ORCA Champ Series: Reed Victorious in Vegas!!!
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- Online Racing Championship Association
Las Vegas, Nevada - Twenty-three of the ORCA Champ Series teams traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada for the POGA.net 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Most of the teams were unsure of the best way to prepare. Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a wide track which can lead to long green-flag runs but last week's performance gave many teams pause. Thankfully, it seems that lessons were learned last week.
The qualifying was very tight up front with Thomas Trout, in the #83 POGA.net Ford Taurus, capturing his sponsor's pole with a 31.974-second lap. David Barrett, in the #24 AllOfficeSports.com Monte Carlo, took the outside pole position with a 32.093-second lap. Dwayne Vincent, the ORCA East Series Las Vegas winner, driving the #88 CSI, Inc. Taurus, and Chris Laha, in the #122 unsponsored Chevy Monte Carlo, filled out the second row.
The caution flag flew 5 times during the race, putting 16 laps of the 134-lap race behind the pace car. That left 88% of the race to run under the green flag. Six drivers managed to lead at least one lap, earning then 5 bonus points for leading a lap. Leading 86 laps, Chris Laha managed to earn an extra 5 bonus points for leading the most laps. While there were no green-flag stops, the race did end with an exciting 34-lap green-flag run to the checkers.
Wayne Daigle, driving for Optimum Health, faded from 5th on the last green-flag run to finish 10th, 15.41 seconds behind the leader. Thomas Trout, driving for POGA.net, stayed in the middle of the pack all day and took home a respectable 9th place finish, 10.28 seconds behind the leader. Jason Garrett, driving for MikeHollis.com, captured 8th, 10.28 seconds behind the leader. Don Young, driving for McGartlin Motorsport Design, came home in 7th, 8.75 seconds behind the leader. Mark Brister, driving for ExtreemeServers.com, was out of the top 10 for most of the race but came on strong on the last green-flag run to finish in 6th place, only 5.15 seconds behind the leader.
Steven Flinn, in the #8 Texas Networking Solutions Monto Carlo, came home in 5th, falling from his 4th place restart on the last green-flag run. He finished 4.83 seconds behind the leader.
David Barrett, driving the #24 AllOfficeSports.com Chevrolet, captured 4th place, fading from his 1st place restart on the last green-flag run. He finished 3.31 seconds behind the leader.
Chris Laha, in the #122 unsponsored Chevy, took 3rd. On the last green-flag run he started in 2nd and quickly took the lead, but he was unable to hold off the competition, finishing 3.31 seconds behind the leader.
Dwayne Vincent, driving the #88 CSI, Inc. Ford Taurus, came home in 2nd place. He hung around the top 5 early in the race only to fade back to the middle of the pack in the middle of the race. Restarting 10th on the last green-flag run he flew past the rest of the field, on pace to catch the leader if only there would have been a few more laps left in the race.
Ray Reed, in the #23 U.S. Navy Chevy Monte Carlo, took the checkered flag, capturing his first victory of the season by a 2.29-second margin. Reed was in the top 5 all day and, restarting in 3rd on the last green-flag run, he steadily worked his way to the front, taking the lead from Laha with 12 laps to go.
This race was much cleaner than last week's. Congratulations to all of the drivers for a great race.
For the ORCA Champ Series, this is Wayne Daigle, reporting from the Caesar's Palace casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Congratulations to Ray Reed and the U.S. Navy.
Winner's Interview
Wayne: Congratulations on winning the POGA.net 200, taking the points lead, and winning a ticket to the next NASCAR Bristol race. How does it feel?
Ray: Thanks Wayne! It feels great; I really can't believe it. I'm going to BRISTOL Baby! That's been a dream of mine for a long time. Now I have the opportunity and I'm really excited about it. As for taking the points lead, that is thrilling also. It's definitely going to be tough to stay there though.
Wayne: Your car was great on long runs. Did you make any adjustments to your setup during the race?
Ray: My car really was good on long runs, but on short runs I didn't have much for Chris Laha or David Barrett. I took a few rounds of wedge out during one of the cautions, and it loosened me up too much. I started losing some positions, so I just held on and hoped for another caution. When we got the next caution, I made a track bar adjustment, and the car was great after that.
Wayne: How much trouble did you have working your way through traffic?
Ray: I didn't have much trouble working through traffic. My car held the low line really well, so I was able to make a lot of passes when guys would drift up the track.
Wayne: How will receiving the extra 50 championship points you earned in this No Bull race, and leading the field by such a large margin, affect your strategy in upcoming races?
Ray: Those 50 championship points are very important. I'm sure it will be a tight points race this year, so I hope those points will play into my favor. For the next few races, I feel like I can be a little more conservative. I'm racing for the championship, but I'm also looking to win races. The difference now is I'll be less apt to put myself in dangerous situations.
Wayne: Is there anyone you would like to thank?
Ray: I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to race and enjoy life. I also want to thank the U.S. Navy and all of our service men and women that are protecting our country and our beliefs. Thanks to Advanced Auto Parts for coming on board as the title sponsor of our series. We had a great race Saturday night, and I'm looking forward to many more to come.
Reporting for ORCA: Wayne Daigle