Knoxville, Iowa (May 30, 2010)- Twenty-three of the top sim racers in the world filled the pits on Sunday night for a duel at the legendary Knoxville Raceway for a fourty-five lap race on this 1/2 mile dirt oval. Last weeks winner VLR_18 looked to start up a win streak this week and make it two in a row, as the other drivers were gunning after him for the top spot, and the points lead.
Just like teammate VLR_JW, 18 qualified on the pole for this weeks race after winning the previous weeks race, as he stormed through the track in his dodge with a 13.42 to take the top spot in qualifying. He was using his special US Army dirt late model for the race since it was Memorial Day weekend, while fighting off VLR_53, Doit 10, and VLR_Shock for the pole.
After running the heats and a pair of B Mains, it was BLS_F1yer who made a rare appearance in the B as he checked out by 1 1/2 seconds over final transfer joshow20. B Main #2 featured a pair of Doit's making it into the A Main, with Doit 3 taking home the checkers followed by Doit 87 and WFO_BLAZE who missed out on the transfer spot by a fender.
You could feel the butterflies when the drivers of the VLR circuit took to the dirt for a fourty-five lap shootout, where only one driver would be sitting at the top in the end. VLR_Shock lined up first since per VLR rules, VLR_18 had to start sixth by virtue of being the points leader heading into this event.
The outside pole would go to "The Kid" VLR_McGee, last seasons winner at this track, followed by Doit 10, Iceman, and WFO_Rain. Brookfield, Wisconsins VLR_18 lined up sixth, with B Main #1 winner BLS_F1yer starting seventh.
Doit 3, joshow20, and Doit 87 rounded out the starting grid. The drivers done the four wide salute in front of a packed house of 23,758 fans and the green flag dropped on VLR's third race of the year.
VLR_Shock quickly got the hole shot as he powered ahead of of VLR_McGee off turn two on the first lap of the race. Everyone was jockeying for position early in order to get in the right spot for the end of the race when tire wear would play a factor in the outcome.
These two would duel for the lead for a couple of laps, with BLS_F1yer quickly chopping through the pack and battling in a four car race for third after starting seventh. Another driver charging up towards the front was the 10d of Doit 10, who was running the fastest lap times on the track.
On lap five it was the #53 of McGee who had a good run on VLR_Shock for the lead, but smacked the wall hard in turn two, which in turn cost him four spots on the racetrack and slightly upset his car. This put 10d right on the bumper of Shock and the battle was on once again for first place.
These two would battle on the dry slick track for several laps before Doit 10 had some misfortunes of his own. 10d went under Shock to pass in turn three, but drifted up the track and in a move to keep it off the 0 car he quickly veered left and nearly lost control.
The damage was done, however, as he became the second driver to fall out of the front after battling for the lead. In the meantime, 10d's teammate Doit 3 collided with BLS_F1 who had slid back to fifth causing F1 to violently go up on two wheels and slide up in front of other cars in turn one. Luckily everyone missed him but this would lead to a post race confrontation between the two drivers.
Back up front it was VLR_Shock still leading after twelve laps, running smooth, but not as fast as x59, who had taken over second after Doit 10 and VLR_McGee had troubles. Once again x59 quickly ran down Shock with 18 following right on x59's heels.
The fans hadn't sit down for the entire race as Rainmanx59 dipped under VLR_Shock for the lead. Shock was hanging tough waiting for his tires to come in and everyone else's to fall off...or so he hoped.
Rain repeatedly dove under Shock to attempt a pass for the lead, but Shock used his momentum on the high side to prevent x59 from clearing him. VLR_18 was right there with this pack as well as it was a three car race for the lead.
By Lap 25, after battling for the lead for nearly fifteen circuits, x59 began to show signs of his tires wearing off. Diving into turn 3 under Shock for the lead, he got loose and fell back into the clutches of VLR points leader, VLR_18, and it allowed Shock to put on three car lengths to his lead.
Doit 10, who started strong early, also began showing signs of tire wear as had drifted to fourth, and was losing ground on VLR_McGee who was sitting in fifth.
Tennessean Iceman and fellow Tennessee driver joshow20 were duking it out for sixth place, and it appeared that Iceman's tires were coming in as the race neared the end. Doit87 made contact with the wall early in the race, and the damage hurt his chances of making a run for the win, and he became lapped by VLR_Shock with ten to go.
On lap 35, Shock's lead began to grow quickly over x59, who was still fighting off 18 for second. It appeared that Shock picked the right tire compound since his times were only fading by a tenth while his nearest competitors were dropping off about three to four tenths from the start of the race.
After battling side by side with several drivers it looked like Shock's risk of going with harder tires was a smart one, despite paying for it early in the race with slower lap times. He was pulling away by two tenths a lap over Rainman, and VLR_18 had worn his tires to the treads as well, as he had fallen back from Rainman.
Doit 10 fell like a rock with McGee catching him in the closing laps, however McGee's tires were used up, too, and he couldn't make the pass. Iceman used a more conservative tire package and came from over a straightaway to close within five car lengths of Doit 10 and VLR_McGee at the end, but he ran out of laps to crack into the top 5.
Meanwhile, it was VLR_Shock who was the first to cross for the white flag, and he would go on to make it the final circuit and pick up his first win of the season over a very tough crowd of competitors in front of the largest crowd of the season. After the race we caught up with some guys to get their thoughts on this very eventful night of racing:
(Winner) VLR_Shock: "I can't believe this, man. I'm so happy to be in victory lane here at Knoxville. This is one I've always wanted, but I usually struggle here. Definitely one of my top wins of all time, to do it over these caliber of guys is awesome, and the fact that the strategy played into it. I think we had the perfect tire combo by how much we pulled at the end, without sacrificing a ton of speed in the early part. We put some mediums on the right side and then a medium soft on the left rear and I never imagined it would work that well for us. I'm estatic. I have to thank Team VLR, NOS Energy, Toyota, and the fans and drivers that showed up tonight. We're gonna celebrate big time tonight."
(2nd) WFO_Rain: "It was a good race, wish we could have got by the 0 there when we got to him, because I didn't think our tires would just fall off like that. It wasn't a gradual loss of speed, they just fell off real quick when I got under him and got loose once. Still second is a good finish for us, without getting much practice on the track. We'll take it."
(3rd, points leader) VLR_18: "Good points night for us tonight. Wanted to win in this US Army car for our troops, but it wasn't meant to be. We'll take this third place and go try again next week, congrats to Shock he was strong tonight and made the right tire choice, so he had a smart call there."
(6th) Iceman: "Our tires came in at the end. The 53 slidejobbed us a little bit, it was clean, but took our run away and we fell back. I think with five more laps we probably could have picked up a couple more spots, though. It was fun, I think we were the fastest car on the track in the last ten laps."
(9th) BLS_F1yer: "We had a real good car and got up front quick, but somebody forgot how to lift when you come up on a car. It is what it is."
(11th) VLR_BG: "I'm starting to get mad, seems like we get taken out every week by a rookie or something. Get's real frustrating, but nothing I can do about that."
(12th) WFO_BLAZE: "We missed qualifying and the heat, started rear in the B Main and got to third and missed the A by 3/100ths of a second, so I'm not gonna complain. We're still looking good in points, we'll see what happens next week."
Next week VLR heads to Farmer City 2k10 for the Illini 40 in the VLR Crates on Friday night, and the Gen 3's on Sundays.
Qualifying Results: 1. VLR_18 2. VLR_53 3. Doit10 4. VLR_Shock 5. Iceman 6. Rain 7. Flyer 8. Doit3 9. XRT_14 10. VLR_BG 11. 7x 12. joshow20 13. VLR_Oath 14. RAC 15. Doit18 16. 95x 17. VLR_4 18. BOB 19. 43A 20. WRT
B Main 1 Results: 1. BLS_F1yer 2. joshow20 3. VLR_BG 4. Do!t 18 5. BOB 6. VLR_4 7. 7x
B Main 2 Results: Do!t 3, Do!t 87, WFO_BLAZE, 95x, VLR_UnderOATH, XRT_14, Player43a
Full Results:
1. VLR_Shock- Crossville, TN
2. WFO_Rainman- East Moline, Ill
3. VLR_18- Brookfield, WI
4. Do!t 10- Texas
5. VLR_McGee- Spartanburg, SC
6. Iceman- Dandridge, TN
7. joshow20- Dandridge, TN
8. Do!t 87- Topeka, KS
9. BLS_F1yer- Hickory, NC
10. Do!t 3- New York
11. VLR_BG- Kennesaw, GA
12. WFO_BLAZE- National City, MI
13. Do!t 18- Campbellsville, KY
14. 95x- Manhattan, KS
15. BOB- Campbellsville, KY
16. VLR_UnderOATH- Eau Claire, WI
17. VLR_4- Hindman, KY
18. XRT_14- Phoenix, AZ
19. 7x- Grand Rapids, MI
20. Player43a- Hagerstown, MD
21. BLS_GF DNS
22. BLS_OK DNS