TERRE HAUTE, IN. (March 20, 2011) – "Man I'm speechless." Those were about the only words VLR_JW could muster after he climbed out of his car with the biggest win of his career in the books.

 

The odds were stacked against the West Point, Ms. driver from the beginning, as he barely secured the last transfer spot into the A Main and started dead last in the field.

 

The biggest crowd in VLR history, and the largest in dtr2 in several years was on hand for the season opener with a $100 top prize at stake.

 

The Tennessee Tandem BLS_Superman, of Knoxville, and VLR_Shock of Crossville, both laid down identical lap times in qualifying to earn the top two starting positions, but Superman earned the tiebreaker by having a quicker total race time.

Superman blistered the 1/2 mile flat oval in 13.994 seconds for a new track qualifying record to earn his first pole ever at VLR, and he did so over 38 other qualifiers.

But it was perhaps the unlikeliest of drivers who would beat Superman to the line after 100 grueling laps in the biggest race in VLR's nearly seven year history.

 

“Man I just saw holes and went for them,” said VLR_JW, who started dead last on the field and was leading by the tenth lap. “I just got lucky it worked out.

 

“But man everything just fell into place and I went for it and it worked out.”

 

Qualifying for the $100 to win, $220 purse took nearly an hour to complete with the influx of cars in the pits before BLS_Superman was announced as the pole sitter on the day of his 19th birthday.

Perhaps if not for selecting the wrong tires prior to the feature, BLS_Superman may have been the man with the ulitmate birthday present of $100 in victory lane. Instead he would have to settle with the $25.00 second place prize, plus the $10.00 F1yer Graphix fast time award.

"I thought JW had softs on and I thought he might back up to me eventually but he never did," Superman said. "I ran a notch down on tires because I thought his would have worn out. Everyone I talked to after the race said they had softs on.

"I may have made a $75 tire mistake right there (referencing the difference in winnings between first and second)."

 

BLS_DK of Vancouver, Wa. started the race in fourth and held off several charges by other drivers to finish third, worth $20.00. Crossville, Tn.'s VLR_Shock moved from sixth to fourth after 100 circuits to pick up $15.00.

Eighth starting BLS_F1yer of Hickory, NC., methodically worked his way up to fifth at the end, in what was nearly a three-wide finish with he, BLS_DK, and VLR_Shock for third.

JW, who led the points at VLR for a few races in 2010, quickly stormed to the front and lead all but eight laps after coming from the rear of the field. It wasn't without a little controversy, though, as he admitted after seeing the replays that he may have got a little aggressive when he caught then-leader BLS_Superman.

“I think I got into Superman a little bit, but I apologize for it. I thought I saw a hole and went for it and I think I got him a little,” said JW, who registered his fourth career win in VLR's top series. “I seen them two wide behind me and that helped me get out of the draft. Once I got out of the draft I felt pretty good then.

"I was just trying to stay consistent and run my line, and it worked out."

Superman, freshly turned 19, recorded his best career finish in the Gen 3 series, and did so with the largest crowd of drivers ever in attendance at VLR.

Unfortunately he slowly drifted back from JW all race and spent much of the race having to fend off the advances of BLS_DK and VLR_Shock, who were working together and reeling him in towards the end.

“I hit a 95 alone on those bad tires,” said Superman. “That makes it feel even worse, though...knowing you probably could have won the race and find out you picked the wrong tires. Most people would be happy with second, but this one will sting for a while."

 

On the other side of the spectrum was BLS_DK, as he was extremely happy with a third place finish at a track he admitedly wasn't a fan of before the race. 

DK nearly missed the show after arriving to the track halfway through qualifying and rushed out and reeled off the fourth quickest time trial.

“I got to the lead and then JW scared the crud out of me, he came out of nowhere,” laughed Washington driver BLS_DK. “I figured I'd ride behind him and then Superman passed me, so I figured OK, I'm good in third. Then Shock and F1yer...wow, I really can't say much about that, that was one heckuva race.

"I'm actually sitting here sweating, trying to hold those guys off, I don't know how I was able to."

VLR_Shock brought home a fourth place finish and was satisfied with his run while mentioning the great race he had with DK and BLS_F1yer.

"Great race, and a great show. I'm amazed at the number of cars here tonight. Never seen this many in my years of racing...other than that I don't have much to say that hasn't been said. Everyone put on a great show and congrats to JW. DK, F1yer and I had a great race with each other, too.

"Just great to see all these great guys out here competiting nearly seven years after our first race. It shows you the passion these guys have and it's all about them making this what it was tonight."

BLS_F1yer came across the start/finish line with a strong fifth place run and was also pleased with how his season started, and the amount of competition that came to try to win $100 bucks.

"It was eventful, but it was a clean race," said the 33-year old, who had the best chance of beating VLR_18 for the championship last season before missing the final two events. "I just hit a good groove there for about 20 laps and ran DK and Shock down with how they were battling."

"It was pretty much three-wide the whole time after that for probably about 30 laps. Great show and great job to JW."

Usually the interviews at VLR are restricted to the top three or five, but with tempers flaring in the pits between sixth-finishing VLR_18, the four-time defending VLR champion, and 7th placed Doit 5, the WFO Spring Fling champion at this same track just one week earlier, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to get their thoughts after the race.

"When you come in and take a guy up to a rail to pass somebody I just don't think that's fair play," said Doit 5. "I don't know why he drove me like that. But that's fine, because I'm going to make all the VLR races I promise you, if I have anything to do with it and if this continues, he won't be anywhere up there in the points, I will be.

"You can't run a guy like that, man."

VLR_18 retorted with a sarastic, but biting response. "I thought it was a great race you know, I didn't see any contact at all. I thought it was perfectly clean, so hopefully we'll keep racing like that through the season.

"I mean if we're going by (Team) Doit standards, it was a great race."

 

Finishing in positions 8-10 was Doit 3 of Johnstown, NY, who started and finished eighth; B Main winner BLS_33 in ninth; and outside pole-sitter Doit 10 of Fort Worth, TX rounded out the prestigious ten car field.

One incredible note to mention was that all of the A Main drivers finished on the lead lap after 100 laps and the slowest lap time was a 13.94, a testament to the level of competition in the feature event.

Fourty-one cars were signed into the event, which was the opener in VLR's sixteenth season, dating back to 2004.

 

BLS_Superman was fastest in the RAC Servers Qualifying, topping the field with a lap of 13.994 seconds.

Heat winners were BLS_Superman, Doit 10, VLR_18, and BLS_DK. The C Mains were captured by BLS_34 of Vineland, NJ., and BLS_42 of Sparta, Michigan. The B Main was taken by BLS_Stephen33.

 

The VLR Gen 3 tour continue on Sunday night (Mar. 27) at the super-wide and super fast track known as Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway 2k11 for the Commonwealth 50.

For more information on the VLR series and other dtr2 racing series, visit www.teamvlr.com

Results of VLR Late Model series at Terre Haute Action Track (Finishing

Position/Start/Driver/Money Won):   

2. (1) BLS_Superman/$35.00 ($10.00 for pole award)

3. (4) BLS_DK/$20.00

4. (6) VLR_Shock/$15.00

5. (8) BLS_F1yer/$10.00

6. (3) VLR_18/$10.00

7. (7) Doit 5/$10.00

8. (8) Doit 3/$10.00

9. (9) BLS_33/$10.00

10. (2) Doit 10/$10.00

 

Time of Race: 23 Mins., 23.86 Secs.

 

Margin of Victory: 1.72 Secs.

Top 25 qualifiers (Position/No./Driver/Hometown/Best Lap):  

2. 0-VLR_Shock/Crossville, Tn/13.99

3. 5-Doit 5/Wichita, Ks/14.01

4. 23-BLS_DK/Vancouver, Wa/14.01

5. 3-VLR_JW/West Point, Ms/14.03

6. 10-Doit 10/Fort Worth, Tx/14.03

7. 911-VLR_911/Fayetteville, Ar/14.03

8. 53-VLR_McGee/Spartanburg, Sc/14.03

9. 3-Doit 3/Johnstown, Ny/14.03

10. 42-BLS_42/Sparta, Mi/14.05

11. 18-VLR_18/Brookfield, Wi/14.05

12. 97-WFO_ICE/Tahlequah, Ok/14.05

13. 2-Simon/Erie, Pa/14.05

14. 33-BLS_33/Hollister, Mo/14.06

15. 6-BLS_v6/Kokomo, In/14.07

16. 4h-Faschek/Hindman, Ky/14.07

17. 34-BLS_34/Vineland, NJ/14.07

18. 97-IFRT_Jim/Unknown/14.07

19. 7-TXR_Cam/Unknown/14.08

20. F1-BLS_F1yer/Hickory, NC/14.08

21. 52-VLR_BG/Kennesaw, Ga/14.08

22. 24-INVADER/Belleville, Il/14.08

23. 12-Mason/Lawrenceburg, In/14.10

24. 14-Woods/Mississippi/14.10

25. 49-Doit 49/Guelph, Ontario, Canada/14.10

Rest of qualifiers: 26. IFRT_14 27. ErL_Blkjk 28. IFRT_67r 29. Squirrel 30. WFO_Rainman 31. Axman21d 32. hOots 33. ErL_Bulldog 34. DS5 35. XCR_b58  36. IFRT_43A 37. BLS_Deadbolt 38. T3ABAG 39. Lazy3 

Heat races below (Car numbers in parenthesis)

 

Heat No. 1 (15 laps – Top 2 Transfer): BLS_uperman (49), Doit 3 (3), VLR_JW (3), VLR_BG (52), BLS_34 (34), Simon (2), Doit 49 (49), IFRT_43A (43a), Squirrel (1), ERL_Bulldog (17)

 

Heat No. 2 (15 laps – Top 2 Transfer): Doit 10 (10), VLR_Shock (0), BLS_Stephen (33), IFRT_Jim (4), IFRT_14 (14), INVADER (24), DS5 (5), BLS_42 (42), WFO Rainman (x59), BLS_Deadbolt (153)

 

Heat No. 3 (15 laps – Top 2 Transfer): VLR_18 (18), Doit 5 (5), VLR_911 (911), BLS_Jsn (v6), ERL_Blkjak (21), TXR_Cam (7), MASON (12), XCR 58 (58), T3ABA6 (92), axman21k (21k)

 

Heat No. 4 (15 laps – Top 2 Transfer): BLS_D*K* (23), BLS_F1yer (f1), VLR_McGee (53), WFO Ice (97), Faschek (4h), IFRT_67r (67r), hOoTs (7), Lazy3 (3), Woods (14), VLR_KP (95)

C-Main No. 1 (12 laps - Winner transfers): BLS_34, XCR 58, Simon, ERL_Bulldog, Squirrel, IFRT_43A, ERL_Blkjak, TXR_Cam, Doit 49, MASON (dns)

C-Main No. 2 (12 laps - Winner transfers): BLS_42, IFRT_67r, Lazy3, DS5, IFRT_14, axman21k, Faschek (dns), INVADER (dns), hOoTs (dns), T3ABA6 (dns)

B-Main No. 1 (20 laps – Top 2 Transfer): BLS_Stephen, VLR_JW, VLR_McGee, VLR_911, WFO Ice, IFRT_Jim, VLR_BG, BLS_Jsn, BLS_42, BLS_34