Mungin Emerges at Tour Mod Title Contender

Giovanni Mungin has proved himself as a championship threat after two strong weeks in the NASCAR iRacing.com Tour Modified (NiTM) Series. The Pennsylvania sim racer has lit-up the division, winning the last two rounds of the series at the Iowa and the Stafford Motor Speedways respectively. Mungin gained points during Round Four by winning the second highest split of the week when the series went to the Iowa race track. That race was rated at 3503 sof and saw Mungin lead all but one of the 100-laps in the race. Taylor Meyn was three quarters of a second back at the runner up spot with defending series champion Brandon Salvatore, Samuel Dick and Herb Engelhart completing the top five in the event. Two yellow flags and two lead changes set the pace for the event. Mungin scored 219 points in the win while Meyn’s 205 markers put him third for the week.

The hills of Connecticut were alive with the sound of Tour Modifieds in Week 5.

Salvatore finished second on the week, thanks to a second place finish in the highest sof race of the week, which was won by Derrick Cormier2. Cormier2 was credited with leading just one lap in the race on the way to the victory over Salvatore, David Markham, Rich Zimmerman and Mike Daniel. Engelhart led the most laps in the race (51) but wound-up ninth. Salvatore, who led 48 laps in the online race, put 209 points on the board with his second place run while Markham’s third place run placed him fourth overall for the week with 195 points. Cormier2 went on to make three additional starts at Iowa and garnered 186 points for the week.

David Chmura made the most starts of the week, seeing nine green flags during Round Four. Mungin’s mark of two wins tied that of SJ Golembeski for the most wins of the week. Mungin blistered the Iowa track in 22.699 seconds to take the top spot in qualifying from Robert Sandt, Engelhart, Cormier2 and Nathan McGee. The top honors in Time Trials at Iowa went to Brett Osborn over Trent Hullum, Jack Bohan, Bruce Hilton and Gary Holbrook.

Mungin also capitalized on a massive sof race during Round Five to take the win out of the Stafford Motor Speedway. The Week Four winner roared to victory lane in the 4005 sof race on Thursday by leading 68 of the 100 laps of the race over Meyn, Salvatore, Cormier2 and Paul Wisniewski. One caution slowed the race and two lead changes between the top two finishers set the pace up front. The pull of the race was so strong that four of the top five finishers were in the top five at the end of the week thanks to their performances in this race. Mungin (243), Meyn (218), Salvatore (194) and Wisniewski (145) mirrored their positions in the race with that in the weekly standings as Stafford disappeared in the mirrors of their virtual haulers.  Cormier2 went on to make two additional starts on the week, which dropped his point total to 12th best amongst the Tour Modified drivers on Week Five.

Zimmerman brought home fourth place on the week at Stafford with a win in the 2522 sof race on March 1st. Zimmerman led 12 laps en route to the victory over Markham, Darrell Pyrtle, Joseph Nappi and Gary Limitone. Troy Talman led 64 laps in the race before finishing in 11th place. Nine lead changes took place for the top spot while four cautions slowed the race. Zimmerman pocketed 156 points for the win.
Chmura once again answered the most calls to the green flag this week by making four starts. Zimmerman’s two wins topped the win column at Stafford. The top spot in qualifying belonged to Mungin with a lap time of 18.206 seconds. McGee, Dick, Salvatore and Meyn brought up the back half of the top five in qualifying behind Mungin. The fifth edition of Time Trials for 2012 Season One went to Ray Farlow as his effort bested Osborn, Hullum, Holbrook and Tim Gould for the top spot.

When the dust settled, it was Meyn holding-on to the point lead with Mungin closing to within 29 points, 1085 to 1056. Salvatore sits third with 805 points, which has to seem like an eternity as he sits 205 points out of a third straight title. Cormier2 (785) and Division Two leader Zimmerman (773) complete the top five overall in the standings after five weeks of racing. Divisional leaders include Noel Parker, William Kabela, David Schamp, Timothy Finnegan, David MacDougall, James Falcon Pratt, Curtis Berleue, Nicholas Maxwell and Kyle Welch.

Next up for the NASCAR iRacing.com Tour Modified Series is the popular South Boston Speedway in Virginia. Can Mungin continue to munch into Meyn’s point lead as the series nears the halfway point?  Find out here at inRacingNews.

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

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