VRW Clash: Tom Oliver Takes First VRW Race Victory After Last Lap Wreck Decimates the Field
- NR2k2
- Published ()
- Virtual Racing World
On Sunday, April 28th, 2002, twelve of the best drivers in the VRW got together for the inaugural VRW Clash event. The VRW Clash is open to all Season 1 drivers who captured either a pre-qual or race pole position during the season 1 campaign. To raise the stakes even more, all damage that occurred during the event would be paid for by the driver's team owner, so everyone wanted to make a clean run.
The 30 lap shootout at Daytona was the first of 7 VRW races spanning from 4/28 to 4/30.The VRW admin team was kind enough to let this reporter sit in on the event live and announce the race to the fans on PalTalk. It was a tough, unforgiving sprint race that saw both a huge wreck and a close finish at the checkered flag.
When you get the top qualifiers together to race the qualifying session should prove to be close. Darren Stevens put his Clifford The Big Red Dog #6 Weidner Racing entry on pole position by only .003 mph over the ever-tough Ellision Motorsports entry of Shannon Whitmore.
The 75 miles event went down at a frenetic pace, with al 12 cars bunched up two wide and 6 deep for most of the race. Veteran driver Tom Oliver took up the lead early after Stevens moved up into the high line, getting a bump draft from Ostrow Racing's Shawn Wise. VRW Champion Mike Ramsden proved to be the first DNF of the event after warp on the Ellison Motorsports # 8 entry of Nim Cross slammed Ramsden's #3 Team Cyclone entry into the turn 4 wall. Scott Heironymous and were also collected in the incident. Ramsden retired his entry after smoke began billowing from his the engine.
The field quickly ran down the remaining laps of the race under green, locked in line and unable to move ahead. The #21 and #22 Farmer Racing Kokanee cars of Jay Taylor and Dave Brown worked together behind leader Tom Oliver in the low line. Neither line could seem to get an advantage with Oliver and Stevens trading the lead at the line several times.
On lap 27, Stevens got a strong run down the back straight and got ahead of Oliver on the low line. It did not last long. As the field exited turn 4 Stevens was bumped from behind by Oliver, sending the #6 through the infield grass and into the tri-oval outside wall, damaging the car. Wisely Stevens parked the car in the pits.
Oliver was leading on the final lap, with Shawn Wise on the outside and the whole field waiting for a mistake by the leaders. That chance never came as the cars roared into turn one and Dustin McGrew was caught in the middle while running around the 4th position.
A massive wreck occurred, with only three cars escaping being spun out. The #21 of Jay Taylor took a scary ride as he flipped into the turn on catch fence, car's literally driving underneath of this smashed vehicle. One of the cars that emerged unscathed was the Southern Motorsports #11 entry of Derek Ablamsky, who had ran in the back of the field the whole race.
Oliver must have been slowed a little by the carnage but was far enough ahead to maintain the lead. Ablamsky was closing fast on the backstretch however and as they exited turn four the Ablamsky made his move on the outside. Oliver won the race by less than a quarter car length, taking his first win in a VRW sanctioned event and bringing $200,000 home for his team owner Chris Horst of Long Pedal Racing.
SimAutoRacer.net would like to congratulate to Tom Oliver!