Alfalla’s Magical Week

Alfalla (1) and Pedersen (7) battle side-by-side into Turn Three.

For some sim racers, navigating around The Magic Mile (New Hampshire Motor Speedway) takes a type of wizardry. Over 1,650 sim racers took the green flag for at least one race during the opening week of Season Two in the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Fixed Series, and there were absolutely a fair share of those who were out to lunch as they attempted to navigate the 1.058-mile speedway in a timely fashion. For those online racers who are among the elite group, New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a really fun track to race. Packing just seven degrees of banking in the racing groove, the track provides a high speed short track racing atmosphere that places NHMS among a favorite for many sim racers.

Although he has yet to grab a victory in the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship this season, he was, however, able to start the NiCCF season off with a bang by leading 32 of the race’s 40 laps in the week’s top Strength of Field event. Ray Alfalla (Florida) drove his No. 1 Progeek Consluting Chevrolet Silverado into victory lane on Friday during the week’s top SoF event by 0.488 seconds over fellow NiSWC competitor Byron Daley (New York). Casey Pierce (Carolina) drove from the seventh starting position to finish on the podium. Alfalla’s toughest competitor during the 40 lap event was definitely Christian Pedersen (New England). The two battled side-by-side and nose-to-tail for much of the early going before Pedersen ran into trouble late in the race, relegating him to a fourth place finish. The final spot in the top five went to Randy Hockaday (Carolina), who started on the inside of the second row and turned the fastest lap of the event before settling into fifth at the drop of the checkered flag during the 4035 SoF.

Malik Ray (5) deals with the struggles of New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

By taking the victory in the week’s top SoF event, Alfalla earned 249 championship points as he possibly looks to make another run at the NiCCF championship for Season Two. Second place man Daley netted 229 points for his efforts during the week. Brandon Buie2 (Atlantic) made four starts during the week, earning top five finishes in each of those and earning 217 points. Justin Brooks (Carolina) had a perfect week except in one category. He made one start from the pole and lead all 40 laps in the event, but was only able to end the week in the fourth position after earning just 213 points. Billy Price (Carolina) completed the top five for the week after starting four events, earning three wins, and earning 211 championship points. Since this is the first week of the season, the weekly standings also represent the current season standings.

Australian-born Brodie Kostecki (Carolina) was the fastest qualifier for the week, turning in a best time of 30.221 seconds around the 1.058-mile speedway. Alfalla couldn’t complete the perfect week as he was second fastest on the week with a time of 30.227. Trey Eidson (Carolina) held down the third spot for the week with a time of 30.253 as NiSWC competitor Brian Schoenburg (California) and Pedersen rounds out the top five.

After a week of flat track racing in New Hampshire, the NiCCF drivers head to arguably the most difficult track on the NASCAR circuit in Darlington Raceway. The Lady in Black often leaves sim racers disappointed as her narrow racing line leaves little room for error. If you make a mistake, you could easily smash the wall and ruin your race along with many others. Check back in a week’s time to see who was able to master Darlington and hopefully escape without a patented Darlington Stripe.

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