MIDDLETOWN, NEW YORK (March 25, 2012)– VLR_Shock and BLS_18 may no longer be on the same team, but the two drivers proved they could still put on a show Sunday night in VLR's first visit ever to the Orange County Fair Speedway in an epic duel that was decided in a photo finish where VLR_Shock was declared the winner.

Racing in front of a standing-room-only crowd that ranked as one of the largest in the history of the five-eighth-mile oval, Crossville, Tennessee's VLR_Shock battled side by side with Brookfield, Wisconsin driver BLS_18 every lap in a duel that had the fans on their feet in what one of the most exciting races in VLR history.

Current leader in the point standings VLR_Shock was able to win his second race in a row at VLR. Last week VLR_Shock got it done on the schedules smallest track, and this week he got to victory lane at the biggest track over 42 other racers. It was Shock's 20th career VLR win which moved him into a tie with VLR_Nitro for second on the all time win list.

"It's huge for me to get the first win at this track in the VLR series, and for it to be my first win with more than forty drivers showing up," said an elated VLR_Shock, who padded his already large points lead. "That finish was crazy. I didn't think I had a shot under Wheel (18) there with him up on the high side and the momentum but somehow I beat him to the line.

"That might've been the most fun race I've ever had for a win, and it was super clean, too."

BLS_18 started and finished second in his NOS Energy Dodge, but lead for much of the race with Shock in his tire tracks the entire distance. The 6-time defending VLR champion came up inches short at the line, however.

VLR_JW, of West Point, Mississippi, started and finished third after a race long battle with JFR_17 of Independence, Kansas. JW was able to close in on the duo of Shock and 18 at times, but JFR_17 was right on his bumper the whole race looking for his opportunity to move ahead as well. JFR_17's fourth place finish was his best at VLR in only six career starts as the Team JFR driver continues to improve.

Bettles, Alaska driver JFR_Jim made the cross country trip to New York and earned his second straight top five at VLR after a fierce battle with Detroit, Michigan driver Blaze finally settled with Jim being ahead at the finish.

VLR_Shock, who started from the pole for the second week in a row, drove off the green flag in the lead before quickly being passed on the high side by BLS_18. The two would spend nearly the entire 45 lap race battling side by side and throwing crossovers on each other that had the fans on their feet throughout the distance with battles taking place everywhere throughout the ultra-competitive A Main.

"I'm sure with Wheel switching teams in middle of the week some people figured we'd come out and total each others cars again but we didnt," lauged Shock in victory lane. "We both ran each other clean and let it be decided at the finish and I just happened to be the one out front this time.

"Just seeing it from a different team perspective it seems like everyone's out to beat both of us right now and when we were on the same team it was like we would just try to beat each other and not worry about everyone else.

"Now I can see why everybodys out to beat us because we're always near the front battling it seems like."

BLS_18 failed to convert leading the most laps into a victory, but 17-year-old driver was still all smiles after the race thanks in part to the incredible race he had with former teammate VLR_Shock.

"That was an awesome race," said 18, who is trying to get back on track after his worst start to a VLR season since his rookie season in 2007. "When I came out of turn two going down the backstretch I said ok man put together the best turn three and four you can all day and I did. I hit it great and I was looking out of the corner of my eye to see where Shock was and I thought 'ah he's probably gonna get me.'"

VLR_JW rebounded from his dissapointing 18th place finish last week at Kokomo with a third, but he still lost ground to teammate and point leader VLR_Shock after a race-long battle with JFR_17.

"JFR_17 gave me his spot," said VLR_JW after the race. "I had it down to seven tenths behind Wheel and Shock and he blasted me and took all my chances away but at least I got third out of it."

JFR_17, a rookie who's made a major impact on the VLR series this season, brought home his first career top five at VLR and was in contention for a win early.

"I kinda screwed JW up there," JFR_17 said after the race. "Other than that we had a good hard race and it's awesome to get my first top five here and I've been getting better every week so hopefully we keep it up and get a win this year."

"Hopefully I'll be able to come back next week in Australia and make another A Main."

Finishing the race seventh through tenth was Harmony, New Jersey driver ERL_BBS, in his first VLR A Main; Las Vegas, Nevada driver JFR_A2D; newest VLR member VLR_Woods, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi; and Kokomo, Indiana's BLS_Jsn.

The Harmony Hotshoe ERL_BBS made the short trip over to his home track in front of a huge throng of his fans in their bbs.racing #44 gear and watched as their driver set the 11th quickest time and won his heat race before finishing a very impressive seventh in his VLR A Main debut. BBS nearly made the feature last week in VLR's visit to Kokomo before spinning while leading his heat race.

"It's cool to come out here and race with these guys," said ERL_BBS after the race. "Everybody in the A Main tonight was really fast and I'm glad to even make the show with all the guys here and for it to be in front of my home crowd.

VLR_Shock was the fastest of the 39 drivers who participated in qualifying. The points leader recorded his second straight pole by blistering the 5/8 mile track in 15.982 seconds. Drivers second through fifth all qualified with 15.999 seconds in a close qualifying round that saw the top 38 qualifiers separated by just over two tenths of a second.

Heat winners were VLR_Shock, BLS_18, JFR*Jim, VLR_JW, ERL_BBS, and JFR_17. The D Mains were won by BLS_43 and BLS_Kevin. C Main winners were Doit 94 and VLR_Brad. The B Main was captured by JFR*A2D.

Next week on April Fool's day the VLR tour makes its first ever visit down under, for the Australian Nationals 75 at Speedway City in Adelaide, Australia, nearly 11,000 miles from this weeks track in Middletown New York.

VLR_Shock will look to continue his recent success and win three in a row in front of the Aussie's, but the competition continues to tougher each week in the VLR series and with 40+ drivers a race it's anybody's ballgame.

VLR AT ORANGE COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY 3/25/2012 RESULTS:

Heat 1 results: 1. Shock 2. Jason 3. SB 4. X4 5. Hoots 6. Ralphy 7. Spinner

Heat 2 results: 1. 18 2. BLZ 3. WFO_77 4. Mav 5. BMS 6. db 7. XCR_X

Heat 3 results: 1. JIM 2. A2D 3. D94 4. XT_97 5. DS5 6. BLS_43 7. fogs

Heat 4 results: 1. VLR_JW 2. Jon 3. IFRT_29 4. 8x 5. J-mac 6. JFR_16

Heat 5 results: 1. BBS 2. VLR_53 3. Welldriller 4. IFRT_14 5. Mick 6. JFR_97

Heat 6 results: 1. JFR_17 2. VLR_14 3. VLR_49 4. XCR*1 5. Kevin 6. IFRT_Rac

D Main 1 results: 1. BLS_43 2. Mick 3. Ralphy 4. JFR_97 5. fogs 6. Spinner

D Main 2 results: 1. Kevin 2. IFRT_Rac 3. BLS_Deadbolt (DNF Lap 9) 4. JFR_16 (DNS) 5. XCR_X (DNS)

C Main 1 results: 1. D94 2. X4 3. SB 4. Welldriller 5. BLS_43 6. hoots 7. MIck 8 IFRT_14 9. DS5 10. XCR_T92 (DNS)

C Main 2 results: 1. VLR_49 2. IFRT_Mav 3. ERL_J-Mac 4. WFO_77 5. XCR*Geisler 6. BLS_Kevin 7. IFRT_End 8. BMS 9. IFRT_Rac 10. IFRT_8x (DNF Lap 1)

B Main results: 1. JFR_A2D 2. BLZ 3. BLS_Jason 4. VLR_14 5. Doit 94 6. VLR_49 7. Greezy 8. VLR_53 9. Mav (DNF Lap 6) 10. Jon (DNF Lap 1)