Keister & Laughton Claim Charlotte

Ray Alfalla (1) leads the field down the frontstretch towards Turn One.

After a very tough week in Darlington, drivers of the NASCAR iRacing Class C Fixed Series were happy to get out of Darlington and head into North Carolina for a visit to Concord, North Carolina and the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 1.5-mile speedway produces some of the best racing that the iRacing.com service has to offer. The Silverado mixed with the fast speeds that Charlotte Motor Speedway produces always provides a great race for everyone involved. Nearly 2,800 sim racers (wow!) watched the green flag fall for at least one racing during Week Three in the NiCCF.

Kollin Keister (Atlantic) has been on a tear the past couple weeks, winning the Strength of Field event the past two weeks. Keister started from outside of the front row and led 13 of the event’s 35 laps en route to a 0.258 second margin of victory over Michael Guest (Indiana). Christian Pedersen (New England) started from the third position and finished in the same spot after pacing the field for a total of eight laps. NASCAR iRacing Series World Championship competitor Paul Kusheba (New England) finished in the fourth position after starting from the 11^th position. Jeremy R Allen (Indiana) drove his No. 5 Silverado to a fifth place finish after starting from tenth in the 4850 SoF.

Although NiSWC competitor Chad J Laughton (Carolina) did not participate in the top SoF event for the week, he was able to earn the most championship points with 292 due to Keister starting nine races compared to Lauhgton’s three races. NiSWC competitor Michael Conti (New Jersey) ended the week in the second position after making two starts and earning two top five finishes while earning 279 points. Pedersen’s four starts and two top fives earned him enough points (271) to place him in the third position for the week. Steven Eszenyi (New England) had a great week of sim racing. Eszenyi’s week consisted of 12 starts, 11 top fives, and six wins while netting 268 points. Rounding out the top five was Keister who made nine starts and earned three wins including the high SoF event.

Christian Pedersen (6) leads a group of racers into Turn Three.

For the second week this season, Aussie Brodie Kostecki was the fastest driver in qualifying for the week with a fast time of 29.573 seconds. NiSWC champion Ray Alfalla (Florida) continued a solid qualifying effort as he was once again in the top two overall qualifiers, turning in a time of 29.575. Justin Brooks (Carolina) was the third fastest driver for the week with a time of 29.588, followed by Conti and Keister who completed the remainder of the top five.

Three weeks are in the books for Season Two and Alfalla currently has a two point lead over second place Keister. Pedersen holds down the third position, just 37 points behind heading into Talladeaga. Allen sits in the fourth position, 56 points behind as Laughton rounds out the top five, 86 points back.

With Charlotte in the dust, a true beast comes alive next week as the drivers roar into Talladega Superspeedway for action at one of NASCAR’s most popular tracks. The 2.66-mile superspeedway always produces some of the most exciting finishes auto racing has to offer. Check back in a week’s time to see who was able to escape the big one that is sure to happen as the NiCCF heads into Alabama and the Talladega Superspeedway.

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