The standout from Crossville, Tn., had an eventful evening after starting towards the back of his heat race and finishing second. From there he started last in the 6-car dash and passed everyone in that to start on the pole for the A Main.
After showing dominance like that through the first part of the night’s action, all eyes were on Shock to see if he could do it again in the "VLR Trax 100", the longest race of the season on the VLR Crates tour. Some heavy hitters in dtr2 were mired in the back of the starting grid, with names like BLS_F1yer, BLS_BLZ, and WFO_Rainman all starting 7th or lower on the field.
VLR_Shock was able to cruise around the 1/4 mile oval for the first fifty laps, before the F1 machine of BLS_F1yer finally began closing in on him. From there, the race would become one of the most exciting in dtr2 history.
By lap 65, F1yer had methodically run down the #0 of Shock, and the fans rose to their feet to watch these two battle it out for the lead. Lurking in third was the #12 of BLS_BLZ, who had worked his way up from 8th and was waiting for any opportunity to catch the dueling drivers in front of him.
A hair-raising moment came on lap 88 of the race, with VLR_Shock and BLS_F1yer still battling side by side for the lead, like they had done for the last twenty laps. Coming out of turn four the two drivers gained quickly on the lap machine of BLS_Deadbolt.
As the drivers sped down the straight away it was BLS_F1yer on the inside, with VLR_Shock to his right, and the lap machine of BLS_Deadbolt up high with the cars powering down the straight three-wide in front of a packed house. Fortunately, the leaders made it through safely and resumed the side by side battle for the win with just ten to go.
Suddenly, BLS_BLZ was right there with this battle and the fans were all standing to watch what was turning into an amazing battle for the win. At this point, lap 90, the drivers had to be feeling fatigued and losing some focus, but they didn’t show it as the skirmish for the lead was escalating each lap.
The anxiety was kicked up a notch for the top three as the contest closed in to the last five laps. VLR_Shock, BLS_F1yer, and BLS_BLZ all swapped the lead numerous times over the final circuits.
However, BLS_BLZ’s thrilling run to the front was about to end with four laps to go. While running second at the exit of turn two, he received a tap from the machine of BLS_F1yer that was intended to thrust him past VLR_Shock, but instead it shot him off the backstretch and into the rough stuff.
By the time BLZ was able to gather it back up, he had fallen to fourth place, behind VLR_McGee. BLS_F1yer and VLR_Shock would continue to battle for the lead until the final lap. Coming down to the white flag, the two were dead even at the line, with just four turns left to navigate.
In turn one the two would enter side by side, and come out the same way, but down the back straight away F1yer slid up into VLR_Shock and knocked him off the track as well. Fortunately, Shock was able to gather it back up and get around BLS_F1yer in the final turn to come down to the checkered flag and win in a dramatic finish.
After the race, VLR_Shock talked about the excitement and what he was thinking in the closing laps.
“For there to be three cars going at it side by side in the last five laps of a 100 lap race is just crazy,” said a smiling VLR_Shock. “I had no idea who was gonna win it. I was worried that BLZ and F1yer would work together since they were teammates, but that late in the race I think it’s every man for themselves. It was an awesome race and a good win. I feel bad for BLZ, though. He was trying to get his first big win here.
“I’m just happy to win this and get the points that come along with it.”
BLS_F1yer crossed the line just behind VLR_Shock and was upset with himself after the race for his contact with BLS_BLZ.
“After I noticed I was gaining on him (VLR_Shock), I knew I had a good enough car to win. I really wasn’t sure what was going to happen with the lap traffic. I mean the lappers done good as hell. I don’t think I’ve ever seen lappers run that damn good. Hell, I think they actually got faster when we got to them,” laughed F1yer. “That was just a hell of a race. I hate that it turned out how it did, but 99 laps of it was good.”
VLR_McGee of Spartanburg, SC. ran fourth much of the race, but used BLS_BLZ’s misfortune to capture third place in his Hawkeyetrucksales.com car. Eighth starting BLS_BLZ of National City, Mi. limped home with fourth after battling for the lead throughout the last 15 laps, until he went off the backstretch on lap 96, and BLS_Superman of Dandridge, Tn. came home with a top five in his return to dtr2 action.
We were able to catch up with fourth finishing BLS_BLZ once he was able to calm down after the race, and he talked about how his race went up until contact sent him off track.
“For the first thirty laps it didn’t look like F1yer was catching Shock, or that I was catching F1yer, so I just started to ride,” said BLZ, who is still searching for his first open series win. “Well then I seen F1yer gaining some ground on Shock, and I kept (messing) up. Everything I’d gain I’d lose right back. Then I finally settled in and ran them down. F1yer got lose, I passed him on the outside. Then I ran behind Shock about three or four laps. Then coming off turn two F1yer was trying to bump me to get me underneath Shock or give me a run, and the car was super tight anyway, and I drove right off.”
“I knew I had a chance, I wasn’t slow by any means. But that’s racing, (stuff) happens.”
BLS_Superman was happier with his run, even though he finished one spot behind BLZ. Superman made his first race in dtr2 in two months since starting school at the University of Tennessee.
“I feel pretty good about my run. I really didn’t expect to even make the race. I thought we’d maybe have a shot through the B, but I didn’t think we’d make it in through the heats,” said a happy BLS_Superman. “To get in through the heats, that was pretty exciting. There in the feature I had a really fast car, but I didn’t figure out the line till lap 30. And by then the top four were done gone by the time I figured it out. Top five can’t complain, haven’t raced in two months, so I’ll take that any day.”
VLR_Shock, who started on the pole, was excited to win at one of his favorite tracks, but this was the first time he has won at this track in VLR action as he looks to chase the crates championship this season.
“I’m glad to get a win this early in the season,” said VLR_Shock. “We needed to win one early on in order to realistically contend for the championship. I made that one of my goals before the season to run good early in the season and all throughout it and so this is a good start for us.”
Finishing in positions 6-10 were BLS_Zombie of Michigan.; BLS_42; BLS_Deadbolt of Erie, Pa.; WFO_Rainman of East Moline, Ill..; and Woods32 who missed the drivers meeting for the A Main and didn’t start the race.
VLR_Shock gained two points in the VLR Crates championship battle on point’s leader BLS_F1yer, who took the lead over VLR_18 and now leads Shock by 2 points. VLR_18 had a blown engine in hot laps and didn’t even get a chance to race in the B Main, and this set him back to sixth in points after coming in as the leader. VLR_McGee used a quiet third place finish to stay third in points, just four points out of the lead.
A field of 16 cars was signed in for the event.
Heat winners were VLR_McGee, BLS_Zombie, and BLS_42. The B-Mains were captured by BLS_F1yer and BLS_BLZ.
The VLR Crates tour will be back in action next Friday night at 8pm eastern at the 1/4 mile brand new Highland Speedway for the "WHT 60". We'll cya there for race #3 of 12!
Top 10 Results of VLR Crate Late Model series VLR Trax 100 (Finishing Position/Start/Driver):
1. (1) VLR_Shock
2. (7) BLS_F1yer
3. (2) VLR_McGee
4. (8) BLS_BLZ
5. (4) BLS_Superman
6. (3) BLS_Zombie
7. (5) BLS_42
8. (6) BLS_DeadBolt
9. (9) WFO_Rainman
10. (10) Woods