series, including the IndyCar Series – Road, IndyCar Series – Oval, and the iRacing.com IZOD INDYCAR Premier Series.

“Every day millions of drivers around the world experience the performance of Honda road cars, but they don’t get to drive the racing cars that we develop and for which Honda is so well known,” said Steve Eriksen, HPD assistant vice president.  “We’re proud of our racing cars – motorsport is part of Honda’s heritage going back to the very beginning of our company – and we’re pleased that through this project with iRacing.com anyone with a PC, a broadband internet connection and an iRacing membership can appreciate for themselves the ultimate in Honda performance.”

Technical Specification for HPD ARX-01c LMP2

Chassis: Carbon-fiber monocoque
Weight: 1819 lb. (825 kg) minimum regulation, with driver/fuel
Height: 40 inches (1020 mm)
Width: 78.7 inches (2000 mm)
Wheelbase: 108 – 120 inches (2744 – 3048 mm)
Suspension: Double wishbone with pushrod, front and rear anti-roll bars
Traction Control: Continental / HPD–ECU
Brakes: 6-piston aluminum calipers, carbon discs
Tires: Michelin racing slicks or wet-weather tread

HPD LMP2 V8 Engine Specification

Engine Designation: HPD LM-V8, ACO LMP2 regulation
Construction: Aluminum block V-8, naturally aspirated, fuel injected
Displacement: 3.4 liters
Power: Approximately 480 BHP
Inlet Restrictor: 40.7mm air-limiting restrictor
Valve Train: Dual overhead camshaft, four-valves-per-cylinder
Engine management System: Continental / HPD – ECU
Transmission: HPD-Hewland 6-speed sequential with manual paddle-operated gearshift
Ignition System: Continental / HPD – CDI
Clutch: Multi plate carbon, pull type
Lubrication: Dry sump
Cooling: Mechanical water pump
Fuel: 100 Octane + 10% ethanol
Fuel Capacity: 80 liters maximum

About Honda Performance Development

Located in Santa Clarita, Calif., HPD is the technical operations center for American Honda high-performance racing cars and engines. In an open-wheel racing history that dates to 1994, Honda has recorded 166 race victories, 12 drivers’ championships, 10 Manufacturers’ Championships and seven Indianapolis 500 victories.  In addition to its sports-car efforts and its role as single engine supplier to the IZOD IndyCar Series, HPD is active in a growing number of grassroots motorsports activities.

About iRacing.com

The company was founded in 2004 by Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. Kaemmer was co-founder of Papyrus Design Group, developers of award-winning racing simulations including “Grand Prix Legends” and “NASCAR 2003.” Henry is principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club, as well as co-owner of NASCAR’s Roush Fenway Racing. iRacing.com has developed numerous corporate relationships in the motorsport industry, including partnerships with NASCAR, IndyCar, GRAND-AM, International Speedway Corporation, Speedway Motorsports, Volkswagen, Ford, and GM.  iRacing is open to racers and fans of all skill levels from top-level pros to complete beginners. To join in the fun, go to www.iRacing.com.

Paul Kusheba (Connecticut Club) earned the most points during Week Six with a total of 168.  Kusheba made three starts and scored two wins.  Plains native AJ Wood ended the week second overall only four points out of the lead with Fred Moreau (Eastern Canada Club) third overall.  In Moreau’s one race, he scored the victory and made his fellow Rookie Class members proud.  Trey Jarrell (Virginias Club) and Bryce Dulabhan (Mid-South Club) round out the top five for Week Six.

Nick Ottinger (Carolina Club) stretches his lead in the overall championship standings to 186 points over England native Alastair Topley.  Kyle Hayden (Michigan Club), Bill Fiske (New England Club) and Randy Hedrick (Ohio Club) complete the top five in the championship standings heading into Week Seven.

Jeff Ward (Mid-South Club) was able to do something not many people have done this season in the Street Stock:  beat Nick Ottinger.  Ward laid down the fastest qualifying time for the week with a time of 17.553 seconds.  Ottinger turned the second quickest time of the week with a 17.624.  Trey Jarrell, Bryce Dulabhan and Jason Magagna (Georgia Club) were the remaining top five in qualifying for the week.

One (or in this case 64) is the loneliest number when it comes to Time Trials.

Ottinger got his revenge by putting a hurtin’ on them in the time trial results for the week, posting a blistering 10-lap time trial average of 17.681s.  His closest competitor was Marius Thomas (DE-AT-CH Club) who ended the week with an average time of 17.917s.  Drew Harrell (Mid-South Club), Nikolaus Neumann (International Club) and Timothy Heard (Florida Club) round-out the top five for Week Six time trial.

As well as winning the Week Six time trial, Nick Ottinger also leads the season time trial standings by 14 points over Jason Robinson (Pennsylvania Club).  Remi Perreault (Eastern Canada Club), Nikolaus Neumann and Greg Hooks (Virginias Club) complete the top five after Week Six.

Tune in next week as the iRacing.com Street Stock Series heads back to the South Boston Speedway for some good short track racing as the top short track sim racers in the world try to tackle the 4/10 mile oval.  And as always, please check out www.iracing.com for great promotions and to see how you can join the biggest online racing community in the world.

In the Premier Division, the pinnacle of STPC Late Model Racing, Tony Dugan took the checkers in a hard-fought battle.  With Toby Jenkins starting on the pole, the race opened with over 50 laps of green flag racing before the first caution flew allowing everyone to pit for tires and fuel.  When racing resumed the lead changed five times between three drivers, with Jenkins leading a race high 93 laps.  But, Jenkins was forced to drop from the race with just 22 laps remaining, leaving the gates open for Tony Dugan to grab the late-laps lead and the season opening win.

In STPC’s Sportsman Class it was Gareth Gonder taking the checkers for his first-ever STPC victory.  Ronald Bougher sat on the pole for the opening event and led the first three laps before surrendering the lead.  There were seven lead changes among five drivers, an indicator of just how balanced and competitive the skill-matched divisions are.  The Sportsman race opened with 110 green flag laps before the only caution of the race came out due to a solo spin.  Nick Demers led a race high 90 laps before fading at the end from tire wear.  Gonder lead the closing 25 laps to close out the race.

All three of the STPC Late Model divisions visited USA International Speedway.

In the Developmental Division, STPC’s division aimed at helping newer drivers learn long-race strategies and setup intricacies, it was Eric Jones who snagged the win.  Qualifying on the pole, Jones lead for the first 70 laps until drivers cycled through green flag pit stops.  Scott Freeman, taking just two tires, got out of the pits ahead of Jones with a solid 6 second lead.  On lap 135 the first and only caution was thrown when a car self-spun into the turn-one wall erasing Freeman’s lead.  Of the 17 starters, only Freeman and Jones remained on the lead lap.  Jones pitted but Freeman chose to stay out.  On the restart, Jones’ fresher tires got a solid run on Freeman and nudged him slightly causing a bobble which allowed Jones to take the lead.  From there it was a dash to checkers with Jones finishing just .287 seconds ahead of Scott to taking the season opener.

Next week the STPC Pro Cup Late Model Tour visits Lanier National Speedway for Round Two in all three divisions.  Visit www.stprocup.com for more information.

iRacing.com is the leader in on-line racing for sim racers around the world. With almost 30 official action packed series from Rookies to Pros and including official series sponsored by the likes of NASCAR , Grand AM and INDYCAR it was only fitting that we provided editorial coverage for all the action. To that end, we hired award winning motorsport journalist David Phillips to lead the effort. A little over a year ago we released version I of inRacingNews.com. Since then David has recruited a host of talented writers to cover the iRacing.com action and cover our sport including Jason Lofing, Jameson Spies, Chris Hall, Jordan Hightower, Tony Rickard, Tim Terry, Chris Leone, Henrik Muller, Patrick Atherton, Scott Carter, C. Cunningham and Ryan Terpstra among others. Our sincere thanks to all these passionate and talented folks for helping us in this endeavor!

Although the coverage and writing keeps getting better and better, in concert we also wanted to focus more on sim racing and bring the site more to life for our community. We wanted to make it be more of the day to day fabric for the iRacing.com community. We will still include interesting stories from real world racing but found 90% of the stories read on inRacingNews were stories about iRacing.com and sim racing so that will be even a greater focus going forward.

I also want to thank our multi-talented Jay Scullin who has put together the website for inRacing News version II, along with version I for that matter. How Jay is able to do projects like this along with the 100 other things we require from him I don’t know but I think you will enjoy the new features and fresh look of inRacingNews!!! Here are some of the highlights of V2:

Featured News from iRacing.com

The latest featured news from iRacing.com is now clearly visible, presented at the top of the screen.

Infinite Scroll

Want to view more articles? Just scroll down! The new inRacingNews features “infinite scroll”. You can view all 11,000 articles simply by scrolling to the bottom of the page.

New Sidebar

The sidebar has been redesigned to include more visually striking and helpful information from inRacingNews and our sister sites. Use the new tools on the right to expand and minimize each section to further customize your experience.

Improved Commenting

inRacingNews v2 adds many new features to our commenting system. In addition to user avatars, you can now reply directly to comments. Your total comments are always visible below your name.

Facebook Integration

In addition to our social sharing functionality, we have integrated Facebook’s “like” button into every article.

Video Section

Watch the latest episodes of iRacing TV, watch the latest iRacing videos and more without leaving the site with our all-new video page.

Galleries

In addition to videos, we will be periodically posting galleries to our stories. These will be posted underneath the articles and listed together in a new section of the site. In addition, we will be posting galleries of new tracks, cars and features coming to iRacing.

These are only a few of the new features and improvements to come and will continue to be a work in process.

“It feels good to finalize my plans for the 2011 season by joining the TriStar Motorsports team and to be reunited with Mark [Smith] and Dave [Fuge],” said Bliss. “In 2002 Dave and I won the Truck Championship with Mark’s engines under the hood. All of us have high expectations for the upcoming season with TriStar.”

Bliss has more than 500 starts in NASCAR’s top three divisions, with more than 200 of them in the Nationwide Series. He is the 2002 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion and has two NASCAR Nationwide Series victories during his career.

“Adding Mike to our team, along with Eric, is another step in the right direction,” said team owner Mark Smith. “I believe that we have put together a great group of people at TriStar and I only see great things on the horizon. The guys on the team are working hard on building our fleet of new cars for the upcoming season. We are working on finishing up some sponsorship programs with Bliss and we think 2011 will be a huge step in the development of TriStar Motorsports.”

Press conferences, sponsorship announcements and team updates filled the agenda Jan. 24-27, with every major team in the sport hosting the media at some point during the week.

Here is a wrap-up of the first day of last week’s Media Tour, which featured Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and Penske Racing.

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing

Jamie McMurray answers a question during the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour Jan. 24. (HHP/Harold Hinson Photo)

The team owned by Chip Ganassi, Teresa Earnhardt and Felix Sabates will try to build on a strong season that saw victories in both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 by Jamie McMurray and a return to victory lane by Juan Pablo Montoya.

“Obviously 2010 was a successful year for us,” said Steve Lauletta, president of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. “That had an effect on the impact we could offer to our partners. That was proven by a Sports Business Journal image impact study that listed the top 12 drivers who provided brand exposure for their sponsors. Only two of the 12 drivers did not make the Chase. Those were Juan Pablo Montoya in fourth place and Jamie McMurray in ninth place.”

Both teams will remain essentially the same for 2011, with both driver-crew chief combinations returning for another season at EGR.

Stewart Haas Racing

Entering his third season as a team owner, Tony Stewart has high expectations for himself and teammate Ryan Newman at Stewart-Haas Racing.

“Last year I think we all started feeling a lot more comfortable in knowing what to expect,” Stewart said. “It’s definitely not easy for sure, but we have Bobby Hutchins leading this for us. We have some great crew chiefs in Darien Grubb and Tony Gibson. And I have a great teammate with Ryan. Those are the key ingredients that you have to have.”

The biggest change to the two-car operation will be the sponsorship decals on Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet. Old Spice has left the team and has been replaced by Mobil 1, former sponsor of Sam Hornish, Jr. at Penske Racing.

“This is a good time for us,” said Grubb, Stewart’s crew chief. “The program we have has gotten so strong. The competition level is so high and I think we have a leg up on this year. We have a leg up with Mobil 1 and their technology. We have been trying to pay attention to our downforce. We are working on fuel. We have the new E85 coming this year. We need to make sure we get the mileage and performance when we get down to Daytona.”

Newman, who won his first race last season since capturing the 2008 Daytona 500 for Penske Racing, is hoping to return to the form that saw him make the Chase during Stewart-Haas Racing’s debut season in 2009.

“I look forward to starting strong,” Newman said. “That’s one thing we have not done as a team on the 39 side is start the season off with a good Daytona 500, so we look forward to that opportunity again this year.”

Penske Racing

Sam Hornish, Jr. (left) answers a question during the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour as teammates Brad Keselowski (center) and Kurt Busch look on. (Jason Smith/Getty Images Photo)

The only Dodge team in NASCAR’s premier series will look considerably different this season thanks to the signing of Shell/Pennzoil, which will sponsor the No. 22 Dodge driven by Kurt Busch.

With Busch’s move to the No. 22, Brad Keselowski will become the new face of Miller Lite aboard the No. 2 Dodge. On the outside looking in is Sam Hornish, Jr., who will move to the NASCAR Nationwide Series in a part-time role because of the departure of his sponsor Mobil 1 to Stewart-Haas Racing.

“We are proud of the cars that we put out there on the track,” said Busch. “We have beautiful cars with Shell/Pennzoil colors. Of course we’ve done things internally to continue to get strong, with different personnel changes including key people added to teams.”

One of those changes will be the promotion of Keselowski’s Nationwide championship winning crew chief Paul Wolfe to the Sprint Cup Series, where he will work with Keselowski on the No. 2 Dodge.

“As Roger said we are taking Paul Wolfe over there from the Nationwide side to the Cup side,” said Keselowski. “I have some positive momentum there and hopefully that can carry over.”

Tony Stewart (left) jokes with Joe Gibbs during a surprise apperance at Joe Gibbs Racing as part of the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour. (HHP/Harold Hinson Photo)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The final stop on the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Media Tour Thursday at Joe Gibbs Racing was a reunion of sorts with former JGR drivers Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart making special appearances.

The 2011 season marks the 20th anniversary of JGR’s entrance into NASCAR, and members of the Gibbs fraternity took the opportunity Thursday to reminisce about JGR’s 1991 debut.

“Twenty years ago we had 16 employees in a small leased building,” Gibbs said. “Today we have more than 400. This is a good time for us. We’ve had two of our most important sponsors re-up in the middle of this financial situation. We’re also adding a Nationwide team this year.”

Jimmy Makar, the team’s first crew chief and current vice president of racing operations, remembered scrambling to put together the new team.

“We bought a bunch of stuff from Rick Hendrick so we could get started,” Makar said. “We had to design, find and build a race shop. We had a few things working against us, but we got it together quickly.”

Following a brief video message from Dale Jarrett, who was the first driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet and winner of the 1993 Daytona 500 for JGR, Gibbs welcomed both Labonte and Stewart to the stage. Laughter quickly followed.

“He [Stewart] had three girlfriends, and I was trying to figure out which girlfriend he was with,” said Gibbs recalling the difficultly he had trying to track Stewart down to sign him to a NASCAR contract. “So I’m trying to figure out which girlfriend is he with? I would literally call the house and I’d always know if I hit it right because they’d be real friendly. ‘Oh yeah, I’m with Tony, I can get Tony.’”

Stewart quipped back, “I’m just hoping [Gibbs] still remembers a couple of those girls’ numbers because I don’t know where I put them.”

Elliott, the son of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott, opted not to take any tires at the halfway point of the Champion Racing Ass’n Super Late Model 200 presented by Red Top Auto Auction.

The differing tire strategy was obvious to the fans as Elliott, Pollard, who took two tires and Daniel Hemric, with four fresh tires fought for the win over the final 68 laps.

By deciding not to take tires, Elliott started from the point when leader Hemric decided to take four tires. Elliott was followed by Derrick Griffith, who also took no tires, and Bubba Pollard and Boris Jurkovic, who took on two tires.

Following the restart, Elliott led the next 40 laps until he was passed by Pollard after a restart. Pollard remained out front until a restart on lap 195 when Elliott grabbed the point coming off the fourth corner.

The race was slowed five times by cautions over the final 25 laps with Pollard, Elliott, Hemric, David Ragan and Grant Enfinger battling for the top three finishes.

On the last restart, Elliott got a great start coming off the fourth corner to win with Pollard, Hemric, Enfinger and Ragan rounding out the top five.

“Taking no tires worked out,” Elliott said in becoming the seventh different winner in Speedfest contests. “It was a blast the last few laps. We had a great day today, move on to the next race.”

Pollard said the crew put together a great car, but they came up a little short.

Ragan said he didn’t know how the frontrunners go run so fast on old tires.

“We needed a 30 to 40 lap green flag run at the end,” he said.

Elliott led four times for 82 laps.

T. J. Reaid, trying to make it three consecutive Speedfest wins for Kyle Busch Motorsports, led early in the race and was running in the top 10 when he spun on lap 92 and was never again a factor for the win, finishing sixth.

Rounding out the top 10 were Reaid, Jody Lavender, Eddie Hoffman, Ryan Blaney and Erik Darnell.

Visiting NASCAR star David Ragan took the lead on a restart with 50 laps remaining from Elliott and for the next 37 laps held off Dwayne Buggay and Elliott. Over the final 13 laps there were three caution flags among the frontrunners.

With six laps remaining Ragan got the jump to remain on the lead, but Elliott moved to the inside entering turn three and the two raced side by side. At the stripe it was Elliott credited with the lead and than things got real interesting with Ragan on the outside of Elliott and Buggay on the inside.

The three front runners crossed the start/finish line three abreast with Elliott sandwiched between the other two cars. On the back straight on the final lap Ragan spun and collected Brian Campbell with Elliott recording the win followed by Buggay and fast-qualifier Bubba Pollard.

“The car was as good after the 100 lap break, but it took about 10 laps to come in,” Elliott said. “Some how I came away with the win.

“The 45 (Buggay) was inside and the 6 (Ragan) was outside,” he said. “I kept waiting to wreck.”

Buggay said he thought Elliott and Ragan was going to allow him to score the win over the final three laps.

Following Elliott, Buggay and Pollard at the finish were Austill Hill, Ragan, Kenzie Ruston, Eddie Hoffman and Campbell, the only cars on the lead lap.

The race was slowed seven times for caution periods and had five lead changes among three different drivers.

Defending Grand Am Rolex Series champions Chip Ganassi Racing with lead driver Scott Pruett captured the twice-around-the-clock classic with an impressive one-two-finish in the event at the 3.56-mile road course, despite a yellow flag with only nine minutes remaining and the green flag waving for a one-lap dash to the checkered flag with less than two minutes in the race.

Pruett shared the winning No. 01 Telmex BMW Riley with his regular co-driver Memo Rojas, road-racing veteran Joey Hand and IndyCar ace Graham Rahal.

“Our car ran and ran and ran. This is just truly awesome to have a one-two finish. It is just incredible,” Pruett said. “I can’t say enough about my Ganassi guys. The 01 car has finished every lap the last five years. That is just incredible.”

The team battled from behind multiple times during the event en route to winning by a mere 2.070 seconds over their teammates — Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray in the No. 02 Target Riley BMW.

“I couldn’t be happier for the team,” said Ganassi, whose teams have now won the Daytona 500, Indy 500, Brickyard 400 and Rolex 24 within a 12-month period. “This is what it is all about. I’m just happy to be part of it.”

While Pruett and Rojas won Daytona for the fourth time, Rahal and Hand were first-time winners in the event. Rahal’s victory came exactly 30 years after his father Bobby went to victory lane at Daytona.

Within the first hour of the race Pruett called for a gear change in the No. 01 and persuaded team manager Tom Keene to call for the change. The team lost only a few minutes on pit lane and rejoined the battle.

Then with the two Ganassi cars battling for the lead Sunday morning, Hand hit a tire lying on pit lane while exiting the pits and was called back to the pits for a 30-second penalty. Hand then pulled a triple stint behind the wheel and drove away from his leading teammates to put the car back into contention.

Keene then called for a pit stop under yellow with less than two hours remaining and that combined with Pruett’s hard-charging style propelled the No. 01 back to the lead and Pruett took the lead on lap 694 and held it until the checkered flag which waved after 720 circuits.

Placing third was the No. 9 Action Express Racing Porsche Riley, which won the race in 2010, shared by Joao Barbosa, Terry Borcheller, Christian Fittipaldi, Max Papis and J.C. France. The final car on the lead lap in fourth place was the United Autosports with Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley with drivers Martin Brundle, Mark Blundell, Marc Patterson and Zak Brown sharing the wheel.

Taking the victory in the GT class, completing 684 laps, was The Racers Group Porsche GT3 steered to the checkered flag by Andy Lally with Steve Bertheau, Spencer Pumpelly, Brendan Gaughan and Wolf Henzler also taking turns at the wheel.

“We have never rubber banded in a race like this. We were up two, down two and all around the board,” Lally said. “It all comes down to the quality of cars that the guys at TRG built. It’s a 24 hour race and it is a team race. You do not win this race without great teammates.”

Runner-up in the GT class was the Porsche GT3 racer of Paul Miller Racing for drivers Bryce Miller, Rob Bell, Bryan Sellers and Tim Sugden. Third was the Dempsey Racing Mazda handled by Joe Foster, Patrick Dempsey, Charles Espenlaub and Tom Long.

There were 23 yellow flags during the event, including a two-hour and 45-minute slowdown in the early hours of the morning because of fog.

Ferrari fans, shown here at the Japanese Grand Prix, hope the Ferrari F150 will be stronger than its Formula One predecessor.

VALENCIA, Spain — Ferrari’s new F150 doesn’t look radically different from its 2010 F10 model but it is a very different animal.

“The cars look like the ones from last year, but from a technical point of view they will be really different,” Ferrari’s Technical Director Aldo Costa said.

Ferrari was the first team to launch its 2011 car when it unveiled the F150 at its Maranello base on Jan. 28. The F150, so called to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, is the 57th single-seater built by Ferrari specifically to compete in the F-1 World Championship. The project goes by the internal code name of 662.

“The major aspects with the most impact on the project were connected to the aerodynamic development,” Costa said of the F150. “The double diffuser, the F-duct, is gone. The driver can’t change the car’s aerodynamic set up anymore. The underbody won’t have any ‘holes’ in the central part anymore. This is a fundamental change.

“The rear wing will be movable, so that the driver can overtake the car in front of him and use it in the qualifying according to his needs. The KERS is back. Although we’ve improved its size, it’s still quite big. Therefore the technicians had to redesign the car’s layout. There are also new safety rules.”

The F150 has plenty of tricks up its sleeve and more are on the way.

“We’ve been working on different innovations for the car: some of ours and some new for F-1 in general,” chief designer Nikolas Tombazis explained.

“The rear suspension is really innovative, so is the rear wing system. But there are more novelties coming up regarding the configuration for the first race, which aren’t in the car yet, for example something for the rear wing and the exhausts.

“We set targets we think are very ambitious regarding the development in the wind tunnel, the car’s weight and the performance of some sub-systems,” Tombazis added. “We think, based on our analysis, that we’ve reached these targets — especially for the car for the first race — I’m confident in what we’ve done.”

The car Ferrari showed at its launch has already been updated for the test in Valencia this week.

Fernando Alonso is positive that the new Ferrari F150 will suit his driving style far better than last year’s F10.

“There are no doubts that when I arrived in January 2010, I drove a car that had different characteristics to what I drove in previous years,” he said when the new car was unveiled at Ferrari’s Maranello base.

“Now I will drive a car that is a continuity of what I drove in 2010. I think all the developments and the direction that you go with improvements in the car over one year has some kind of definition of your driving style. That helps the designer of the car and the technical people with next year’s car, so I think in 2011 there will be some kind of direction that we took in 2010 regarding my driving style.”

Alonso said he will have more confidence in the F150 and that it will be more predictable. He also feels far more at home with the team.

“I know the team now,” he said. “I know the people; I know the guys; I know the names of all my mechanics, something that was not the case in Bahrain last year. So that will also help. Last year I didn’t have the numbers of [the Ferrari designers] but now I do, so I call them every two days to put some pressure on.”

But he remains neutral on the car’s potential saying it is too early to have great expectations.

Also feeling positive is Felipe Massa who still feels at home at Ferrari despite his trials and tribulations last year. Ferrari has promised that he will be an equal number one driver.

“I am part of a team where I really want to win,” Massa said. “I am here for that. I am not here to race — I am here to win. So I do have a guarantee, and if one day a team should tell me that I don’t have any guarantees to win a grand prix, then actually I know I would not go to the team.

“I trust my team here 100 percent. I know they can give me the perfect car, [and] the most competitive car to win as many races as possible.”

Just ask Ted Christopher.

The former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion claimed his second career Gambler’s Classic title Saturday night.

“When you think about this race and the history that is involved in indoor racing in Atlantic City, it really means something special to win it,” said Christopher. “We only come here once a year and we, as a team, put a lot of effort into winning this race so I take a certain amount of great pride with this victory.”

Christopher joins Lou Cicconi, Jr. and Joey Payne as the only two-time winners of the event. Christopher’s only Gambler’s Classic win came in 2009. Christopher won a preliminary feature at the Gambler’s Classic last year.

Matt Janisch was second in the final tally, while Billy Pauch was third. Billy Wease and Matt Roselli rounded out the top five.

Christopher’s victory came in a car that he purchased four years ago from Art Lawshe for a small sum of $4,500. The win on Saturday night earned Christopher a cool $5,000.

But it was the off-season preparation that provided Christopher with a car that was simply “bad fast.”

The chassis and surrounding bars were tricked out and the car weighed-in at 826 pounds, one pound over the mandatory weight.

“I owe it all to my crew guys and especially to Michael O’Sullivan,” Christopher said. “He worked incredibly hard in getting this car ready for the toll that it can take with the indoor racing.”

Christopher started seventh in the 26-car grid, but he wasted little time in showing his strength.

By lap four of the 40-lap event, Christopher already worked up to second where he followed Joey Payne.

Payne’s night ended on lap seven when a radius rod broke which sent his car hard into the outside turn three wall. Payne was not injured in the crash.

“I saw the bolt come out on the backstretch,” Payne said. “There wasn’t anything I could have done except to ride it out.”

Christopher was handed the lead spot while Janisch and Ian Cumens followed in the top three.

Over the final 18 tours, Christopher dominated the race as he defeated Janisch by five car lengths at the line.

Michael Butler won the Herr’s Snacks Slingshot event over Tiffany Wambold, Shannon Smith, Mario Page and Jim Houseworth.

Norman Hynes earned $1,500 for claiming the Champ Kart feature.

Jason Bowles celebrates in victory lane Saturday night at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. (Getty Images photo)

IRWINDALE, Calif. — Jason Bowles got the one victory that had alluded him during his NASCAR K&N Pro Series West career.

The Ontario, Calif., native drove to the win in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown Saturday night at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.

Bowles got the lead on the race’s final restart and held off D.J. Kennington through the final eight laps. The win for Bowles, the 2009 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West champion, came in front of a sold-out crowd at NASCAR’s premier short-track event.

While he was a three-time winner at the half-mile oval in his NASCAR K&N Pro Series West career, Bowles’ best finish in the three previous Showdown starts was third in 2009.

Kennington, the 2010 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series champion, drove to a runner-up finish in his debut at Irwindale. Jonathon Gomez finished third, while Luis Martinez, Jr. and Johnny Borneman rounded out the top five.

Making his NASCAR debut, action sports star Travis Pastrana finished sixth, followed by Derek Thorn, Travis Motley, Moses Smith and NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Steve Wallace.

The race featured five lead changes among five drivers and was slowed by 11 cautions.

Coors Light Pole Award winner Thorn was on cruise control in the first segment, with a two-second lead as the competition caution came out for the first of two 10-minute breaks.

Out of the first break, Andrew Myers quickly became the dominant car. Myers built a five-second lead as the second break approached, but a punctured tire brought him to pit road on lap 190, and he never recovered.

Paulie Harraka, who assumed the lead when Myers relinquished it, was running at the front on Lap 206 after the final break. Coming through turn four, Thorn made contact with the left rear of Harraka’s car, spinning him out of the lead. Thorn was penalized to the tail end for aggressive driving, while Bowles took over the lead.

Bowles’ first lead of the race was short-lived as Greg Pursley got past him on the ensuing restart. Pursley couldn’t make it last, however, as he broke down on lap 217. From there, it was Bowles’ race to win.

That’s how Tim Buckwalter, 22, of Douglassville, Pa., described Friday night’s TQ-Midget 30-lap preliminary feature at Boardwalk Hall.

Buckwalter claimed his first indoor event in front of a large crowd that sat in absolute awe over the transgressions of a race that had many leaving the gates with absolute anticipation for Saturday night’s 40-lap Gambler’s Classic finale.

When the race was all said and done, only four cars finished the distance after a lap-25 crash took out  15 cars. And many of those sent to the pit area were the heavy hitters like then-race leader Chris DeRitis, Lou Cicconi, Jr., Joey Payne, Mike Lichty and Ted Christopher.

“I guess I was at the right spot at the right time,” Buckwalter said. “Somehow, we got through it and missed everything.”

Buckwalter is a guaranteed starter for Saturday night’s main event along with Shaun Carrig, Matt Roselli and Mike Tidaback. Christopher finished fifth in the main event as he watched from the pit area.

DeRitis, who led laps one through 25, admitted his car suffered mechanical problems which precipitated the multi-car incident.

“The engine was registering 240 degrees and I knew 250 was the limit,” DeRitis said. “When we restarted, I felt the engine burp and it started to spit some water out.”

Mike Stefanik, Ian Cumens and Billy Pauch won heat races. Christopher set a track record of 8.6352 seconds during qualifying.

Jimmy Carpenter received the lead in the 600cc micro sprint event on lap 14 after Jason Ormsby and Jack Conover were involved in a spectacular turn-three double flip while contending for the lead.

Carpenter led the final six tours to score the $1,500 victory over teammate Rob Vivona.

“I didn’t even have a ride until last Tuesday,” Carpenter said. “Rob called me and said that if I wanted to run in this race then I better get my butt up to Staten Island.”

Derek Thorn claimed the pole for Saturday night's Toyota All-Star Showdown. (Todd Warshaw/Getty Images photo)

IRWINDALE, Calif. — Derek Thorn was the surprise winner of the Coors Light Pole Award Friday at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale (Calif.) for the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown.

Thorn, from Lakeport, Calif., piloted the No. 44 4 Star Fruit/Superior Crankshaft Chevrolet to a fast lap of 18.334 seconds (98.178 miles per hour) to best a stacked field of 46 entrants. His only previous K&N Pro Series experience came in 2008 with six starts in the East.

An Irwindale veteran, Greg Pursley was second-fastest on the half mile with a quick circuit of 18.405. Past Showdown pole winner Sean Caisse qualified third.

Brennan Newberry, Michael Self, Max Gresham, Jason Fensler, Andrew Ranger, Jason Bowles and David Mayhew rounded out the top 10.

NASCAR Nationwide Series regular Steve Wallace qualified 16th and action sports star Travis Pastrana, making his NASCAR debut, was 20th.

Veteran Dale Quarterley took the checkered flag in the last event Friday night in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series 50-lap Last Chance Open. The race determined out the final six cars in Saturday’s 40-car field.

Quarterley, from Westfield, Mass., qualified 33rd in time trials earlier in the day, and had to race his way into the 225-lap feature. He started fourth in the last-chance qualifying race, but shot a gap left first row starters Johnny Borneman and Chad Boat, and led all 50 circuits.

Boat finished second, followed by Borneman, Ryan Philpott and Lucas Lasserre. Cole Cabrera crossed the line sixth to earn the 40th and last starting position for Saturday night.

Ryan Partridge sets the pace en route to winning Friday night's super-late-model feature during the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. (Todd Warshaw/Getty Images photo).

IRWINDALE, Calif. — Ryan Partridge won the biggest race of his young career, topping Friday night’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series super late model race during the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.

The 22-year-old Partridge, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., started fifth on the 25-car grid and held off runner-up Alex Haase by .748 seconds.

Partridge led much of the event. He lost the lead briefly to Haase on a lap-56 restart, but regained the lead on lap 64. Partridge was the Toyota Speedway track champion in 2010 in its truck division, starting the season with a track-record 10-straight wins, and also recorded one super-late-model triumph.

Andy Allen finished third, followed by Jason Fraser and Dan Moore in fourth and fifth, respectively.

The Rum Bum Racing BMW M3 shared Friday at Daytona Int'l Speedway by Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi. (Grand Am photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It was a familiar story Friday afternoon at Daytona Int’l Speedway as the Rum Bum Racing team (Grand Sport) claimed victory in the Grand Am 200 for the Grand Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge for the second consecutive year.

Drivers Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi, who started the race, shared the team’s BMW M3 Coupe, with Plumb leading the final 17 circuits of the 3.56-mile road course to beat the Ford Mustang of Multimatic Motorsports and drivers Scott Maxwell, who was .628 seconds behind Plumb at the checkered flag, and Joe Foster.

Longhi, who started the Rum Bum No. 13, on the pole, led the first nine laps of the race and Plumb got the car back to the front on the 45th of the 62 laps.

Third place went to the Turner Motorsports BMW M3 shared by Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana. BMW M3s rounded out the top five with the Fall-Line Motorsports entry of Charles Espenlaub and Charles Putman fourth, ahead of their Fall-Line teammates Hugh Plumb and Al Carter.

In the Sports Tuner class, the victory went to the APR Motorsport Volkswagen GTI brought to the finish by Ian Baas and started by Ryan Ellis.

Second in class was the Kinetic Motorsports KIA Forte Koup of Nic Jonsson and Andy Lally. Third was the BimmerWorld Racing BMW 328i handled by Gregory Liefooghe and John Capestro Dubets.

Jorg Bergmeister en route to the pole for Saturday's Rolex 24 At Daytona during practice Thursday at Daytona Int'l Speedway. (Grand Am photo).

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jorg Bergmeister surprised even himself Thursday at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

Asked by his team to attempt one more lap in the 15-minute session, Bergmeister laid down a Daytona Prototype track qualifying record lap of 1:40.099 (128.033 mph) to capture the pole for Saturday’s 49th Rolex 24 At Daytona.

“I was ready to come in, and the team told me to try again,” Bergmeister said. “I went for it. I risked everything, and it worked out perfectly. I knew we have a great car and a great engine, but I was really surprised to win the pole — with the team running the DP for the first time. I was hoping to qualify in the top five.”

Ironically, Bergmeister’s No. 45 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche/Riley is the same car that David Donohue set the previous record of 1:40.540 (127.492 mph). Donohue went on to win the 2009 Rolex 24 for Brumos Racing, becoming the seventh and most recent driver to win the race from the pole.

“This car has some great history,” said Bergmeister, who will co-drive with Patrick Long, Seth Neiman and Johannes van Overbeek.

Bergmeister will be joined on the front row by Max Angelelli, who ran 1:40.133 (127.990 mph) in the No. 10 SunTrust Chevrolet/Riley.

“I’m happy with the front row, but this is a car that should be on the pole,” Angelelli said. “I made a few mistakes and couldn’t put together a clear lap.”

Also under the previous track record were Scott Pruett (128.033 mph), Ryan Dalziel (127.840 mph), Scott Dixon (127.744 mph), Antonio Garcia (127.654 mph), Brian Frisselle (127.563 mph) and A.J. Allmendinger (127.562 mph), all eclipsing Donohue’s record.

The record laps were certainly at least partially the result of the new asphalt on the 3.56-mile road course.

In GT qualifying, Dominik Farnbacher was awarded the pole with a lap of 1:48.781 (117.815 mph) in the No. 66 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup after teammate Andy Lally’s time was disallowed due to a technical violation.

Lally ran a lap of 1:48.487 (118.134 mph) in the No. 66 TRG Porsche, but his rear wing was found to be mounted too far to the rear.

Jordan Taylor will start second in the Autohaus Motorsports Camaro (117.771 mph). Craig Stanton (117.566 mph) and Nick Tandy (117.434 mph) were also under also under Jeff Segal’s year-old GT record of 117.275 mph.

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Jimmie Johnson (left) and Jamie McMurray (HHP Photos)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The names are magical.

The accomplishment is legendary.

A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti are the only drivers to win both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Daytona 500.

This weekend, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray are looking to join that elite twosome.

Foyt won the Rolex 24 for the first time in 1983, 11 years after winning the Daytona 500 driving for the Wood Brothers in 1972. Foyt also won the Rolex 24 in 1985 in addition to finishing second in 1984 and 1986.

“I don’t want anyone else in the club besides Mario — let it just be the open-wheel guys, no NASCAR guys,” Foyt said with a smile. “No…really…I always felt that records are meant to be broken. I think it’s great that they’re racing more than stock cars. I always tried to do that in my Indy car career.

“I’d like to see Jimmie drive Indy cars. If he tries it, he might not want to go back to stock cars. But I have to say, I did have a lot of fun driving them, too.”

Andretti won at Daytona in 1972, when the race was shortened to six hours for a one-year trial due to changes in international sports car regulations. He drove a Holman-Moody Ford to victory in the 1967 Daytona 500, his sole NASCAR win.

“It’s great to see drivers interested in different disciplines of racing, and I admire them,” Andretti said. “That’s part of my career that’s given me tremendous satisfaction. I’m with those guys 100 percent. It’s wonderful that they’re doing it, and I respect them tremendously because of that.”

Both Johnson and McMurray have come close to winning the Rolex 24.

Johnson won the Daytona 500 in 2006 to open the first of five consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship seasons. He finished second in the Rolex 24 in both 2005 and 2008. This will be his fourth consecutive year driving for Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing, sharing the No. 99 Chevrolet/Riley with two-time Daytona Prototype champs Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty.

“That would be something special,” Johnson said when told about the opportunity to be linked with Andretti and Foyt. “I love the Rolex Series. I’ve developed some great friendships here and I truly respect what Bob Stallings has built as a race team and everybody that’s involved. I certainly hope to make it three drivers who have won the 500 and have gone on to win the Rolex 24 — we have come awfully close.”

McMurray, the defending champion of the Daytona 500, finished fourth in the 2005 Rolex 24. Last year, his Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates entry broke while leading shortly after midnight. He returns in the No. 02 Target/Telmex BMW/Riley, co-driving with NASCAR Sprint Cup teammate Juan Pablo Montoya and IndyCar stars Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon.

“I’m with a really good team and I’m excited about the race,” McMurray said. “But I don’t think about that stuff (winning the Daytona 500 and Rolex 24) until my career is over.”

Qualifying for the 49th annual Rolex 24 at Daytona gets underway today. Speed will televise 14 hours of live coverage, beginning Saturday at 2 p.m. and again Sunday at 9 a.m. For a full entry list, visit Grand-Am.com.

Sage Karam (Ron McQueeney/IndyCar Photo)

Sometimes, a driver is just born to race.

Sage Karam couldn’t help it. It was all around him. Born in Nazareth, Pa., the 15 year old was little more than a stone’s throw from Nazareth Speedway. What’s more, he grew up neighbors with one of racing’s royal families.

“Living right next door were Mario and Michael Andretti,” explained Karam. “The atmosphere was just around racing. I became really good friends with Marco [Andretti], and my dad became best friends with Michael Andretti and his physical trainer.”

It was a natural fit.

Karam was given a go-kart on his fourth birthday and took off from there. He dominated the karting ranks like none before, capturing 35 championships, a record, and once taking nine-consecutive national victories, another record.

All the while, he raced under the tutelage of the Andrettis.

“They were there pretty much 100 percent ever since I was in go-karts, being a sponsor or giving me advice,” he elaborated. “It was great because I got to see how they acted, and they were so professional. They showed me what I had to do if I wanted to be an IndyCar driver.”

His karting conquest complete, it was time to move into cars. In 2008, at the age of 13, Karam became the youngest winner of a Skip Barber National Series race, beating Alexander Rossi’s old mark of 14.

In two short years, Karam earned six victories in the Skip Barber Series, including the Shootout Championship at Road Atlanta in 2008, and was granted the Skip Barber Rising Star Award in 2009.

From there, however, it seemed his career might stall. He went through the winter and into the spring with no plans for the 2010 season.

Then, with nearly no time to spare: a lifeline. Andretti Autosport was looking to expand its program into the reincarnated U.S. F2000 championship, but needed a couple of young guns as drivers. They turned to their old family friend and had a little fun with him in the process.

“One day, I was in school and I got called to the principal’s office,” he remembered. “I was like ‘All right, what’s going on?’ The principal said I had to call my dad, but he was acting like I was in big trouble. And when you call your dad in the principal’s office, that’s not good!” But, it was to announce that he had signed with the Andretti squad, spreading the word through his Nazareth High School; Karam was beside himself. “I was freaking out, I went back to class as happy as can be.”

The euphoria was interrupted by the reality of the season opener in St. Pete only two weeks away. With time to only run one test session at Putnam Park near Indianapolis, the group entered the weekend unsure of what to expect.

“I just wanted to run in the top three or top five,” said Karam. “I don’t think anybody expected to go straight out there and start winning races. We thought we would start out a little slow and start building, building, building.”

That changed once the weekend started. “It was like I had been driving the car for two or three years,” he happily proclaimed. “I was just so comfortable with the car. It was awesome.”

Karam never took his foot off the gas, leading every practice, capturing the pole and sweeping both races that weekend. The world took notice and Karam was thrilled.

“I’m not going to lie, when I went in there I was scared to death,” laughed the teenager. “I had half a day of testing at Putnam and then I’m going off to a narrow, narrow track in a car I’ve barely driven. It was scary as anything! To set the tone right away by sweeping the weekend in front of all my Andretti Autosport teammates, including the IndyCar and Indy Lights guys, it was a great moment in the season.”

Brian France addresses the media last fall at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Getty Images photo).

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR Chairman Brian France confirmed several changes to the points structure and competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series which will go into effect for the 2011 season.

France revealed the new points system that will hand out points in one-point increments with 43 to the winner and one to the last-place finisher. Winners will receive three bonus points and every driver to lead a lap will get one bonus point. The driver who leads the most laps will also get a bonus point.

“Many of our most loyal fans don’t fully understand the points system we have used to date,” said France, referencing the system that has been in use since 1975. “So, we are simplifying the points system to one that is much easier to understand. Conceptually, it is comparable to our previous system, but it is easier to follow.”

The change governs all three NASCAR national tours, however, in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the last-place finisher receives eight points, to account for that series’ 36-driver race field.

France also confirmed that 12 drivers will qualify for the chase. Those 12 drivers will be the top 10 in points with positions 11 and 12 going to non-top-10-ranked drivers with the most wins, as long as they’re ranked in the top 20 in points.

“The fans tell us that winning matters the most with them, so we’re combining the tradition of consistency in our sport with the excitement that comes along with winning,” said France. “This makes every race count leading into the 26th race of the season at Richmond, when we set the field for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.”

As previously reported, drivers in all three national series now must select the series where they’ll compete for a driver championship. Drivers still may compete in multiple series and help their teams win owner titles in series where they’re not competing for a driver title.

Tried with success in the Camping World Truck Series last year, the qualifying order for all three national tours will now be set based upon slowest to fastest practice speeds. If weather washes out qualifying the starting lineup will be determined by practice speeds. The same rule book procedures will be used to determine eligibility to start a race. If weather cancels practice sessions, then the starting lineup will be set by points, per the rule book.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams now are allowed five sets of tires for practice and qualifying instead of six. They must return four of those sets to Goodyear in order to receive their race allotment, and may keep one set of practice/qualifying tires. Tire allotments for race weekends will vary according to historical performance data.

Introduced in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, this goes into effect for all three national series in 2011. It combines a more efficient fueling system with the elimination of the catch-can man, considered the most “vulnerable” pit-crew member. Teams now will use six, rather than seven, over-the-wall pit-crew members.

Nationwide Series drivers (from left to right) Ricky Stenhouse, Elliott Sadler, Jason Leffler and Aric Almirola meet the media Jan. 25 in Charlotte, N.C. (Getty Images photo).

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It will be a year of change in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Not only will the series make the full-time switch to the new-style Nationwide car, which debuted in four races last season, but full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers will no longer be eligible to win the series championship. Other smaller changes will also be instituted.

“We have a number of things that are happening, changes coming to the sport,” said Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash Jan. 25. “First of all, there has been a lot of talk about the drivers having to select the series that they were going to run for the championship. There has been a lot of involvement with the teams, the drivers and the sponsors. It really adds emphasis to the Nationwide Series, putting that emphasis back on the Nationwide drivers.”

“I do think it is a big deal to Nationwide,” said Elliott Sadler, who will race for the championship with Kevin Harvick, Inc. “They want their own Nationwide champion. It’s good for the fans. It gets us back to the grass roots of racing. There is going to be some great racing. There are a lot of good guys up here.”

“We have a great group of guys here,” said 2010 rookie of the year Ricky Stenhouse. “The championship is going to be just as tough whether the Cup guys are running it or not. I think it is going to make it a little bit more interesting. It’s a good thing for the series.”

The new car was also a topic of discussion.

“We ran it in four events last year and it was very, very successful,” Balash said. “Now, we will be able to showcase the car in each and every event in 2011. The drivers really hone their skills in this series and will have their work cut out for them.”

Balash also detailed changes in the qualifying procedure and the use of Ethanol-based fuel.

“There will also be a change in qualifying in the Nationwide Series,” he said. “We are speeding up our qualifying sessions, paralleling with our friends in the (NASCAR Camping World) Truck Series with a quick qualifying process. I think this will really offer a lot of excitement to the series and to our fans.

“We also have changes in our fuel system in all three of our series. The E15 fuel is a very important step in what we are doing. It will also make some changes on our crew rosters as we will no longer have a catch can man on pit road.”

The Dyson Racing No. 16.

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — G-OIL, manufactured by Earth Technologies, Inc. will serve as the primary sponsor for the No. 16 Dyson Racing Mazda Lola in the American Le Mans Series this season.

G-OIL is made with American-grown renewable base oils and is the first bio-based oil to be approved by the American Petroleum Institute.

“With G-OIL on board, we anticipate a competitive 2011 season,” said Chris Dyson, vice preside of Dyson Racing. “We have two years of development with our Mazda Lola Coupe and we certainly proved last year that we have a strong package. We will be working again with Dunlop Motorsport and that relationship has been tremendous from the outset.”

Dyson will share the controls of the No. 16 with Guy Smith. “This will be our seventh season working together and we really compliment each other,” Dyson said.

Kevin Harvick's Jimmy John's sponsored NASCAR Nationwide Series machine.

WELCOME, N.C. — Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches, which has sponsored driver Kevin Harvick in the NASCAR Nationwide Series the past two seasons, will expand its involvement to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this season.

Jimmy John’s signed a multi-year contract with Richard Childress Racing to sponsor the No. 29 Chevrolet driven by Harvick in six races beginning this season.

The partnership is a continuation of an established relationship between Jimmy John’s Franchise, LLC, RCR and Kevin Harvick, Inc. Jimmy John’s, based in Champaign, Ill., was a primary sponsor of KHI’s No. 33 NASCAR Nationwide Series program the past two seasons and was an associate sponsor of RCR’s No. 29 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team in 2010.

“I have really enjoyed my relationship with Jimmy John’s over the last couple of years at KHI, and I’m happy that we can continue working together on the Cup side,” said Harvick. “They have a reputation for being ‘freaky fast’ in their business, and I’d like to continue that motto on the track this year.”

RCR placed all three of its teams in the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2011 and will return to a four-team program this season. Paul Menard joins Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer as the drivers vying to bring RCR its seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. RCR will also field two entries in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, with drivers Austin Dillon and Joey Coulter

Michael Waltrip during practice for last year's Daytona 500. (Getty Images photo).

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Michael Waltrip Racing and NAPA Auto Parts announced that two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip will drive the No. 15 NAPA Toyota in his 25th consecutive Daytona 500 Feb. 20.

“This is a very special day,” said Waltrip who unveiled the No. 15 NAPA paint scheme Tuesday morning during the annual Charlotte Motor Speedway media tour.

“Ten years ago I won the 500 in my first race with NAPA and we know February 18, 2001 is a day that NASCAR fans will never forget. What looked to be a storybook ending turned to tragedy seconds later. To mark the 10th anniversary of that race and my 25th consecutive 500 will be quite emotional for me and fans alike.”

Waltrip broke a 0 for 462 streak when he won the 2001 Daytona 500 driving for car owner Dale Earnhardt who died in a turn four accident on the final lap. Waltrip chronicles the events of that weekend as well as his life and the challenges building a Sprint Cup organization in his book “In the Blink of an Eye” that goes on sale Feb. 1.

“I’ve spent much of last year writing the book. It forced me to put into words a lot of emotions from that weekend and how we and the whole NASCAR world dealt with the loss of Dale,” said Waltrip. “When I got my first copy the other day I told people that I felt like I had given birth. The book has become a part of me and I know fans are going to love it.”

Waltrip won’t be alone in the draft at Daytona. MWR will also field cars for No. 56 NAPA Toyota driver Martin Truex, Jr. and the No. 00 Aaron’s Toyota for David Reutimann.

Sam Hornish, Jr., Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch meet the media Monday night at Penske Racing in Mooresville, N.C. (Getty Images photo).

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Sponsorship announcements were the order of the day Monday night as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Media Tour visited Penske Racing.

After helping the No. 22 Dodge team and driver, Brad Keselowski, capture the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship, Ruby Tuesday, Inc. has extended and expanded its partnership with Penske Racing.

The restaurant chain will sponsor the No. 22 Dodge in five Nationwide Series races and will also be an associate sponsor of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Keselowski will drive in the Sprint Cup Series.

Penske Racing’s Kurt Busch will join Coca-Cola’s family of NASCAR drivers this season. Coca-Cola will sponsor the 2004 Sprint Cup Series champion as Busch pursues his second series title while driving the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil machine in 2011.

Busch will carry the iconic Coca-Cola name on both his uniform and his Dodge Charger as he looks to extend his Cup Series victory streak to 10 consecutive seasons.

As part of the relationship, Busch and Penske Racing will be featured in Coca-Cola’s in-store promotions throughout the 2011 season and Busch will also make promotional appearances on behalf of Coke.

Alliance Truck Parts, a leading provider of replacement parts for the commercial transportation industry, will be the primary sponsor of the No. 12 Dodge Challenger driven by Sam Hornish, Jr. for the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Hornish will drive the Alliance Truck Parts Dodge for Penske Racing in at least eight races in the upcoming Nationwide Series season.

Penske Racing and Kimberly-Clark will begin a new partnership in 2011 as the Penske teams competing in NASCAR will assist in the promotion and marketing of Wypall Wipers.

Kimberly-Clark, which includes such global brands as Kleenex, Scott and Huggies, and the Wypall brand, will become an associate sponsor of Penske Racing’s NASCAR teams beginning this season.

Frank Williams stated that it is prudent and necessary to plan for an ownership structure that will enable Williams to be an independent constructor and that the best option is to sell shares in the team.

Williams and Patrick Head founded the team in 1977 and have remained fiercely independent although they did sell 10 percent to businessman Toto Wolff in 2009. Sir Frank will continue at the helm.

“Regardless of whatever steps we take, I shall remain the majority and controlling shareholder,” he said.

Any company that offers an IPO has to “open its books” and F-1 teams, not to mention Bernie Ecclestone and F-1’s financial dealings with the teams outlined in the confidential Concorde, are notorious for their secrecy. Williams chairman Adam Parr, however, said that team is working to ensure that the level of disclosure necessary will protect confidentiality.

“We will have to show our revenues and our costs,” he added. “This has nothing to do with the timing of any future [Concorde] agreement.”

- McLaren plans to use the three days of the first preseason test, which takes place at Spain’s Valencia track Feb. 1-3, testing Pirelli tires using last year’s car. Gary Paffett, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will each get one day in the car. Hamilton gets the honor of debuting the McLaren MP4-26 when the Jerez test kicks off Feb. 10.

- Renault has set brave and lofty goals for the upcoming season.

“The objective for the team is to finish within the top three in the championship,” said chief operating officer Patrick Louis.

To do that, Renault, which finished fifth in the 2010 constructors’ championship, will have to double its points total this year. And Vitaly Petrov is going to need to up his game as Robert Kubica earned 136 points compared to Petrov’s measly 27. And both drivers will need a competitive machine.

“To get along to that objective, based also on the Resource Restriction programs we have to run, we have been choosing and opting to re-insource a major part of the outsource jobs we have,” Louis revealed. “[We did this] for many, many reasons because based on a higher efficiency in-house we are going to be able to match the volumes [of production], we can improve the quality level and we can decrease the external expenditure.

“So these cost reductions, which we can reinvest into research and development, should provide the future track performance we are looking for.”

Technical director James Allison divulged that the new R31 will be radical.

“I believe that we have chosen a direction that is really on the brave end of brave,” he said.

- While Williams will have its new Cosworth-powered FW33 ready by Feb. 1, the car will carry an interim livery. The new livery will be unveiled when the team stages an official launch at a later date.

Simona de Silvestro will begin her sophomore year in the IZOD IndyCar Series with sponsorship from Entergy Nuclear. (Ron McQueeney/IndyCar Photo)

BALTIMORE — HVM Racing has partnered with Entergy Nuclear to sponsor driver Simona de Silvestro in the IZOD IndyCar Series for the next three years.

“This is great news for HVM and for Simona,” said Keith Wiggins, owner of HVM Racing. “It gives Simona a long-term opportunity to develop into a top IndyCar driver while the team will have a stable platform over multiple years to support our championship effort. It is a terrific marketing opportunity with a strong partner who has an important message and role in our world’s future. We are going to make an impact on many fronts; within the nuclear energy industry, with Simona as an individual driver and within our sport overall.”

Entergy, the second largest owner and operator of U.S. nuclear energy plants, is in its fourth year of the Nuclear Clean Air Energy national education campaign. Company officials are hoping to use the IZOD IndyCar Series platform to spread the message about the benefits of nuclear energy as a source of carbon-free electricity

“It is an important time for our country to hear our nuclear clean air energy story,” said John Herron, Entergy chief nuclear officer. “With Simona as a lead spokesperson for our effort, teaming up with HVM and IndyCar brings visibility to the issue of U.S. energy policy, with multiple national opportunities to reach out to families and fans. Education is key to smarter energy consumers and doing so with a young role model like Simona couldn’t be better. Having nuclear on the side of a race car is as all-American as racing itself, since nuclear energy generates 20 percent of all U.S. electricity already. Entergy wants everyone to learn more and get excited about our reliable, green source of electricity.”

De Silvestro, from Thun, Switzerland, enters her sophomore season in the IZOD IndyCar Series. In 2010 she turned heads at the season-opener in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she led four laps during her series debut. She was also named the 2010 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year.

“It’s pretty special to have a sponsor like Entergy and to have such an important campaign as the Nuclear Clean Air Energy initiative,” said de Silvestro. “It’s a great message and I am looking forward to creating awareness about the benefits of nuclear electricity throughout the racing season and beyond.

“It’s great to be back with HVM. They are a great team and it was amazing last year to spend my rookie season in IndyCar with them. Now with this sponsorship, I am more confident than ever that we’ll have a great year,” de Silvestro added.

The DeWalt logo will alternate between the hood and quarter-panel of the No. 9 RPM Ford driven by Ambrose in 2011 and 2012. The company left the sport at the end of the 2009 season after sponsoring 2003 Sprint Cup champion Matt Kenseth for 10 years.

“DeWalt is well positioned to re-enter the sport and partner with Richard Petty Motorsports to sponsor Marcos Ambrose for the 2011/2012 season,” said Jon Howland, director of brand marketing for DeWalt. “We value the opportunity to engage with our end-users through this platform, and we feel that Richard Petty, a NASCAR Hall of Famer and seven-time NASCAR Cup champion, and his race team, will represent our brand well.”

Ambrose is beginning his first season with Richard Petty Motorsports after driving for JTG-Daugherty Racing during his first two full seasons in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He also has primary sponsorship from Stanley Tools.

“In my opinion, Pirelli is ready now for F-1,” stated Pedro de la Rosa, Pirelli’s official tester since October. “The dry tire test went very well, and confirmed everything we had learned in Bahrain the week before.

“But the most original part of the test was when we were running at night on the wet tires, which was as new an experience for me as it was for everyone else. The most important thing was that the water levels were consistent, which allowed us to have some accurate results from the test. At the end of it, we’ve come up with two tires — wet and intermediate — which I believe are both competitive and stable.”

The test took place at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit, which was flooded with about 37,000 gallons of water for the two night sessions.
Along with two days of dry tire running, Pirelli completed more than 1,250 miles.

In all, the total testing miles accumulated by Pirelli since the tires first ran at Italy’s Mugello circuit in August is more than 12,400.

“It’s been an extremely positive test session in Abu Dhabi,” said Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery. “We very much believe that Pirelli will be able to contribute to the spectacle of F-1 in the future and seeing the car kicking up huge plumes of spray under the floodlights has certainly been an amazing sight that we will all remember for a long time.

“While we are well aware that we are new to F-1 and still have plenty to learn, I’m confident that we can approach the start of this year’s official testing next month with a strong package.”

Pirelli has been working on tire compounds and constructions that will require a driver to pit twice, thus spicing up the races. The four dry weather compounds — super soft, soft, medium and hard — will have different colored sidewall lettering, thus making it easy for fans to spot which driver is using what tire.

Pirelli’s next test will commence at Spain’s Valencia circuit Feb. 1. It will be the first time the teams will have a chance to sample the rubber on track since the two-day test in Abu Dhabi last November.

Jenson Button is the two-time and defending winner of the Australian Grand Prix, which is held every year at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia. (Steve Etherington Photo)

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — It’s time to dump the Australian Grand Prix claims Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, who forecasts that the cost of the event will approach 70 million taxpayer dollars by 2015.

Ted Baillieu, Premier of the state of Victoria, has also stated that the race might not continue unless costs are cut significantly. Even with some 300,000 fans attending over the four days last year, the race still cost taxpayers $49.2 million, which was more than twice the costs incurred in 2006.

While agreeing that the Formula One race has been a boon for Melbourne, Doyle, writing in the Herald Sun, predicted one of four things will happen when the contract ends in 2015. 1] Ecclestone will move the grand prix to another country; 2] Ecclestone will insist that any venue in Australia hold the race at night; 3] The event remains a twilight race at Albert Park, but this would require an upgrade of the park, costing up to $8 to 9 million and the increasing burden to tax payers; or 4] Doyle concluded: “I know of no city that has voluntarily walked away from a grand prix, but could Melbourne be the first?”

It costs $28 million each year to build up and tear down the Albert Park facility. Plus the country and organizers must bear the brunt of the costs of the airfreight on the nine jumbo jets that are required to fly the Formula One circus’s equipment around the world.

But Australian Grand Prix Corp. chairman Ron Walker told the Herald Sun that Victoria reaps in $180 million in economic benefits from the race that also showcases Melbourne to a huge worldwide audience.

“It’s future is a matter for the government but the Grand Prix Corporation board does its best to keep costs down every year,” he said.

The fact that Melbourne might lose the Australian Grand Prix highlights core problems that Formula One has to face. Should countries and tracks that have formed an intricate part of Formula One’s history be cast aside in search of the almighty dollar? Does the series continue to prostitute itself by only selling its races to the highest bidders? Should Formula One races be held in wealthy, but perhaps irrelevant, countries?

Had the Formula One Teams Ass’n formed its breakaway series, one of its policies was going to be to charge sanctioning fees far below those of Bernie Ecclestone’s FOM that start at $50 million with a 10

percent annual increase for some new venues. This would insure that countries in Europe, as well as places such as Australia and the United States, could afford a grand prix, and even make a profit, as well as not having to depend on tax payer dollars.

But Ecclestone’s business model made him a billionaire, and CVC, the majority rights holder of Formula One’s commercial rights, is interested in the bottom line of its ledgers. Things need to change to protect Formula One’s classic venues, including Melbourne, but sadly nothing is going to happen anytime soon.

Kurt Busch drove his No. 22 Dodge to the second fastest time in the final day of testing at Daytona Int'l Speedway Saturday. His teammate Brad Keselowski was the fastest during the entire test. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images Photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Penske Racing teammates Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch closed the three-day NASCAR Sprint Cup Series test at Daytona Int’l Speedway by putting down the two fastest times of the entire test Saturday afternoon.

Keselowski, driving Penske’s No. 2 Dodge, put down a 45.316-second lap at 198.605 miles per hour, just besting Busch’s 45.322-second lap that clocked in at 198.579 mph.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano were third through fifth on the speed chart. Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, A.J Allmendinger, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart completed the rest of the top 10 at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

“I feel like we’ve got a decent speed in the Home Depot Toyota,” said Logano, who had the morning’s fastest lap (197.516 mph, 45.566 seconds). “Usually in single-car runs we were probably a 15th-place car, but I feel like we’re a top-five car in single-car runs right now. That’s exciting to know.”

Numerous teams opted for two-car drafting during the final day of testing, including Stewart and Ryan Newman (Stewart Haas Racing), Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray (Earnhardt Ganassi Racing) and Penske’s Keselowski and Ku. Busch.

NASCAR Managing Director of Competition John Darby wasn’t surprised that teams avoided multi-car drafting, instead relying on two- and three-car combinations.

“Obviously the guys are working on the tandem deal knowing that’s faster than the draft,” Darby said. “Everybody’s working on a little different agenda, and it’s all trying to find that edge to win the Daytona 500. I think this test has done more in building confidence. There’s always some anxiety around what happens when a track repaves.”

Last year’s repave – only the second at Daytona and the first since 1978 – began after the NASCAR Sprint Cup event July 3 and ended in early December. A Goodyear Tire test Dec. 15-16 was the first time teams drove on the repaved surface.

Al Carter and Hugh Plumb will share driving duties of the No. 45 B+ Racing/Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3. Carter is a two-time Skip Barber Series Masters champion. Plumb is a veteran road racer who finished second in the Grand Am Rolex Series GT standings in 2003 and second in the Continental Tire Grand Sport division in 2006.

“I’m very excited to be joining Fall-Line Motorsports to drive a BMW M3 in the 2011 Continental Tire Challenge and represent the B+ Foundation,” said Carter. “Our car will proudly be carrying the sponsorship of the B+ Foundation. This foundation was founded to honor the legacy of Andrew McDonough and is doing tremendous work in helping children and their families in their battle against childhood cancers. As a cancer survivor myself, I hope to bring recognition to this worthy cause.”

Andrew McDonough was a 14-year-old athlete from Wilmington, Del.  He went from playing four soccer games on a Saturday in 2007 to cardiac arrest and a diagnosis of leukemia and sepsis just 48 hours later.

The opening round of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series in Jan. 28 at Daytona Int’l Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.

“We’re extremely proud to be associated with these tracks,” said Duvall. “We first spoke about it 30 days ago and have put the deal together since then for both tracks. Everybody in NASCAR is excited about it but especially the guys in Charlotte, Robin Pemberton, Jerry Cook and Randy Hedger, who have a history with Albany-Saratoga.”

When asked about rumors that the track, converted from dirt back to its original asphalt surface for last season, was about to be sold, Richards said, “The sale fell through and our family will promote the speedways through 2011. Dirt style modifieds with the 602 crate engine, using Hoosier tires, will be our division one class as our history has been with the modifieds through the years. My father CJ, was always big on change, introducing the small blocks to replace big blocks and adopting the spec tires before anyone else and we’ll continue that theme by making the crate modifieds our premier class.”

Richards also indicated that the track’s second division, pro late models, would gradually be brought into rules alignment with Tom Curley’s popular American-Canadian Tour late models. The goal is to eventually let teams compete at the two NASCAR speedways with the option to enter ACT tour events as well.

The sanctioning agreement completes a cycle where Albany-Saratoga first opened without a NASCAR sanction, then held one for many years under Joe Lesik and then Larry Mendelsohn.

Competitors included a bevy of NASCAR national sportsman and modified champions, among them Bill Wimble, Dick Nephew, Pete Hamilton, Donnie MacTavish, Jerry Cook, Bugsy Stevens, Freddy DeSarro and Richie Evans. CJ Richards eventually purchased the speedway and covered it to dirt, but before that, had brought the old NASCAR North Series managed by Curley to Devil’s Bowl Speedway.

Seuss joins the team after spending the last few seasons at Riggs Racing, where he contended for the series championship. Riggs Racing team owner David Riggs retired following the 2010 season, leaving Seuss searching for a ride. Brandon Hire previously drove the No. 44 modified, but will step aside to handle some off-track commitments so Seuss can drive this year.

“One big reason for this decision was how much potential there is with this team, but even more important is that this is just a great group of people to work with,” said Seuss.  “I just spent last week working in the shop with them and really enjoyed it.  Last year, we always parked next to each other at the track.  We’ve always helped each other out and shared laughs too.  So to be able to work with a team like this and go to the races to have fun is the most important thing.”

“We are really excited about Andy joining us this year,” said Tony White of Fishel Racing.  “We have basically been unofficial teammates with him and the Riggs Racing team anyways, so this makes sense.  We would pit next to each other, share food with each other, help each other out and enjoy everyone’s company.”

The new pairing will have some extra familiarity to it as well. Jim Hire, father of the No. 44 team’s previous driver, will return as the team’s crew chief. David Riggs isn’t completely ready to retire and will serve as a consultant. Longtime Riggs Racing crew chief Reggie Newman and Riggs crew members will also be working with the No. 44 team.

“We are going to the first five races of the season and taking it from there,” said Seuss. “We hope to build on what we start out with and find the sponsorship to run for the championship.  We have a few things in the works already and are very optimistic about this coming year.”

Veteran broadcaster Eli Gold will MRN’s coverage team for the second-straight season. MRN’s coverage of the Rolex 24 will include live coverage and periodic updates on both satellite and terrestrial radio in addition to an on-line streaming element. Four live segments are planned, including two hours of coverage at the start and finish of the event, for SIRIUS NASCAR Radio Channel 128 plus more than 60 MRN affiliates throughout North America:

The four live broadcast segments with be streamed on motorracingnetwork.com and grand-am.com.

“This combination of live radio and on-line listening options is tailor-made for our race fans,” said Grand Am Vice President Kevin Hindson. “MRN will once again deliver award winning-coverage of the Rolex 24 and then, moving forward, the entire season of the Rolex Series. We are proud to call MRN a partner.”

Pastrana will make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Ind., later this year. Pastrana, who owns 11 X Games gold medals, multiple supercross and motocross championships, and four  Rally America championships, plans to compete in at least 20 events in 2012.

“To announce this partnership in November and have a sponsor this soon is really gratifying, and we certainly appreciate Boost’s support,” Pastrana said. “Having worked with Boost in the past and knowing what an innovative brand it is, I am excited to see what we can do together this year. To see this many people here tonight is quite a testament to the interest everyone has in what we plan to do in NASCAR. I’m ready to get started. We’ve tested, but nothing compares to racing and I’m really looking forward to that!”

In addition to the race at Lucas Oil Raceway, Pastrana plans to enter races events at Dover Int’l Speedway in Dover, Del., Oct. 1, Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Oct. 8, Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Nov. 5, Phoenix Int’l Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., Nov. 12 and Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla., Nov. 19.

To prepare for the 2011 Nationwide season, Pastrana will race in the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway @ Irwindale in California next weekend.

Jimmie Johnson (48), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (88), Brian Vickers (83) and Kasey Kahne draft together during the second day of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series testing at Daytona Int'l Speedway Friday. (Jerry Markland/Getty Images Photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Early rain showers couldn’t slow down Denny Hamlin, who sped to the fastest time during the second day of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series testing Friday at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

Rain washed out the morning test session, but showers departed the area and teams took to the track early in the afternoon for a session full of drafting. Hamlin drove his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to a draft assisted 45.716-second lap at 196.868 miles per hour.

Tony Stewart drove his No. 14 Chevrolet to the second fastest time, clocking in with a 45.719-second lap at 196.855 mph around the fresh asphalt at Daytona Int’l Speedway. Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Jeff Burton completed the top five at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne completed the top 10.

Most of the talk at the track Friday revolved around the competition update press conference that included NASCAR President Mike Helton, NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton and NASCAR Managing Director of Competition John Darby.

During the press conference Helton confirmed NASCAR’s decision to only allow drivers to collect championship points in one of NASCAR’s three national divisions.

Also discussed was the potential change to NASCAR’s point system, the continuing search for a new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series director, potential changes to the Rookie of the Year program and fuel injection.

For more on the press conference, see Helton Discusses NASCAR Changes.

NASCAR President Mike Helton speaks to the media about the upcoming NASCAR season at Daytona Int'l Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Friday. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images Photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR President Mike Helton held court Friday afternoon at Daytona Int’l Speedway, discussing a number of topics and potential changes the sanctioning body is considering during what was dubbed a competition update.

The two most popular topics of discussion were the potential changes to NASCAR’s point system and the decision to limit drivers to racing for only one championship in NASCAR’s three national touring divisions.

Helton stopped short of confirming any potential changes to NASCAR’s point system, but he did say the sanctioning body is exploring several different models and discussing those potential changes with teams and drivers.

“In regard to the points, I think where we’re at today is we’re in the middle of the conversations of telling the competitors where our mind is,” Helton said. “The goal was, and has been for several years, to have a more simple points system.”

The point system that NASCAR is rumored to be considering is a 43-1 point system, with the winning driver earning 43 points and the driver finishing last earning one. It is considerably different from the current system, which awards 185 points to a race winner and decreases in varied increments from there. No matter what the change, Helton said the new point system would be used in all three national divisions.

“If you look at all of motorsports, and even other sports as well, it’s sometimes complicated,” Helton said. “Even for us we have to occasionally go to the rulebook and look at what position got what points. The goal for sometime has been to create a point system that is easy to understand, easy to explain, easy to be talked about, but also is credible at the end of the season.

“We’re close and we’re getting a lot of great input from the drivers about the tweaks that would go along with something like that,” Helton added.

Helton also detailed the change that will prevent drivers from earning championship points in more than one division. He acknowledged Nationwide Insurance, the title sponsor of the Nationwide Series, expressed an interest in grandfathering drivers like former champions Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski into the series so they could contend for the championship.

“It was considered and Nationwide had expressed that to us as well as some of the drivers. Particularly Carl and Brad had expressed this,” Helton said. “We stuck to the decision once we made it and felt like it was better for everybody concerned to go ahead and draw the line and not have any lingering affects to it.

“On this particular one, and we’ve been talking about this topic for a few seasons, we decided it’s in the best interest of the industry even through there were some that get caught up in it,” Helton said. “It is the best overall decision to go ahead and make that call and go ahead and draw the line and say no, it starts and stops right here.”

He noted that while NASCAR did not want to prevent drivers from competing in the Nationwide Series or Truck Series, but wants both divisions to have their own identities.

“The most important element was for NASCAR to maintain its open policy for anybody that wants to compete and has the credentials to compete can compete in any series they want to compete in,” Helton said. “We don’t restrict a Cup driver from participating in another form of racing, including other forms of NASCAR racing.

“At the same time there is also a desire for the Truck Series, the Nationwide Series to have a more specific identity of its own and not be confused with the Cup Series or vice versa,” Helton said. “The hope for this is that in the Truck Series when you have Cup drivers participating in it, which you will, and the Nationwide Series when you have Cup drivers participating in it, which we hope and think still will, there is a level of focus and a level of exposure offered to younger drivers who have personalities that deserve to get attention and be developed along the way as well.”

Kvapil will drive the No. 34 Long John Silver’s Ford and Gilliland will drive the No. 38 Taco Bell Ford. The team also plans to enter its third car, the No. 37 Ford, in select events.

“I’m thrilled to have Travis and David back,” said Bob Jenkins, owner of Front Row Motorsports. “We’re going into our third season running full time in Sprint Cup racing and we’re really starting to build something here with these guys. Our drivers are back, (Gilliland’s crew chief) Peter Sospenzo is back, (general manager) Jerry Freeze is into his third season running the team for us. So I’m really excited to keep building with this core group.”

Front Row also appointed Derrick Finley to the newly created position of competition director and named Bill Henderson crew chief of the No. 34 team.

In addition to solidifying its team roster, Front Row Motorsports made some off-season advances in its equipment. The team will begin using Ford’s new FR9 engines, provided by Roush-Yates Racing Engines, and has upgraded its racing stable with the recent purchase of 34 race cars from Richard Petty Motorsports.

“I’m pretty excited for this year,” said Jenkins. “We’ve got the newer engine and upgraded our equipment. We’ve got our core people back and added some new talent too. All the pieces are in place and we’re ready to go.”

Jamie McMurray (HHP/Erik Perel Photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jamie McMurray confirmed Friday that he has signed a multi-year contract extension to remain with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

A native of Missouri, McMurray had a breakout season last year driving the No. 1 EGR Chevrolet, winning three races including the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 after several disappointing seasons with Roush Fenway Racing.

“I’m excited to get all the contract stuff out of the way,” McMurray said. “I don’t know that anybody really likes going through that but I’m happy to get that out of the way.”

McMurray burst onto the NASCAR Sprint Cup scene in 2002 when in only his second series start he won at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., as a substitute for injured driver Sterling Marlin at Chip Ganassi Racing.

McMurray left Ganassi after the 2005 season to join Roush Fenway Racing where he suffered through four difficult seasons. He was left without a ride at Roush when the team downsized to four teams after the 2009 season.

“There’s no better way to greet your most enthusiastic fans than from the front of the Rolex 24 field,” said Dan Creed, vice president of marketing for BMW of North America. “BMW M is synonymous with motorsport. With six BMW-powered entries in this year’s field and on the 35th anniversary of our overall win, it’s perfect that the new 1 Series M Coupe was chosen as pace car. This will be the first time most fans are able to see our newest M car in action.”

This year’s contest marks the 35th anniversary of BMW’s overall win at the classic endurance event. In 1976, Peter Gregg, Brian Redman and John Fitzpatrick drove a BMW CSL to victory.

BMW has three class wins at the Rolex 24. An M1 driven by Hans Stuck and Alf Gebhardt took GT1 honors in 1981. The BMW Team PTG M3 scored back-to-back wins in the GT3 class at Daytona in 1997 and 1998. Bill Auberlen and Boris Said were co-drivers in those victories and will team up again this year in the BMW-powered Turner Motorsport M3 Coupe.

Unlike the Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour, in which a traveling operations staff conducts the events separate from the regional and divisional schedules, the SCCA Super Tour will be a cooperative effort between SCCA’s National office and the host regions.

The regions will continue to run all event operations, while the National organization will provide additional marketing, PR, promotional and ceremonial support.

“With the support of our new partner BFGoodrich Tires, we are able to create something that has been missing within the Club Racing program — a defined top-level collection of events not unlike the Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Tour,” said SCCA President and CEO Jeff Dahnert. “We’re now able to provide many of the things found at the Runoffs — victory circle celebrations, live timing and scoring and lap notes, special victory lap celebrations, door prizes, parties and more — at some of the top events across the country.”

As part of the Super Tour, SCCA and BFGoodrich Tires will embark on a number of marketing, promotional and ceremonial initiatives to elevate the stature of the events. The Super Tour will consist of six SafeRacer National Racing Series events in 2011, expanding to nine in 2012 — one in each SCCA regional division.

The first SCCA Super Tour event will be held March 6 at Texas World Speedway in Bryan, Texas. That will be followed by events at Hallett (Okla.) Motor Racing Circuit April 3, Virginia Int’l Raceway in Alton, Va., April 17, Buttonwillow (Calif.) Raceway Park May 1, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, June 12 and High Plains Raceway in Byers, Colo., July 3.

In the doubleheader events at Texas World Speedway, Virginia Int’l Raceway, Buttonwillow Raceway Park, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and High Plains Raceway, the second race will be designated as the Super Tour event and Super Sweep qualifier.

BFGoodrich Tires will announce a prize package to top point scorers over the course of the Super Tour at a later date.

BFGoodrich Tires SCCA Super Tour Schedule

Martin Truex, Jr. (56) and David Reutimann draft together during the first day of testing at Daytona Int'l Speedway Thursday afternoon. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images Photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Michael Waltrip Racing teammates David Reutimann and Martin Truex, Jr. led the first day of preseason testing Thursday at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

While most drivers opted to make single-car runs, a handful of drivers tested the draft during the afternoon session at the recently repaved 2.5-mile superspeedway. Reutimann was the fastest of the group, clocking in at 195.780 miles per hour.

Truex was second-fastest, timing in at 195.776 miles per hour. Red Bull Racing teammates Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne were third and fourth, followed by Tony Stewart.

The drivers and teams are using this three-day test session to prepare for the Daytona 500, scheduled for Feb. 20.

“It’s going to be wild,” said Truex of the Daytona 500. “It’s going to be fun. I love racing here. Here and Talladega [Superspeedway] are some of the [most fun] races for us as drivers until you get in a wreck, and then you’re just [ticked] off, and you’re [ticked] off until you come back and hoping to finish the next one.”

Aside from first laps on new asphalt, Thursday also marked the first day of at-track work for new crews, new team members and new personnel combinations. Teams were also testing out several changes to their race cars, including a reconfigured splitter and the new Sunoco Green E15 fuel that will be used in 2011.

Completing the top-10 during Thursday’s day-long test session were Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.

Trevor Bayne will drive the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford in 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup events in 2011. (HHP/Harold Hinson Photo)

STUART, Va. — Trevor Bayne will run at least 17 races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the Wood Brothers Racing team in 2011.

Bayne, a 19-year-old rookie, will drive the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford in the first five races on the Sprint Cup schedule and select events after that. Veteran Donnie Wingo will return as crew chief.

“It’s pretty awesome that the Wood Brothers have the confidence in me to believe that I can do it as a rookie,” said Bayne, who will turn 20 on the day before the Daytona 500. “That says a lot about our relationship already. I’m looking forward to my first year in Cup. I know it’s not full time, but it’s been my dream since I was five years old.”

Bayne will run the minimum amount of races required to be eligible for the Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Award, but at this point he has not announced any plans to compete for the honor.

“We’re really excited to be starting the season with Trevor,” said team co-owner Eddie Wood. “It’s something new for us. We had a good race at Texas last year. That’s where it all started.”

Bayne made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut in 2009. He has since earned six top fives and 13 top 10s and no victories. He finished seventh in the series standings in 2010. He also made one NASCAR Sprint Cup start last season, finishing 17th at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, last November while driving for Wood Brothers Racing.

He plans to run the full NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule with Roush Fenway Racing in addition to the 17 events in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford.

Jamie McMurray (1), David Ragan (6) and Denny Hamlin (11) lead a pack of cars during the 52nd Daytona 500 at Daytona Int'l Speedway last season. (HHP/Alan Marler Photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Many drivers got their first glimpse of the recently repaved Daytona Int’l Speedway Thursday, and after just one day of testing many of them expect February’s Daytona 500 to be wilder than ever.

Michael Waltrip Racing’s Martin Truex, Jr. compared the new surface at Daytona to the surface at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, which was repaved in 2006.

“It’s going to be more along the lines of a Talladega race,” said Truex. “There’s going to be no stringing out, there’s going to be no handling where guys have to start lifting and it gets double file and then it gets single file, the long runs. The pack is never going to get spread out.

“You look back at the last few Talladega races with the new asphalt being smooth, everybody can run wide open all day, everybody handles good. It comes down to how many cars can you fit in that space. That’s how many we’re going to try to get in there,” Truex said.

The repaving came about when a pothole developed between the first and second turns during the 52nd Daytona 500 last February. Two different attempts to repair the damage led to a delay of more than two hours and forced officials to repave the 2.5-mile superspeedway for the first time since 1978.

Tony Stewart, a winner of three Sprint Cup and five Nationwide events at Daytona who did not participate in a Goodyear Tire test in December, said his biggest concern was getting off of turn two and onto the backstretch.

“The only turn that I heard them really talk about [after the tire test] was turn two and how the transition falls off a little harder,” Stewart said. “If guys were pushing through that area, that it [drafting] had a tendency to push the lead car out further on the exit than they wanted to be and toward the wall, and if that lead car goes in the wall, most likely the guy that’s pushing him is going to follow him right in it.

“It sounds like that might be the only difference. You may not be able to push all the way around the track, but I’m sure in the next definitely 24 hours we’re for sure going to find that out,” Stewart added. “I think that we definitely want to have an understanding of [the track] before we come back here.”

Carl Edwards went straight to the point when asked what he thought racing during the Daytona 500 would be like this year.

“The track is so smooth and has so much grip that there’s no telling what people will try,” Edwards said. “The last lap is going to be insane.”

Chad Knaus (left) and Jimmie Johnson celebrate winning their fifth-straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla., last November. (HHP/Harold Hinson Photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR is considering a change to the Sprint Cup point structure that would put an end to the system that has been in place for more than 30 years.

Series officials are reportedly considering implementing a 43-1 point system, with the winning driver earning 43 points and the driver finishing last earning one. Bonus points would also be available, but there has been no word on how many bonus points or how they would be awarded.

The potential changes come just a few months after Jimmie Johnson won his fifth-straight series championship by 39 points over Denny Hamlin in one of the closest championship battles since the creation of the Chase in 2004.

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, said he would be for the new system if it helped make things easier to understand teams and fans.

“If I am running 12th or something I don’t even know how many points that is worth and I have been doing this long enough that I should know,” Edwards said, referencing the current point system. “So if it makes it simpler for the competitors and the fans to follow along and understand, then I think it is a good move.”

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin agreed.

“I do think it’s simpler for people to figure out. Obviously when you know you’re 18 points behind someone, that’s 18 spots without the bonus points and everything,” Hamlin said. “I’m definitely in favor of the one to 43. I think it’s going to be easier for us to figure out to be honest with you.”

On the other hand, two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart isn’t all that concerned about any potential changes.

“Honestly I’ve kind of been one of those guys it didn’t really bother me when they changed it the first time, and if they change it again, it really won’t matter to me,” said Stewart. “As long as we all start the year and we understand what the point structure is and how you get the points, then you race accordingly.”

Martin Truex, Jr., driver of the No. 56 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, shared a similar opinion.

“I think no matter what they decide to do, they’re going to do what’s best for the sport,” Truex said. “I think all of us in here, in the garage, drivers, crew chiefs, owners, everybody understands that. It doesn’t matter how many points we get or anything. We just come here each week to do the best we can for our sponsors, for ourselves and try to win races. Whether it’s worth 180 points or whether it’s worth eight points, it doesn’t really matter.”

The current point structure, developed in 1975 and modified in 2004 and 2007, awards 185 points to the race winner. Second-place gets 170 points, with that number decreasing by five points through sixth place. From seventh through 11th the difference becomes four points and from 12th through the remainder of the field the difference is three points. Five bonus points are also awarded for leading a lap and leading the most laps.

Kurt Busch, who won the 2004 championship under the Chase format, wasn’t so sure a change in the point structure would really matter.

“When you sit there and change around points 100 different ways, we still end up with the same champion nine times out of 10 it seems like,” Busch said.

No matter what the changes are, expect them to be made official during the NASCAR Media Tour next week. NASCAR CEO and Chairman Brian France is scheduled to speak to the media during a stop at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., Wednesday.

Bill Noble celebrates a victory aboard his Formula Vee entry several years ago. (SCCA Photo)

TOPEKA, Kan. — Bill Noble, a five-time SCCA Formula Vee National champion, died Jan. 18 after a prolonged battle with blood cancer. He was 69.

A renowned Formula Vee engine builder and five-time Formula Vee National champion, Noble was instrumental in maintaining Formula Vee as one of the most popular SCCA classes. His “Engines by Noble” won countless races and 25 National championships.

Despite competing in an extremely hard-fought class, only a handful of drivers have won more than Noble’s five national championships. He was on the podium 13 times and won the Valvoline ProVee Championship in 1994. Noble received the Road Racing Drivers Club’s Mark Donahue Award and the Jerry Knapp Award from his fellow competitors at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs. In the Kansas Region there is an award named for him honoring his mechanical expertise and sportsmanship.

In addition to his racing expertise, he was twice runner-up for the USA Olympic Trap Shooting Team in his youth and remained very competitive in various shooting competitions throughout his life, winning a world championship title in live fliers. He was avid outdoorsman and naturalist.

Noble’s wife Lisa became his crew chief and went on to join Noble at the sharp end of the Vee grid as a first rank driver. She is now on the SCCA Board of Directors.