Buie Tames the Monster
February 7th, 2012 by DavidP
Week One of the 2012 Season One NASCAR iRacing.com Class B Series (NiCBS) traveled to the track known as the Monster Mile. Dover International Speedway was the location as top sim racers looked to get a jump on the season in hopes of grabbing the series title from defending champion Jason Karlavige (Pennsylvania). 336 drivers participated in at least one race while 123 drivers turned at least one qualifying lap.
Week One’s high Strength of Field (SoF) race took place on Thursday and paid the winner 213 points for a win. After starting 10th, Brandon Buie (Atlantic) drove through the field to take the lead just after the half way point. Buie never looked back as he went on to win by half a second over John Bunton (Carolina), who earned 200 points for second place.
“I just want to thank my new team Brandon and Brandon Motorsports. I also want to thank my crew chief Brandon Wright for making the call of the race to get me the win” said Buie after the race.
Bob Grooms came home in the third position after starting 16th and was the only other car to finish the 120 lap race on the lead lap. Grooms collected 187 points for his finish. At the end of the day, the race had eight cautions for 30 laps and three lead changes. Buie lead the most laps with 61, while Chad Pruitt (Mid-South) led 43 laps before getting involved in a wreck. Charles McDonald, Jr (Atlantic) started on the pole and led 15 laps while David Cater led just one lap and turned the fastest lap of the race.
With his victory in the week’s SoF race, Buie found himself on top of the season points standings with 213 points. Bunton and Grooms finished the week in second (200) and third (187) in the points after taking second and third in the week’s SoF race. Antonio Perez Duran (Atlantic) finished the week in fourth after having one top five in two starts and receiving 175 points. Phil Juhring (New Jersey) rounded-out the top five after winning in his only start of the week and netting 174 points.
Pruitt turned the fastest lap of the week in qualifying after turning a 23.247 second lap while Juhring completed the week in second with a 23.262s lap. Brodie Kostecki (Australia/NZ) was third at 23.272s ahead of Cody Byus (Pennsylvania) and Jukka Savolainen (Finland), who rounded-out the qualifying fast five at 23.314s and 23.340s, respectively.
After a great week at the Monster Mile, drivers head to the Midwest for Week Two as the NiCBS travels to the 7/8th mile Iowa Speedway to race under the lights. Buie quickly sprang to the top in Delaware but will he be able to maintain the top spot in Iowa? Find out next week at inRacingNews!