Luck of the Irish (Hills)
August 19th, 2013 by Jaime Baker
Last week the NASCAR iRacing series made its second stop at the Michigan International Speedway in the Irish hills of Michigan, with points leader Tyler D Hudson still on top of the standings over Landon Harrison after week 20.
Kicking-off the week of sim-racing, Danny Hansen and Matthew Moose grabbed the first front row in Week 21. Hansen duly led the first 19 laps of the race until the first round of pit stops saw two-time NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Champion Ray Alfalla move to the front after starting from 19th on the grid.
Alfalla learned early in the race that he had the car to get to the front but, equally, that it was going to be a tough race to win. Sure enough, after pitting again late in the race, he found himself in second spot behind familiar NiSWC rival Michael Conti. Although Alfalla was able to get by Conti with two laps to go, it was going to be a one-on-one battle with Conti for the win . . . until Conti came up just short on fuel that is. The young New Jerseyite ended-up a lap down by the time the race was over as Alfalla came home the winner ahead of Joshua Laughton and Matthew Moose. With Hudson absent, Harrison gained some ground in the points race by grabbing a fourth place finish.
Saturday was a packed day of online racing for the NASCAR iRacing Series at MIS with two events on the day. Up-and-coming pro Simon Crochart stayed hot as he grabbed the pole in Race 2 of the week with Alexander Abraham on his outside.
Eugene Mozgunov led the second most laps in the race but Crochart got still hotter as he led 62 of 100 laps in picking-up the win, with Mozgunov settling for second ahead of Abraham. The second race of the day saw Christopher Shella on the pole with RJ Williams on his outside and Hudson seventh in his first start of the week.
Hudson spent most of the race battling back a forth for the lead with Mozgunov. But Mozgunov was able to out run Hudson to the checkered flag while Bob Bryant also got around the series leader in the closing laps. Nevertheless, Hudson came home the third spot add to his points lead over Harrison.
Sunday was the last day of action at MIS for the NASCAR iRacing Series. Although Moose grabbed the final pole of the week from Josh Berry, Berry did not stay in second long. He took the lead early in the race and never looked back, going on to lead 89 of 100 laps, including the one that counts. Jordan Westfall came home second while Kevin King nosed-out Moose for third.
Although Harrison came home an indifferent P15, in the final analysis, he gained some ground on Hudson in a week that saw the series leader make just one appearance. That said, Hudson (5800) still leads Harrison (4936) by a comfortable margin as the NASCAR iRacing Series heads to Thunder Valley for what promises to be an action-packed week of online racing at Bristol Motor Speedway.