KENNEDALE, TX (June 13, 2010) It was only a matter of time this season before BLS_F1yer found victory lane at VLR. The odds were against him though as he had to hold off VLR_Shock in the B Main just to even have a chance to get in the A Main.
From there the Hildebran, NC. driver would start from the seventh position in the A main and methodically work his way through the field at the 1/4 mile Cowtown Speedway to pick up his first win of the year.
Starting from the pole was a new name in WFO_Dustin as the young driver made his first start of the season at VLR and looked to be one of the cars to beat.
Sunday night was the first time any of the drivers had raced on this track in a dtr2 series, and nearly thirty cars showed up in the pits to try their hand at taming the track, and the dry weather in North Central Texas. The track developed a dry slick surface heading into the A Main which threw many of the drivers a curveball, but not the B Main transfer's who had just driven on the dry surface during their race.
This would keep the fans on their feet the entire race as they watched the drivers do battle and try to figure out the different surface they were on for the A Main, and to see if the B Main transfers could make up ground after just running on a similar surface.
Jumping out to the lead to start the race was WFO_Dustin, but third starting WFO_Stealth and VLR_53 quickly pressured him in the early laps. There was already some action in the back of the pack on the first lap as 9th starting VLR_Shock nearly wrecked after having to quickly slow up for BLS_F1yer as some drivers tried to make it four wide out of turn two. On the very next lap VLR_JW got into the left side of WFO_ICE causing ICE to slide out of control.
Luckily, he was able to recover without much damage. The same could not be said for points leader VLR_18 who had to take evasive action to avoid ICE and cut through the grass in turn three and fell behind a full straightaway to the field. This will be discussed more later on.
After all the action taking place with the race only two laps old, the fans had to be wondering if it could get any more exciting...it did.
On lap five, WFO_Stealth used the low line to go under and clear his teammate WFO_Dustin after battling since the green flag, and VLR_JW was right with them in third after starting fifth.
Meanwhile, the F1 machine was slowly working his way through the field and had gained two spots since the green flag after just having passed second starting VLR_53.
Ten laps in Stealth and Dustin were still not done battling for the lead, but VLR_JW had entered the mix and wanted to take control. However, things were about to get ugly for the pole sitter when the drivers came out of turn four on lap nine.
This is when VLR_JW received a tap from B Main #2 transfer WFO_Rainman which sent him into the #22 of Dustin. This forced Dustin high and he was unable to clear the next corner and his car went for an off-track excursion. By the time he recovered he was sitting in ninth with only VLR_18 behind him.
With one of the top cars out of contention it didn't make the race any less exciting for the lead as Second-place pointsman VLR_JW had taken over the lead, but he had a mirror full of eighth starting WFO_Rainman and WFO_Stealth.
These three would make it three wide on lap 12 coming into turn 3. Just like that, WFO_Stealth used a power move to come from third and pass under both Rainman and JW to take the lead. BLS_F1 was creeping into the picture in fourth, hanging right with these three.
The fans didn't have time to catch their breath, though, as once again a three wide battle was on, this time for second. VLR_JW went under WFO_Rainman, and at the same time BLS_F1yer saw an opportunity and went to the bottom to try to duplicate Stealths move a couple of laps prior. This time, though, it was VLR_JW coming through the middle and getting ahead of F1 and Rainman.
15 laps in the running order looked like this: 1. WFO_Stealth 2. VLR_JW 3. BLS_F1yer 4. WFO_Rainman 5. VLR_53 6. WFO_ICE 7. VLR_Shock 8. VLR_Jsn 9. WFO_Dustin 10. VLR_18
There seemed to be no love lost in this one as VLR_JW and WFO_Rain swapped paint several times in the ensuing lap while battling for third.
However, all of their beating and banging hurt VLR_53 as he went to the top side to try to pass them both only to drift off the track on the back straightaway and lose a couple of spots and fall back to seventh.
By lap 20 the field had finally started to spread out a little, but the battle for the lead was on. BLS_F1yer used a nifty move to get by the #1 of WFO_Stealth and take the lead after starting all the way back in seventh.
WFO_Rainman bumped his way by VLR_JW for third at nearly the same time as these two seemed to prefer the "eight tires are better than four" saying.
It was now a four way race for third after VLR_Shock got by the #97 of WFO ICE for fifth. At the same time, VLR_18 was putting on one of the most impressive shows ever for the fans as he had come back from being in tenth place at one time.
He went from a straightaway behind the field, to running in seventh spot with thirty laps to go, and gaining on the rest of the pack. With all the tight battling it was hard to figure out where to look, but by the end of the race the attention would be heavily focused on the #18.
Skip ahead to lap 27 and it was BLS_F1yer who was pulling away as WFO_Stealth began showing major signs of tire wear and was falling into the clutches of WFO_Rainman and VLR_JW in what was becoming a great battle for second. With twenty-seven of the fifty laps in the books the running order looked like this:
1. BLS_F1yer 2. WFO_Rainman 3. WFO_Stealth 4. VLR_JW 5. VLR_Shock 6. VLR_18 7. WFO_ICE 8. WFO_22 9. VLR_53 10. VLR_6
Ten laps later it was BLS_F1yer with just over a second lead ahead of WFO_Rainman, Stealth, and JW who were still battling for second. The only change for position during these laps was VLR_18 made the move to fifth ahead of VLR_Shock with just thirteen laps left.
VLR_Jsn and WFO_Dustin had pulled their cars into the pits to try to save them for the next race since they seemed to be stuck running towards the tail of the field.
Just six laps remained in the 50 lap main event featuring a who's who in the world of dtr2, and it B Main #1 winner F1yer that had set sail over the battling cars behind him by 1.25 seconds. VLR_18 was running out of time in his impressive bid to get a top three, and he made the move under WFO_Stealth to take fourth with a handful of laps left.
The fans were still on their feet as this had the makings to be an exciting finish, if not for the win, but to see where the 18 would end up.
With only three laps to go and while running second, the x59 of WFO_Rainman had a flat tire and went for a ride off the back stretch. He was passed by VLR_JW and VLR_18 before he recovered and got back onto the track and tried to limp home with a top five.
Coming down for the checkers it was BLS_F1yer who had his most impressive run of the season to grab the win after starting from the back. VLR_18 cleared JW with just two laps to go to complete yet another amazing run after starting sixth and falling well off the pace on lap two.
The Mississippi Missile VLR_JW held on for a top three, followed by East Moline, ILL. driver WFO_Rainman who struggled home to pick up fourth. WFO_Stealth faded rapidly in the latter stages of the race and nearly fell to sixth but fought off the charge from the Tennessee Bad Boy VLR_Shock to stay in the top five.
WFO_ICE of Tahlequah, OK., grabbed seventh just behind Shock, followed by Spartanburg, SC driver VLR_53 in eighth. Pole sitter WFO_Dustin had a bad day once the A Main started and ended up ninth after completing 31 laps. VLR_Jsn! rounded out the finishers.
We caught up with a jubilant BLS_F1yer in victory lane and asked him what it took to pick up the win over such a stout field of drivers. "It took patience, and a shit load of luck. I'm just glad that WFO was up there to wreck everybody else out," he said jokingly. "I saw Rain and JW in the heat and the A Main beating and banging. They weren't leaving anything on the table. They were going at it hard the whole time and that helped us catch up to the leaders. I want to thank National Guard and AMP for making this BLS powered Bonecrusher Chassis run good."
After the race someone protested VLR_18's second place finish after the game black flagged him. It was determined that the game did black flag him after he had to take evasive action into the infield to dodge a wreck.
However, he did not gain any positions by doing this, and lost a straightaway of time to the leaders in the process. Therefore, he was rewarded with a second place finish, but received eighth place points which is where the scorer had him after the race.
This was a highly controversial call by the officials, and upon hearing this VLR_18 declined comment. This move allowed VLR_JW to move into a points tie with 18 for the lead heading into next week's visit to the 4/10 mile Dirt Track at Lowes. VLR_18 will not have to start sixth for the fourth time this season, though, since he isn't technically the points leader now.
We also caught up with WFO_ICE after the race and discussed the tire compound he went with.
"We went with medium tires all the way around," he said flatly.
When we asked if he thought it was the right choice for the conditions he responded by saying "I finished seventh so what do you think about it being the right choice?"
"I decided to go with all softs," said BLS_F1yer in victory lane. I really wish I would have put a medium on the right rear because we fell off a couple tenths at the end, but we still made it to victory lane and that's all that matters."
VLR_Shock had this to say about running sixth. "Well we had to come from ninth and I think our NOS Energy Toyota worked better when the track dried out because we couldn't find anything in qualifying so we'll take a sixth. By no means are we happy with finishing this far back, but it could have been worse."
WFO_Dustin didn't hold back in his interview. "It's hard to do good when you get wrecked," he exclaimed.
Next week we expect another exciting race, but it will be hard to top the one Sunday night at Cowtown as both the VLR Crates and VLR Gen 3 series roll into Concord, NC. for the DTR2 Showdown 40 at the Dirt Track at Charlotte.
Top 10 Results of VLR Late Model series Cowtown 50 (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed):
1. (7) BLS_F1yer/50
2. (6) VLR_18/50
3. (5) VLR_JW/50
4. (8) WFO_Rainman/50
5. (3) WFO_Stealth/50
6. (9) VLR_Shock/50
7. (4) WFO_ICE/50
8. (2) VLR_McGee/50
Top 10 Results of VLR Late Model series Cowtown 50 (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed):
1. (7) BLS_F1yer/50
2. (6) VLR_18/50
3. (5) VLR_JW/50
4. (8) WFO_Rainman/50
5. (3) WFO_Stealth/50
6. (9) VLR_Shock/50
7. (4) WFO_ICE/50
8. (2) VLR_McGee/50
9. (1) WFO_Dustin/31
10. (10) VLR_Jsn!/28
Time of Race: 9 Mins., 23.22 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.78 Secs.
Rookie of the Race: WFO_Dustin
SuperClean Fast Time Award: BLS_F1yer 11.08
SuperClean Hard Luck Award: WFO_Dustin
Time of Race: 9 Mins., 23.22 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.78 Secs.
Rookie of the Race: WFO_Dustin
SuperClean Fast Time Award: BLS_F1yer 11.08
SuperClean Hard Luck Award: WFO_Dustin