VRW: Despite Warning, Cautions Still Plague VRW at Phoenix
- NR4
- Published ()
- Virtual Racing World
Before the VRW Phoenix 300, Virtual Racing World administrator Nim Cross warned the league's drivers that he would be cracking down on rough or irresponsible driving. "Race with your brain not with your foot!" he said. That message apparently went in one ear and out the other as the VRW owners were racked again with another double digit caution event.
Once again the #27 Gulf Holmes entry of Chris Shearburn took the pole for the race. After the start the caution flew on lap 2 as Don Colliau slammed into the side of Farmer Racing substitute driver Brian Motisko, ending his race. Collected in the crash were Roger Voss and Ed Keegan.
Shearburn was slowly pulling away from the second place #13 Alienware Ford Taurus of TJ Majors when a chain reaction accident occurred on lap 18. As Darryl Young was exiting turn two he appeared to pedal the car to avoid hitting the barrier. The drop in speed caused Tom Oliver in the #4 Team Cyclone entry to also lift and Long Pedal Racing's star driver Dustin McGrew and Dave Brown got stuffed in the wall trying to avoid Oliver. The incident truly was a chain reaction. Both cars were able to continue. The entire field pitted on the ensuing caution.
TJ Majors made a costly mistake by staying out and the move moved him from 2nd to 26th when he came in on the second lap under yellow. Also staying out for track position were Darrin Stevens and Shannon Whitmore who moved to the lead.
A few laps into the restart Stevens found he could not hold off Whitmore and the #68 moved past Stevens for the lead on lap 27.
Shearburn and Whitmore pulled away from the field and enjoyed a three second lead over the third place car of Mike Ramsden. Shearburn waited until lap 43 to make his move and passed Whitmore with a patient inside pass that started entering turn one and was completed entering turn three. Ramsden began reeling in the dueling duo.
The pass was perfectly timed as the caution flew on lap 45. A hard charging TJ Majors crashed hard into the turn 4 wall after attempting a turn four pass on Roger Voss while racing for the 12th position. Chaos ensued down the front straight and a terminally unlucky Nelson Rivera, subbing in the #99 car, was spun out blocking the track. The front straight was turned into a virtual parking lot as many cars came to a complete stop to avoid getting involved in the melee. Majors instantly left the race after losing a couple panels on the car.
The VRW field pitted under the yellow and Shearburn once again was able to take advantage of his first pit stall to avoid the congested pit lane. Ramsden and Whitmore got together in the pit lane and while Whitmore was able to get out in 2nd. Despite numerous attempts to get into his pit stall, Ramsden only dropped from 4th to 5th position in the altercation.
The green flag did not last for long as Mike Rigney pushed up into Charlie Buscher on lap 61, again bringing out the caution. Most of the field again pitted, with FPOM driver Brett Rupert making a great call and only taking right side tires to move from 15th to 5th. Tom Ostrow was able to return to the race in the #05 after leaving due to warp.
Mike Bonoffski looked to be staying with Chris Shearburn after the restart but quickly burned up his tires as he only took two tires also. Despite taking only two Shearburn began to pull away from the 2nd and 3rd place Team Cyclone driver of Ramsden and Oliver. On lap 110 the caution once again flew as Shawn Kimbal got into the back of the other Alienware Ford of Chad Rogers. Mike Rigney barely avoided going a lap down as Shearburn lost the 3 second lead he had built up.
During the pit stops Shearburn once again emerged with the lead and Tom Oliver beat Ramsden out of the pitlane to take the second spot. A mostly quite Shawn Wise moved into the 4th position with a well-executed pit stop. Shearburn picked up where he left off, slowly driving away from the pair of Team Cyclone cars.
On lap 130 Scott Hieronymous was spun in turn four by Ed Keegan. Hieronymous didn't hit anything and made a nice recovery to keep himself on the lead lap as he got his #01 TDRacin' Oakley/Cosco Chevy back up to speed. Little changed up front during the following pitstops.
Shearburn seemed invincible as he one again pulled away from Team Cyclone. Ramsden finally moved ahead of Oliver on lap 158 with a clean inside pass down the back straight. Oliver soon also gave up the 3rd position to the #5 of Darren Stevens. Shawn Wise was running in 5th, almost 6 seconds behind the leader at that point.
Buscher brought out the yellow on lap 167 after clipping the turn two wall and spinning in front of Chad Rogers. Shannon Whitmore made a big gamble and took only two tires to move from 7th to 1st place on the track. It was the first time that Shearburn was not in the lead in over 100 laps.
On the restart the lapped car of Billy Murphy hindered Whitmore enough that Shearburn and Ramsden made him the meat in their sandwich, going three wide into turn two. Shearburn emerged the leader and Ramsden took over the second spot. Ramsden had a shot exiting two but Shearburn slammed the door shut on him. The green flag was short lived as Kevin DeBello slammed into the rear end of Don Colliau on the back straight. Colliau's ssbsnet.net #29 was flipped and came to a rest upside down in turn four, ending his race. On the restart, Kevin Gibson came down on Tom Oliver and was punted into the turn four wall nearly head on at 110 mph. His race was also ended.
Ramsden was able to stay with Shearburn on the restart and the two pulled away from the Power Puff Girls drivers of Stevens and Nim Cross. Ramsden could not seem to get close enough to Shearburn to make a move on him. With 10 laps remaining Ed Keegan put Darryl Young in the turn 3 wall after he drifted up into the #87.
On the final restart Ramsden got a poor jump and lost a half second to Shearburn going into the first turn. With only two to go Ramsden appeared to be pulling back some of that time when Roger Voss put himself and several other drivers, including Tom Oliver, in the wall after rear ending Kimball in turn three.
That sealed the deal for Chris Shearburn and Team Gulf Holmes as they took home their second win of the season. Mike Ramsden gained much needed points with a patient second place finish. Weidner Racing drivers Darren Stevens and Nim Cross came home 3rd and 4th respectively and Ostrow Racing's Shawn Wise closed out the top 5.
No official results were available from the VRW as this recap went to press.