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David Phillips
Editor and ChiefDavid Phillips is a long-time contributor to print and electronic publications in the U.S. and abroad, including Racer, Autosport, AutoWeek, Motor Sport and SPEEDtv.com, oversees the daily updating of news stories and assigns, edits and contributes feature material for inRacingNews.com.
Chris Hall
iRacing.com Series WriterChris Hall has been writing since the nineties and moved into motorsports reporting in 2005, covering series such as ALMS, British GT, FIA GT, Le Mans and 2CV racing for Full Throttle magazine, Motorsport.com, The-Paddock.net, GTGateway.com, L' Endurance and, of course, inRacingNews. During 2008 and 2009, he worked with the RSS Performance Porsche Carrera Cup Team (and former British GT(C) champions) as a data engineer for a variety of drivers and models of 997s.
Jameson Spies
Contributing Writer19 years old, Jameson Spies lives in Quartz Hill, California. He grew-up surrounded by racing. His mother raced late models throughout Southern California while his father built and setup the car. Not surprisingly, Jameson began racing go-karts at the age of 13, and is now racing Spec Trucks at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He has a passion about all forms of racing and hopes to make a career out of it.
Jason Lofing
iRacing.com Series WriterJason is 21 years old and was born and raised in Elk Grove. California. A big time NASCAR fan, he hasn’t missed a race on Sunday in years. Lofing is also a huge San Fransisco Giants fan and tries to take in at least a couple games a year. Other than sim racing, his biggest (and far more expensive!) hobby is photography. Although he is rather new to sim racing, Lofing has already accomplished some pretty impressive results, qualifying for the 2011 iRacing Oval Pro Series in Season 1, 2011, winning the inaugural Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge and finishing runner-up in the second one.
Tim Terry
Contributing WriterTim Terry, aka the voice of Maritime stock car racing, fell in love with sim racing in 2004 after he joined the Sim Racing Network crew as a pit reporter. From October 2004 to SRNtv’s closure in June 2007, he’s covered prestigious races and leagues such as the Online 500, FLM Fall 400, Real Racing Online and the DMP Racing League – each as the lead broadcaster for the company. At the same time the wheels started to turn in another direction as he began announcing stock car racing locally. Terry became the assistant announcer at Scotia Speedworld in May 2007 and took over full duties in May 2009 when long-time voice Mike Kaplan retired from the track. Terry also became the series voice of the Parts For Trucks Pro Stock Tour in ’09 and continues to hold down both posts in 2011. He has also announced races for the Pro All Stars Series, Atlantic Open Wheel and Maritime League of Legends tours and has called races at six different Atlantic Canadian tracks. Terry can be heard online at WebRacingNetwork.com, RLMtv.com and OLRtv.com covering sim races. He also makes occasional appearances on PSRtv.com. In addition to inRacingNews, his articles and columns can be read on ScotiaSpeedworld.ca, MaritimeProStockTour.com and his own website at timterryonline.com.
David Allen
Contributing WriterNorth Carolina born and raised with over 15 years of computer/IT experience, I combine two of my biggest hobbies -- racing and technology -- here at inRacingNews. In my spare time I run a Nascar fan site and cure my own need for speed riding atvs. If it involves technology or racing I'll be there, but combine the two and I'll be looking a front row seat. Stop by and say hello anytime!
Allen Krier
Contributing WriterAllen was born in West Palm Beach, Florida but grew up in Atlanta and attended Georgia College and State University where he received a BS in Information Systems. Currently a resident of Albany, GA, he started sim racing in 2008 while in college when iRacing was first released to the public. Since then, Krier has been a two time iRacing Pro Series driver (2009 and 2010), picking up one Pro Series win at Daytona in ‘09. Besides sim racing, Allen’s other hobbies include RC Car racing as well as “attending and watching any sporting event that I can including going to the local dirt track.
Chris Cunningham
Contributing WriterChris is 20 years old, and recently moved to Charlotte, NC during his sophomore year in college to feed his need for speed. More than just an auto racing enthusiast, Cunningham has risen through the ranks of BMX Racing, Sailboat Racing, and Cycling. Cunningham recently took up go karting, and qualified as an alternate for the 2011 Red Bull Kart Fight at the PRI expo. Aside from racing, Cunningham has recently picked up the hobby of competitive eating (Ranked #7 Collegiate Eater in the country!), and competes all over the east coast in various contests. Chris also enjoys sim racing, writing, playing the drums, and enjoying college at UNC Charlotte.
Tim Doyle
Contributing WriterI've been a race fan since before I can remember, going to dirt tracks around the Washington, DC area since the early 70's with my parents. I got away from racing during my school years but in 1989 a friend and I went to a race in Hagerstown, MD and from there my life was all about racing. I currently live in Winchester, VA and while Dirt Late Models is my favorite form of racing, I also enjoy many other forms such as F1, IndyCar, 410 sprint cars on dirt and (probably more than anything) sim racing. My favorite driver is Ayrton Senna.
I was introduced to sim racing in 1989 when a friend turned me onto Indy 500 The Sim by Papyrus. It took me a few years to own my own PC but once I did, all I wanted to do was sim race. I tried to race my friends as much as possible via modem racing back in the 90's before joining TEN in 1998. From there I devoted a lot of time to online racing enjoying every minute of it. I was able to meet a lot of my competitors from all over the world at LAN events and races I went to. Being able to call some real world drivers friends as a result of sim racing is probably the neatest part of this whole deal!
David Roberts
Contributing WriterDavid lives in Brisbane and is a former Australian National Formula Ford Champion who now owns his own marketing and design company. After racing in Europe, David returned down under to swap a career behind the wheel for a career in the creative department. He now has three children, an ongoing love affair with the good ol’ days of motor racing, and just enough spare time left to enjoy a bit of sim-racing with a few of his old mates.
Ben Rothberg
Contributing WriterI was born and raised in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne where I still am situated. I am currently at University studying for a Certificate in Motorsport and hoping I will be able to achieve my top goal and become a part of a race team. In the sim-racing world, I won an rFactor V8 Supercar season and also was awarded with Best & Fairest award. I am now situated with the best simulation in the world (iRacing.com!) and love every minute of it. I currently race in the V8 Supercar Online Series and finished 16th overall in 2012 Season 1.
Dylan Sharman
Contributing WriterI was born in Adelaide and we moved-out for Angle Vale for a few years until I was about 7 years old, when we moved to the Barossa Valley where I live now. I'm 19 years old and currently traveling back and forth weekly as I’m studying for a Diploma of Furniture Design and Technology.
I’ve always had a love for racing as my close family did some racing and we were always out at the local dirt track. I joined iRacing back in 2010 and slowly but surely got the hang of it as this is my first experience with sim racing and am loving it each time I race. I’ve won two SK Modified titles (almost had three in a row but finished P2 in 2011 S4), an inRacingNews Challenge championship (2012 S1 Mazda) and was also an AustralAsian Intel GT Series Finalist.
Tim’s Corner Race to the Chase Goes Thursday
by Tim Terry on December 22nd, 2011
Fifteen drivers. Ten chase spots. One race and 100 laps to get it done.
While the objective for the 35 drivers in the Tim’s Corner Race to the Chase will be simple come race time, 15 of those will have an extra goal in mind and that is to be one of the ten in Chase for the Championship contention after 100-laps at the Richmond International Raceway. After all, when the checkered flag falls at the Virginia short track the ten sim racers who will duke it out for the GSRacing.net Truck Series championship will be decided.
The drivers in contention for the title are no strangers to sim racing and have been in these big race type scenarios before. The only driver that is currently “locked in” to a spot in the Chase is Thomas Hazard. Hazard has won a third of the races contested this season, including the first two to open the schedule at Michigan and Charlotte. Hazard and his #9 team also won at Texas, which was a part of the six top five finishes the team has accumulated this season. Hazard has a 29 point lead on Brandon Buchberger and a 73 point lead on the eleventh place driver in the standings.
With the maximum amount of points that can be obtained in a single race being 52 and provisional eligible drivers receiving seven points (drivers inside the top 25 that cannot make the race receive provisional points under series procedures), the most a driver can gain on a single night is 45 points. Buchberger’s lead on eleventh place in the standings is 44 points and that advantage can be credited to the consistency of one top five and four top ten finishes on the season, including a season high fourth place run in the Charlotte 150. Last season in the GSRacing.net Truck Series Buchberger finished eighth in the Chase. Buchberger will need to finish 35th to lock into the Chase.
Dylan Duval enters the Tim’s Corner Race to the Chase third in the point standings with 284 points, 42 behind the leader and 31 markers up on eleventh place. Keeping in mind that the magic number is 302 (which is one point more than the maximum of points that the currently eleventh place driver could leave Richmond with), Duval can lock himself into a Chase spot by finishing in 22nd or better on Thursday night. The #42 C2C Designs Chevrolet has two top five and four top ten finishes this season. Duval is attempting to make his first career Chase to the GSRacing.net Championship.
Chad Coleman sits fourth in points, 45 points behind leader Hazard and 28 up on eleventh place. Coleman is riding a string of six top twelve finishes heading into Richmond and if he can notch another top dozen run off, he will lock himself into the Chase. Coleman finished eighth in the 2010 edition of the Chase. One point back from Coleman sit Talladega winner Brandon Kettelle and Chris Overland. Both drivers can punch their ticket to the Chase with an 18th place finish at Richmond. Both drivers are in their first full time season in the series.
“There’s going to be some tough competition at Richmond. It will be about surviving the wrecks and finishing with a solid top fifteen.” — Andrew Berger
Brandon Williamson enters combat Thursday night as the seventh place point man. Williamson finished tenth in last season’s championship hunt and can lock himself into the 2011-12 edition with an eleventh place finish at Richmond. Williamson is 20 points up on eleventh place in the standings on the strength of three top five finishes, including one at the Milwaukee Mile in November.
The goal is simple if Jon Adams and Danny Hansen want to make it into the Chase after Thursday night – finish top ten at Richmond. A top ten run would lock the two tied for eighth in the standings into the run for the title. Adams has been in this situation before as he has finished on both sides of the fence in Chase clinching situations. In 2010, Adams finished eleventh in the standings, the first driver outside of contention for the championship. Last season it was Adams who finished third in the standings. The man famous in the community for his “Kurt Busch Rages During Interview” video on Youtube sat out last week’s event at Chicagoland after an altercation with another driver under caution at Iowa. Hansen on the other hand is coming off three straight top six finishes, including a fourth place run at the JDR Graphics 125 at Iowa.
Andrew Berger is the man on the bubble heading into the Chase and is on the cusp of making his second consecutive Chase for the GSRacing.net Championship. Last season Berger finished a very respectable sixth in his first full season with the series but admits that Richmond could easily be a wildcard. “Richmond isn’t one of my better tracks, but you never know how that race will go,” commented Berger on Tim’s Corner Unplugged this week. “There’s going to be some tough competition at Richmond. It will be about surviving the wrecks and finishing with a solid top fifteen.” Berger can lock into the Chase with a podium finish as he sits just a dozen points up on the other side of the bubble.
Allen Krier sits on the outside looking in at the Chase in eleventh place. Krier started off the season strong but in the last six races the team only has one finish (seventh at Indianapolis) that is better than 18th place. Krier finished seventh in the 2010 Chase but in order to get back to the top ten he will need to not only gain the 12 points needed on Berger, but will need to keep some stiff competition behind him.
Josh Berry and Nick Ottinger have both won races this season and have had their share of battles throughout the first nine races, so maybe it is fitting that they share 12th place in the standings with just one race before the Chase. They sit 13 points out of Chase contention and will each need to bring their “A” game to Richmond on Thursday. Byron Daley finished second to Berry on a last lap pass made by the #72 at Iowa and will also need some help to get into the Chase. Last season’s fourth place point man sits 17 points out of tenth in the standings.
Berger is the "man on the bubble" heading into the Chase.
The final driver in mathematical Chase contention is the two-time and defending GSRacing.net Truck Series champion Bryan Blackford. Blackford took the win at the Mason Baker Designs 150 at Indianapolis but fell victim to a ten point penalty earlier in the season at Milwaukee when he failed to lift when entering a wreck, which is an infraction under series rules. Blackford entered last week’s race 20 points behind the top ten but now has to deal with a 21 point spread between himself and Berger heading into Richmond. If anyone can overcome a deficit like one that is facing Blackford, it would be someone that has been in a championship situation before, right?
The winner of the race will receive a Derek Speare Designs Track Boss Button Box while the remainder of the top five will receive a cash bonus for their finishes. There is also a bonus for the top finishing truck which carries a Tim’s Corner logo in the race. Eligible drivers as of press time included Duval, Coleman, Krier, Daley, Richard Beasley, Carson Downs, Brian Schoenburg and Zach Hudson. Bonuses are also handed out throughout the chase for eligible drivers running the Tim’s Corner logo.
The Derek Speare Designs Phrase That Pays contest winner will also be announced during the mid-way point in the race. The promotion, which ran on Tim’s Corner Unplugged throughout the months of November and December gave listeners a chance to enter the draw by listening for a special phrase and sending it into the show. The winner will receive a Derek Speare Designs Track Boss Button Box.
The action gets underway at 9pm Eastern/10pm Atlantic on WebRacingNetwork.com.
About Tim’s Corner:
Tim’s Corner began as a weekly stock car racing column appearing on ScotiaSpeedworld.ca and MaritimeProStockTour.com, penned by track and series announcer Tim Terry. It has now grown to include basic media services for motorsport teams big and small. TimsCorner.ca, the official website of Tim’s Corner, also features Tim’s Corner Unplugged, a podcast hosted by Terry which focuses on the motorsports scene. For more information on Tim’s Corner and services offered, visit TimsCorner.ca!
About GSRacing.net:
The GSRacing.net Truck Series is one of iRacing’s premier independently hosted series. The Truck Series is in its third full season and is frequented by the top drivers in the sim community, including those from the NASCAR iRacing Series World Championship. Races throughout the 2011 season are conducted on Thursday nights with select races with live flag-to-flag coverage on ETV and WebRacingNetwork.com.