Yes, Virginia!

by Patrick Atherton on April 12th, 2011

With Madison Down on pole for Split One, Race Two of the iRacing.com V8 Supercar Series at Virginia International Raceway, the assumption was that the race for the lead would be, well, non-existent. At least, thought the many spectators in the “corporate box,” there might be some battles further down the field.

Down was the only sim racer in the 1 minute 24s, making it a depressing prospect for his rivals. Having said that, Mitchell McLeod was more than nipping at his heels with second spot, barely a tenth behind.

The revelation of qualifying, and, as it would turn-out, the race, was Reg Burke. The Sydneysider had been racing rather infrequently in the Skippy Barber series, and the Prototype MC. The little Radical SR8, with its “mash the throttle” approach, is as different to the leery, heavy, overpowered Ford Falcon V8 Supercar, as night is to day. Yet Burke claimed third spot on the grid, around three-tenths behind the evergreen virtual V8 star McLeod. XSG Motorsport’s Shay Griffith was fourth, and a very impressive performance from Simon Madden put him in fifth, splitting the XSG duo, with new XSG signing Michael McCabe behind him in sixth.

Next was Trans Tasman’s Troy Cox, then Terry Nightingale Jr in the Panorama City Hotel Falcon, Simon Black and Darrin Vouch rounding- out the top ten. George Fullerton, suggesting he was in desperate need of charity, was eleventh.

The green pasture-land of Virginia was not the only green in Down's mirrors

Virginia is picturesque and pretty, like Phillip Island, but with farmhouses. However, beneath that quaint, rural exterior it has a dark side for the power hungry and nervous V8 Supercar – sweeping, narrow, medium-fast switchbacks which rise and fall and relentlessly assault the driver, giving them no rest and spelling havoc for rear tyre consumption. Even more than the previous venue of Road Atlanta, this one is loathed by more than those who love it. Still, a bumper field of 19 cars turned up for the fun.

At the green light, Down smoked the start and settled into the lead. The spectator gallery yawned. They shouldn’t have. Madden dropped off the outside of Turn One into the grass and back to 16th place. “Seriously annoyed…I had a good race set and blew a good quali !” Simon said. Eighth qualifier Nightingale had a nasty grassy moment into the Left Hook Turn Four, almost collecting Cox. The kerb banging sent Nightingale into retirement.

Nightingale Jr comes close to spoiling Cox's first lap, as Black looks on in the Speed Falcon.

The spectator gallery was witnessing something a little unusual- Down was not getting away. His best laid plans were to try “…to bugger off down the road. Unfortunately that didn’t happen…” McLeod had other ideas. “I made sure to keep my car smooth to save a bit of tyre.”  He stayed with the leader, although they both pulled a gap on the rest. Reg Burke was doing a magnificent job in his first race, holding back the XSG duo of McCabe and Griffith. Shadowing them were Cox and Black, then Vouch, Peter Kastanaras, and Fullerton in tenth.

By Lap Fifteen, the race for third was no less intense than Lap One, with Burke gritting his teeth and holding off the XSG assault. The trio had a small gap back to sixth-placed Cox, who was clearly in some tyre trouble and putting on a display of drifting. He was not the only one.

Then on Lap Sixteen the unthinkable happened. Madison Down made a mistake. Well, it was more like half of a mistake. Under increasing pressure from McLeod, Down had a mini-lose in Turn Five-A. McLeod had to hit the grass to avoid him but the lead was his. The spectators woke up with a start.

Is that.....Down making a mistake? McLeod says "Yes!"

So, while Burke continued his gallantry in third, to the frustration of the XSG duo McCabe and Griffith, Down wasted no time in latching back onto the rear of McLeod’s Nfinity Esports Falcon. The more the laps wound down, the hotter it became. On Lap 19 McLeod ran wide exiting NASCAR Bend, inviting Down to fill the inside into Turn Four. It almost looked as though McLeod could hold him around the outside of the exit, but there was nothing but virtual marbles out there, so Down prevailed.

Behind them, McCabe and Griffith were hoping for the same lapse from Burke, but Burke was still clinging onto a hard-fought podium, with a car behaving more like a sprint car (that is to say, a dirt one, for our US readers!).

Even so, Down was not asserting his lead- on the same lap he reclaimed it, a poor exit onto the pit straight put McLeod right in the slot again. A pinch on the rear brakes into Turn One, and this time Down spun completely, heading off into Virginia’s green grass. “All I was thinking was ‘please don’t hit the wall,’ I was just waiting for the crunch that luckily never came,” said Madison. In the end, he pulled it up well short of the wall. But it handed the lead firmly over to McLeod.

The spectator gallery was buzzing. As Down rejoined, the hair-raising dice for what was now second place blasted on by. Down slotted into fifth.

“Please don’t hit the wall!”- Madison Down

In all this, it was easy to forget TTR’s Cox, soldiering on quietly in sixth, being only slightly bothered by Black. Sadly for Cox, he put it off under braking into NASCAR Bend. The fast kink beforehand really does suck you in, and once you’re on the grass, it’s easy to meet the tyre wall head on, which Cox did. Black, Kastanaras, Fullerton and Madden steamed through. Justin Strickland followed Cox off in the same spot.

Cox continued for a few more corners before running off into Turn Seven, which sent him far enough into the scenery to go deer hunting. He decided he’d had enough of his ailing rubber and retired.

Twice in one race? McLeod considers buying a Lotto ticket.

Griffith had dropped off the Burke-McCabe battle for second, as he now had a problem of his own in the shape of Down. It was a case of survival of the least grippiest, both squirming awkwardly at every crest and bend. Likewise for Burke and McCabe, and the four ended-up nose-to-tail again, with two laps left.

Over ten seconds behind was Black-Kastanaras-Fullerton-Madden and Matt Yeomans, having a steady and impressive race in tenth, in his return to Split One V8s after a spell away.

Finally, the cork popped for McCabe into Turn One on the penultimate lap as Burke, covering his line, got it crossed up and McCabe was through. Still, some quick thinking and solid nerves from Burke slotted him right back in the miniscule gap between the XSG cars. They raged on. It was McLeod’s race, but anybody’s second place, right up to the last corner. But this is how they finished. McLeod won by what felt like a mile from McCabe, Burke, Griffith and Down.

Black finished sixth from Kastanaras and Madden, who had trumped Fullerton after George had a last-lap lose at Turn One. He recovered to finish ninth ahead of Matt Yeomans. Behind them were Strickland, Vouch, Duncan Smith, Guy Leach, Barry Kennedy, Mark Rayner and Stuart Wood. Rayner, Leach and Kennedy had completed their own epic battle over the minor spots, but would have to forgive the spectator gallery for missing it.

Race winner McLeod summed it up: “(V8 SC broadcaster) Channel 7 might have to cover some of these races, they are almost more exciting then the real life races!”

Actually, he was understating. No-one within a coo-ee of this virtual event would have disagreed.