BRUNSWICK, GA (March 28, 2016) – VLR_JW held off a strong charge from teammate VLR_Shock and SKM_Smallz to win a thrilling race in the “Easter Day 50” at Golden Isles Speedway on Sunday night in the Team VLR Dirt Late Model Series.
JW won his second race of the season, but the Mississippi driver was never able to get too comfortable with Shock, Smallz, BW, and VLR_LP breathing down his neck for the entire 50 lap event. The top three drivers were all within a half second of each other with two laps to go when they closed in on lap traffic.
Deadbolt and F1yer were running on the tail end of the lead lap and having an epic side by side battle which made things even more intense coming to the white flag as Shock and Smallz used the traffic to their advantage to nearly get to the bumper of the 70 machine of JW on the final lap, but it was to no avail as JW would cross the line ahead of Shock by two car lengths, which Smallz following close behind. BW and LP would round out the top five finishing order.
“It feels great to get back to the winners circle,” said 31-year old JW. “It was some good racing up there with me and Shock going for the lead running side by side every lap. And it feels good to be leading the points here again at the biggest series in the game. I think it’s been three years or something like that since we’ve had a point lead here.”
“The track was really good tonight and multiple grooves which made for some awesome racing and that let me move around wherever I wanted to. And I definitely had to work around the whole track to fight off Shock because he had a really good car tonight.”
“I’d like to thank Monster Energy for helping me make it to work every morning and sponsoring our car, and also I’d like to thank VLR for putting on another awesome show!”
JW and his VLR teammate, LP, started on the front row of the 50-lap main event. JW jumped to a quick lead on the start while VLR_Shock quickly tucked in behind him from his third place starting position, leaving LP to fall in line third. LP would eventually fade and come home fifth while Shock was able to turn in a strong second place finish.
“Our car was great tonight, and I was able to move around a lot to try to keep up with JW, said runner-up VLR_Shock. “That was one of the best races I’ve had in a long time with JW. We had a very clean race and still battled side by side almost every lap. I made two mistakes by trying the high side in turn 3 and 4 on a couple of laps and that is really what ended up being the difference I think.”
“I kind of got excited when I saw the lap cars at the end of the race because I figured I could reel JW back in and make one last run at him but they did good for him and got out of the way and JW held me off. He did a great job tonight.”
SKM driver Smallz recorded his best career VLR finish in his 20th start and came home with a strong third place result. “Our car was really good up high all night long and I had a good tire pick and damn near beat Shock at the end and if I had a few more laps I probably could’ve gotten JW as well. I think if we didn’t run into lap traffic I would have gotten a second place out of the deal though. It was still a good run and an awesome clean race up there.” Smallz was able to hold off strong challenges from BW43 and VLR_LP to wrap up his best finish at VLR.
Completing the top ten were VLR_Atwood, J-mac, VLR_43a, Deadbolt, and F1yer.
In preliminary action, VLR_JW set the “Brunswick Tourism” fast time with a blistering 13.842 second lap around the 4/10 red clay oval. VLR_JW, VLR_LP, and VLR_Shock won their respective heat races. Deadbolt and VLR_777 won their respective B-Mains.
Next week, the VLR series heads to Muskogee, OK to pay a visit to the Thunderbird Speedway for the first time in several years. Past winners include XRT_Jeff, VLR_Shock, and most recently SKM_18. Should be an exciting race at the newly renovated 5/8 mile dirt oval.
For the latest breaking news concerning the Team VLR Dirt Late Model Series, including the latest series standings, 2016 tour schedule, driver information, and more visit the official website at: www.teamvlr.com
Results:
Pos Driver
1 VLR_JW
2 VLR_Shock
3 SKM_Smallz
4 BLS_BW43
5 VLR_LastPlace
6 VLR_Atwood
7 J-MAC
8 VLR_43a
9 DeadBolt
10 BLS_F1yer
11 XCR_KingGinger
12 War48
13 ICE_Eric41
14 VLR_21*
15 Grasshopper
16 peanut
17 Heartland1
18 WFO_Faschek
19 XRL_RB!
20 Josh4
https://youtu.be/oyVspEjCdSM