TSW 500: Dramatic Finish Caps Off Thrilling 2002 Thomas Superwheel 500
- NR4
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- Thomas Superwheel 500
To make the field for the fourth annual Thomas-Superwheel 500 event you have to be smart, fast, and lucky. Every driver who makes the field earned the right to be there.
The TSW 500's tough qualification system takes 786 entries and trims the field down to 39 of the fastest drivers in online sim racing. The several short length heat races and two final 175 mile races at Daytona can prove to be brutal to even the best drivers.
For the fourth annual TSW 500 the top 200 cut off lap time was 47.167 seconds. There were 4 cars that ran that exact time. That means that your only getting a chance if you've got a great setup and you run one heck of a second qualifying lap.
Running the distance in the 500 is a whole different ballgame. To complete the 200 lap, 500 mile full distance of the race you have to have endurance. The 2002 TSW 500 was no exception to that rule.
Dain Nes (Procraft) was the man to beat on open qualifying time and set the pole with a 191.355 mph / 47.033 sec run on January 9th, 2002. On the outside pole was Clifford Agnor (ripken8) with a 191.318 mph/47.042 sec run on January 12th. In the final qualifying session for the actual TSW 500 Agnor adjusted to the wintery 55 degree air temp and set the fastest lap with a 46.546 second run.
This is where we have to apologize to our readers as we did not get the first 48 laps of the event. There apparently was a 'Big One' that took out Dain Ness and Mike Grandy among others.
We caught up with Grandy after the race:
"To be quite honest I'm not sure what happened," said Mike Grandy. "Just one of those racing deals where you're running close and something happens and you can't avoid it." The disappointed veteran seemed to be ready for next year. "As always Chris (Shearburn) did a great job as well as the officials. Just wish the outcome would have been different. Next year I think we'll have something for them."
In all there were 17 cars out of the event after only 50 laps.
Our copy of the replay started at lap 48, right as polesitter Agnor was caught up in a turn 4 wreck that ruined his chances at winning the online 500.
The first half of the race was filled with cautions and rough driving. On lap 78 jeremy3w got loose exiting turn two and MarkJunk ended up flipping down the back straight. Both cars were put out of the race because of damage.
Connection warp seemed to play havoc with the field at times. In a perfect example of a warp caused crash, Ed Lajoie warped for about 10 seconds and ended up wrecking hard when his connection returned. Lajoie's #124 Dupont entry was nearly flipped exiting the tri-oval on lap 95.
During the first half of the race the #27 No Fear car of NOFEAR27 sat in mid pack, avoiding the large wrecks. Around lap 100 his team took only right side tires and took the lead on the gamble. It paid off and NOFEAR27 lead over 80 laps in the second half of the race.
The second half of the race was distinctively smoother as most of the competitors settled down for the long green flag run. NOFEAR27 held on to the lead until the next round of pit stops where he took 4 tires and stayed in the top 10. Unfortunately for the #27 a severe warp would see him go from the lead to behind the pit wall with only 11 laps remaining in the event.
Mills (**2-loose-(BC)**) and Newman were almost taken out on lap 168 after Mills spun out while trying to make a move for the lead on the outside. Both cars recovered and remained on the lead lap.
TSW sponsored #24 of JG24fan led 10 laps during the day but ruined his chances at the win when he down on the apron while leading the race in the closing laps.
The closing laps of the TSW 500 were one of the most intense we've seen this season so far.
BigDawg97 looked to be the sure race winner going into the final lap. Amazingly John Mills (**2-loose-(BC)**) fought back through the lead pack and was being challenged for second by a hard charging asphalt2. The two cars went door to door as asphalt2 made his move on the outside. As the leaders entered turn three the two cars touched a little and asphalt2 was shot into the outside wall, collecting JG24fan.
As the BigDawg97 exited turn 4 he protected the low line but it would not be enough as John Mills (**2-loose-(BC)**) put the winning pass on the outside and won the 2002 TSW 500 in one of the most dramatic finishes in the four year history of the event.
The official results for the 2002 TSW 500 can be found here.