“Halfway through the race I started hitting mid 80's quite regularly,” noted Rain, smiling broadly after winning last week in Pennsylvania, and now Maryland. “I was scared shitless the last five laps I wouldn't have any tires left, honestly. But yeah it was fun, I had a good enough lead thanks to Tyree the first few laps.”
Rainman, 26, of East Moline, Ill., accomplished his competitive goal – and sold a few t-shirts in the process, as he is slowly becoming a fan favorite due to his brash driving style and laid-back personality.
He moved up from the second starting spot to inherit the lead by the end of the first lap. The first lap was probably the most exciting as pole sitter Doit 2, WFO_Rainman, and VLR_Shock were all three wide for the lead before a full lap was even in the books.
After clearing the other two drivers, he left everyone else to share the mayhem behind him while slowly padding his lead.
VLR_18, 15, settled for second place in the NOS Energy MasterSsbilt, about seven car lengths behind Rainman at the checkered flag. It was the point leaders 14th top five in a row in VLR Gen 3 action dating back to last season, and his 25th top three in his last 26 starts at VLR.
Hard Charger BLS_F1yer of Hickory, NC. moved up from his seventh starting spot to pick up third place, not far behind 18. The two worked together most of the race, but weren't able to run down the x59 car at the end.
Tyree_59 made his debut at VLR this season, and ran in his first dtr2 race in around a year. He brought home a strong fourth place run on the night, despite showing some rust after getting into a couple of cars throughout the night.
WFO_ICE of Tahlequah, Ok., stumbled home to finish in fifth place, while being locked in a tight battle all race with Tyree and VLR_Shock.
Second place points man VLR_Shock of Crossville, Tn., finished sixth – and lost a few points to VLR_18 in the process, as he struggled to maintain his car up front after suffering damage throughout the race from bumping and banging with other drivers.
WFO_Rainman had no problems with his car, however, as he powered away from the pack, before being reeled in slowly at the end when his tires began going away.
“This was a good car for us tonight and the tires held up good until the end,” said WFO_Rainman. “We just needed to get out in the clean air and maintain it and that's what we were able to do.”
VLR rookie driver Doit 2 provided Rainman a stern test early in the A-Main. The driver was making his first start ever in the Gen 3's at VLR, and made sure it was a good one after picking up the pole at feature time. However, he couldn't maintain it against the veterans of the series and eventually faded to a disappointing eighth place finish.
Doit 2 brought home a fourth Friday night at this same track in his Crate late model debut, and an eighth place was certainly not something to be upset about against some of the biggest names in the business.
VLR_18 sounded satisfied with his runner-up finish, but everyone knew that deep down inside it was eating him up that he didn't get the win over one of his biggest rivals in the business.
"Good points day for us,” said 18, who has 35 career wins in VLR action. “I think we were catching him at the end, but I'm happy with the run. I wish we were in victory lane right now, but there's always another race."
BLS_F1yer, 31, made his moves early, using the inside line to reach third by lap 22. He challenged VLR_18 throughout the rest of the 50 lap feature, but came up a couple car lengths short at the line.
“We were trying to work with 18 and get up there,” said F1yer. “I think the beating and banging at the beginning of the race pretty much bottle-necked everybody and let Rain pull away. The best car probably didn't win, but it's racing.”
Tyree, 19, had an up and down day that finally ended with an up as he was able to grab fourth. After getting aggressive early in the race he found himself up to second at one time, challenging for the lead before he got freight-trained back to seventh. It was an up and down day for Tyree in his return, and he thought it could have been better, despite a fourth place result.
“I got up there real quick, man,” said Tyree, “I couldn't get past EZ (Doit 2), though, and then Shock came up there, and he kind of knocked the hell out of me, but other than that I think it put me all the way back to eighth. My tires went away some at the end. It was fun for my first race in a while, but a win would have been even better.”
WFO_ICE, was hoping to claim his first VLR Gen 3 victory of 2010 at "The Rock", but couldn't do much in the back of the pack in a crowd of cars.
“I definitely think we had a car that could have won the race,” said ICE. “I just couldn't get a clean lap in when my tires were the best. I couldn't hit anything good, though, because everybody was beating and banging for 5th, 6th, and 7th, so I was just trying to ride it out.”
VLR_Shock, 21, felt fortunate to escape Cumberland without losing even more points to VLR_18, as he would come home fifth
“I was afraid that this would happen when we ended up starting in the middle of the pack,” said Shock, who has just three events remaining in his unlikely pursuit of his second title. “Once we got up there at the start and made it three wide for the lead I thought we'd be running for the win all night. Then everyone just started driving crazy it seemed like and we ended up on the bad side.
“Sixth is better than what it could have been I guess, but it turned out like the Crate race did for me Friday night pretty much. It's a great track but not fun when your in that situation.”
Finishing in positions 7-10 was VLR_McGee of Spartanburg, Sc.; pole sitter Doit 2.; Doit 10 of Fort Worth, Tx.; and Doit 3 of New York
Twenty-one cars were signed in for the event on the flat half-miler which boasted high speeds and wide corners.
VLR_18 set fast time in time trials, turning a lap of 14.035 seconds to earn the pole for the fourth time this season, but by virtue of being the points leader coming into the race, he was relugated to a sixth starting spot despite winning his heat race.
Heat winners were VLR_18, WFO_Rainman, and WFO_ICE. The B-Mains were claimed by BLS_F1yer and VLR_McGee.
The VLR Gen 3 tour visits West Memphis, Ar. next Sunday for a 60 lap main event at the short and fast Riverside International Speedway.
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For more information on the VLR series, visit www.teamvlr.com
Qualifying Results: 1. VLR_18 2. VLR_Shock 3. WFO_ICE 4. VLR_Jsn 5. VLR_McGee 6. Tyree 7. 888_Bojack 8. WFO_Rainman 9. Doit 18 10. Doit 2 11. BLS_BLZ 12. BLS_F1yer 13. BLS_Superman 14. Doit 10 15. VLR_4 16. Doit 3 17. BLS_Zombie 18. VLR_KP 19. BOB
Top 10 Results of VLR Late Model series Super8 50 (Finishing Position/Start/Driver):
1. (2) WFO_Rainman
2. (6) VLR_18
3. (7) BLS_F1yer
4. (5) Tyree_59
5. (3) WFO_ICE
6. (4) VLR_Shock
7. (8) VLR_McGee
8. (1) Doit 2
9. (10) Doit 10
10. (9) Doit 3
Time of Race: 11 Mins., 40.11 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.77 Secs.
Rookie of the Race: Doit 2
SuperClean Fast Time Award: VLR_18 14.03
SuperClean Hard Luck Award: Doit 3