I honestly can’t believe this was an official race… I joined with about two minutes to go and became the seventh entrant - making it official. For some reason two of those who had registered forfeited and went to do something else and that left five of us in the server - for an official race!
I hadn’t bothered to qualify (I actually wanted to run the SK Modified, but at this time in the morning everyone seems to be running the Skip Barber Race Series). I would start fourth.
I got a bit of a slow start and dropped behind a slower car. This lost me about three seconds over the first five or six laps until I passed him. Once I did I had to work really hard trying to close down the two cars that were now ahead and this actually was a lot of fun! Trying to get my lines right each lap, trying to eek away 0.1s per lap to close them down actually made the race interesting for me…
Anyway, I wound up finishing third. I was the fastest man on the track and set a best lap of 21.003. I’m slightly dissapointed about my poor start because I could have been right with those guys and made it an even more interesting race - but nevermind!
Late Models at Martinsville
I ran an absolutely clean race. I do remember brushing the wall once, but it didn’t result in a safety rating penalty.
I wasn’t going to post this one, but as it’s the only Late Model race I think I’ll be doing this week (I am addicted to both the Silver Crown and the Mazda), I thought I would.
It wasn’t very eventful. I didn’t qualify and started in seventh place, I finished sixth and had no incidents. I was iRated as the fifth best driver, but I don’t think I was any faster than those who finished ahead of me. My fastest lap was a 22.783, set on lap six.
I had a real good run going here, I was iRated fourth and was running fourth, right behind the top three… The guys in first and second tangled, collected the third - and the fourth. I’m the red car with wheels locked trying to get slowed down. I just couldn’t make it down to that lower lane! If I had, I would have won the race, I had a four-second lead over the guy in fifth-place.
#1 and #3 tangle as I desperately try to get slowed down...
Yet again, I started from pole. Yet again, my tyres gave up and I dropped to second-place. It’s kind of hard to be too dissapointed about it, but I still haven’t got a win yet! My laps led total has gone way up though just lately and I think it’s only a matter of time before I get a win on either the ovals or roadcourses. Anyway, I didn’t qualify before the event, but still had my 16.092 from a few days ago. This, as I said above, gave me pole position.
It wasn’t much of an interesting race (which is why honestly, I’m glad I don’t win all the time) until the guy in second place started to catch me as my tyres went off. I’d just started to try a higher line when he caught me and it actually seemed that with worn tyres I was slightly faster there again than I was at the bottom of the track. I just let him go and really, that was it! I ran around in second-place (a lap ahead of the third-placed person) until the chequered flag.
I had no incidents (no, not even a scrape with the wall) and my fastest lap was 16.092 (yes, the same as my qualifying lap from days earlier), set on lap two.
Just lately I’ve felt pretty fast and for the third time ever (but the second time in two days!) I was on pole for this race. I’d set a time of 16.092 the day before and thought that was good enough.
So I started on pole and actually led most of the race, but by about lap twenty-five (of fifty) I’d really started to feel the wear on my tyres. I came out of a turn and slapped the wall pretty hard. I’m not sure what damage I had done, but it completely changed the handling of the car. I now found myself having to run the high line around South Boston and almost unable to hold a low line at all.
Eventually over the next seven or eight laps, the person in second-place managed to close the gap and start to get his nose alongside. As I continued to run the high line I actually noticed that it is quite a competitive line when the tyres are worn as he had quite a bit of trouble getting by and clearing my car. When he did eventually get by, on lap thirty-three, I settled in and continued to run hard, finishing in second-place.
So I had a good run. I made one mistake with my wall contact and that probably didn’t alter where I would have finished. I think my tyres were fried and honestly the guy behind seemed faster. My fastest lap was a 16.062, set on lap two.
I ran a qualifying session fifteen minutes before today’s Late Model race (at 6:45am) and my best time was 22.674. After joining the 7am event I was joined by a field of seven others who were (except one other) all rookies. I sort of expected it to not be a clean race, but it turned out to be quite a challenging event. I would be starting the race from 2nd-place and was iRanked as the 2nd-best Oval racer.
I got a bit of a slow start, but it was still good enough for me to get tucked in behind the leader by the end of lap one. After a few laps I was on the tail of the leader, but behind me was the #1 iRated driver, who was just as close to me as I was the leader.
I kept putting pressure on the leader and he had begun to show signs of pushing too hard. His back end kept swaying off the turn and eventually is slid enough to slow him considerably. I made a move to the inside and we banged door to door in the turn, this made me slide a little and go onto the apron of the racetrack. I didn’t lose a position because the guys behind had lifted off, probably expecting a wreck!
I kept lapping consistenly, but was now lapping slower than the leader. I guessed that the slide and pushing beforehand had worn my tyres badly, so I just ran as well as I could. Lucky for me, the guys in 3rd and 4th-place were battling hard and this left me feeling comfortable in 2nd for the majority of the race.
On lap twenty-eight the battle for 3rd had been decided and the #1 iRated driver was right on my tail. The leader was 2.4s ahead and I knew I was probably a 3rd-place driver, so I pulled aside in the turn and let the faster driver by, hoping to hold onto 3rd to the end of the race.
Things remained the same until lap thirty-eight: The leader was 3.3s ahead and 2nd-place was 1.3s ahead, so things were still quite tight and any spin or serious contact with the wall could easily have cost them the race. I was continuing to lap consistently and was now almost a lap ahead of the 4th-place car. I got really lucky when the leader spun! He had a perfect race up to that point and had led every lap, but after spinning he was safe and remained stationary in the middle of the track… I saw him very late because his car was blocked by the cockpit of my own car and I was very lucky to squeeze between his rear-end and the outside wall.
For the next twelve laps it was just a case of staying consistent and not making an error big enough for the 3rd-place car to catch me. He was slightly faster, but ran out of laps - I finished 2nd!
My fastest lap was a 22.574 and that was done on lap six. I had no incidents (even with the car contact - it was not counted as neither driver lost control or crashed). I really enjoyed the race.
This race couldn’t really have been more dissapointing… I joined without a qualifying time and started 12th out of twelve cars, I was also iRated in 12th and noticed pretty quickly that the person rated #1 was Dale Earnhardt Jr….
So, I lined up for the race and as the pace car pulled in I was ready to have a good race… It was going well and I was in 10th-place on lap four when - suddenly - I was disconnected as an incoming telephone called seemed to disconnect me.
Unfortunately for the person in 12th when I disconnected, I continued to be visible to them while they were invisible to me! Unknown to me I was involved in an incident with a car I couldn’t even see…
So, the best bit of the race wound up being when I was lapped by Dale Earnhardt Jr, who won his 20th iRacing Oval race from 58 starts!
I rejoined the server after my disconnection and put some laps in… Why? It’s always best to do this, because you can run clean laps with no pressure and increase your Safety Rating. I finished 11th and had no incidents apart from the one already mentioned. My fastest lap was a 22.788 on lap nine.
