Burns Tops the Field at USA
December 8th, 2011 by DavidP
Tommy Burns came out on top during Round Four of the iRacing.com Late Model Tour (iLMT) when the series visited Florida’s USA International Speedway. Burns, who hails from New York, bested 565 other sim racers from around the globe to take the victory in Week Four at the half-mile facility.
Burns took home 179 points for his win on Wednesday, one of his two starts for the week. The race, rated at 2945 Strength of Field (SoF), saw Burns lead two thirds of the 45 laps en route to the win over Jeremy Hughes, Travis Powell, Tony Dugan and Todd Garren. Hughes led the first 15 laps of the race from the pole position before handing the lead over to Burns in the only lead change of the race. Burns is a Division Three racer in the Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS series.
Second place for the week belonged to Eastern Canada Club’s Ian Blanchard. Blanchard captured two wins in two starts, including one in which he obtained 158 points for the week. Blanchard led flag-to-flag in the 45 lap affair, taking the win by one second over Paul Shafer Jr, Brent Tyler, Kevin Moody and Dave Tortu. The race was rated at 2548 sof.
Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge II Champion Kenny Humpe was third for the week. Humpe’s triumph came on November 23rd during a 2484 sof race. Humpe led all but one lap in the race en route to defeating Nick Neben, championship contender Trenton Moriarity, Jeremy Poole2 and Kevin Donahue. Humpe took home 154 points for the win.
Fourth place at the USA International Speedway was Tyler D Hudson. Hudson, a former NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series champion, ran half a dozen races and won in all six! The biggest of the six came on Sunday during a 2556 sof race. Hudson led all 45 laps of the race as he went on to defeat CJ Lavair, Shafer Jr, Hughes and Robert Cooke. Hudson collected 155 points for his win but when his other top starts were factored in, he would walk away from the week with 151 points.
Scored in fifth place for the week was Ryan Field. Field would make a trio of USA International Speedway appearances on the week, one of which resulted in a win in the second strongest SOF race of the week, which tipped the scales with a 2710 rating. Field led 36 of 45 circuits, seeing the checkers first ahead of Burns, Mark Wilsey, Austin Benson and Dylan Roe. When the dust settled at the end of the week, Field walked away with 150 points.
Chris Curtis made the most starts of the week, taking the green flag 21 times. Hudson’s six wins was the most of any driver who raced during Round Four. Point leader Kevin Burris was the hotshoe in qualifying, clocking in a time of 21.287 seconds around the short oval. Blanchard was second in qualifying, followed by Hudson, David Rattler and Kevin J Myers. Burris also topped the Time Trial competition for the week. Blanchard was second, followed by Tadd Granger, Myers and Kevin Moody.
When it comes to the points, Burris leads Moriarity by 28 points, 645 to 617 after four weeks of racing. Rattler sits in third, 64 points behind while Division Two leader Wilsey (553) and Matt Campbell (552) have a battle on their hands for fourth overall. Gil Abobeleira, Jeff Travis, Sean Sewell, Joshua Van Winkle, Kiernan Church, Robert Dyer, William Stone2 and Lee Walker lead Divisions Three through Ten after Week Four.
Next up for the iRacing Late Model Tour is a date at the tricky Oxford Plains Speedway. The famed Maine oval will test patience and skills of the best short track racers on the service for seven action packed days. Make sure to check back here at inRacingNews for all the goings on from the iLMT!
Until then, keep the hammer down and we’ll see you at the track!
Editor’s Note: Owing to “technical difficulties” this story was not posted last week. Our apologies to Tim and the iLMT competitors.