VRW: Stevens Takes First VRW Win At Dover
- NR4
- Published ()
- Virtual Racing World
As the VRW rolled into Dover for the 300 mile event at the "Monster Mile", Southpaw Motorsports team owner Shawn Reap must have been wondering how his teams season could get any worse. Unfortunately it would take only two laps at Dover to show him just how bad it could get for his team.
Both Southpaw Motorsports cars started in the top ten in the event. On lap two driver Nelson Rivera got loose in turn one and had to get out of the gas. Mike Ramsden couldn't avoid getting into the back of him and a crash ensued that tore up at lease a third of the field.
As cars flipped and rolled the track was blocked. The #43 car of Rivera slammed into the wall and then hit his own teammate Allen Austin in the #42 car. To make matters worse for the Southpaw team Allen Austin was then 'picked up' by the pace car in a freak accident where his car was 'merged' into the pace car and dragged, dropping debris and totaling his ride.
Veteran online driver Mike Rigney, driving the #30 Full Throttle Racing car for team owner Oscar Mathews, was running in the is car was 'merged' into the pace car and dragged, dropping debris and totaling his ride.
Veteran online driver Mike Rigney, driving the #30 Full Throttle Racing car for team owner Oscar Mathews, was running in the top 15 at the time of the wreck. While he was slowing down to go around the wreck he was run over by a couple of spinning cars that had lost control behind him. SimAutoRacer.net caught up with the disappointed driver shortly after the wreck.
He gives his perspective of the accident: "On the drop of the green flag I was left on the high line, but only lost 1 spot to fall in line" said Rigney after the race.
"My plan was to just ride there for as long as I could. 300 laps is a long race. I wasn't going to push any positions until the last part of the race. But on lap 2, someone up front I hear got loose causing many cars to check up. Big wreck up in front of me. I saw the wreck in plenty of time to get the #30 car slowed down to avoid the wreck.
"Apparently when some drivers see smoke up ahead, they don't know to slow down. I was hit from behind HARD. You know, MOST if not all major wrecks can be avoided if drivers would pay attention to what's going on in a race. But it seems that most drivers see it as a chance to gain a position.
"This was my first official race for the VRW, I've qualified some cars and even practiced with some teams, but this was my shot to race it. I hate it for team owner Oscar Mathews that the #30 car was destroyed by a driver not paying attention to the race he was in."
The race was contested with only 6 cautions, mostly due to warping connections. There were 13 lead changes among 8 drivers. Those drivers that led at least on lap were Darren Stevens, Shawn Wise, Shannon Whitmore, Mike Ramsden, Tom Ostrow, Jay Taylor, and Shawn Kimball. Polesitter Jay Taylor's race ended on lap 211 after contact.
Super-sub Gilles Mourette drove Kevin DeBello's car and moved from a starting position of 24th all the way to the 6th position.
In a not so super moment near the end of the race Cybertech Racing driver TJ Majors took his frustration in crashing out on points leader Shawn Wise's rear bumper. After reviewing the incident the VRW fined Majors $25,000 (owner's virtual cash) and placed the driver on a six race probation.
Darren Stevens brought Weidner Racing its first win after holding Shawn Wise in the closing laps of the race to take the win.
Official Standings
F S # DRIVER INTERVAL LAPS LED POINTS STATUS
1 10 5 D_Stevens 126.798 300 84* 185 Running
2 25 98 Shawn Wise -0.38 300 71 175 Running
3 2 68 SWhitmore -0.70 300 80 170 Running
4 4 3 Mike_Ramsden -2.63 300 2 165 Running
5 6 05 Tom_Ostrow -3.24 300 10 160 Running
6 34 8 Gilles_Mourette -5.78 300 0 150 Running
7 11 14 Chad Rogers -6.27 300 0 146 Running
8 16 12 Charlie Buscher -8.57 300 0 142 Running
9 20 22 Tom_Robbio -12.47 300 0 138 Running
10 19 01 Scott_Hieronymus -12.79 300 0 134 Running
11 7 87 D_Young -1L 299 0 130 Running
12 38 06 Roger Voss -2L 298 0 127 Running
13 21 07 Nim Cross -3L 297 4 129 Running
14 28 18 edrauch -3L 297 0 121 Running
15 24 6 Mark_Lewis -3L 297 0 118 Running
16 17 00 S_Kimball -4L 296 1 120 Running
17 23 13 TJMajors -50L 250 0 112 Retired
18 1 21 Jay Taylor -89L 211 48 114 Retired
19 9 28 S_Perreault -91L 209 0 106 Accident
20 26 26 Darin_Gangi -144L 156 0 103 Accident
21 22 4 Tom_Oliver -192L 108 0 100 Accident
22 30 29 JacobButner -202L 98 0 97 Running
23 15 50 Brett_Rupert -250L 50 0 94 Retired
24 12 66 Derek Ablamsky -258L 42 0 91 Retired
25 3 27 CShearburn -264L 36 0 88 Running
26 13 99 A_Corredino -275L 25 0 85 Valve
27 14 30 Mike_Rigney -294L 6 0 82 Accident
28 18 97 Mike_Bonoffski -295L 5 0 79 Retired
29 8 42 A_Austin -295L 5 0 76 Accident
30 27 86 Billy Murphy -296L 4 0 73 Retired
31 5 43 Nelson Rivera -299L 1 0 70 Retired
32 29 31 Bud_Stewart -299L 1 0 67 Retired
Caution Flags: 6 (26 laps)
Lead Changes: 13 (8 drivers)
Weather: Clear, 73 �F, East 7 mph