VRW: Shearburn Rocks 'The Rock'
- Published ()
- Virtual Racing World
As the Virtual Racing World traveled down to North Carolina for the VRW Rockingham 300 most of the field had one question on their mind: How do you beat Shearburn?
Chris Shearburn captured his fourth consecutive VRW pole position with a time of 23.780 seconds clearly blew away the second place time of Ford Performance driver Brett Rupert. Shearburn has owned the pole for most of the races that he has entered since joining the VRW at Charlotte. His recent streak of poles in a row is a considerable feat considering the fixed setups that the VRW runs.
The event started smoothly with Shearburn holding the top spot. The field seemed to realize that the race was 295 laps long and there was a long way to go. Or possibly the idea of more fines from series admin Nim Cross [ed: who should be looking at his own pit entry replay this week].
In what would later become a theme of the night, Farmer Racing's lead driver Jay Taylor's connection failed and he was dropped from the race on lap 15.
The first caution of the race came out on lap 18 when Bob Rowden spun Shawn Kimball down the back straight. They were running in the back of the field fighting for 29th position so no other cars were involved. Kimball was able to continue but fired after the race.
Team Cyclone's #3 Bud driver Mike Ramsden failed to come in on the first lap of the caution as the rest of the field pitted. This might have been done to ensure the 5 bonus points for leading a lap. He made his stop on the following lap and dropped to the rear of the field in the 28th position.
Darrin Stevens managed to get by Shearburn on the restart as backmarker Darrell Young got the jump on Shearburn into turn one and hung him out with a great move. Stevens made the pass and got ahead of Young after a grueling 15 laps behind the #87 Fuller Racing entry as Young tried to get his lap back. Once Chris Shearburn got up next to he laid a quarter panel to Young entering turn three and paid Young back for the earlier pass by making Young exit stage right. Shearburn assumed the lead again during the ensuing pit stops as being the event pole sitter earned him the first pitbox at the end of pit road.
Shearburn maintained his lead as Stevens, Shawn Wise, and Shannon Whitmore kept up with him. A hard charging Mike Ramsden brought out the yellow on lap 80 after he gently tapped the #14 Alienware entry of Chad Rogers. Rogers spun down the back straight and was hit by Team USA driver TC Eckels. Chad Rogers was forced to retire after the incident.
After the restart and another short caution Shearburn picked up where he left off and slowly pulled away from Wise. The race ran clean and green flag pit stops began occurring around lap 140.
Nim Cross' #6 car brought the next caution after he failed to get off the track surface when slowing for the pits. Cross' car veared back onto the racing surface at only 80 mph and was rear-ended by the unlucky Eckels, who was running side by side with Extreme Motorsports entry of Chuck Keller. Eckels car flew up the track taking out the #50 of Brett Rupert. All cars were able to continue on. In a scary moment after the wreck Rupert's lost control of his car and almost spun into the leader as Shearburn came back around to the flag.
Shearburn again led Wise for the next 40 laps, as Wise could not even attempt a pass on the Gulf/Holmes #27. Mike Ramsden managed to move all the way up to the 5th position when Derek Alabamsky punted substitute drive Gilles Mourette on lap 194. Both were able to continue on.
Despite being nearly next to Shearburn as the cars entered pit road Wise was unable to get around the #27 in the pit stops. Shearburn's pit stall at the end of pit road played a large part of his ability to maintain the lead in the pits. Ironically Alabamsky was able to lead a lap under the yellow he had caused.
With about 75 laps to go Wise was slowly gaining ground on Shearburn and had moved up to his back bumper. That was when, as one driver put it after the race, the 'Big One' happened, only this time it was not a wreck, it was a massive server drop.
The majority of the front runners in the race, including Shawn Wise, were dropped from the server. Many of the drivers returned but the race order was severely altered as Stevens, Wise, Whitmore, Rivera, DeBello, and Cross were all put several laps down on the leader. Shearburn was not dropped.
The server crash also took the heat off Shearburn just when he needed it. He did almost throw his race away by coming very close to entering a closed pit lane with Tom Oliver on lap 266 but managed to see the red closed pit lane flag just in time to pull back on the racing surface.
Former Ellison Motorsports driver Don Colliau brought his #30 Full Throttle Racing ride home in second as a sub for veteran Mike Rigney. Here he powers around Team Cyclone to capture 2nd on the track.
In the pit stops that followed aggressive pit lane driving put the #30 Kenworth entry on Don Colliau up into the second place with less than 30 laps remaining. He just managed to pull out ahead of Team Cyclone's Tom Oliver as they exited the pit lane.
The yellow would fly again a few laps later after back marker Shawn Wise made it three wide for Team USA driver Wade Hermes and Darin Gangi. The result sent multiple cars flipping and ended Hermes excellent run to 6th place on the track. He would be forced to retire from the race after losing the rear bumper.
A plethora of late race cautions would allow Shearburn to easily take home yet another VRW win. Don Colliau brought his ride home in 2nd, his best finish of his VRW career. Team Cyclone showed how to play as a team again, as at the finish line Tom Oliver slowed down and let teammate Mike Ramsden by for the extra points of a third place finish. The #12 CarQuest entry of Charlie Buscher rounded out the top 5.
Sim racing superstar Chris Shearburn must be kicking himself for not getting a ride in the VRW earlier as he would have clearly been a title contender. This win, his third of the season in only eight races started, ties him with Shawn Wise for the career VRW win list. Wise has 14 VRW starts.