The Kentucky Kings

Close racing into Turn One.

Kentucky Speedway hosts Round Nine of the NASCAR iRacing Class C Fixed Series. Over 1,800 sim racers watched the green flag fall from the cockpit of their Chevrolet Silverado with one goal in mind—win. The 1.5-mile speedway was opened in 2000 and is a track that has developed into one of the most unique tracks on the circuit. Kentucky Speedway is filled with many bumps which can provide a difficult driving experience for all involved if you don’t navigate the 14 degree banks properly.

One person who was able to navigate the turns properly was high Strength of Field winner Jason Jacoby (Georgia). Jacoby started from the pole and lead all but five laps en route to the 0.435 second margin of victory over NASCAR iRacing Series World Championship competitor Brandon Kettelle (Florida). Steven Eszenyi (New England) took the final podium position for the event after starting from the fourth spot. The fourth position was held down by Scott Stenzel (Florida) who drove his No. 17 truck from the tenth starting position up into the top five by the end of the race. Rounding out the top five in the 3740 SoF was RJ Williams (Carolina) who also started deep in the field (16^th to be exact) drove a very good race to finish in the top five. As mentioned earlier, Kentucky Speedway can be a handful for the drivers who are not prepared to run on it. The race was slowed five times for a total of 17 laps due to cautions.

Even though Kettelle did not win the week’s top SoF event, he was able to earn the most championship points for the week with 221 due to competing in only two events compared to Jacoby’s six. Jacoby ended the week in the second position, adding 216 points to his season total. Tony Monge (Michigan) ended the ninth week of competition in the third position, netting 212 points for his efforts. Eszenyi finished off the week in the fourth, scoring 208 points during the week. Probably the most impressive run of the week belongs to Kenneth O’Keefe (Canada) who in 15 starts recording 15 top five finishes and 12 wins all while earning 207 points.

Side-by-side racing down the frontstretch towards Turn One.

To add another stat to an already impressive week, O’Keefe was also the fastest qualifier for the week, turning in a fast time of 32.659 seconds. Jacoby turned in the second fastest time of the week with a lap time of 32.672 seconds. Third place was held down by Michael Guest (Indiana) who ended the week with a final time of 32.688. Filling the remaining spots in the top five were Wade Hustad (Midwest) and Allen Provenzano (Illinois) who turned times of 32.708 and 32.709 seconds, respectively.

After nine tough weeks, Guest has a 30 point advantage over second place Kollin Keister (Atlantic). Hustad sits in the third position, 131 points out of the lead. Wes Weidman (Plains) is right on Hustad’s tail heading into Week Ten, just one point behind. Nicholas Goertzen (Canada) rounds out the top five, but is 180 points behind with just three weeks remaining in the season.

After a bumpy ride at Kentucky Speedway for Week Nine, the NiCCF heads to Martinsville, Virginia for some short track action at NASCAR’s shortest race track. Check back in a week’s time to see who was able to master the paperclip and come home victorious.

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