Binder Resumes Control at Loudon

Entering Week 7 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a single point divided first and second spots in the iRacing.com Sprint Car Series between defending champion Alan Binder and Pro/WC driver Vinnie Sansone. Things were looking to be quite tense up front for the week’s online races, but “The Magic Mile” had some spells to cast on the drivers who set their sights on being first to the checkers.

Binder had a virtually perfect week at NHMS, leading every lap in both his races to regain the Sprint Car point lead.

Fifty-two entries were recorded in the races at NHMS this past week by sim-racers brave enough to try and tame their 800+ HP beasts on the track with the longest straights in the season. Four races were made official at Loudon, with Alan Binder scoring another pole position with a blazing lap of 27.265s; almost a full tenth faster than second place qualifier Fred Lampela’s 27.363s. In the first race of the week, Binder used his qualifying position to his advantage as he led all 40 laps of the event. He wasn’t without competition, however, as veterans Scott Green and Steven Hunter finished second and third respectively, only over a second behind Binder. Mike Iannarelli and Dayton Gank rounded-out the top five in Tuesday’s event.

Three wide sprint car action was par for the course on the Magic Mile.

Round Two on Thursday awarded the series with a split, allowing two races to be run at the same time. In the top split (rating an impressive 3254 SOF), it was the Binder and Sansone Show once more, with Binder coming-out on top. Sansone finished second with veteran PJ Stergios finishing third, both less than a second behind Binder when the checkers fell. Iannarelli scored his second fourth place in a row for the week, and Tom Downey rounded-out the top five.  The lower split featured a tight battle between Michael Lampela and Randal Robinson, with Lampela scoring his first win of the season and Robinson placing a close second. Brett Waldrep had a great points night by finishing third, with Ricky Whittenburg and Edmund Hershberger completing the top five.

Binder sat out Sunday’s event, as the sprints took to NHMS one last time for the week. A 15 car field took the green, with Fred Lampela looking for redemption after a disappointing 11th place finish in Thursday’s event. Sansone had something to show for Lampela, but contact with the wall forced Sansone to exit the race early, leaving the victory to be fought over between father and son. Michael Lampela followed closely behind his father but couldn’t make the pass for the lead, as Fred went on to wash away the worries of the week with a well-earned victory lap after leading all 40 laps. Steven Hunter finished third, and a close battle waged behind him for fourth place between Randal Robinson and Scott Kelly was ultimately resolved in Robinson’s favor.

Binder kept his run of incident-free races intact. Not so some others . . .

Binder sat out Sunday’s event, as the sprints took to NHMS one last time for the week. A 15 car field took the green, with Fred Lampela looking for redemption after a disappointing 11th place finish in Thursday’s event. Sansone had something to show for Lampela, but contact with the wall forced Sansone to exit the race early, leaving the victory to be fought over between father and son. Michael Lampela followed closely behind his father but couldn’t make the pass for the lead, as Fred went on to wash away the worries of the week with a well-earned victory lap after leading all 40 laps. Steven Hunter finished third, and a close battle waged behind him for fourth place between Randal Robinson and Scott Kelly was ultimately resolved in Robinson’s favor.

Fred Lampela came out on top of Sunday's finale, leading son Michael home.

Binder leaves New Hampshire with another two wins under his belt after leading all 80 laps of the races he entered, continuing his near-perfect season record of twelve wins in thirteen starts with 585 laps led out of 610. He also kept his streak of incident-free races alive, as fourteen races have now come and gone without a single dent in Binder’s now-famous flame-painted car. Adding to the hot streak, Binder overhauled Pro/WC driver Sansone in the points race by earning 198 points, totaling 1099 for the season, and now leads by 21 over Sansone (178). Fred Lampella earned 114 points this week to solidify his third place spot.

The battle for the iRacing Sprint Car Cup continues next week at Oxford Plains Speedway.

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