BULLS GAP, TN (March 6, 2016) – VLR_JW came home the winner in Sunday Night's Spring Thaw 60 at Volunteer Speedway for his first win in an up-and-down start to the VLR season. The ‘Mississippi Missle’ led every lap of the race but had to fend off strong challenges from hard-charging teammate VLR_Shock in the closing laps.
Home-state driver Shock ended up in second when the dust settled after rallying from his eighth place starting position. XCR_KG bounced back from his frustrating 23rd place finish at his home track of LaSalle last week to finish third in the Volunteer state.
Point leader XCR_Orso ran as low as ninth before charging back through the field and finishing fourth with a last lap pass. SKM_18 brought home fifth after bringing out a caution midway through the 60 lap event and restarting at the tail of the field.
The 70 car of VLR_JW quite possibly could have won three of the first six races to start the year, but bad luck in the opener at Cedar Lake, and then again a week ago at LaSalle had kept him out of victory lane thus far. Sunday he was out to show that he is a true championship contender after snagging his first win of the season.
"It feels good to get the monkey off my back this year finally," said the 31 year-old following his dominating performance. “I knew we had a really good car again, but we’ve had a good car all year and the end result hasn’t panned out. The cautions the in USA Nationals (at Cedar Lake) cost us a five second lead two different times and the last one everybody pounced on me. Then last week a lap car drifted up in front of me and took us out.
"Then I had a big lead again tonight and saw the caution come out for Wheel there and I was thinking ‘not this again.’ Luckily this time we were able to hang on. Shock was right on my bumper for a while though and closed up towards the end but we did a good job of saving our tires some and getting the win. It feels good for sure."
JW started from the outside pole position but made quick work of pole-sitter BLS_BW, who was making his first start of season at VLR, and never looked back. BW was trying to shake off the rust for much of the race and slowly drifted back as drivers VLR_Shock, VLR_LP, and VLR_JJ all charged toward the front from their poor starting positions. SKM_18 (Wheel) brought out the only caution of the race on lap 28 when he blew a tire in turn two while running second. After the restart with 32 to go, he managed to climb as high as fourth before Orso got around him on the final corner in an epic three car battle between the duo and VLR_JJ.
After the caution, VLR_JW and VLR_Shock set sail on the field as the two teammates raced away while ICE_KG made a move to third place and held on to match his best career VLR finish, just one week after recording his worst finish at VLR in the Mompertown 50 at LaSalle. VLR_LastPlace started in last place (naturally) and rallied all the way to fourth before the only caution flew. The Selinsgrove, PA driver must used his tires up in his frenzied run to the front and eventually faded back to finish seventh. VLR_JJ was another driver who got a great start to the race before fading late. Still, the Milton, FL driver came home with a strong sixth place finish. JJ has not finished worse than seventh so far this season. BLS_BW43 ended up eighth, followed by VLR_Momper and WFO_Gates in tenth.
VLR_Shock has found a rhythm after a frustrating start to the season due to internet issues. The last three races have been much smoother and the Tennessee native has finished 1st, 2nd, and 2nd. "I feel really good right now and I’m getting in a groove now that my internet issues seem to be resolved. I won at OCFS and then the last two weeks we’ve been at tracks I’m not usually all that great at, so to come home with back-to-back second place finishes gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year.
I want to congratulate JW on the win, though, he definitely deserved it. He’s had more bad luck than anyone I can remember this year and I was pulling for him to get a win. It’s a great 1-2 finish for the team and we’ll come back next week to Outlaw and see if we can get another good finish.”
Fast qualifier ICE_KG powered his Jimmy Johns dirt late model to a third place finish and was satisfied with his run following the A Main.
“I want to thank my guys for helping me get this car ready this week for some high-banked racing here in Tennessee. Last week we left out early and I was really disappointed in front of the home crowd to not make the A Main, so I wanted to show this week that I could run with the best guys in the business and I feel like we did that.
If I had made a little better tire selection I think I could have hung up there with JW and Shock but it was still a good race for us either way. I really like next week’s track (Outlaw Motor Speedway) so I hope we can head down to Oklahoma and have another good run. I really want to put this Jimmy John’s car in Victory Lane this year.”
In preliminary action, ICE_KG set the overall Big Ant Studios Fast Time amongst the 26 entrants, with a lap of 11.684 seconds. BLS_BW, VLR_JW, and XCR_Orso won their respective heat races. WFO_Gates and VLR_Shock took home the B Main victories.
Next week the stars and cars of the VLR Dirt Late Model National Tour head to Outlaw Motor Speedway in Muskogee, OK for the “Crank it Up” 50. Visit www.teamvlr.com for more information.
Sunday Night March 6, 2016
Volunteer Speedway - Bulls Gap, TN
Big Ant Studios Fast Time: ICE_KG, 11.684
Heat 1 results: BLS_BW, ICE_KG, WFO*QQ, WFO_23, WFO_4h, B34, War48, V43a
Heat 2 res: VLR_JW, SKM_18, VLR_0, B1, X94, DS5, J-Mac, Eric (scratch)
Heat 3 res: X89, VLR_Momper, VLR_JJ, ICE_KK, W97, VLR_LP, VLR_S, Deadbolt
Pos Driver
1 VLR_JW
2 VLR_Shock
3 XCR_KingGinger
4 XCR_Orso
5 SKM_18
6 VLR_JJ
7 VLR_LastPlace
8 BLS_BW43
9 VLR_Momper
10 WFO_Gates
11 WFO_Faschek
12 J-MAC
13 VLR_Superman
14 WFO_GetReal
15 SKM_DS5
16 XCR*Basham
17 WFO*Duster
18 JimC
19 War48
20 VLR_43a
21 DeadBolt
22 ICE_KK21JR
23 B1
24 ICE_Eric41
25 Hoover
26 FU_10D
- VLR_Atwood