VLR_4 and IFRT*S77 made up the first row in front of a full house at the track. VLR_4 got the jump on the field at the drop of the green flag, but it was WFO ICE who stormed up and was glued to his back bumper into lap 2. IFRT*S77 quickly fell back from his 2nd place starting spot and was trapped in a battle for fifth on just the second lap.
ICE quickly built his lead over the field as Doit 87 and VLR_4 battled for second. ICE had a five car length lead only four laps into the race, and continued to pull away with the two and three wide battling behind him.
With 15 laps in the books ICE had a 2/3 straightaway lead over Doit 87, who was still running second with VLR_4 third followed by IFRT*S77 and VLR_53. VLR_Shock and Dustin were having a hard battle for sixth in the meantime, just behind the 53 and 77 cars.
At the halfway mark ICE was putting on a show in his first race back in dtr2 in over a month, as he developed a huge lead over the field with 20 laps remaining. Doit 87 still had second place in his grasp, with IFRT*S77, VLR_McGee, Dustin, and VLR_Shock all four battling to determine who would get third place in the end.
With one lap to go, ICE's lead grew to over a straightaway between he and Doit 87. VLR_53 had taken third from IFRT*S77 and Dustin was running fourth, followed by VLR_Shock who ran into IFRT*S77 on the last lap, maybe payback from an incident earlier in the race.
ICE was still on cruise control as he went on unchallenged to record his first VLR Series win of 2010, and in the process made it four winners in four races in the Crate series, and the seventh different winner in eight races over VLR's two combined series this season. Only VLR_Shock has won more than once in the series this season. ICE had never won before at the famed short track, and this was the first race on it after the resurfacing.
In the VLR Crates Victory Lane, ICE emerged in front of the cheering crowd to talk about his domination. "It's good to be back, I tell ya, I may have to start taking breaks more often if it helps me win more," he told the cameras.
ICE's Team WFO owned Mastersbilt Pontiac powered entry is sponsored by Monster Energy, Team WFO, and F1 Graphix.
Doit 87, who finished second, had his best run of the season in the Crate series, and left praise for ICE. "ICE was gone tonight, we did what we could to stay with him, but we couldn't. I'll take second any day with the competition here at this track."
VLR_53 finished third, he said afterwards, "Congratulations to ICE on the win, we were battling with cars the whole race but it's good to get a top three out of it at the end. And it feels really good to take the points lead after this one, now it's time to head to Disney World!" said an excited driver after the race in his Hawkeyetrucksales.com/Vic Hill Racing Engines/VLR Race Cars Ford Fusion.
The Knott County Nightmare, Dustin, took home fourth place and moved into a tie with VLR_Shock for second in points in Kanawka Valley Maintenence/Jasper Racing/Mastersbilt Monte Carlo followed by VLR_Shock in the NOS Energy/Vic Hill Racing Engines/Mastersbilt Toyota Camry who put on a late race charge to take fifth.
Completing the top ten were IFRT*Starnes of Houston, TX, VLR_6 of Kokomo, IN, VLR_KP of Omaha, NE, IFRT*21 of New York, and pole sitter VLR_4 of Hindman, Kentucky, who had to park it after right front damage early in the race.
Next week the drivers head out to the west in the desert of Bakersfield, California for the "Shocker's Designs 40." This will be the first week that the drivers of the VLR Crates series and the VLR Gen 3 series will be in two different cities, since the Gen 3's head out to Kennedale, Texas for the first league race ever at Cowtown Speedway.
B Main 1 Results: 1. VLR_KP 2. IFRT_21* 3. Do!t18 4. DS5 5. Hammer
B Main 2 Results: 1. VLR_McGee 2. VLR*Jsn 3. WFO_Rain 4. Kamikaze 5. BOB
Full Results:
- WFO_ICE- Tahlequah, OK
- Doit 87- Topeka, KS
- VLR_McGee- Spartanburg, SC
- Dustin- Hindman, KY
- VLR_Shock- Shakerag, TN
- IFRT*S77- Houston, TX
- VLR*Jsn- Kokomo, IN
- VLR_KP- Omaha, NE
- IFRT*King- New York
- VLR_4- Hindman, KY
- Doit 18- Campbellsville, KY
- WFO_Rainman- East Moline, ILL
- DS5- Brookfield, WI
- Kamikaze- Columbus, MS
- BOB- Campbellsville, KY
- XSR*Hammer