KNOXVILLE, IA (October 2, 2011)- JFR_A2D made it look easy Sunday night at the Knoxville Speedway. The Las Vegas, NV. driver outlasted 21 other drivers to win his first career race at VLR.
Plagued with bad equipment over the last few months, it was a new and improved A2D that took to the track at the Knoxville Nationals, as he rolled a brand new late model off the hauler and promptly dominated the nights events.
A2D's night of dominance started in qualifying when he toured the half-mile in a blistering 13.35 seconds, which shattered the old qualifying record of 13.40. He then rolled to the A Main victory by beating sixth place starting WFO_Rainman by almost a full second.
VLR_JW of West Point, MS., finished third, one week after finishing sixth in the season opener at Lucas Oil Speedway. Last week's winner VLR_18, of Brookfield, WI., came home with another top five finish by crossing the checkers in fourth. VLR_Shock, of Crossville, TN., started fourth and fell back one spot at the finish to end up fifth.
The triumph was A2D's first ever at VLR's top series, and the powerful victory left the young driver wondering how the points would look if he was at last week's race.
"It's awesome to get my first win at VLR," A2D said of his win. "It's been a long time coming but I've had bad luck and bad cars and I think I've got that fixed finally.
"I wish I could have made it last week because I'd be sitting good in the points right now."
Driving his self-owned Team JFR Chevrolet, A2D jumped out to the lead over VLR_JW on the first lap and never looked back. JW made several runs on A2D early in the race but eventually faded to third behind WFO_Rainman. There were no cautions in the 50 lap main event.
"It was a tough race for sure," A2D said of his first career VLR win. "It didn't look too hard probably from everyone elses view, but I know that any little mistake in a big race like this could easily cost you a win.
"To get that first win out of the way is huge, and hopefully there will be a lot more to go along with it."
The long trip from Las Vegas to Knoxville, IA. proved well worth it for A2D. Despite missing the first race of the season, A2D propelled up to ninth in the VLR ponit standings with the win, and seems to get faster every time he's out on the track.
WFO_Rainman was not quite able to mount a challenge on A2D as the race wore on, but powering from sixth to second in the feature after qualifying twelfth showed that the East Moline, Ill. driver could contend for lots of victories this season at VLR.
"I had a really good car," said Rainman, who shot up to fourth in the point standings after race number two. "A2D was on a rail and by the time I got up to second he already had it under control. If there was a restart we might have got to him."
VLR_JW earned a strong third place finish at the Knoxville Speedway, as he looks to continue building on last seasons success when he finished second in points. The West Point, MS. driver is currently third in the standings heading into Adams County Speedway this Sunday.
"I think we had a nice hotrod tonight," said JW, who qualified second out of twenty cars. "A2D was just on another level there and me and Rainman battled pretty much the whole race and he pulled away. I'll take a third ahead of the 18 car anyday, though."
VLR_18, who had an up and down race, ended up finishing strong and picked up a fourth place result. The Brookfield, WI. driver sits first in the points, four ahead of second place heading into round three at Adams County Speedway. VLR_Shock gave 18 everything he wanted and more but crossed the line in after 50 laps laps.
Hindman, KY. driver JFR_4h recorded a season best sixth place finish in a nice performance. Sparta, MI. native BLS_42 drove home his car to a seventh place finish; Doit_49 of Waterloo, ON, CN finished eighth; Kokomo, IN. driver BLS_v6! had a rough night that ended with him in ninth place after a mid race accident; and king* rounded out the top ten with a DNF.
A field numbering 22 cars participated in the event, which is a staple race on the VLR circuit. A2D's pole was the fastest lap ever turned in qualifying at Knoxville Speedway in a VLR race. He toured the 1/2 miler in 13.35 seconds.
Heat winners were JFR_A2D, WFO_Rainman, and VLR_Shock. The B-Mains were captured by VLR_18 and JFR_4h.
The VLR tour will swing back into action on Sunday night (October 9) with the running of the Fall Shootout 50 at Adams County Speedway, in Corning, IA.