ICE_KG FIGHTS OFF HEAVY CHALLENGES TO WIN AT LAWRENCEBURG!
LAWRENCEBURG, IN (November 27, 2016) – ICE_KingGinger scored his second career VLR win at Lawrenceburg Speedway on Saturday night with his victory in the “Whiskey City 50.” Ginger first took the lead on lap 17 of the 50 lap event before a caution two laps later bunched the field up for a restart. The Wilmington, IL driver then swapped thelead with a host of drivers for the next thirty laps before coming out on top in one of the most exciting battles for the win in VLR history.
The defending VLR points champion, VLR_JW, was once again the reason for the caution this week after blowing a right rear tire on lap 19. The West Point, MS still rallied from last to finish second by a car length when the dust settled. However, JW was suspended from VLR competition for one week following the race after causing three incidents in the 50 lap event. He will be able to resume racing in two weeks at VLR. VLR_Bubba used a last-lap crash by last weeks winner SKM_Smallz to bring home his best career VLR finish - a third.
“[It was] an awesome win tonight. This race was a dog fight to win. Anyone in the top five could've won this race. I had fun racing with Jared (SKM_Smallz) and Brandin (RB) as they are both great drivers. I honestly thought I'd be a mid pack guy but I got a good qualifying time, which helped me out greatly. I was determined to win, just as Jared and Brandin were.”
“For the feature, we made some adjustments and the car took off really well. We had a good race with Francis for a while. This win is bigger to me than my first VLR win was at Speedway City just because I had to hold off about five different guys who were all trying just as hard as I was to get in victory lane.”
Smallz was looking for his second win in a row at VLR until he made a daring attempt at a slidejob in turn 3 on the last lap while running third, just behind KG and JW. However, he found himself spinning out after hitting an infield tire that shot his car around and onto the track where he was then hit by XCR*Basham and RB. Basham got the worst end of the deal though as he saw his best run ever at VLR end in calamity when he car went up on two wheels and he was unable to finish the race. Fortunately he was unharmed in the accident.
The last lap incident proved to be beneficial to the points leader VLR_Shock, though, as the Crossville, TN driver shot from seventh to fourth in the final turn while maneuvering his #0 machine between the wrecked machines of Smallz, Basham, and RB.
Other major incidents in the race involved the defending champion VLR_JW, as he made contact with RB on lap 15 which sent the #83 car around and gathered up VLR_Shock as well. After the caution JW would make contact with RB again with five laps to go while the top four cars battled for the lead. The two crews got in a large scrum in the pits following the race and JW was subsequently suspended from VLR competition for one week due to the on track incidents and for physically assaulting RB in the pits after the race.
The disagreement between RB and JW marred what was otherwise a fantastic battle for the win in the last twenty laps, though, as Smallz, RB, and KG all traded slidejobs every lap with a new leader seeming to emerge each time at the start/finish line. KG would hang on for the win though while VLR_JW made a hard charge through the field to come home second right in KG's tire tracks.
“I'd like to thank my sponsor Jimmy John's for providing me with the funds to operate my race car. It was a fun race and I hope to continue my success going into next week,” said ICE_KG in victory lane.
VLR_JW finished second but was apologetic after the race for his aggressiveness in getting to the front after blowing a tire. "I want to apologize to everyone for how I drove after blowing the tire there. I am sorry for driving like an idiot, particularly want to apologize to RB, Smallz, Bubba and Shock for any trouble I may have caused them. Second lpace is a good finish for us but not under those circumstances."
VLR_Bubba came home with his best career VLR finish ever in an impressive showing that saw him lead several laps during the race. “We hung in there the best we could. This is good momentum for us after a couple races that didn't go our way early in the season. It's always good when you can run up front and battle for wins at VLR.”
Completing the top ten were VLR_Shock, WFO_Faschek, J-mac, VLR_JJ, SKM_Smallz, RB, and Basham.
In preliminary action, VLR_Shock set the overall Miller Welders Fast Time amongst the entrants, with a lap of 11.68 seconds.
For the latest breaking news on the Team VLR Late Model Dirt Series, log onto www.teamvlr.com and follow the series at www.facebook.com/dtr2races.
Next week the drivers head to another extremely racy track in Albany-Saratoga 2016 v2 for what should be another epic battle for the win.
Pos Driver
1 ICE_KG
2 VLR_JW
3 VLR_Bubba
4 VLR_Shock
5 WFO_Faschek
6 J-MAC
7 VLR_JJ
8 SKM_Smallz
9 XRL_RB!
10 XCR*Basham
11 XCR_b58
12 DeadBolt
13 War48
14 WFO*Duster
15 ICE_Eric41
- VLR_Atwood