The evening of Saturday, April 6th was not an uneventful one, as 12 drivers loaded into the iRacing simulator to race for the opportunity to win a free oval car scheme of their choice, designed by Five-Six Graphics. With over 20 registrations for the event, it was certainly a shock to see such a small field, but let me tell you – the action certainly was not small.
Heat race one would see a small blunder early on from driver of the R19, Mitchell Maynard as he would lose the rear end of the car and spin in turn 1 after a blistering 4 laps. The field quickly was reset with Maynard now at the rear and was later met with a late race incident between the 12 of Ethan Wood and the 27 of Chad Griggs. The field was set back up and took the green, finishing the final two laps in spectacular fashion as the top 3 went three wide for the lead 2 separate times.
Heat race number two would soon after go underway, and on lap one the driver of the 57 car, Trevor C. Williams would clip an infield tractor tire and lose all advantage. Fortunately the race remained under the green flag as Williams was able to gather it up in a jiffy. Josh Whiteman would assume the race lead from his fourth place starting position and would not look back as he built up a lead and led all 8 laps of heat race number two.
The 40 lap A main sponsored by Five Six Graphics would immediately grid up from there, and within two pace laps the field would scream to life. This would not last very long, as a lap two caution would halt the action, and a rocky start to the A main would begin for many drivers who were still trying to figure out how to handle these new cars in traffic. After seven cautions, the race would roar to life and the action would not stop until the checkered flag flew.
The field resumed racing after the final caution and did not look back. The four top drivers managed to build a small lead over the remainder of the field, and the race was on. Griggs, Whiteman, Hoskins and Doyle would begin battling immediately. Doyle, however would fall back just enough to not have the opportunity to make a move. By this time the top side of the track had come in and many drivers had moved up to that wall, but Griggs and Whiteman were persistent on that lower side of the racetrack until the final few laps when they realized the top side would be a huge factor in the end. The white flag flew and Logan Hoskins would make a last ditch effort down the back straight, diving it in deep for a slide job on both lead cars which were nose to tail on the high side. There simply was not enough time however, as the top two would pull away and be side by side at the line, with Whiteman’s front wing beside the tail tank of Griggs’ 27 car at the line.
The footage from the Micro Madness Classic can ONLY be found on OSRN. Click on the image below to view the YouTube video.
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