Jackson runner-up in return, Visage posts career-best in third
Nothing like a walk in the park victory for Australian Street Stock guru Mitchell Clark. Particularly, Limaland Motorsports Park.
That’s exactly what Clark set himself up for Wednesday night, setting fast-time in Qualifying and leading every lap of his Heat Race and the 30-lap Feature for his first career Chevy Performance Street Stock League Feature win on iRacing.
Nobody seemed to have anything to challenge the Track Tech #0 on his way to Victory Lane, as Clark rode the high side for much of the race, kept his nose clean and made the good restarts count.
League regular and two-time winner in Season 2, Tyler Jackson, rejoined the roster this week after missing last week’s race over the holiday break and came back with his A-game, placing second after a tremendous battle for the runner-up spot in the final laps.
He and former League winner Lewis Clark joined third-place Paul Visage and Larry Barber Jr. with less than five laps remaining in a slide-job fest for position. Inside, then back to outside Jackson and Clark swapped spots before Visage joined in as the white flag waved. When all was said and done, Jackson was able to pull the crossover move out of Turn 4 on Lap 30 to claim second, while Visage slipped by up high to take third.
“Once you get two or three guys battling for second, that leader just runs away from us,” Jackson told announcer Rick Eshelman in the DIRTVision post-race interview. “I think if all 30 laps were green, we might’ve had something.”
The DIRTcar eSports Chevy Performance Street Stock League action continues next Wednesday night, Jan. 13, with a second visit to the USA International Speedway for Round #7 of the Season 2 campaign. Sign up today at DIRTcar.com/eSports or watch all the action live on DIRTVision!
Parr with back-to-back podiums, Jackson first two-time winner
LIMA, OH – Three races into the Chevy Performance Street Stock League as part of DIRTcar eSports Season 2 and Tyler Jackson has found himself right at home as the League’s first two-time winner.
Originally scheduled to start fifth, Jackson took off from the third spot on the grid after Chris Meyers was unable to make the call for the Feature, sliding the entire inside row up one spot. He dove into the first corner with no fear on the low side and snatched up the lead before the field even got into Turn 3. Put simply, this was the beginning of the end for his competition.
Even with the single restart early in the show, allowing those behind him another crack at a pass for the lead, Jackson held strong. Most notably, Jackson was able to avoid a lapped car that spun directly in front of him with just two laps remaining to help seal the victory.
“I was trying to figure out if I’d be better off getting a caution and having them bunch back up on me or just try and wiggle my way through some of those lapped guys,” Jackson told Street Stock League Announcer Rick Eshelman in the post-race interview on DIRTVision. “There were two-or-three really close calls of that; I jammed-up on the brakes.”
Grant Parr crossed the stripe in second after a solid run in the top-five all night. He passed for second in the latter half of the race and led a charge to Jackson’s rear bumper, but just flat-out ran out of time. After a third-place finish last week, Parr’s got the momentum he’ll be carrying into Volusia Speedway Park in one week’s time.
“I noticed I was catching [Jackson], and was hoping maybe a lapped car would mess him up and give us a chance or a caution,” Parr said. “It didn’t happen tonight, but we had another good run.”
The DIRTcar eSports Chevy Performance Street Stock League action continues next Wednesday night, Dec. 23, with a visit to the Volusia Speedway Park. Catch all the action live on DIRTVision!
LAKELAND, FL – He may have been beat by Yost & Co. last week, but Tyler Jackson was not going to be denied in week #2.
Jackson, of Rockford, IL, hung tough in Wednesday night’s Chevy Performance Street Stock League Feature, going 30 long laps around the virtual 3/4-mile of USA International Speedway. A plethora of caution flags scattered throughout the race made it seem marathon-like, but the race was completed under green in the waning seconds of the time limit.
Numerous restarts were required of Jackson to pick up the checkers, and not a single one of them was easy, as previous Feature winner Richie Yost, of Griffith, IN, was all over his rear bumper for the duration of the race.
“These restarts here with these long straightaways, they’re tough,” Jackson told League announcer Chase Raudman on the DIRTVision broadcast. “You almost have to do a bit of mirror driving here with the run they can get off the top [groove] on you.”
Despite the challenges in his rearview, Jackson found a way to keep composed, leading every lap for the $100 victory – the first of his DIRTcar eSports career.
Last week’s winner at Lanier, Richie Yost, put pressure on Jackson the entire distance but could not find a way to make a move for the lead. He gave it everything he had in the final laps and was still satisfied with a runner-up finish.
“At a big track like this, it’s easy to mess-up,” Yost noted. “At the end, I had to go for hero or zero… I had to try to do something.”
Grant Parr, a newcomer to DIRTcar eSports, brought it home in third to wrap-up a very solid League debut. Coming from seventh on the starting grid, Parr battled it out with Richie Yost’s brother Zane for much of the race and came out on top for a $50 prize check.
“On one of the restarts, I got shuffled up high and was able to make it work, came up through the field and ended up with a solid top-three,” Parr said.
The Chevy Performance Street Stock League action continues next Wednesday night, Dec. 16, from the Limaland Motorsports Park – don’t miss a moment of the action LIVE on DIRTVision! Head to DIRTcar.com/eSports to register for an event today.
Taking the lead from Tyler Jackson in the final laps after a race-long battle with he and Kendal Tucker, Bergeron showed the DIRTVision presented by Drydene audience just how exciting and competitive the DIRTcar eSports league is every week.
“Qualified first, won the Heat Race and won the Feature, so I can’t ask for more,” Bergeron told announcer Chase Raudman in the DIRTVision post-race interview.
Bergeron may have won the war, but he initially did not win the battle of the opening stages, despite leading the first lap.
Jumping to the early race lead was DIRTcar Street Stock guru Tyler Jackson, who had a very impressive run inside the podium throughout the race, mixing it up with the iRacing Pro-license drivers while trying to become the very first non-Pro driver to win a DIRTcar eSports event.
Through the first three quarters of the race, it looked as though Jackson was going to break through and accomplish the feat, leading laps 2-27 of the 30-lap contest.
Bergeron was running third with four laps to go after chasing fellow iRacing Pro Kendal Tucker and leader Jackson for most of the race in traffic. With the race going caution-free, lapped traffic played a big role in the outcome, as a slower car was thrown right in the middle of the leaders’ race with just three circuits remaining.
Going down the backstretch with just five laps remaining, Jackson had committed to the low side of a lapped car heading into Turn 3 while Tucker went to his outside. The slower car bobbled and made contact with Tucker, sending both into the outside wall and opening the door for Bergeron to slip right through the middle for second.
“The lap car was there, Tucker went to the outside, I took the middle and just sent it in there. [Tucker] got shoved out, so I took the spot. I ran the top and just tried to be as fast as possible and get around Tyler [Jackson], and that’s what I did,” Bergeron said of the pass for second.
With Tucker behind him, Bergeron made a beeline for Jackson’s spot out front. Using that high side momentum, the Team ABR-pilot took advantage of another slower car right in Jackson’s middle groove just two laps later and took the lead away as they crossed the line with two-to-go.
Jackson and Tucker came together on the white-flag lap, allowing Tucker to scoot by for second and moving Jackson back to third. Back out front, it was all Bergeron, who crossed the line first on Lap 30 to pick up the $300 victory and the $25 bonus from VP Racing Fuels.
After the checkered, Bergeron commended Jackson and his skills, running out front with he and Tucker as a non-iRacing Pro.
“He was pretty good. I didn’t know who he was, but he was pretty good, for sure. I’m glad that he was able to get up here; it was a fun race,” Bergeron said of Jackson.
Back in second, behind Bergeron for what is now the third time in his DIRTcar eSports career, and fifth runner-up finish overall, Tucker felt the bad luck falling on him again Wednesday night.
“Honestly, just another Kendal Tucker-type of run,” Tucker said after the race. “Always up front, and something just always happens. I was able to catch back up to Tyler [Jackson] right there with about four-to-go, and I was going to make a move on him… I guess the dude who was apologizing was the lapper who slid all the way up the front stretch and pretty much ended all hope for me in winning that race.”
As for the Street Stock prodigy and his impressive run up front, Jackson was just thrilled to even be up front with such great competition, especially in a car class he very rarely is seen in.
“I’m pretty excited to run that well, but it sucks leading all those laps and losing,” Jackson said. “But, [Bergeron and Tucker] are pros for a reason. I don’t really even drive the Sprint Cars much, I just drive Street Stocks and Late Models.”
UP NEXT
The DIRTcar eSports league action continues in just two weeks’ time – DIRTcar Pro Late Models tackle the Limaland Motorsports Park on Sept. 9. Fixed setups, $20 registration fee with $300 going to the winner. $200 for second, $100 for third and contingencies for all qualifying events available.
Catch all the action LIVE on DIRTVision presented by Drydene!