Karlavige ‘Corners’ First GSR Win at Richmond

While most eyes were on the 15 sim racers eligible to make the Chase for the GSRacing.net Championship, it was Jason Karlavige who scored big by not only taking the victory in the Tim’s Corner Race to the Chase on Thursday night at Richmond International Raceway but also moved into the top 33 in the standings which guarantees him a start in the first race in the playoffs. Karlavige, who made his third start of the season Thursday night moved to the lead for the final time on Lap 99 of the 130-lap affair after a pit stop promoted him from the fourth place. He held-off a hard charging Josh Berry for the win on a one-lap, green flag dash to become the fourth first time winner this season in GSR. Danny Hansen continued his recent strong run in the series with a third place run at Richmond. He was followed to the line by Richard Beasley, who scored his best finish of the season in fourth and last week’s winner Tyler Hudson.

Schoenburg paced the field at the start of the Tim's Corner Race for the Chase but was caught-up in an early accident.

Brian Schoenburg kicked-off the night by sitting on the pole for the Tim’s Corner Race to the Chase with a time of 21.026 seconds around the 3/4-mile track. Though Schoenburg would be swept-up in an early wreck, his 26th place finish gave him enough points to secure a top 33 spot in the standings after Richmond. Berry paced the field for 37 laps on Thursday night, the most of any driver in the 35 truck field. The race took one hour, 18 minutes to complete and featured 13 yellow flags. Beasley picked up two honors on the night, including the Hard Charger Award for advancing his starting position 31 spots after starting last on the field. His fourth place finishing position was best amongst nine other drivers running a Tim’s Corner logo on their trucks, meaning Beasley picked up the “Tim’s Corner Challenge” prize for the race.  Derek Cash won the final Go or Go Home consolation race of the season and pocketed $20 for his win.

Karlavige was the big winner at Richmond.

For the win in the Tim’s Corner Race to the Chase, Karlavige picked up a Derek Speare Designs Track Boss Button Box. Series regular Allen Krier was also awarded a Track Boss Box from Derek Speare and Tim’s Corner Unplugged as apart of the “Phrase that Pays” promotion which ran on the podcast throughout the months of November and December. Krier’s name was drawn from those who entered the contest and was announced the winner on the WebRacingNetwork.com Post Race Show on Thursday.

Click here for complete results.

With his three wins this season, Thomas Hazard will have the lead heading into the Chase for the GSRacing.net Truck Series championship. Talladega winner Brandon Kettelle will be seeded second, six points behind the leader by virtue of his win. Andrew Berger rallied from impacting the pit entry barrels at Richmond to finishing sixth in the Tim’s Corner Race to the Chase, solidifying his spot in the Chase and locking Berry out by five points. Berger joins Jon Adams, Hansen, Dylan Duval, Chad Coleman, Brandon Williamson and Chris Overland with 1000 points as the field is reset for the final five race dash to the championship. Brandon Buchberger will be seeded tenth in the Chase following a penalty issued by GSRacing.net Truck Series officials following the Richmond event. With former champions Bryan Blackford and Rod Merritts Jr not making the Chase, the series will see a new champion in its fourth season.

The next event for the GSRacing.net Truck Series is the Fastrac Sports Marketing 125 at the Dover International Speedway. The Chase will be in full swing with the top ten drivers from the season going for the top spot in the championship. With only five races in the playoffs, there is no room for faltering en route to the championship. Action gets underway Thursday, January 5th, 2012 at 9pm on WebRacingNetwork.com.

About Tim’s Corner:
Tim’s Corner began as a weekly stock car racing column appearing on ScotiaSpeedworld.ca and MaritimeProStockTour.com, penned by track and series announcer Tim Terry. It has now grown to include basic media services for motorsport teams big and small. TimsCorner.ca, the official website of Tim’s Corner, also features Tim’s Corner Unplugged, a podcast hosted by Terry which focuses on the motorsports scene. For more information on Tim’s Corner and services offered, visit TimsCorner.ca!

About GSRacing.net:
The GSRacing.net Truck Series is one of iRacing’s premier independently hosted series. The Truck Series is in its third full season and is frequented by the top drivers in the sim community, including those from the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship. Races throughout the 2011 season are conducted on Thursday nights with select races with live flag-to-flag coverage on ETV and WebRacingNetwork.com.

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