Class C Landscape Changes

In past seasons, the top of the charts when it came to points in the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (NiCCS) has been littered with Pro/Drivers World Championship drivers. With the exception of Ashley Miller’s 2011 Season Three title, each champion of the NiCCS Open Series has had roots running through the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC), the top oval series on the online racing service. This season will be the second exception as A License drivers Justin Brooks and Heath Hindman battle for the top spot in the series with two weeks to go in 2012 Season One.

Hindman took one step forward in his effort to lock down the title during Week Nine when he took the weekly win at the Martinsville Speedway. Hindman, an accomplished short track sim-racer obtained 209 championship points after a win at “The Paperclip” on March 27th. Hindman led 86 of the 120 laps in the race, which saw nine caution periods and a 3323 sof rating. Chad Pruitt, who started the race outside Hindman on the front row, finished second after leading 14 laps of the race. Matthew Spangler was third, followed to the line by Gary Kleinfelter and Frank Kimmel II. The race was also profitable for Spangler, as his 185 point total was good enough to take second overall for the week after Pruitt would go on to make six additional starts on the week, which resulted in two wins but a lower point total when the markers were tallied.

Be it Homestead or the points race, the NiCCS landscape is the same -- Class A drivers rule.

Cody Ware rallied from 16th place in a 2894 sof race on March 31st to take a checkered flag at Martinsville and third place overall for the week in points with 182 markers. Ware led 73 laps in the race, finishing ahead of early leaders Malik Ray (who started on the pole) and Michael McLain. Second row starters EJ ORourke and Andrew Perry rounded out the top five. Six cautions and eight lead changes set the tempo in the event.

Honorable mentions go out to former series champ Tyler Hudson and reigning NASCAR Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year Timmy Hill who duked it out in the second highest split race of the week on March 30th. The race was rated at 3103 and saw pole-sitter Hudson lead 106 of the 120 laps in the race. Hill was second, followed by Aaron Lovell, Alex Bisson and Patrick Smart. The race saw eight cautions and five lead changes. Hudson and Hill had pretty impressive weeks at Martinsville with Hill going 3 for 6 in the win column and coming home with fourth overall in the weekly point while Hudson won all but one of his five starts on the week en route to an 11th place finish for the week amongst 858 drivers.

Jake Goodwin made the most starts of the week, answering 23 calls to the green flag over the seven day period on the Virginia based oval. Bob Howard was the most successful for the week, winning six races and lead 718 laps, tops in both categories for the week at Martinsville. Kenny Humpe flexed his qualifying skills by posting a time of 19.618 seconds around the half mile oval. The effort was faster than that of Class A point leader Jared Crawford, Hindman, David Krikorian and Brooks. The top five were the only five of 301 qualifiers that dipped into the 19.6 second bracket. Ian Hann topped Time Trials for the week as his effort was better than that of Derrick Stone, Mark Robert Gray, Auz Grams and Shawn Haverly.

Kyle Larson was awarded with the top spot during Week Ten in the NiCCS after his win in a 3147 sof race on April 4th at the Homestead Miami Speedway. Larson grabbed 198 points en route to the win in the 80 lap event in which Larson led 61 circuits after starting 12th. Jason Fensler finished second with Spangler, Scoot Johnson and Alex Scribner also taking home top five finishes. Pole sitter Michael McLain led just five laps of the race and was credited with the 13th place spot in the race.
The second highest split of the week went to Randy Hockaday when he went to victory lane on April 3rd. The race was rated at 3250 sof and featured four yellow flags over the 80 lap duration. Hockaday started third and led 30 laps of the race before crossing the line first ahead of Darren Kikolski, Adam Racine, Phil Juhring and Jason Narug. The race saw four cautions and seven lead changes with Hockaday leading two more laps than pole sitter Juhring. Hockaday would go on to make two additional starts on the week and would wrap up his Florida adventure with 188 points, fourth best amongst 1086 drivers. Kikolski’s 192 points from this race placed him second for the week.

Completing the podium at Homestead was Dustin Montgomery. Montgomery finished second to Matthew Moose in the top split race of the week, which tipped the scales at 3261 sof on April 4th. Moose led 11 laps in the race. Montgomery shared the second row on the grid with Moose and led the most laps (46) in the race. Pole sitter Juhring led 21 laps before fading to third, ahead of Gary Kleinfelter and Bruno Le Doare at the finish. The race was run with just three yellow flag periods and saw nine lead changes. Moose would go on to make a total of seven starts of the week, winning in four of those and coming home ninth in the standings for the week. Montgomery’s 188 points from this race placed him third overall for the week.

Dominic Krischke started a round high 29 races while Krikorian set the pace when it came to victory lane, visiting the hallowed ground nine times over the seven day period. Finland’s Jukka Savolainen was the pole sitter for the week with a lap time of 31.740 seconds around Homestead. Krikorian, Brian Viola, Brandon Barke and Chris Jessee completed the top five in qualifying. Mark Russell took the top spot in Time Trials at Homestead over Jessee, Bill Brown, Thomas Faile and Earl Landry.
Brooks (1576) takes a 48 point lead over Hindman (1528) heading into the final two weeks of the season. Division Two leader Craig Jernigan has 1385 points, four more than that of Trey Jarrell’s 1381 points. Division Two’s Brandon Hauck (1328) completes the overall top five. Tom Moustakas is faced with holding off Spangler in Division Three with just five points between the leaders. Brock Garis, Rock Harris, Michael Valentin, Fausto Bessa Gomes, Robert Cori, Sean Cummings2 and Robert Mason2 hold divisional leads from Division Four to Ten with each of the leaders having double or triple digit point lead.

Next up for the NiCCS is “the Lady in Black.” Darlington Raceway plays host to the penultimate round for the series. Who will take the overall crown, Brooks or Hindman? Find out here, at inRacingNews!

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

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