nick cooper

Round Six took the iRacing WoO Sprint Car Championship Series to the venerable Williams Grove Speedway, my favorite dirt track.

Point leader Tim Ryan captured the pole position for heat race number one of three, with Nick Cooper on the outside. Tim Ryan pulled away on the start so the battle was for second as Nick Cooper, Ryan Pace, and Adam Elby went three-wide for the spot.

It was a nice challenge brought on my Ryan Pace, but there isn’t much grip on the inside for these cars, so Cooper managed to stave off the threat. Michael Sheridan’s heat race ended on lap six when he slid up into the car of Dillon Semmelmann and his car rolled onto its side. The top four shook out like this:

1. Tim Ryan
2. Nick Cooper
3. Ryan Pace
4. Adam Elby

Chris Brenner and Weston Newell formed the front row for heat race number two of three. David Heileman started in fourth position but immediately used the outside line to go to work. Heileman moved to third immediately after the start then went to work on the second place car of Weston Newell. Heileman took second place on lap three. Anthony LoPresto’s hopes were dashed on lap five when he attempted a pass on the car of Cameron Dance for the final transfer spot. LoPresto slid up into Dance and ended up taking himself out. Dance actually moved down a little as his car swung wide through the middle of the turn and then naturally drifted down some on exit. It was one of those “racing deals.” Dance’s car got sideways but he held onto it. Top four:

1. Chris Brenner
2. David Heileman
3. Weston Newell
4. Cameron Dance

In the third and final heat race, AJ Neben took the pole position with Alex A. Bergeron on the outside. It looked like the inside might be coming in a little bit on lap two as Alex Bergeron put up a serious challenge for race leader AJ Neben in turns three and four. Bergeron slid up with plenty of room to spare coming out of turn four to take the lead away from Neben. Bergeron stayed on the inside after that. Matthew McKinney was running in the final transfer spot lap four when his heat race came to an abrupt end as a result of some contact with the number seven car of Toby Debele. Austen Semmelmann gave James Edens a good run for the final transfer spot in the waning laps, but he came up just a little short. Top four:

1. Alex A. Bergeron
2. AJ Neben
3. Justin Thomas
4. James Edens

The results up to this point put Dillon Semmelmann on the pole for the last chance race with Britton Roxberry on the outside. Austen Semmelmann made an unsuccessful push to move into second from his third place starting position. Matthew McKinney started dead last and was fighting for the final transfer spot on lap five. Dan Smolders held that position as McKinney fought to the inside. At one point in turns three and four, Smolders held McKinney so low I was sure they would crash, but they both raced smart and kept going clean.

McKinney eventually made the pass on the inside to take the final transfer spot on lap seven. There was a little incidental racing contact but not a big deal. McKinney made a mistake on lap eleven, brushing the fence and losing a lot of time. Smolders got back around him to recapture the eighth position. That left McKinney with very little time to regain the ground and make a pass.

I won’t rehash any of the “It’s not over” cliches here. I’ll just say that the race for eight place isn’t over yet. McKinney apparently still had something left in that number 51 car as he made yet another pass on Dan Smolders on lap fourteen.

McKinney slid in front of Smolders again coming out of turn four on lap fourteen. Smolders immediately moved to the inside down the front stretch and into turn one. Smolders couldn’t get his car to work on the bottom. McKinney took the high line right up on the cushion and it worked great for him. McKinney spread it out down the back stretch headed for turn three on the final lap. Smolders never got close in turns three and four but what a great race to hang on to a thread of hope for the A Main!

Here’s the top eight:

1. Dillon Semmelmann
2. Britton Roxberry
3. Austen Semmelmann2
4. Robert Kerstetter2
5. Toby Debele
6. Jesse Dakus
7. Anthony LoPresto
8. Matthew McKinney

Tim Ryan and Chris Brenner made up the front row for the thirty lap A Main. Brenner got into the fence in turn one on lap one and fell back about three positions. The yellow flag flew on lap two for Dillon Semmelmann who hit the wall in turn four. Tim Ryan still led the race with Alex Bergeron sitting in second place. Chris Brenner held onto third. The race resumed on lap five.

Ryan got a good start and held the lead at the stripe, but Bergeron got his car to stick right on the inside in turns one and two and made a clean pass as Ryan was way up high on the cushion. Bergeron had the lead going down the back stretch. As that was happening, Ryan Pace nailed the inside wall bringing out another caution.

Lap nine saw the race resume. Tim Ryan got off to a perfectly horrendous start from the outside of the front row. He was lined up in the second row when the green flag fell with Bergeron well in front of him. It looked like something was wrong with the car, but as the lap continued it appears that he was desperate to get down to the inside. Ryan stayed on the bottom until the next caution (almost immediately) which flew for the number 74 car of Adam Elby.

This time, Tim Ryan started from the third position on the inside and got a much better restart on lap fourteen. Alex Bergeron continued to feed on the bottom while Chris Brenner was rim riding turns one and two. It’s worth noting that Matthew McKinney who drove his heart out in the last chance race had moved from twentieth to seventh at this point.

Still on lap fourteen, another caution came out for Tim Ryan and Chris Brenner. Brenner moved down on Ryan entering turn three and they both spun and piled up. Ryan’s car actually flipped over the fence. It appeared as though all of the cars behind Ryan and Brenner cleared the crash with no damage. Meanwhile there was apparently another crash involving several cars just behind that.

The field went green again on lap eighteen. Alex Bergeron continued on the bottom of the track as he tried to hold off a hard charging Nick Cooper who had moved into the second position using the high line on the cushion. David Heileman held the third position. Matthew McKinney, who started dead last, had made into fourth place. McKinney moved past Heileman into third place on lap 22 and began closing rapidly on Nick Cooper in second. Cooper stayed with the high line as McKinney closed in. McKinney had the fastest car on the track at this point.

Rotten luck struck race leader Alex Bergeron on lap 26. Bergeron looped it around in turn four in what appeared to be some sort of technical glitch. Bergeron turned the car around, narrowly missing several cars who were coming through the turn at the time. His car blinked out very briefly, then rolled up into the outside fence.

That put Nick Cooper in the lead with Matthew McKinney second. Alex Bergeron lost a lap in the process of getting his car turned around. The race continued on lap 30, so it was a one lap shootout with Nick Cooper on the inside and Matthew McKinney, who started twentieth, on the outside in second, and that’s exactly how they finished. Here are the race results:

1. Nick Cooper
2. Matthew McKinney
3. David Heileman
4. Austen Semmelmann2
5. Cameron Dance
6. James Edens
7. Britton Roxberry
8. Adam Elby
9. Anthony LoPresto
10. Justin Thomas
11. Weston Newell
12. Jesse Dakus
13. Toby Debele
14. Alex A. Bergeron
15. Robert Kerstetter2
16. Chris Brenner
17. Tim Ryan
18. Dillon Semmelmann
19. AJ Neben
20. Ryan Pace

iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Car Championship Point Standings after six rounds: