Shinoski Slams Competition at SoBo
March 15th, 2016 by Chris Wolfson
The Bootleg Racing League pulled into South Boston Speedway for a Saturday night showdown in the Outlaw Modified Series. Series leader Matt Hoose (#21) struggled the previous week at Thompson allowing the points race to tighten up. Donny Moore (#26) entered the race at South Boston only five points back from Hoose with three races remaining. Lowell Jewell (#5) sat third in point, 12 points behind the leader.
By result of the inverted starting order from the results at Thompson, Tim Knott (#41) started the race from pole with Matt Shinoski (#35) on the outside of the front row. Moore would start the race in sixth and Hoose in 10th.
Knott got a fantastic start at the drop of the green giving Shinoski enough room to fall in line in the second position. Joe Marks (#3) fell into the third spot as the field headed into turns three and four on the opening lap.
Hoose was on the attack early, using the outside line to move his way towards the front in defense of his points lead, picking-up two positions in the first ten laps.
Shinoski applied the pressure to Knott early and often as the battle for the race lead picked up. Knott was able to hold Shinoski at bay until lap 30, when Shinoski finally found a way underneath the #41 and into the race lead.
The first caution of the evening flew on lap 35 with contact between Moore and Chris Wolfson (#17). Moore’s car was unscathed, but the sim racer lost significant track position in his bid for the points championship.
Shinoski managed a great restart on lap 41 pacing the field and keeping the action behind him. As the action heated, Phillip Temples (#19) made his way through the field using the outside line to his advantage. Temples’ run would come to a dramatic conclusion when heavy contact with Marks sent both cars hard into the wall leaving Temples upside down and several laps down.
The sim racing resumed on lap 56 with Shinoski once again showing his restart domination putting the field firmly behind him. Knott continued his hold on the second position with Hoose making his way up to the third position. Shinoski slipped away from second and third as Knott tried everything in his book of tricks to keep Hoose behind him. Knott would run out of tricks on lap 66 when Hoose got a great run out of turn four and carried the momentum under Knott into turn one.
Hoose set his sights on Shinoski who managed to open a 1.17 second lead over second place. Hoose was closing the gap when disaster struck with only 18 laps to go when he experienced a technical issue causing his monitor to black out and send the #21 into the inside wall.
With a dozen laps remaining, Shinoski once again put the field away with a great restart. Shinoski hung on for the remaining laps to score his first win in the Outlaw Modified Series in 2016 ahead of Jewell finished second and Ryan Nuss in third.
The points battle grows ever tighter with Hoose and Moore deadlocked at the top and Jewell only three points behind. The Bootleg Racing League heads to Lanier for the second to last race of the season. Be sure to tune in next Saturday night to catch the Global SimRacing Channel broadcast of all the action on iRacing Live. The broadcast begins at 9:15PM EST followed by the green flag at 9:30.
You can check out the Bootleg Racing League at www.bootlegracingleague.com.