Kostecki King of Trucks

The stars of the NASCAR iRacing Class C Series crossed the midway point of the 2012 Season One campaign following Rounds Five and Six at the Phoenix International Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedways, respectively. While the venues are very different from one another, one thing stayed the same over the two weeks. When all the dust settled, Brodie Kostecki stood above the rest as the weekly leader at both tracks!

Kostecki led over 1,200 other sim racers in taking the weekly win at the Phoenix International Raceway during Round Five of the series. The 100-lap online race that put Kostecki over the top for the week came on March 4th during a 3964 Strength of Field (SoF) event in which Kostecki went to victory lane after leading 72 laps. Finishing second in the four caution flag affair was NiCCS point leader Trey Jarrell while Michael Guest, Chad Coleman and Richard Beasley completed the top five. One lead change between the top two set the tone for the race, with Kostecki collecting 246 points for the win.

Some of the 1200+ sim racers who competed at PIR carve through Turn 3.

Jarrell’s closest competitor for the championship nipped him by eight points in the standings for the week in Phoenix. Justin Brooks put 210 up on the board with a win on March 4th in a 3339 SoF race. Brooks had three quarters of a second on Clay Jones at the finish as they took the flag ahead of Coleman, Jarrell and Chris Ballard. Brooks started fifth and led 26 laps with Jarrell leading the most laps (44) in the five caution event. With Jarrell making three starts on the week, this race, along with the split which Kostecki won would count toward his point total, which came-in at 202.

Landon Huffman, Michael Sweeney, Cody Kutzner, Byron Daley, Brandon Hauck, Alex Warren and Coleman completed the top ten of the week in the Valley of the Sun.  Mike Connelly took to the track 26 times over the seven day period, the most of any driver during Round Five. Michael McLain converted for the most wins on the week with eight. Kostecki was the overall pole sitter for the week, blistering the Phoenix track in a time of 27.401 seconds in qualifying. David Krikorian was second quick, followed by Allen Lewis, Warren and Jarrell. Bill Brown was the top in the Time Trial discipline of Class C racing at PIR, putting up a better run than Jarno Pannekeet, Tom Moustakas, Derrick Stone and Edward Burch Jr.

Kostecki’s victory in a 2901 sof race at the Bristol Motor Speedway last Sunday was good enough to snag the overall victory for the week for Round Six. The front runners endured eight caution flags over the course of the event but, in the end, it was Kostecki, who started from the outside pole and led 99 of 120 laps, taking the win over Dustin Lengert, John Gibson, James Miles2 and Ralph B Mason. The race saw two lead changes between Kostecki and Lengert, with the winner posting 181 points.

Jarrell kept his eyes on the prize on the high banks of Thunder Valle as he turned-in another solid point week with 177 points gained from a victory on March 6th. Jarrell started from the pole and rode through four caution flags to lead all but two laps en route to the win over Scotty MacMichael, Gary Kleinfelter, J.D Bartone and Michael Taylor. The race was rated at 2831 SoF.

Third for the week was Craig Jernigan based on a second place run during a 2847 SoF race on March 7th. DJ Lyon won race after starting second and leading 114 laps of a race slowed by a total of 11 cautions. Jernigan was second after leading six laps and was followed to the line by Jeffrey Gearhart, Mike Pulera and Chris Melvin. Jernigan would wind up with 170 points from the race while Lyon would go on to make seven additional starts, winning in two of those extra starts and winding up sixth for the week with 165 points.

The NiCCS stars came out at night in Thunder Valley.

Completing the top ten overall for the week at the World Fastest Half Mile were Lengert, MacMichael, Lyon, Jeff Hale Sr, Heath Hindman, Hauck and Gaudette.  Hindman’s week was a formidable seven days, as the Mid-South Club driver made 14 starts and took home an impressive nine wins, the most of any driver in Round Six. Robert Bland made the most starts of the week, answering the call to the green flag 27 times. Hauck hustled his truck around the Bristol high banks in a time of 14.904 seconds, which was the quickest of the 351 who attempted a qualifying time on Week Six. Andrew Shirley was second, followed by Kostecki, Hindman and Bob Howard. Jeffrey Porter was the top driver in Time Trials at the Tennessee speedplant over Stone, Jason Martin3, Beau Debard and Adam Moretti.

The halfway point of 2012 Season 1 finds Jarrell leading the standings by a whopping 130 points (1184 to 1054) over Brooks. Jernigan leads Division Two and is just two markers behind Brooks for second overall. Hindman has moved to fourth overall with 987, just 15 points up on Phil Brown’s 972 points. Leaders from Divisions Three to Ten include Moustakas, Michael Atkins Jr, Rock Harris, Michael Valentin, Fausto Bessa Gomes, Robert Cori, Kevin Smith5 and Carson Ware. With the best eight weeks counting towards your point score in the 12 week season, the standings are set for a shake-up in the coming rounds.

Next week the NiCCS heads to the Tricky Triangle. With its unique layout, Pocono Raceway is a place where drivers can lose their way when it comes to the championship while others will be looking to take away big glory at the big track. You can follow all the action from the NiCCS here at inRacingNews!

Until then, keep the hammer down and we’ll see you at the track!

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