VRW S2: Live Audience Witness Historic Moment in Sim Racing History, Drivers Settle Down
- NR2k2
- Published ()
- Virtual Racing World
Over the years the idea of a live audience watching a virtual race has been pure fantasy. The reality was that only a certain number of viewers were allowed into the race at any given moment. On Monday, May 20th, 2002, David McCall, Tom Robbio, and IT infrastructure company e^deltacom made that fantasy a very successful reality as the produced a live, streaming broadcast of the Sportsman 250.
Sportsman Puts On A Great Show
The VRW Sportsman division rolled into Texas reeling from the high damage cost of the Rockingham event of the prior week. Daytona 250 winner Shawn Kimball looked strong all weekend, taking both the pre-qualification pole on Sunday and the race pole on Monday. Dan Epp brought up the outside pole on race day.
The event featured 20 lead changes among 12 drivers and even had a very long green flag run that required green flag pit stops.
The Sportsman race at Texas was a great show for the streaming audience, with only 5 caution flags for 20 laps of the 167 lap event. Rockingham winner Wade Hermes ran up front for much of the day until a blown tire put him two laps down in the Like Real Racing #37. Hermes finished a disappointing 20th after leading over 40 laps of the event.
Dan DeNayer, winner of one of the Daytona 125 races came home in 5th position, leading 5 laps along the way. "I think I could have been fighting for the win if I wouldn't have messed up my green flag pit stop" said DeNayer after the race. "I was to far to the right and had to back up."
Kevin Kyle took home the 4th position after starting all the way in the 30th spot on the grid.
Dan Epp came home in the 3rd spot for Lewis Racing, leading 13 laps along the way. Nick Morse was on the move all day, leading 22 laps and bringing his #36 Hurst Motorsports ride back to the hauler in second.
The man to beat at Texas was Shawn Kimball who was back in his Team Janko Racing ride after missing the Rockingham race. Kimball, who narrowly won the Daytona 250 two weeks prior, led the most laps of the event as he rode in the top 5 and took his second VRW victory of the season.
The Grand National Drivers Rebound At Texas
For most of the field in the VRW GN division the North Carolina 250 was a disaster. In the closing laps a huge wreck decimated the field and pushed the divisions damage costs even higher. Texas turned out to be a nice change of pace after such a horrible event.
The #59 Horst Motorsports ride of Scott Chew narrowly edged out Team Green's Joao Vaz for the pole position, turning a 29.732 second lap around the 1.5 mile track. Chew would lead the most laps of the event as he lead the field for 41 laps of the 167 lap event. Unfortunately his day ended on lap 128 when...
The race hand only 6 cautions for 21 laps under yellow. In all 13 drivers led at least one lap for a total of 21 lead changes at the start/finish line.
Tom Robbio had a strong showing, bringing his #39 Checkered Past Racing home in the fifth position for Dennis Fuson. Robbio started in the 18th position on the grid and did not lead any laps.
The #88 of Eric Leblanc had a strong showing in the #88 Ana Motor Sports entry home in the fourth position from a 13th starting spot. His teammate Darrell Young ran up front early but lost a lap after a black flag and could not get it back despite running at the lead of the pack for the rest of the race. "We had a fast car throughout the race" said Young afterward. "It's a shame our 17th place finish doesn't show it."
Patricio Rey Racing finally found a glimmer of hope after Al Sena took the third position at the end of the race. Gabriel Albano's team has been racked with damage costs totaling $490,000 after just three events. Jason Davis also had a impressive race for Albano's JustRacin' cars, finishing a respectable 11th.
Tony LaGrene came home a close second in the #47 Lowes Racing car owned by Damon Gangi. LaGrene led 6 laps after starting in the 14 spot.
Otto Motorsports spent a large sum of money on Jack Kloeber, the $100,000 salary easily dwarfs any other GN driver's income. Kloeber showed himself to be worth it and brought it home in first place by a mere .11 seconds over LaGrene after starting in the last position in the field! Kloeber managed to lead 39 laps en-route to his first VRW victory.
Ostrow Racing Continues Cup Domination
Last season veteran driver Shawn Wise lost the driver's championship in the final race of the season. This season he appears determined the seal the championship early this season.
Rookie Tyler Hudson took the pole position for the event and rebounded from a penalty on lap 73 to finish in the eight position.
The race featured a total of 27 lead changes among 11 drivers. Eight caution flags flew for a total of 32 laps under yellow.
VRW Champion Mike Ramsden might have won the pre-qualification pole position for the 201 lap Texas event but his luck ran out in the first half of the race. Ramsden retired after a blown header crippled his ride while he was leading the event. He had led 64 laps of the event after starting in the 4th position for Team Cyclone.
Shawn Wise won the season opener at Daytona with a close finish over Ellison Motorsports Shannon Whitmore in a photo finish. In the second race Wise finished second after losing the lead to Weidner Racing's Darrin Stevens in the closing laps of the Rockingham 300. Texas would see the #98 Lord of the Rings car in victory lane once again. More on that later...
Mike Blackstock rebounded from a failed qualifying effort at The Rock by bringing home the #5 Weidner Racing car in the 5th position. Blackstock had a great race, managing to lead a total of 25 laps after starting in the 8th position. The JRL's Tom Oliver had a strong showing at Texas, starting in the 17th position and coming home in third for Long Pedal Racing.
Shannon Whitmore continued where he left off at Daytona, notching a thrid place finish for car owner Donnie Ellison.
Jeff Eiland came home in an impressive second for Ostrow Racing, working all the way from the 28th position. Eiland led 27 laps and made it a one-two finish for Ostrow racing.
Shawn Wise took his second victory of the year, leading a total of 75 laps in the event.
In Two Weeks: California
The VRW hopes to keep the good roll going as it heads out West to the California Speedway. Rumor has it that the VRW may diverge from the standard fast setup and opt to make some minor changes to the fixed setup. Should be some great racing.