Ups and Downs at Dover

Elomaa bested Bussa and Blackford in the opening race of the week.

Last week the NASCAR iRacing Series made its second stop of the season to hang out with Miles the Monster on the high banks of Dover International Speedway. Coming into the race weekend series leader Tyler D Hudson enjoyed a 702 point lead over second place Landon Harrison with Kyle McCormack, Jordan Westfall and Ricky Hardin in the drivers’ seats for remainder of the top five overall.

Race One was flagged-off on Thursday night it with Matt Bussa on the pole ahead of Hardin. Bussa spent most of the first part of the race battling NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship front-runner Kevin King and the No.12 of Casey Tucker. But the 50 laps to go the battles changed hand and it became a pit strategy race with Aleksi Elomaa, Bryan Blackford and Hudson battling Bussa for the lead before Hudson got caught up in the big one on Lap 186.

The final restart on Lap 197 saw Elomaa and Bussa battling for the win but, coming to the white flag lap the yellow flew again, securing the win for Elomaa after a hard run from Bussa. With an eight place finish, Harrison gained ground in the championship as Hudson came home 22nd after his problems in the latter stages of the race.

Hudson had an “eventful” week at Dover.

Saturday produced a NASCAR iRacing Series two-fer, with races two and three of the Dover week. Race Two started with Jordan Werth on the pole from Kevin Pommier and Dwayne Vincent.  Werth used the pole position to good effect as he led the first 19 laps from Kevin Pommier and looked like a good bet to pick-up the win . . . until he and Pommier got together that is.  Vincent capitalized on the misfortunes of Werth and Pommier to take a lead he would hold for the next 181 laps, taking the checkered flag just ahead of Alastair Topley and Mike R and Donovan Johnson.

Next on tap was a Race Three that saw Jarl Teien on the pole from Simon Crochart.  Teien, led early before Crochart asserted himself and grabbed a lead he would hold until he dropped down the order on the first round of pit stops and Chad J Laughton emerged in front.   Laughton would stay out front for 159 laps before a late pit stop saw him tumble down the order with Mike Avison assuming a lead he would maintain to the finish. Benjamin Truflandier came home second just .6s adrift of the winner while Laughton charged back to third at the finish.

Harrison and Chris M Hall also tasted concrete at Dover.

Sunday night brought the curtain down on NiS racing at Dover for the 2013 season with a field of 31 drivers who wanted to be the last one to tame the monster.

Teien grabbed his second pole in as many starts with King on his outside.Although Teien was looking for better luck this time around, King proved the man to beat.  Tien initially, but King took control on Lap 20 and looked like he was determined to turn the race into a one man show.   As the race entered its final stages, Hudson showed he had no intention of letting King hog all the glory, grabbing the lead on Lap 178.  A late round of green flag stops would prove both sim-racers’ undoing as King earned a black flag for a pit lane violation and Hudson dropped to third then spun on Lap 188.

Westfall avoided the Big One(s) to capture the Dover finale.

In contrast, Westfall managed to dodge a couple of late wrecks to take the win from Elomaa, Rob Ackley and Vincent, with Hudson recovering for P5 some eleven spots better than King.  At that, they both enjoyed better luck than Harrison who got caught up in the first big one of the night on Lap 85 and was credited with 22nd place.

The fight for the championship and the remainder of the top spots in the series have a seven more rounds remaining as the NiS heads west to Kansas Speedway for another full weekend of online racing.

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