A new Tournament winner emerged on Wednesday night in the Great Lakes Gauntlet Finale at Michigan International Speedway. After two-straight Tournament wins by the University of Calgary’s Connor Yeroschak, this Tournament would belong to the University of Maine at Machias as Daniel Faulkingham held on for the victory over Horry Georgetown’s Timothy Holmes and the University of Michigan’s Matthew Zwack.

39 drivers were qualified for the second week of the Great Lakes Gauntlet through the First and Second Rounds in Week 1. Faulkingham was not among the Group winners, having finished third, behind both Yeroschak and Holmes in Group 2’s Second Round. Those finishes only mattered for advancing to Week 2, however, as the Semifinals would include a fresh round of qualifying.

Faulkingham qualified in through the second Semifinal Heat race, finishing third in that after initially re-qualifying in 20th, placing him outside the transfer spot to start the race. In the main event, Faulkingham got the jump on pit road to get around Zwack, and was able to hold on from there.

“There’s a lot of draft, so anybody can win,” Faulkingham said post-race. “You race it like a Superspeedway, in a way, trying to control the lanes, trying to control the draft on the restarts at the end of the race, which I kind of feel like Superspeedway racing is my specialty these days… I just felt really good, and I just feel really comfortable here. Something about this place, it’s our second win here. This was my last College win, two years ago, and probably should have won here last year as well… Feels good to win in this series again, because it’s been a while, and I don’t have too much time left over here.”

Faulkingham, registered in the series as a Graduate Student studying Business on the Machias campus at the University of Maine, may be making his final starts in the series, indeed. This win marks his third in the series over the last two-and-a-half years, and as he mentioned, his second at Michigan International Speedway.

Yeroschak fought back from drama earlier in the night to finish in seventh, which allows him to maintain the overall points lead by 15 points over California State University, Fullerton’s Logan Clampitt, the defending series champion. Two Tournaments remain, starting with the Old Dominion Classic at Martinsville Speedway next month.

SEMIFINALS

Qualifying would set the three Heat lineups for the Semifinal round. Taking the provisional pole was the University of Maine at Augusta’s Parker White, with Kettering University’s Maverick Davis and Eastern Shore Community College’s Arron Brown rounding out the top-three spots, each of those drivers leading their respective Heat races to the green.

In the first Heat, White was able to hold off both Matthew Morton (The Ohio State University) and Holmes for the win, with Belmont Abbey’s Jake Innes and Houston’s Abraham Vela rounding out the Top 5. Notably failing to make it through was Triton’s Adam Garza and Western Connecticut’s Jonathan Evans, both involved in incidents during the 15-lap Heat race.

Heat 2 went in the way of Yeroschak, holding off Zwack, Faulkingham, Pasco-Hernando’s Dylan Basen, and UNC Charlotte’s Connor Trifari. Missing out on the transfer here included UCONN’s Jose Solis Jr and Sac State’s Dylan Ault, both instead heading to the LCQ. In Heat 3, Arizona State’s Bradley Erickson charged to the front for the win, bringing with Carson Bowers (Purdue), Clampitt, Nick Miller (Kutztown), and Nathan Scott (UNLV). Notably as well in both Heats 2 and 3, the pole winners—Davis and Brown—did not advance.

Heading to the Last Chance Qualifier from the Semifinal Round, 23 drivers would fight for 10 remaining spots. The driver that’s run more laps than anyone else this season, Solis Jr, wound up fighting to the front of the LCQ, holding off Ball State’s Daniel Nanney for the win. Garza and Evans were also able to make it through, as were Purdue in Indy’s Jacob Bradley, Longwood’s Jeremy Burns, Wichita State’s Layne Graves, UNC Charlotte’s Blake Wynn, Babson’s Ethan Shapiro, and Illinois State’s Connor Birky.

With the cautions turned off until the Final Round, Ault, Brown, and Davis found themselves on the outside looking in after a large crash on the backstretch. The 13 drivers outside the top-10 would not go further, but would instead collect their points here.

FINAL ROUND

38 laps were on the board for the Final Round of the Great Lakes Gauntlet. White led the field to the green, but almost immediately, the field went into fuel conservation mode. This allowed for the Michigan truck, driven by Zwack, to take the lead and parade the field until halfway. The first caution flew for Birky just before the field reached halfway, but his truck was not terribly damaged. The entire pack rushed down pit road for service, and that’s where the race got flipped in Faulkingham’s favor.

While Bradley opted for two tires, Faulkingham managed to nip Zwack for second at the line, both of which took four tires, along with the rest of the field. On the restart, it was evident that the two-tire call was not the right one, as Bradley fell into the clutches of the field. Faulkingham was in control, and the rest of the field started to wreck it up as desperation set in. Basen found himself wrecked in the next caution, then the one after that would collect White and Yeroschak. On the next restart, five-wide didn’t pan out for Evans, Morton, or Nanney.

A single truck spin by Vela after contact with Shapiro sent the field into eNASCAR Overtime. Another first-lapper with Garza going around after contact from Erickson after Holmes charged the corner put the race into a second eNASCAR Overtime. Thankfully, the field waited until the white flag was in the air for the next wreck, which made the race official. Faulkingham played it right and held on for the win.

GREAT LAKES GAUNTLET – TOURNAMENT #4 RESULTS

Fin.

St.

Driver

College

Interval

Led

Best

Laps

Pts.

1 8 Daniel Faulkingham UMaine Machias 0.000 27 39.616 46 40
2 7 Timothy Holmes Horry Georgetown -0.065 0 39.66 46 35
3 5 Matthew Zwack Michigan -0.115 15 39.717 46 34
4 9 Logan Clampitt Cal State, Fullerton -0.281 0 39.687 46 33
5 13 Abraham Vela Houston -0.300 0 40.129 46 32
6 17 Daniel Nanney Ball State -0.461 0 39.455 46 31
7 2 Connor Yeroschak Calgary -0.705 2 39.752 46 30
8 21 Jeremy Burns Longwood -0.792 0 39.619 46 29
9 4 Matthew Morton Ohio State -0.893 0 39.824 46 28
10 16 Jose Solis Jr UCONN -0.955 0 39.779 46 27
11 22 Layne Graves Wichita State -0.956 0 39.917 46 26
12 1 Parker White UMaine Augusta -2.963 0 39.729 46 25
13 6 Carson Bowers Purdue University -2.977 0 39.672 46 24
14 24 Ethan Shapiro Babson College -3.072 0 39.945 46 23
15 12 Nick Miller Kutztown -3.938 0 39.819 46 22
16 18 Jacob Bradley Purdue Indy -4.279 2 40.063 46 21
17 10 Jake Innes Belmont Abbey -5.161 0 40.096 46 20
18 15 Nathan Scott UNLV -5.620 0 39.986 46 19
19 3 Bradley Erickson Arizona State -9.197 0 39.652 46 18
20 14 Connor Trifari UNC Charlotte -9.467 0 39.698 46 17
21 23 Blake Wynn UNC Charlotte -12.058 0 39.706 46 16
22 25 Connor Birky Illinois State -1 L 0 39.648 45 15
23 20 Jonathan Evans Western Connecticut -1 L 0 39.772 45 14
24 19 Adam Garza Triton College -5 L 0 39.754 41 13
25 11 Dylan Basen Pasco–Hernando -22 L 0 39.768 24 12
LCQ11th Jack Stoneman UNOH ——— ——— 11
LCQ12th Edward Sanchez Baruch College ——— ——— 10
LCQ13th Faraz Khan UC Santa Cruz ——— ——— 9
LCQ14th Jake Cummings Converse ——— ——— 8
LCQ15th Nick Dyer Maine ——— ——— 7
LCQ16th Chris Treppa Lawrence Tech ——— ——— 6
LCQ17th Dylan Bahm Bismarck State ——— ——— 5
LCQ18th Maverick Davis Kettering ——— ——— 4
LCQ19th Jaxen Anderson Oklahoma State ——— ——— 3
LCQ20th Malachi Drake Liberty University ——— ——— 2
LCQ21st Arron Brown Eastern Shore CC ——— ——— 1
LCQ22nd Dylan Ault Sacramento State ——— ——— 1
LCQ23rd Michael Pawlyk MacEwan ——— ——— 1
DNS DNQ AJ Heider St. Johns River ——— ——— 0

POINTS STANDINGS AFTER TOURNAMENT #4 – GREAT LAKES GAUNTLET

  1. Connor Yeroschak | University of Calgary, 145 points
  2. Logan Clampitt | Cal State University Fullerton, -15
  3. Daniel Faulkingham | University of Maine at Machias, -20
  4. Daniel Nanney | Ball State University, -30
  5. Bradley Erickson | Arizona State University, -32
  6. Matthew Morton | The Ohio State University, -33
  7. Matthew Zwack | University of Michigan, -41
  8. Adam Garza | Triton College, -46
  9. Jose Solis Jr | University of Connecticut, -48
  10. Dylan Ault | Sacramento State, -56
  11. Timothy Holmes | Horry Georgetown Technical College, -63
  12. Dylan Basen | Pasco Hernando State College, -64
  13. Carson Bowers | Purdue University, -73
  14. John Forbes Jr | Saddleback College, -81
  15. Abraham Vela | University of Houston, -87
    Isaac Shelley | University of Northwestern Ohio, -87

Over the first two tournaments, 74 drivers have made it to the second week, with 15 drivers advancing all three times. Yeroschak is among those who have made it to the Final Round every time, and with his two Tournament wins, leads the way in the overall standings with two Tournaments to go. The next one is the Old Dominion Classic at Martinsville Speedway. Time Attacks open on February 24th and run until March 5th. The first Week of that competition will be on Wednesday, March 11th.

With there still being two Tournaments to go, and students can still register and compete! We’ve got wheel and pedal sets to give away thanks to Logitech G, plus all registered drivers who attempt at least one time attack this year will get a t-shirt as well. More details are available at the links below.


For more information on the eNASCAR College iRacing Series, visit https://pcl.gg/pages/enascar.
For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

Share Button


Interested in special offers, free giveaways, and news?

Stay In Touch

Ad