JRL: Robbio And Shell Are Lucky And Good In Bristol!
- NR2k2
- Published ()
- JustRacin League
Bristol Motor Speedway: a track that strikes fear into the hearts of all sim-racers. The JustRacin League headed to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee this week with no illusions of green flag pit stops, or well formed sheet metal. Everyone knew that just getting out of Bristol without a chip on their shoulder or numerous fines would be challenge in and of itself. Winning? Well everyone wants to win, but survival is the name of the game at Bristol.
Stock Division
The wild racing kicked off on Tuesday with the Food City 200 for the JRL Stock Division. Qualifying for the race was a typically tight affair which had the top 25 in the 16 second bracket, separated by less the half a second. Chris Mangano took his first pole of the season by 12 one-thousandths over second place starter Dan Epp to get it all started for the week.
It was a topsy-turvy race that was marred by 18 cautions for 71 of the 200 laps! Oddly enough there where some fairly remarkable green flag segments which leaved everyone satisfied that the JRL bunch knew how to handle their selves on such a track. 9 different leaders swapped the top spot 12 times during the day, with most of them leading about the same number of laps which made it a tight battle for those all important bonus points.
With one of the most shocking victories so far this season Tom Robbio took the race when all was said and done. But there is a lot more to the story then the results show. And that’s what I’m here for.
With about 8 laps to go the points leader Roger Voss was leading Robbio when the caution flew. Apparently not realizing the race would likely end under yellow Voss backed off! Robbio, who is never one to turn down a gift, never lifted and snagged the lead from Voss who was well off the pace coming down to take the yellow. The race did in fact finish under caution, which is becoming all too common an occurrence lately.
If you think your good enough to race in the JRL, don’t expect this to happen very often. Keep in mind it’s quite a feat just to be running the top 5 of one of these races when the checkers fly. Indeed it was quite possibly the pressure of running in such a league that caused Voss to make the mistake. And it wasn’t much of a mistake, Robbio only barely made around.
Ever humble in victory and defeat Robbio had this to say of the win; "It wasn't the prettiest win, but a win's a win and I'm damn happy about it "
Also finishing in the top five where Sean Higgins, who never managed to lead a lap but nonetheless had a very solid finish. Fourth spot was Mike Ramsden the hard charger for the race, he had to pass 23 cars to get there from his 27 th starting position. And finally the pole sitter Chris Mangano finished 5 th, losing the 5 bonus points for leading the most laps to Tom Robbio by 1 lap.
Modified Division
With one wild race under the belt everyone in the JRL headed for the Modified race knowing anything was possible. Well maybe not everyone’s dream would come true, but CW Webster started things off by taking his first pole of the season by a pretty strong margin at Bristol; 8 one-thousandths of a second. The whole field was rather spread out actually, as the top 24 where separated by an entire second!
With 22 cautions slowing the pace for 86 of the 250 laps this race was actually a bit cleaner then the Stock race, that is if the yellow flag is your gauge. There 14 lead changes among the 8 leaders, but there was no doubt who the boss was in this race.
At the end of the day everyone was chasing Jeff Shell who took the win from his second starting place. Nobody seemed to be able to mount a serious challenge to Shell who took home maximum points leading 78 laps in route to the victory in the Food City 250, his first of the season.
Coming home in second was Dmitri Charaev with another strong finish. Third was Mike Ramsden the winner’s teammate. This means the two have taken 4 of the 6 races so far this year; apparently not minding their manners as hogging the top spot is uncouth to say the least! Rounding out the top five are Roger Voss and Tom Oliver.
Heading into the off week now is a good time to take a look at the points standings. In the Stock division Roger Voss holds on to his lead with his second place finish this week. He did loose a little to Tom Robbio his won the race and closes in now 85 points behind in second place. Finishing out the top 5 are Tom Oliver, Mike Ramsden, and Erick Thomas all with about a 10 th place average finish, and all except Mike now have wins on the season even though no one in the to 8 has yet to take a pole!
In Modified land no one has yet to take a serious shot at Mike Ramsden who continues to hold onto the top spot. If anyone can take over the spot, it may just be his teammate Jeff Shell who moves into a tie with Tom Robbio for second place following his inaugural win this week. The two are now 92 points behind Ramsden. Jeff Weltz and Joey Caporicci finish out the top 5 with an average finish of 9 th.
So that’s how the wild action of Bristol Motor Speedway went for the JustRacin League. Next up for the bunch is... a well deserved break. Please have a look here in two weeks for a complete rundown from the once again repaved Texas Motor Speedway as the JRL Stock and Modified division run the Samsung-Radio Shack 200 and 250 respectively. And on behalf of the JustRacin Administration and drivers, we all hope you have a safe and happy holiday.