It was typical Martinsville racing with a lot of bent sheet metal, a few torn up race cars, and a couple of tempers flaring. After the dust settled, Marty Edwards was victorious.
Edwards only led ten laps on the OSR Veteran’s Day 150 at Martinsville Speedway, but he was out in front for lap number 150.
After leading the race for 75 laps, Alonzo Morales had to settle for second place. Jeremy Adams also led the race for 26 laps.
The iRacing Late Model Tour returned to the state of Virginia once again this week, to a little track called Langley Speedway. This track measures just under three-eighths of a mile, and is virtually flat. It makes for some good, tight racing and a lot of fun in a Late Model. The feature race of the week ran on Christmas Day, but there wasn’t a lot of holiday cheer in the air.
Stan Bragg Jr. captured the pole for the race. Carl Sundberg started on the outside of the second row. Bragg took charge early, moving out to a commanding lead on the first lap. Carl Sundberg wasn’t quite up to speed and found himself contending with Tony Mangini and Joshua Hicks. On the second lap, Sundberg was relegated to fourt position, as Mangini and Hicks moved up a spot. Everyone lined up single file, hoping to stay within sight of Bragg, who continued to pummel the field. The single file field only lasted a few more laps.
Joshua Hicks decided he’d had enough of looking at Tony Mangini’s back bumper on lap five. As the two headed into turn one, Hicks tried to make a move. The cars made contact and both slid high on the track, allowing Sundberg to return to the second position. Hicks and Mangini continued to claw at each other, a situation which finally ended up with Mangini pinching Hicks against the outside wall coming out of turn four. Hicks then dropped back to sixth position with little or no damage to his car.
The race continued without incident for twelve laps. Hicks wasn’t finished with Mangini yet, though, and managed to run him back down. This time, Mangini got the raw deal and ended up back in seventh position. Mangini then checked on the back stretch and was knocked out of the way and into the infield by Ronald Arch. Mangini called the tow truck and went to the pits.
Hicks saw more trouble when he was pinched low on corner entry by the lapped car of Randy Lamberti. Hicks couldn’t hold the car low and slid up into Lamberti, who spun around and was sitting in the middle of the track, facing the wrong direction. Lamberti quickly got the car turned around, nearly taking out the leader of the race, Stan Bragg Jr. Bragg took evasive action and held his lead, but not before losing two seconds of his lead over Sundberg.
The lapped Randy Lamberti in Car Number 6 Blocks the Leaders
Yet again this week, we have a case of an inexperienced racer, at least one lap down, blocking the leader. I’ll say once again that this should be a rules infraction that is protestable under the sporting code. Lapped cars wouldn’t get away with these shenanigans on any real track that I’m aware of. This time it was Randy Lamberti who had some sort of notion that he should block the leader, despite having no chance of ever winning the race. For all of three laps, Bragg went low, went high, and did everything he could to pass Lamberti, and he was intentionally blocked each and every time.
Bragg showed a lot more patience than I would have, but finally his patience wore thin and he pushed Lamberti up the track. Bragg and Sundberg were able to pass the dirty driving Lamberti as he gathered it in. Ronald Arch then did what I probably would have done, and simply punted Lamberti out of the way. Lamberti got his car going again after the spin, and promptly collided with Joshua Hicks and Maxime Plante on the back stretch. This crash effectively ended the race for Hicks, Plante only spun around and made no further contact.
Ronald Arch in car number 8 avoids disaster as Carl Sundberg in car number 1 and Stan Bragg Jr. in car number 2 suffer the consequences of a driver who knows absolutely nothing about sportsmanship.
The leaders caught Lamberti again later in the race. After trying to pass Lamberti for two laps, Bragg once again pushed him up the track in turn four. Bragg had cleared Lamberti, but Lamberti dove into turn one and intentionally took out the leader, collecting Carl Sundberg in the process.
Maxime Plant then inherited the lead, thanks to the tactics of Lamberti. Bragg was towed into the pits, then returned to the race. He was able to get one of his two lost laps back despite the fact that he spent much of his time beating the bumper off the Joshua Hicks car.
Maxime Plante held on to win the feature at Langley Speedway, followed by Ronald Arch. Bas Van Bree finished third followed by Andre Leite. Stan Bragg Jr. rounded out the top five.
Next week, the iRacing Late Model tour will visit Richmond International Raceway, a place that should be filled with water and stocked with catfish. Every iRacing Late Model driver will hit the wall coming out of turn two many, many times, but it won’t move a millimeter. Richmond can be fun if you just lie back and take your time, but if you try to get aggressive or drive over your head, your race will most certainly end early.
In the mean time, Tony Mangini had returned to the race and he was looking for trouble. He found it once again on lap thirty-two, once again with Joshua Hicks.
Week seven of the iRacing Late Model Tour involved a visit the the venerable Martinsville Speedway. The half-mile “paper clip” is known for it actioned-packed racing that often contain at least a little bumping and banging.
The iRacing strength of field for this race was 4344. The strength of field is determined by averaging the iRating of each individual driver who entered the race. The race with the highest strength of field for the week is known as the “sthrength-of-field race.” More highly rated drivers in a given race means a higher strength of field, thus more points for each driver who finishes the race. The winner can expect to take home a lot of points in the featured strength-of-field race.
Ty Majeski, the persistent Late Model front-runner, sat on the pole for this race. Outside Ty was Landon Sciacca. Majeski and Sciacca are currently contending for the Late Model points lead.
Majeski had a good start, but he wasn’t able to pull away. Sciacca stayed right on his bumper. Another Late Model contender, Nathan Hammock was in third place. Kevin Myers quickly moved from eleventh to eighth, and was the biggest mover in this early stage of the race.
The “big one” happened on lap number three. Mark Arthur was running in fifth position. He slipped a little exiting turn two, and got loose. He was forced to the bottom of the track to save the car. David Lam happened to be there, braked hard, spun around and backed into the wall. Arthur continued unscathed.
Chris Fletcher in #13 and Cody Thompson in #8 in an early altercation.
Meanwhile, Chris Fletcher also got loose coming out of turn two. He was able to avoid Lam, he was hit by Cody Thompson when he slowed to regroup. Fletcher slammed the wall and immediately pitted behind David Lam. Thompson brushed the wall but he was able to continue the race.
Austin Jefferson in #9 tries the pinch on Raymond Emmons in #11, and pays the price.
These incidents caused the field to spread out a little, but if trouble can be found at Martinsville, somebody will find it. Raymond Emmons and Austin Jefferson jointly attempted to occupy the same space while battling for eighth position. Jefferson tried the pinch move but took it too far. He was out for the night. Emmons continued but had to contend with an ill-handling race car for the remainder of the event.
Meanwhile, Kevin Myers continued to drive the wheels off his Monte Carlo. Myers caught up with Mark Arthur in fifth, and wasted no time. He took the outside line on lap nineteen, relegating Arthur to sixth.
Kevin Myers, the daring young man in his jaunty jalopy, dares to pass on the non-existent outside line at Martinsville Speedway. For Myers, the outside line does exist.
The field settled down after that, running single file for the last dozen laps. Ty Majeski retained a comfortable lead over Landon Sciacca, and went on to take the win at Martinsville. Sciacca finished second, followed by Nathan Hammock and Kevin Myers. Mark Arthur rounded out the top five.
Next week the Late Models will travel up north to Connecticut to heat up the asphalt at Stafford Speedway, another great old track that is well-known for thrilling Modified action. Although the track is about the same size as Martinsville, the racing there is quite different. The turns at Stafford are quite a bit longer, and the straightaways are shorter, giving the track less of a paper clip shape. Patience is the key at Stafford, and we’ll see who can win that battle next week.
