The first race of the Sim Racer's Edge Alpha IR18 Series Season 4 presented by Ecency.com was held on the high banked oval at Daytona International Speedway. 27 drivers would take the green flag for 100 laps around the famed speedway, equating to 250 miles. Kieran Brughelli won the pole, with a lap of 37.471 seconds or 240.186mph. Lyle Swearingen would start second, a mere 7 thousandths of a second off of Kieran's pole lap. Butch Davis and Jeffrey Bogan would make up the second row, with Dan Brasington and Chad Simpson making up row 3. Row four would see Nate Siefker, the SRE Seasons 1 and 2 champion, alongside Brett Beasley. Jose Viguera and Timothy Bates would round out the top 10.
(The field heads towards the green flag to start the season!)
The race was expected by many to be a caution-filled wreckfest due to the nature of the track and the aggressive intensity that a lot of the drivers showed in the practice sessions. Surprisingly, the start of the race was relatively drama-free, as the field sorted themselves out and settled in for a safe and conservative approach. Kieran had a great start and led the first lap, with Davis taking the lead on lap 2. Dan Brasington would lead early as well, with the drivers carefully navigating their way around the track. Jeffrey Rollette and Ernie Ludwig were big movers early on, as each pushed forward through the field after less than stellar qualifying laps.
The race would stay green for the first 22 laps, with several drivers being forced to pit for fuel and tires. Several drivers had close calls on pit entry, with Timothy Bates locking the tires under braking and missing pit entry. On pit exit, Carl Burk would lose traction and spin into the inside wall, which would eventually bring out the first caution flag of the race. The remaining drivers pitted for fuel and tires, with the exception of Kris Walker, who would stay out to lead a lap. On the lap 28 restart, an accordian affect would be triggered by cars attempting to anticipare the leaders taking off, causing a massive wreck that started in the midfield and included cars throughout the back half of the field. Included in the wreck were Season 3 champion Chad Simpson, Lyle Swearingen, Ryan Cruze, Nate Siefker, William Fletcher, Dan Brasington, David Cooke, and Timothy Bates.
(Mayhem on the lap 28 restart!)
The lap 32 restart went smoother, with the top 6 cars able to build a gap and pull away from the pursuing field. Jeffrey Bogan, Kieran Brughelli, Jeffrey Rollette, Jose Viguera, Butch Davis, and Dale Weiser comprised that top 6, with Ryan Cruze leading the second pack with Rick Ravon, Paul Krumrei, Ernie Ludwig, Chris Simard, Mike Grandy, Ryan Gemmel, David Cooke, Mark McFadyen, and Kris Walker in tow. This would lead to a long green flag run with two sets of pitstops in that span. Brett Beasley was forced to pit, and upon his exit, was able to get around the leaders and position himself at the head of the lead pack. The leaders opted to ride behind Beasley and save some fuel. Through the first round of pitstops during this run, both Jeffrey Rollette and Dale Weiser fell out of the lead pack. With Davis now running 4th, he dropped back to help pick up Rollette and bring him back into the lead pack.
With the final pit stop happening under green flag conditions, only 5 drivers were in position to take victory unless a caution flag flew. Kieran Brughelli, Jeffrey Bogan, Jose Viguera, Butch Davis, and Jeffrey Rollette held the top 5 positions leading into that final round of pit stops, with Bogan being the first to make the plunge to pit lane on lap 77. Viguera's pitstop on lap 78 didn't go as planned as he slid through his pit stall and had to back up, and a lot of time was lost that dropped him out of the lead pack. Davis rocketed to the lead on lap 78, and Brughelli dove to the pits two laps later on lap 80. On lap 81, both Davis and Rollette made their dive to pit lane. Davis would exit the pits with a decent lead, but not enough to keep himself separated from the chasing pack. The lead pack was now reduced to 4 with the absence of Viguera. The race was on to the checkered flag, and the top 4 were all determined to win the season opener. Meanwhile, further back in the field, drivers were more spread out into smaller clusters of a few cars each.
As the laps wound down, the top 4 focused on strategizing their move to take victory. On lap 90, Brughelli made the first move, jumping to the outside of Bogan as they entered turn 3. He was unable to complete the pass and fell back in line in 3rd place. Brughelli would try the same move again on lap 91, but with the same result. As the leaders began lap 94, Brughelli would attempt a move to the outside of Bogan yet again, this time managing to stay side-by-side with Bogan down the backstraight. Davis pulled high before entering turn 3, giving Bogan an opportunity to jump to the inside and take the lead. Out of turn 4 however, Davis made a bold move to dive across the track to get to Bogan's inside, retaking the lead just before crossing the finish line to start lap 95. Bogan would stick to the outside line throughout lap 95, retaking the lead on the outside just as the leaders began lap 96. Midway through lap 96, the leaders caught up to the tail end of the field, a group of 6 cars that had suffered damage earlier in the race or had lost time due to issues during pitstops. Davis tried to use the traffic to his advantage, but both Bogan and Brughelli managed to follow Davis as he snaked through the lapped traffic. Bogan jumped to the outside of Davis in turn 3 with momentum on his side. Just as Bogan was halfway alongside Davis, the caution flag flew due to contact between Jose Viguera and Ryan Gemmel. Replays showed the Viguera clipped the apron ever so slightly, causing his car to lose control momentarily and veered into the side of Gemmel's car.
(The leaders moments before the race-ending yellow flew!)
While the final results will show Butch Davis crossed the line a mere 114 thousandths of a second ahead of Jeffrey Bogan as the race finished under the yellow flag, the true margin of victory was much closer. As per the rules, the field is frozen at the time of the yellow flag, with positions being locked in based on telemetry data. Butch Davis was less than a foot ahead of Bogan, which at speed translates to less than one hundredth of a second. Davis' early move to get the lead proved to be the winning move, although the driver of the STP #43 was sure it was a losing move at the time, knowing that the cars behind had the advantage of getting a tow from the leading car to slingshot past.
(The moment the yellow flew!)
So, the first race of Season 4 sees Butch Davis take the victory, followed by Jeffrey Bogan, Kieran Brughelli, Jeffrey Rollette, and Kris Walker rounding out the top 5. Jose Viguera came home 6th, with Chris Simard 7th, Ernie Ludwig 8th, Mike Grandy 9th, and Dale Weiser 10th. Rick Ravon finished 11th, the last car on the lead lap, with his PatriotSpeed teammate David Cooke 12th, the first car scored 1 lap down. Chad Simpson soldiered on with a damaged car to finish 13th, followed by Jari Bruppacher, Kevin O'Brien, Brett Beasley, Shane Loveridge, Timothy Bates, Paul Krumrei, and Lyle Swearingen completing the top 20. Ryan Gemmel finished 21st, a victim of the apron touch by Jose Viguera, followed by Ryan Cruze in 22nd, William Fletcher 23rd, Mark McFadyen 24th, Nate Siefker 25th, Dan Brasington 26th, and Carl Burk completing the finishing order in 27th. All told, only 3 drivers failed to see the checkered flag, those being Carl Burk after his spin on pit exit, Nate Siefker after suffering a blown engine, and Ryan Gemmel who was unable to continue after the contact with Viguera.