CUMBERLAND, MD (July 16, 2010)- It was a first in VLR's six year history. Two drivers were declared the winner in Friday nights Crate Late Model race at the Cumberland Speedway, after finishing dead even at the line.
Typically, the winner would be decided right down to whoever was ahead down to thousands of a second. However, in a very odd situation, this strategy didn't work either, since both WFO_ICE and BLS_F1yer crossed the finish line 0.00000 side-by-side, resulting in a tough call for the officials.
After two hours of review, the series officials reluctantly awarded both drivers the win after determining it to be the fairest result for both drivers in the closest finish in any VLR series' history.
On paper, with a finish as close as this one, a person would think these drivers swapped spots for the entire race before it would come down to the last lap. This wasn't the case, however, as WFO_ICE actually lead all fourty of the laps in his series best fourth win of the season...even though he had to share it with F1yer.
On a track that traditionally produces two and three-wide racing, several drivers starting in the back kept the fans on their feet for the first 25 laps of the event. It was a stacked late model field, and the starters in the back half of the pack may have been a tougher group than the front half. No disrespect to the front starters, but the field was definitely stacked no matter where you looked.
BLS_F1yer started 5th and was locked in a five car battle over the first 20 laps with drivers like VLR_Shock, VLR_18, WFO_Dustin, and BLS_Superman. The unusual part about this statistic was that four of the drivers named off finished in the top five last week at McKean, and this week they were struggling just to break into the top five.
“It was really intense all race,” said VLR_Shock, driver of the NOS Energy Toyota. “It was also frustrating, since everyone was being aggressive trying to get to the front, and it looked like in the end no one really got anywhere, except F1yer.”
F1yer methodically worked his way into the top five after the drop of the green flag, first passing VLR_18, and then VLR_Shock, before setting his sights on Doit 2 for fourth.
“The first of the race I was just trying to take it easy,” explained the "other" winner. “I had Shock and Wheel (VLR_18) behind me and was trying to drive up through there clean, took a little while. Seemed like it was going to be a good race there at the start. ICE and (points leader) McGee broke away. I just kept my nose down and kept digging. I'm dissapointed that I won, but don't actually get a "win," but it's alright.”
The race began with pole sitter WFO_ICE taking the lead, with VLR_McGee staying right with him for the first 15 circuits. ICE's lead would steadily get larger before BLS_F1yer moved into third and onto the back bumper of McGee's #53 Ford Fusion.
Sensing F1yer was faster, McGee let him by with fifteen to go in order to let the two fastest guys battle it out for a victory. Fortunately for F1yer, ICE's lead was only about five car lengths, and F1 was a little faster each lap so it would be exciting to see who could pull it off.
F1yer battled and tried both the high and low sides of the track in an attempt to pass ICE as the laps wound down. Several times, F1yer inched ahead of ICE, but at the line over the final eight laps of the event, ICE was officially scored the leader.
“I was trying to run McGee down and push him up there,” said F1yer, driver of the National Guard Chevrolet. “I thought that was going to be the only shot of even getting to ICE, but he just moved over. After that I was just stuck trying to get up there (to ICE).”
VLR Crates points leader VLR_McGee started second and ending up having to settle for third at the checkers. He battled F1yer for a number of laps for the runner-up spot. It was his eighth top four finish in eight starts this season on the Crate tour, proving that consistency wins championships.
“Another good run and a good points day for us again in this car,” said McGee, driver of the Hawkeye Truck Sales Ford Fusion. “I am tickled to death to run this good against them guys. They had a helluva finish up there.”
Doit 2 had a great showing in his first ever start in VLR competition. He used a combination of luck and smart driving to come home with a fourth place run at the flat half-miler. VLR_18 had a so-so day after winning last week, and he brought his car home in fifth place.
A heated argument in the pits with former points leader WFO_Dustin lead to some tense moments for the security crew after the two argued about some overly aggressive driving early in the race. The verbal assualt was quieted, but it will be interesting to see if anything carries over to Sunday's Gen 3 race at the same track.
BLS_Superman started fourth but faded to a sixth place finish in his new #49 machine. VLR_Shock started seventh and finished seventh, but he was as high as fifth and as low as tenth at one point or another, before making a last corner pass on WFO_Dustin to secure his finishing position.
WFO_Dustin crossed the line with eighth place after Shock moved him out of the way in turn four coming to the checkers, resulting in a bad points day for him, as he would slip to twelve points behind VLR_McGee in the battle for teh championship.
For ICE, the win was his first since his last start three weeks ago at Brownstown. He has now won in four of his five VLR Crates starts on the season and is sitting four points out of eighth in the standings.
“I had a great car tonight. I ended up being the second best car out there tonight, I think,” noted ICE, when asked how good his car was. “I never really got nervous. I knew F1yer would race me clean, and when he got to me I decided to move up to that outside line, just to be able to keep the momentum coming off the corners. That was my game plan. I knew it was going to be a helluva race there at the end. F1yer was flying. Like I said, I moved up to the top groove and was gonna run that for all it was worth. Either he was going to throw a good slidejob on me, or we were gonna have a helluva race back (to the start finish line). Either way I knew it was gonna be a classic, and it was.”
F1yer used several different grooves during the race, as he earned his third top five finish of the season. On the final two laps of the race he was near the wall for a time and also ran on the bottom of the track as he searched for a way around ICE.
At the line, though, it was the most epic battle in VLR history, and it was only fair that these two drivers that put on such a great show for the fans both be awarded a victory.
The VLR Crates return to action on Friday, July 23 at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Arkansas for what is sure to be another great race with the top quality guys that run the VLR series.
For more information on the Team VLR Crates series, visit www.crates.teamvlr.com.
Top 10 results of VLR Crates Series The Rock 40’ (Finishing Position/Start/Driver):
1. (1) WFO_ICE
1. (5) BLS_F1yer
3. (2) VLR_McGee
4. (3) Doit 2
5. (8) VLR_18
6. (4) BLS_Superman
7. (7) VLR_Shock
8. (9) WFO_Dustin
9. (10) USRA_Dane
10. (6) WFO_Ranger
Rookie of the Race: Doit 2