This time he done it with no wrecks on the final lap, and with nobody even in his mirror. It was a far cry from how his race ended on Friday night in the VLR Crates series at the same track, when he was knocked into the wall in turn four of the final lap and finished third.
VLR_Shock, 21, of Crossville, Tn., was simply the class of the field all night long, roaring off the pole position with an 11.80 lap time to lead the entire 60-lap distance without facing any serious threats for the win. He used a powerful car to overcome two caution periods and pick up his second win of the year in VLR Gen 3 action.
"It just seemed like we were faster than everyone else, we could get our car to stick in the corner better," said Shock, who sits twenty points out of the lead in the standings with just two races to go. "Our car was just great, especially at the beginning. I noticed we were trailing off at the end after the restarts, but everything seemed to click for us."
Two days after seeing an apparent win in the Crates slip through his hands when a run in with teammate VLR_18 sent him into the turn four wall on the final lap, VLR_Shock had his NOS Energy/Team VLR MasterSbilt car in a league of its own. He easily pulled away after both of the race's restarts and defeated defending VLR champion VLR_18 of Brookfield, Wi., by just under two seconds - nearly 3/4 of a straightaway at this bullring.
WFO_Rainman of East Moline, Ill., advanced from the seventh starting to finish a solid third in his Roberson Racing/Team WFO mount. 20-year-old BLS_4H of Hindman, Ky., started eighth and worked his way up to finish fourth in his brand new Central Star Drilling/Amsoil MasterSbilt. Outside front row starting WFO_ICE of Talequah, Ok., had an up and down day that saw him bounce back for a fifth place run after restarting in the back after the first caution on lap 25.
"This was probably the best car we've had all year," said VLR_Shock, who swept the event by sitting on the pole, winning his heat race, and leading all 60 laps of the race. "Everything seemed to go right for us tonight. We had such a big lead heading into that first caution that I wasn't really worried. After seeing how we could just drive away I was confident that with the Delaware restarts I'd be in good shape.
"This takes a little bit of the sting out of what happened to us Friday, but I definitely would have liked to have gotten the sweep and win both races this week."
Shock did have flashbacks to his heartbreaking loss two nights previous, but his Vic Hill-powered dirt Late Model stayed up front fairly unchallenged throughout the race, despite two cautions midway through the race.
"You're always worried the whole time you're racing," said Shock. "So when I looked up and seen 40 laps were down when the second caution came out I was a little worried because BLS_F1yer was behind me at that point, and he always comes on strong at the end. It was just our night, I guess."
In addition, VLR_Shock gained just two points on VLR_18 in the point standings, as 18 used a last turn pass to get by WFO_Rainman for second, and prevented any chance of Rainman picking up a three-peat at VLR this season after winning the last two weeks.
Rainman steered his dirt late model past BLS_F1yer for second after F1yer broke loose with 15 to go and looped it in turn three. However, he wasn't able to gain any ground on Shock and ended up settling for third.
"I'm not a fan of this track at all," said Rainman, who recorded his third straight top three at VLR, including a win in the past two events. "It was a fun race, though. I think I got tired at the end...this is a stressful track in a pack of tough cars like we had tonight."
15-year-old VLR_18, meanwhile, also slightly missed the optimum setup for the A-Main, which was run on a smooth, slick surface.
"It was tough getting through the pack (after) starting deep in the field," said VLR_18, who looks to pick up his third straight VLR championship. "I just never could get into clean air. I was constantly racing with someone and beating and banging. I got to second finally with two to go, and we had a great race with Rainman at the end. Good job to Shock for winning."
BLS_4H had his car hooked up for the feature after missing qualifying and coming from the back of his heat, and then working his way into the show from the B Main. It all culminated with his best finish of the season - a fourth place run at one of his best tracks.
"The car was pretty solid all night, I was pretty confident it was quick enough to get from tail of heat and B to transfer," said a smiling BLS_4H. "I went with all hard tires in the first segment before the cautions kept coming out, which really helped me. We had some luck on our side tonight...now it's time to focus on Norfolk."
One driver who didn't have to much luck on his side was the #97 of WFO_ICE, who faltered to a fifth place finish after starting on the outside pole. Contact with BLS_F1yer ruined his chances of a win early on and he restarted seventh after the first caution and never gained much from there.
"I had a good run, VLR_18 got under me and I got loose in three and four and came down and hit him, and then I bounced up and hit F1yer (above me). I tried to race my way back up and ran fifth I think. I had a pretty good car tonight, but it wasn't good enough to win.
"I used a terrible tire compound there for the start of the race. I was running a perfect line and Shock just pulled away about a tenth a lap. So I was thankful we got a caution and was able to go in there and change it to all softs. Before that I was using medium softs all the way around."
BLS_BLZ of National City, Mi., used a provisional to get in the show after BLS_dblZro's car wouldn't fire onto the grid, and ended up with a strong sixth place run. VLR_McGee struggled with an ill-handling car to come home seventh after starting in fourth, while Doit 10 of Fort Worth, Tx., picked up his second best finish of the season with an eighth place run.
BLS_34 of Vineland, NJ., made his third career VLR A Main and got ninth.Third place points man BLS_F1yer of Hickory, NC., completed the top 10 after crashing while running second late in the event..
A field of 21 cars was signed in for the event, which was run under cloudy conditions on a hot summer night just outside of Memphis.
VLR_Shock was fastest in Ratbag Time Trials for the first time this season, lapping the oval in 11.80 seconds to beat out WFO_ICE's time of 11.82.
Heat winners were VLR_Shock, WFO_ICE, and VLR_18. The two B-Mains were captured by last weeks winner WFO_Rainman and BLS_4H.
The VLR Gen 3 tour visits Norfolk, Va. next Sunday for a 50 lap main event at the brand new 1/2 mile facility of Norfolk Speedway. This will be the first league race of any kind on the track and is expected to be a great one with two to three lines of racing readily available for the drivers to use.
For more information on the VLR series, visit www.teamvlr.com
Qualifying Results: 1. VLR_Shock 2. WFO_ICE 3. VLR_18 4. Doit 3 5. Kamikaze 6. BLS_DblZro 7. VLR_McGee 8. Doit 10 9. BLS_BLZ 10. WFO_Rainman 11. BLS_34 12. BLS_Stephen33 13. Ez 14. USRA_6 15. VLR_Jsn 16. joshow20 17. BOB 18. VLR_Jsn 19. Switchblade
Top 10 Results of VLR Late Model series West Memphis 60 (Finishing Position/Start/Driver):
1. (1) VLR_Shock
2. (5) VLR_18
3. (6) WFO_Rainman
4. (7) BLS_4H
5. (2) WFO_ICE
6. (10) BLS_BLZ
7. (3) VLR_McGee
8. (8) Doit 10
9. (9) BLS_B34
10. (4) BLS_F1yer
Time of Race: Unavailable due to cautions
Margin of Victory: 1.93 Secs.
Rookie of the Race: BLS_BLZ
SuperClean Fast Time Award: VLR_Shock 11.79
SuperClean Hard Luck Award: BLS_F1yer