HFRL: Season 2 Begins @ "The Monster Mile"
- Published ()
- Hurricane Force Racing League
After an exciting season number one came to a close last week at Lowe's Motor Speedway with four drivers having entered the race with a chance at the championship. That coupled with the fact that several new and talented drivers had joined the HFRL, everyone entered Dover with high hopes of this being a highly competetive season.The race quality was also expected to be at a higher level. Wow were expectations ever met or exceeded.
Newcomer Cody Bolinske #02 ran the fastest lap to take the pole position. Another newcomer Mike Hill #11, who also just joined the HFRL sat on the outside of row 1. As the green flag fell, it only took a few laps for things to settle down and everyone to get into single file.The #02 of Bolinske started distancing himself from the rest of the field over the next several laps.
The first sign of trouble was when Brenton Wells # 07 slowed and spun on laps 13 and 19. Neither incident brought out a caution. Don Miller in the #36 car was one of the first to show tire wear and fade back after running second for a while. By lap 30, Bolinske #02, was still leading followed by Bob Brewer #40, Rick Clark #2, Mike Hill # 11 and Dave Stickney #98 rounding out the top 5.
On lap 60 the leaders Bolinske #02 and Brewer #40 pitted. The lead was then handed to Clark #2 who then pitted himself on lap 64. David Graham #27 was now in the lead and finally pitted on lap 68. Hill #11 held the lead until Bolinske finally got it back at lap 72.
The first caution would come at lap 116 when Graham #27 bottomed out in turn 3 and spun into the outside wall. By this time only two cars remained on the lead lap. The #02 and #40 cars with the #2 having just went a lap down. After a much needed break and pit stop, the green fell once again at lap 123 with Bolinske #02 holding onto the lead. He would eventually go on to lead the most laps with 133.
The second caution of the day was brought out when Graham #27 got bitten by turn 3 again, eventually ending his day. The two leaders pitted at lap 135 and the green flag fell again at lap 138. Brewer #40 battled close behind Bolinske #02 for the next 7 laps until turn 3 once again bit hard as it got the leader Bolinske #02 which also collected Brewer #40. Clark #2 was able to get his lap back and elected not to pit and ended up with the lead. The green fell on lap 151 in which Clark #2 held off Brewer #40 until turn 3 once again bit the leader on lap 156 sending the #2 car into the outside wall which would eventually end his day with 2 laps to go. Brewer #40 came around and took the caution giving him his first HFRL points victory. Bolinske #02 held on for 2nd followed by Stickney #98, Dan Riffero #14 and Miller #36 rounding out the top 5.
After the race SimAutoRacer.net caught up with race winner Bob Brewer. "WOW!! id like to thank my sponsors, FLOWMASTER MUFFLERS and ATI GRAPHICS also like to thank all DFR TEAM MEMBERS for helping in our practices" said Brewer. "Well, Cody in the 02 car he was the man to beat till that 2nd caution I adjusted my track bar and tightened my wedge down also slapped some more tape on my car , as we went green with I think 20 to go Cody must have over adjusted on his car and he bottomed out which caused us to crash, boy I didn't think I had any thing after that and when Rick was up front there he was another I thought could win I guess I had more than I though I had for him , I knew when I could hold my car in the turns at 134 with 10 to go with out spinning my crumpled car there was hope. I hate it for Rick he was also one of the guys that was fast, your time is coming Rick!!!"
SAR also caught up with David Stickney, who finished third in the event. "Man.. that was an exiting race. My crew got me running up front for most of the day. The car wasn't very good on long runs, so we adjusted, but itdidn't wanna settle in. I didn't have anything for the leaders today. We'll bring the Fanta Ford to Pocono with all guns blazing! I wanna thank mysponsors, Fanta, and my STXRacing� teammates, and especially my Fanta Team!"
HFRL series rookie Dan Riffero also stopped by for a word with us, muttering something about sponsor obligation. "The NetVelocity Racing Monkeys [yes, he said monkeys - Ed.] rolled a real good car setup off the truck for for the event but limited practice time at Dover really killed any chance we had at winning the event. Brenton had very limited seat time, and the setup was much more loose than he needed at that point. He decided to park it instead of causing a bigger incident. We started in the back and planned hoped tire wear would become a factor for the guys in front of us. The long green flag run hurt us in that we went a lap down, but at same time we were able to pick up about 5 positions by conserving our tires. Pretty soon I found that I was much faster than the guys that were staying out. The pit crew was dead on today also, and really helped move the #14 SimAutoRacer.net Chevy to the front. We got a big break when someone in front of us had a problem with 2 laps to go, or we would have finished in 5th. We'll get more testing time in for Pocono and bring both cars home up there."
If this first race at Dover,with only four cautions,was any indication of what season 2 holds in store for the HFRL, then racing should be at its finest. Hats off to all the drivers who ran the race. There was good clean racing throughout the feild all race long. One driver(Mike Hill #11) was quoted the day after the race as saying: "That was probably the cleanest league race I ever been in! I swear there was more 'give and take' last night than I've seen in an entire season." Coming from a veteran like Mike who has raced in many league races over the years, I would say that statement sums up the race in fewer words than I could.