Race 5 Recap!! Sim Racer's Edge Alpha IR18 Series Season 4 Presented by Ecency.com!!

Round 5 of the Sim Racer's Edge Alpha IR18 Series Season 4 presented by Ecency.com saw the drivers heading to the scenic Pocono mountains for 124 laps around the tricky triangle that is Pocono Raceway. Measuring in at 2.5 miles with three very distinct corners, the track offers massive speed and plenty of passing opportunities. It was very obvious from the practice sessions that the track would provide multiple grooves in the corners to allow great side-by-side racing. Last season's event saw a whopping 49 lead changes in 120 laps of racing, leaving this season's drivers with high expectations of a hectic race. The expected pit window would be 22-24 laps for fuel, with tire wear not playing too large a role.

(The Tricky Triangle, Pocono Speedway)

Qualifying would see Butch Davis barely beat Chad Simpson to pole position, running a lap of 41.944 (214.572mph average) seconds to Simpson's 41.946 (214.562mph average). Jeffrey Rollette would secure P3 on the grid with a 41.973, with Dan Brasington next to him in P4 on the 2nd row with a 41.978. Nate Siefker would start P5 with a lap of 41.981, with Bentley Glaser on the outside in P6, also with a lap of 41.981. Chris Simard would start P7, the final car to qualify in the 41 second range with a lap time of 41.999. To Simard's outside in P8 on row 4 would be Mike Grandy, with a time of 42.022. Timothy Bates would start in P9 on the inside of row 5, with 3Joker's Racing teammate Brett Beasley starting on the outside, rounding out the top 10. In row 6, Lyle Swearingen would start P11 next to Jose Viguera in P12. In row 7, Jari Bruppacher would start P13 next to Jeff Hollingsworth in P14. In row 8, Rick Ravon would start P15 next to Jake Walsh in P16. Row 9 would see Ron Hollifield make his series debut in P17 with Ernie Ludwig in P18. Row 10 saw Kevin Young also make his series debut in P19, with Mark McFadyen to his outside in P20. Kevin O'Brien would start P21, the final car on the grid.

(Davis leads the field to green)

The race got off to a great start, with Davis leading the field to green alongside Simpson. Before a single lap was completed, the lead changed no less than 3 times between the top two, with Simpson leading the first lap. This would be a recurring theme throughout the race, with a steady stream of passes between the leaders occurring lap after lap. Rollette had some early struggles, dropping back in the field to P11 by the end of the 2nd lap. Siefker and Glaser were on the move, up to P3 and P4 respectively. Bruppacher was also tearing through the field, up four positions from his P13 starting spot to P9. Ravon was the biggest mover early, up 5 spots to P10 by the end of lap 2. By lap 5, the field was settling in and getting themselves sorted out for the long haul. Davis and Simpson continued to swap the lead, with Siefker and Brasington in close proximity battling for P3. Glaser had dropped back a bit, falling into the clutches of Simard and Ravon. Bates was holding strong in P8, with Grandy and Beasley rounding out the top 10. Hollingsworth was now 11th, followed by Bruppacher, Viguera, Rollette, and Swearingen to complete the top 15. Young was now 17th, followed by Hollifield, Walsh, O'Brien, Ludwig, and McFadyen. Brasington had a big moment on lap 10 coming through turn 2 as he barely touched the apron. The rear of the car stepped out, but he was able to wrestle the car to keep it straight, losing several positions due to the lost momentum. At around the same time, a report came from pit road stating that current race leader Davis was having technical issues. This didn't seem to slow Davis, who continued to battle for the lead with Simpson and Siefker.

(Blasting off into turn 1)

(Down the backstraight for the first time)

Lap 16 would see the first caution of the night, as Swearingen caught the apron through turn 2, kicking the rear of his Dallara IR18 sideways. Miraculously, he was able to work the throttle, brake, and steering wheel just enough to avoid any contact. This would give all of the drivers an opportunity to catch their breath, pit for fuel and tires, and go at it again. Davis would lead the field to the pit lane, with Siefker P2, Simpson P3, Glaser P4, and Ravon P5 rounding out the top 5. 6th would be Simard, followed by Grandy P7, Bates P8, Beasley P9, and Hollingsworth P10 completing the top 10. Bruppacher was 11th, followed by Viguera P12, Brasington P13, Rollette P14, and Walsh in P15. Hollifield was now P16, O'Brien P17, Young P18, McFadyen P19, and Ludwig P20. Swearingen's spin would put him in P21 entering pit road. All of the drivers hit pit road with the exception of Viguera, who decided to stay on track and assume the lead. Siefker would win the race off of pit road to take over P2, with Simpson P3, Glaser P4, and Ravon P5 rounding out the top 5. Simard was now P6, Bruppacher P7, Beasley P8, Grandy P9, and Brasington P10. Rollette was P11, Bates P12, Walsh P13, Hollifield P14, and Hollingsworth P15. McFadyen was P16, O'Brien P17, Young P18, Davis P19, Ludwig P20, and Swearingen P21. Davis' extended time on pit road was related to working on fixing the technical issues that had begun on lap 10, dropping him from the lead to the rear of the field with a little over 100 laps remaining.

(Simpson leads the field into turn 2)

(Swearingen gets loose after touching the apron)

On the lap 20 restart, Viguera was quickly swarmed by the field, with Ravon jumping to the lead in the middle of turn 1. Viguera would strike back in turn 2, holding the lead until the following lap entering turn 1. Ravon would reassume the lead on lap 21, with Viguera's tires beginning to show their age and the Chilean driver slowly fading away from the lead. Siefker would pounce entering turn 1 and move to P2. Davis was the man on the move, having restarted P19 and now up to P16 at the start of lap 23, picking off one position per lap. By the start of lap 24, Davis was P13 and still pushing forward. Viguera, who was struggling mightily at the end of his fuel run, was dropping rapidly through the field and would finally peel off from the lead pack to make his pit stop for fuel and tires at the end of lap 27. Prior to his stop, he had dropped out of the top 10. Lap 28 saw Davis rejoin the top 10, while at the front, Ravon and Siefker renewed their battle for the top spot, with the drivers swapping the lead multiple times per lap. While the top two engaged in a wild and erratic battle, with both drivers swerving across the track in an attempt to break the draft, the action behind was a little more tame with the exception of Davis, who had worked his way through the field and was now P5 on lap 37. Ravon would be the first to flinch, heading to pit road at the end of lap 41. Siefker and Simard would lead the charge on the following lap, bringing Hollifield with them. Davis would retake the lead from Glaser on lap 43, but hit pit road with Grandy in tow at the end of the lap. Following Davis and Grandy would be Walsh, Brasington, Hollingsworth, Swearingen, and McFadyen. At the end of lap 44, Simpson would lead the next group of drivers in, followed by Glaser, Bruppacher, Beasley, Bat4es, Rollette, and O'Brien. On pit entry, the 89 locked up the brakes on entry, slamming into the rear of the 42. The 89 sustained front wing damage, and while the damage to the 42 was minimal, Simpson was slapped with a speeding penalty due to the assist given by the 89. Ludwig would be the final car to pit on lap 45, completing the cycle of green flag pit stops.

(Glaser, Siefker, and Simard doing battle out front)

With the pit stops completed, Siefker and Ravon once again battled at the front, continuing to swap the lead on a regular basis. Davis was now running P3, with Simard P4 and Glaser P5. There was a little over a second gap back to Beasley in P6, with Grandy in P7 another second behind him. Bates was now P8, with Brasington, Walsh, and Hollingsworth in close proximity. By lap 48, the leaders had now caught up to Simpson, who had lost a ton of time due to the pit road speeding penalty, eventually passing him and placing him as the first car 1 lap down. Lap 50 began the tussle between Ravon and Davis for the lead, as the two engaged in the practice of swapping the lead multiple times per lap. Lap 53 saw the second caution of the race as Bruppacher lost front downforce in turn 2 and washed up the race track into the unsuspecting Hollifield, who began a slow spin on the exit of turn 2. Hollifield would take a second hit from Bruppacher which sent him careening nose-first into the outside wall, only to be struck again, this time by Walsh as he had little time to react to the initial incident. Bruppacher then slowed on the bottom of the track in front of O'Brien, nearly causing another pileup in the process. As Bruppacher entered turn 3, he attempted to use the access road but was carrying far too much speed and half-spun the car. All of the lead lap cars would pit at the end of lap 54, with Simpson getting the "lucky dog" to get back on the lead lap.

(Contact when Bruppacher slides up the track)

(Hollifield and Walsh get the worst after Bruppacher's error)

The restart on lap 57 saw Siefker leading Davis to the green, with Ravon, Simard, and Beasley rounding out the top 5. Glaser was now P6, followed by Brasington, Hollingsworth, Grandy, and Swearingen completing the top 10. Bates was P11, Walsh P12, Rollette P13, McFadyen P14, Young P15, Simpson P16, O'Brien P17, Ludwig P18, Viguera P19, Bruppacher P20, and Hollifield now multiple laps down after repairs in P21. On the restart, Ludwig immediately dove to pit lane while the rest of the field streaked off towards turn 1. It wouldn't take long to see the third caution of the night, as Bates was unable to keep his car on the bottom line in turn 2, pushing up in front of Swearingen and using quite a bit of brakes to avoid slamming the outside wall. The sudden slide up and deceleration left Swearingen no time to react, as he ran into the back of Bates' suddenly off-pace car in the middle of turn 2. Swearingen slammed the outside wall, with Walsh almost launching his car over the back of Swearingen as they got entangled and slid down the track together. McFadyen wasn't able to avoid the carnage as he ramped over the nose of Swearingen's car and launched himself spectacularly into the air. This incident would sadly end the night for both Walsh and McFadyen, though Swearingen was able to soldier on but at a greatly reduced pace. Glaser would be the first driver to head to pit lane under yellow, giving up P6 to do so. He was followed into pit lane by Hollingsworth, Bates, Young, Walsh, O'Brien, and Ludwig. These out of sequence stops would shuffle the running order for the restart.

(Rough day for Swearingen and Walsh)

(McFadyen gets launched over Swearingen)

The race would get under way again on lap 61, as Siefker led the field to the green flag. The top 5 were Siefker, Davis, Ravon, Simard, and Beasley. Brasington was now P6, followed by Grandy, Rollette, Simpson, and Viguera. Bruppacher would be 11th, with those who pitted behind him as Glaser was now P12, followed by Hollingsworth, Young, Ludwig, Bates, O'Brien, and Hollifield. Meanwhile, Swearingen was still in the pits getting repairs when the green flew. Siefker and Davis would continue the trend of swapping the lead, with Ravon waiting to pounce at a moment's notice. This would continue until the end of lap 81 when Siefker would dive to pit road. Siefker was not alone, as mere inches behind were Davis, Ravon, Simard, Simpson, and Brasington. Beasley opted to stay out, picking up the lead of the race. A few seconds back, Rollette would also hit pit road. Although several laps down, Hollifield would also bring his car to pit lane at the end of lap 81. At the end of lap 82, Beasley made the left turn to pit lane just as the first group was leaving pit lane after having their services completed.

(Some three-wide action)

As Simard was coming through turn 1 on his pit exit, he dipped the left side tires onto the apron, causing the rear to slide out and doing a half-spin through turn 1. He did an amazing job of hanging on and getting the car straightened out, but the yellow flag was already displayed. While the yellow was timely for Beasley, Bruppacher was not so lucky. The yellow came out as Bruppacher was making the left towards pit lane, but once the yellow comes out, pit lane is closed and entering the closed pit lane is penalized. In the confusion, Bruppacher drove through pit lane but didn't have enough fuel to make it back around and was forced to tow his car to the pits. Several drivers took the opportunity to pit again, this time led by Bates. Behind him in pit lane were Hollingsworth, Glaser, Ludwig, O'Brien, Swearingen, and Simard. Those who made the pit stop this time by could potentially change the complexion of the race if there were no more yellows, as their final pit stop time could be shortened due to not needing to take as much fuel to make it to the end. The strategies were starting to creep into the picture.

(Hell of a save by Simard)

The race would restart again on lap 86, with Beasley now leading Siefker, Davis, Ravon, Simpson, Brasington, Rollette to green as the cars who did not pit. Hollingsworth in P8 would lead the group that had just stopped, with Bates, Ludwig, Glaser, Viguera, Grany, and O'Brien rounding out the top 15, all of whom were still on the lead lap. Siefker would take the lead entering turn 2 on lap 86, getting to the inside of Beasley well before corner entry and maintaining momentum on exit to clear him. Brasington pushed wide in turn 2, making contact with the outside wall on exit and damaging his suspension. He would move to the bottom of the track to not be a hinderance to the other drivers, but his car was suffering greatly and difficult to control. Davis would make a bold move on the outside of turn 3, sweeping by Beasley on the outside, though not without a slight scare on corner exit as the rear of the car kicked slightly. Siefker and Davis would renew their back and forth battle for the lead. Ravon would finally get around Beasley on lap 92 in turn 1, using the high side and momentum to complete the pass. On lap 94, Hollifield got loose in turn 3, losing the back end on exit and spinning up towards the outside wall, making very light contact with the back end of the car before coming to a stop near the wall. The 5th caution of the night was in the air.

With Siefker leading under yellow on lap 96 and approaching pit lane, Davis faked left towards pit lane and then moved back to the right. Siefker edged towards pit entry and then moved right back towards the racing surface. Davis made a final hard left to pit lane and led every lead lap driver in the field, except for Siefker and Beasley, down pit lane for fuel and tires. Now strategies were well into the picture. Siefker and Beasley would now have to pit sooner than all of the other drivers, and they would both have to take more fuel during their stop. With the race restarting on lap 98, how badly will the longer pit stops affect Siefker and Beasley? Would Ravon or Davis be able to use his raw speed and shorter expected pit stop to create a gap when Siefker and Beasley pitted? Would relatively quiet drivers step up at the end to make some noise? Would anyone be crazy enough to try to stretch their fuel to run the final 27 laps without stopping?

As the green flag flew to start lap 98, Siefker led Beasley, Davis, Ravon, Simpson, Glaser, Rollette, Bates, Simard, Viguera, O'Brien, Grandy, Brasington, Hollingsworth, and Ludwig, all on the lead lap. Siefker and Beasley got great starts, but Davis did not, falling into the clutches of Ravon who made the pass for P3 in turn 2. Glaser also made the move on Simpson, moving up to P5 just before turn 2. Glaser would waste no time and immediately dove inside of Davis in turn 3, moving himself to P4 and relegating Davis to P5. On lap 100, Ravon got the drop on Beasley in turn 2 to move himself to P2. Behind the top 5, Bates, Simard, and Rollette were keeping things aggressive, with the trio going three-wide into turn 1. Simard came out ahead, moving himself up to P6 ahead of Bates in P7 and Rollette in P8. Siefker and Ravon were back to their daring and intense battle, with Beasley in P3 and Glaser in P4 waiting to pick up the lead if the top two should get a little too intense with their moves. Ravon and Siefker began using all of the track, diving to the inside of the track on the straights to defensively position themselves against an attack. This slowed the overall pace of the leaders, keeping Beasley, Glaser, Davis, Simard, Simpson, and Bates all within close proximity. Glaser got around Beasley for P3 on lap 107 with an inside move in turn 1. As the battle for the lead intensified even more, both Siefker and Ravon did their best to rattle the other while making quick, sharp defensive moves, but remaining within the rules of the series. All of this defending allowed Glaser to close in on the two leaders, pulling Beasley with him. Davis continued to hang back in P5 with Simard right behind in P6.

(Trying to break the draft)

Both Siefker and Beasley swung low exiting turn 3 on lap 108 to enter the pits. This gave the lead to Ravon, with Glaser in P2, Davis P3, Simard P4, Simpson P5, and Bates P6. There was now a large gap to Hollingsworth in P7, with Viguera P8, Rollette P9, and O'Brien P10. On lap 109, Simard made the pass on Davis entering turn 1 to move up to P3. Glaser would make his move to pit lane at the end of lap 109, handing P2 to Simard. Ravon began stretching his lead as Simard tried to stay in the draft to close the gap, wityh Davis fading back toward Simpson and Bates. Bates completed the pass on Simpson on lap 111 as they sped towards turn 1. Meanwhile, Siefker was charging as hard as he could, with Glaser and Beasley both behind him trying to close the gap. Simard dove to the pits at the end of lap 112, handing P2 to Davis who now had Bates and Simpson right on his gearbox. The gap from Davis in P2 to Ravon in P1 kept growing as the laps wound down, stretching his lead to over 8 seconds at one point. It was now obvious that Davis, Bates, and Simpson were hoping to stretch their fuel to the end of the race, a monumental task at a track that usually offers little off-throttle time. Ravon was gaining almost a full second per lap over the trio behind, even using the slow lapped car of Swearingen to get a little extra tow on the front straight on lap 115. When Davis caught Swearingen, he opted to stay in line instead of passing, using the tow from Swearingen to help save fuel, but the lap times plummeted. What was once 41.8 second laps had now become 42.8, and even 43.5. Meanwhile, Glaser and Siefker were embroiled in a slugfest, getting frustrated with each other as they battled fiercely, but in doing so, losing time to Ravon. Grandy would pit from P9 on lap 118.

(Using all of the track)

Unfortunately, Ravon's strategy, perhaps hoping for a late yellow, didn't pan out and he was forced to pit at the end of lap 120, which handed the lead over to Davis. The question now was whether or not any of the top 3 had enough fuel to make it to the end, if they would be able to race to the checkers or if it would be a slow crawl to the line on fumes. Grandy's exit from pit road placed him directly in front of Swearingen, Davis, Bates, and Simpson. At the start of lap 121, Bates jumped to the inside of Davis, boxing him in behind Swearingen on the entry to turn 1. Bates rocketed away from Davis, pulling Simpson along with him. Davis finally got around Swearingen on the backstraight and was back on Simpson's gearbox. Ravon's pit exit would place him in front of Glaser and Siefker, who now had Simard, Beasley, and Ludwig on their tails. Davis made the pass on Simpson on the outside of turn 3 at the end of lap 121 and closed the gap to Bates, who was still hanging on the rear wing of Grandy. As the leaders screamed towards turn 1 with 2 laps to go, Davis pulled the trigger and jumped to the inside of Bates on corner entry. As Davis took the white flag with 1 lap remaining, he stretched the lead over Bates to 7 tenths of a second, with no signs of slowing down. Davis kept his foot to the floor, taking the checkered flag with the car sputtering on fumes as he crossed the line 6 tenths of a second ahead of Bates in P2, with Simpson another 4 tenths back in P3. O'Brien and Rollette finished P4 and P5 respectively, also saving fuel and avoiding the late pit stop.

(Davis crosses the line victorious)

The victory for Davis is his 2nd of the season after his season-opening win at Daytona, giving him victories in two legs of the Triple Crown (Daytona and Pocono, with the race in Indianapolis coming on May 26th). Bates' 2nd place finish is his first podium finish since his victory in the inaugural race of the league in Fontana, which took place over a year and a half ago. Simpson's 3rd place finish gets him back on the right track to defend his championship from last season. O'Brien capped off a relatively quiet day on the track with a stellar 4th place finish. Jeffrey Rollette had a strong run as well and rounded out the top 5, all of whom were able to work the fuel strategy to the fullest and avoided making a pit stop in the final 26 laps. Ravon came home 6th, followed closely by Siefker in 7th, Simard in 8th, Beasley in 9th, and Glaser in 10th, a disappointing finish for the remainder of the top 10 considering the pace they had all shown throughout the race. Hollingsworth was 11th, just missing out on the top 10 as he ran out of fuel on the final lap and dropped from P6 to P11 coming to the line. Ludwig would finish P12, the last car on the lead lap. P13 would go to Grandy, the first car 1 lap down to the leaders. P14 was Viguera, 3 laps down. Swearingen finished P15, 7 laps down and the last car running at the end of the race. Bruppacher was classified as P16, followed by Brasington in P17, Hollifield in P18, Young in P19, Walsh in P20, and McFadyen in P21, all having ended their day early.

Overall, the race saw 43 lead changes among 8 drivers, with Siefker snagging a bonus point for leading the most laps (38). Other race leaders were Davis (32), Ravon (31), Simpson (10), Beasley (4), Bates (3), Glaser (3), and Viguera (3). Ravon would pick up a bonus point for the fastest race lap (41.451 seconds/217.124mph). The margin of victory was 0.599 seconds, the second closest finish this season behind Daytona. The race was slowed with 5 cautions for a total of 15 laps.

The series takes a week off as iRacing releases their latest "build", which should include new content and adjustments to various other aspects of the service. The series will hit the track again in 2 weeks when they race at Barber Motorsports Park on Thursday, March 17th.