Towler Lightning Quick in Thunder Valley

by Jameson Spies on March 10th, 2010

Round Thee of the NASCAR iRacing.com World Championship Series saw Richard Towler steer through wrecks, smoke and lapped traffic into victory lane at Bristol Motor Speedway. The first ever NiCWS race at a short track will go down as one of the most exciting races in sim racing history.

It all started with John Gorlinsky on the pole with Thomas Hazard on the outside of the front row and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounding-out the top three qualifiers. Gorlinsky has a history of online racing success at Bristol, winning a NiCWS race at “Thunder Valley” last season, as well as a NASCAR iRacing Class B Series race there  just last week.

Towler held-off Hazard's late race charge to take the NASCAR iRacing.com World Championship Series win at Bristol.

The cautions flew early and often in the 250 lap, 133 mile clash.  The first came on Lap One when Joel Putty drove into Turn Three way too hot and went head-on into the wall, collecting the teammates Jake Swanson and Brian Schoenburg in the bargain.   The second caution involved a lot more cars and much heavier damage.  Coming-off the second turn on Lap 11, Jake Swanson made heavy contact with the outside wall, propelling him back down the track in front of the field. Points leader Thomas Lewandowski, along with Jordan Erickson and Jesse Atchison, suffered heavy damage.

“Our wreck with Jake started our downward spiral.” Atchison said, “Nothing seemed to go right after that, as it bent our left front in, which made us get caught up in later accidents.”

Gorlinsky led the field to the restart on Lap 18 and was the man to beat until Lap 25, when Thomas Hazard showed he had a car capable of winning the race and moved into the lead. While this was going on up front, NiWCS champion Josh Parker was lurking in third, with heavy favorites Richard Towler, Josh Berry and Tyler D. Hudson mired  in traffic.

Each of the NiWCS races thus far have had a “big one” – a large crash involving many front runners. This race was no different as sixth-placed Nolan Scott spun his tires and got into the wall on a Lap 49 restart, causing a massive check-up with a huge wreck ensuing. Patrick Fogel, Brad Davies, Derek Wood, Brian Schoenburg, Lewandowski, Earnhardt – all names of drivers whose cars were heavily damaged in the wreck  for which Scott later took full responsibility.

After the race, Earnhardt had this to say: “I can’t think of a worse sim racing experience for me personally. Congrats to Rich, and the rest of the front runners.” No doubt disappointed, Earnhardt had a car capable of winning, and ended-up with a DNF.

Bristol's Big One came on a restart.

Mercifully, things settled-down a tad after the early mayhem.  Although there would be a total of 11 cautions for 56 laps, the second half of the race featured some long green flag runs . . . too long for Richard Towler’s liking.  The iRacing Pro Series Road Racing champion had assumed the lead on Lap 183 when Berry and Parker both pitted for four tires and fuel. Pit stops cycled through the entire field, except for Towler who was desperately hoping for a caution because he had the entire field a lap behind. With 60 laps to go, Parker — on fresh tires — got into Towler coming-off Turn Four, sending the Englishman for a harmless spin, but trapping himself and Berry a lap down.   Towler was no doubt upset with getting spun, but the end result couldn’t have been better for him as he was able to pit and retain the lead under the ensuing yellow, leaving most of his stiff competition stuck either a lap down or at the tail-end of the lead lap after a wave-around.

Berry (3) gets into Hudson (10), triggering some post race fireworks at Bristol.

Matters eventually cycled-through when Berry took-out Hudson with 30 laps to go.  Hudson, who has rebounded nicely after his DNQ at Daytona, was furious.  He led a bunch of laps in the middle portion of the race and was trying to get into position for the win, when Berry ruined whatever chances he had.

The field restarted with 25 laps to go, and Towler, Gorlinsky, Trombley, Hazard, and Fogel as the top five. Trombley got past Gorlinsky — who restarted on the top — bringing Hazard with him.

“I was about a fifth place car,” said Gorlinsky, “but I think I could have done something with Richard at the end there if I had been starting on the inside for that final restart.”

Hazard then put the move on Trombley for second with 22 laps to go, but had to erase a one second advantage if he wanted to catch Towler.   Out-running Towler by over a tenth of second per lap,  Hazard finally got to the leader’s back bumper with less than 10 laps to go only to catch a lapped car in a terrible spot.  As a result,  Towler got away just enough to secure his first NiWCS victory.  Hazard was forced to settle for second while Gorlinsky took third in his “fifth place car” from Trombley and Fogel.

Feels great to make up for the disappointment of Vegas this way,” said Towler, who finished second to the remarkable Sandeep Banerjee in the previous round of  the NiCWS.  “But (I was) sad to see so many good cars get caught up in other people’s problems.”

Speaking of which, the fireworks didn’t end with the checkered flag. What  better way to end a caution-filled race than with a crash?  That’s right, after the checkers flew, Hudson was looking for revenge on Berry, and he got it. The same day that NASCAR put Carl Edwards on probation for intentionally wrecking Brad Keselowski, Hudson rammed Berry into the Turn One wall before taking his Chevy to post-race inspection.

“I managed to miss all the carnage,” Hudson said, “led some laps, running second with about 28 to go and a lapped car with fresher tires (Berry) spun me out. I was passing another lapped car or I would’ve pulled over, but just got turned, wrecked my car and don’t even know where I finished.”

Berry said this about the incident: “Had fresh tires and was trying to make up time and Tyler kind of slipped up and got into him. Just made a mistake, sorry Tyler. ”

As for the NiWCS as a whole, thus far the racing has been good, with Bristol the first wreck-fest.  The drivers need to learn from this week and move forward as they head to the extremely tight Martinsville Speedway in two weeks time.  When they arrive at the paper clip-shaped oval, they’ll find Towler atop the NiWCS standings ahead of Jayson Anderson (seventh at Bristol), Lewandowski and Atchison, with Hazard and Fogel completing the top six.