LASALLE, IL (Feb 28, 2016) - The 13-time and defending VLR Dirt Late Model National Champion, SKM_18, scored his second series win of the season on Sunday Night at LaSalle Speedway. The driver from just up the road in Wisconsin took the lead early after race-leader VLR_JW tangled with a lap car.
"First I need to apologize to JW when I got into him. There was nowhere I could go. The track dried out bigtime during the feature and the groove totally changed and kind of threw everyone off I think. With the track changing so much during the feature it made it one of the most intense races I’ve ever been in for not having to race many people,” said the winner in victory lane.
SKM_18 has now recorded four top-three finishes in the last four races, including two wins. "I want to thank Buffalo Wild Wings, Mopar, Dodge, Mastersbilt, Big Ant Studios and Team SKM for giving me a great car tonight despite the track being so tough."
VLR_Shock drove his Toyota Camry home second, continuing the momentum he earned by winning at OCFS last weekend. The Tennessee driver started third and managed to run in the top four the entire race before fading and getting passed late by XCR_Orso. However, lap traffic held up the 89 car as the drivers fought for the line against the outside wall and the #0 of Shock was able to work his way back by in the closing laps to finish second.
“I definitely didn’t think we were gonna be that fast tonight, but the crew had the car pretty dialed in coming into the A Main. Then the track changed completely from what we expected and we had to scramble to get something together before the feature. That was one of the hardest races I’ve had to run before trying to run right on the outside wall without hitting anything but it worked out somehow. It took some of the setup out of it and put it in the driver’s hands as far as who could hang on. Congrats to Austen (SKM_18) on the win, though, he definitely had it working on the high side. I feel bad for JW as he probably should have two wins already this season if not for bad luck,” said the driver of the Metal-Lite, Victory Lane Racing, Big Ant Studios Toyota Camry.
Home state driver XCR_Orso brought home a strong third as he works into the halfway point of the season with just a one point lead over SKM_18 in the standings. The home-state driver ran up front all race and even challenged for the lead at times before fading and making a late rally to take second before lap cars allowed VLR_Shock to get back by.
“Our Main Performance PC late model was pretty good tonight, but the track changed so much from the heat races to the A Main and I felt like that hurt our car a bit since we had set up for different conditions,” said the current VLR points leader. “All in all it was a pretty frustrating race for me and then I had to deal with the lap cars at the end and that cost me a second place. Any time you have a bad night and still come home with a top three finish you have to be optimistic though. I look forward to Volunteer next week and seeing if we can get another win.”
Completing the top ten were VLR_JW, local driver WFO_Rainman, VLR_Atwood, VLR_43a (who made his first ever VLR A Main), VLR_LP, WFO_Gates, and WFO_Duster.
Some surprises who didn’t make the A Main were home-track drivers VLR_Momper and XCR_KingGinger. Both drivers are local fan favorites who failed to transfer out of their respective B Mains.
In preliminary action, SKM_18 set the fast time of the night with an 11.8596 second lap for his first pole of the season among the 24 entrants.
Next week VLR is back in action as the tour swings south for the “Spring Thaw 60” at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, TN before heading to Magnolia Speedway for the Clash at the Mag the following week.
For the latest breaking news on the Team VLR Late Model Series, visitwww.teamvlr.com
Team VLR Late Model Series
Sunday Night Feb 29, 2016
Mompertown 50
LaSalle Speedway - La Salle, IL
Finish (50 Laps):
Pos Driver
1 SKM_18
2 VLR_Shock
3 XCR_Orso
4 VLR_JW
5 WFO Rainman
6 VLR_Atwood
7 VLR_43a
8 VLR_LastPlace
9 WFO_Gates
10 WFO*Duster
11 #1 Gei$ler (secretly JFR)
12 DeadBolt
13 VLR_Momper
14 ICE_KK21JR
15 SKM_DS5
16 J-MAC
17 VLR_Bubba
18 War48
19 WFO_GetReal
20 WFO_Greezy
21 JimC
22 GR75
23 XCR_KingGinger
24 XRL*BudC51