Ringler Survives Dega Week for Repeat Championship
December 16th, 2014 by Jaime Baker
Boes, Hamer Ride Fast Lane for the Win
Nothing brings iRacers out of the woodwork like a week at Talladega Superspeedway. No matter what car is running at the gigantic 2.66-mile Mecca situated in northern Alabama, iRacers gravitate to the track like drunken moths to a porch light on a warm summer night. Three NASCAR iRacing Class B Open series regulars would have to navigate the mine field of “Dega Week” with all their limbs and wheels intact if they had any hopes of winning the final championship of 2014.
Defending series champion Trent Ringer (Lowline Racing) entered the final race of Season 4 with a 23 point lead over Galeforce Racing’s Larry Scott Jr. and a 43-point advantage over BRB Motorsports’ Randall Faulks.
After a slow week at Gateway Motorsports Park (where only nine races went official), Talladega saw nearly every race throughout the week go official, sometimes splitting into three or four large fields.
FastLane Racing’s Allen Boes and Huston Hamer both grabbed wins in separate races to score the top points for the week at 253. Boes took the 7:00pm EST Saturday night win with a SOF of 3954 to score his points with Jordan Werth finishing runner-up ahead of Drake Alvarado, James A. Mullins and Logan Kress.
Hamer earned his points earlier in the week,coming out on top of Wednesday’s 7:00pm EST race which boasted a SOF of 3974. Kress finished second ahead of Boes with Justin Knoblock fourth and Jason Yott completing the top five.
“It was all about keeping the car as clean as possible and having someone to work with.” — Allan Boes
While Boes ran four races for the week and scored his 253 points with his win, Hamer got an average of his top two finishes after running seven events to earn his 253 points. Kyle Brummett scored the top points for a single race for the week (271), but running five races with his second best result of 180 enabled Boes and Hamer to earn the weekly win.
“I had a good set this week and knew if I could get to the front, I would be able to stay there,” said pro driver Allen Boes. “It was all about keeping the car as clean as possible and having someone to work with.”
“This week would not have been possible without my teammate, Justin Knoblock,” said Hamer. “He ran every race with me and we stuck together through everything. He is a great guy and without him, I would have not been in the front for all of these races.”
“Without (Justin Knoblock), I would have not been in the front for all of these races.” — Huston Hamer
After Boes and Hamer, there was a tie for third place as Christian Pedersen and Preston Pardus split the spot just one point back of the lead pair at 252 points. Logan Clampitt rounded out the top five for the week with 249 points.
place as Christian Pedersen and Preston Pardus split the spot just one point back of the lead pair at 252 points. Logan Clampitt rounded out the top five for the week atTalladegawith 249 points.
The “Dega-Head” award for the week went toLondon’s Wallace Green, who could not get enough of the high banks ofTalladega. Green started 32 events while turning 1452 laps. Chris R Jennings, Dustin Roy, Eric Rodaman, and Mark Maffet all earned four wins for the week. Green tied Maffet with the most poles at Dega with 11. Chris Atkins led the most laps with 224 in 19 starts. Nathan Miller got the safe driver award by amazingly running seven races atTalladega incident free.
Larry Scott Jr. did all he could do to overtake Ringler for the Championship finishing seventh for the week scoring 241 points winning his only run for the week. Faulks made a charge as well earning 222 points and 16th place spot for the week. However, Ringler’s 41st place finish and 190 points allowed him to hold onto the Championship lead by 11 points.
“Talladega was bit tough on me this round,” said the back-to-back champion Ringler. “I think we had the speed, but I was only able to pull off one decent race. It was a short but hard fought season. I really owe this Championship to the guys at Lowline racing and especially Brian Ammerman. He built some really good sets each and every week. I have a feeling he’s the guy were all going to have to beat in 2015.”
“It was a short but hard fought season. I really owe this Championship to the guys at Lowline racing and especially Brian Ammerman.” — Trent Ringler
Ringler continued. “I plan to run both the A and B series again next season. I really like the B schedule this coming season and look forward to another good battle for the Championship. I believe Larry (Scott Jr.) will be running again and I hope to see the BRB guys back again. It appears there are several new teams on the rise also, so we should have another tight battle in the B Open series in 2015.
Division winners forTalladegaweek were: 1 – Allen Boes 253 (Ohio) & Huston Hamer 253 (Carolina). 2 – Jeff Baki Jr. 231 (Carolina). 3 – Andrew Mitchell 167 (Canada). 4 – Mitchell Reaves 169 (Mid-South). 5 – Jack Watts 120 (California). 6 – Drew Elliott 119 (Indiana). 7 – Floyd Kittle 153 (Indiana). 8 – Timothy McFaland 110 (Indiana). 9 – Richard Maloumian Jr. 70 (Pennsylvania). 10 – Don Runkle 49 (California).
Division Championship for 2014 Season 4 are: 1 – Trent Ringler 1084 (Indiana). 2 – Jeff Baki Jr. 928 (Carolina). 3 – Colby Franklin 532 (Mid-South). 4 – Hunter Lowe 435 (Virginias). 5 – Brian Hanasky 465 (Ohio). 6 – Jerry Favorito 405 (New York). 7 – John A Schulte 430 (Illinois). 8 – Scott Mckinney 287 (Indiana). 9 – Tim Lempe 163 (California). 10 – Don Runkle 99 (California).
The official 2015 season of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class B Open Oval Championship got underway on December 15th of 2014. The Season 1 schedule puts the series under the lights at Richmond International Raceway as Trent Ringler will begin his quest for three-peat while a slew of other drivers will be gunning for a Championship of their own.