JRL: Rogers And Ramsden Tame "the Rock" As JRL Makes "The Switch"
- NR2k2
- Published ()
- JustRacin League
The JRL just wanted to race this week at Rockingham in North Carolina, but switching over to NASCAR Racing 2002 presented a new challenge. Having finally worked out most of the bugs in the new rules package, the JustRacin League administrators decided that the first run using Papyrus' latest racing simulation would be this week's Stock and Modified races at the Rock. So let's have a look at how things turned out.
There where many questions yet to be answered as the cars hit the track for the Stock race on Tuesday and by the end of the night there where even more being asked. Forty cars attempted to qualify for the race with the top 32 starters being separated by a measly four tenths of a second. CW Webster set the pace for the weekend and took the pole in the inaugural N2K2 event for the JRL.
The race started off well with a 30 lap green run, but that was as good as it was going to get. As has been proven many times in racing, cautions breed cautions and this defiantly was the case for the remainder of the race. When the dust settled 13 cautions had flew over the Rockingham mile for 53 of the 158 scheduled laps.
To be sure the race still had its share of excitement as 23 lead changes took place among 11 drivers. A number of drivers had good runs that didn't pay off at the end including Jeff Shell who lead the most laps early in the race and Kevin King who would barely be holding on to the lead lap when the checkers flew.
After all was said and done Chad Rogers had held on through all the yellows and picked up the checkers for the North Carolina 160. Brett Rupert, Tracy Dean, Jeff Shell, and Roger Voss rounded out the top 5 as the race ended under yellow just like the big boys last week.
Though there was no controversy over red flags this week there was indeed a lot of talk about whether the league was ready for the switch to NASCAR Racing 2002. The Stock race at Rockingham was not one of the league's best, but it seemed to be agreed by the end of the week that the decision to switch was indeed a good one. And the race that was to prove this would be the Modified open setup race on Thursday.
Many people thought the Modified race may turn out even worse, as most drivers had done very little if any setup work for the new simulation. Perhaps this trepidation led to more sensible runs by the drivers as this race turned out much more successful then Tuesday night's.
Qualifying was a bit more spread out as Paul Rigney set the pace and took the pole but the top 10 was still tight as the separation was only two tenths of a second. Fortunately no one had to worry about missing the field as 28 drivers showed up to qualify.
The race got of to a great start as the first 30 laps or so where run under the green flag and the cautions where fairly well spread out. Tire wear was the order of the day if you wanted to stay in contention for the win as the middle of the race saw green flag pit stops, something that has been sorely missing in races as of late.
CW Webster and Kevin King had great cars early on and even though Kevin wound up with the 5 points for leading 68 of the 197 laps, by the end of the race both cars would not be a factor due to connection problems.
The late laps saw fierce battles all around the track but in the end cautions and pit stops would tell the story. The final pit stop of the race jumbled the field as Mike Ramsden took the lead from Erick Thomas on pit lane. Several starts and stops made passing difficult and when it was all over Ramsden, the Papyrus beta tester, had pulled off the initial N2K2 Modified win and his second overall for the season. Thomas finished second and Oliver, Robbio, and Nelson topped off the first 5.
The North Carolina 200 saw 13 lead changes with 7 drivers getting a taste of the top spot during the day. Only 12 cautions flew on the day which may sound bad, but it made for what was probably the best race of the season so far.
While opinions, as always, where mixed everyone seems to be happy with the latest simulation out of Papyrus Racing. And all are gambling on a win next week as the JustRacin League heads for Vegas!
So please have a look in this spot next week with more race action from the JRL, as we run the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 160 and 200 from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.