“Feelin’ hot, hot, hot.” That’s just what the drivers of RacinFreeks were feeling when they took on the challenge of the hot and slick New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It would be 150 laps of short track action, most of which would be raced under green. There were a total of only 4 cautions for 14 of the 150 laps. Waylon Lamm started things off with the top time in practice with a blazing lap of 29.496. However, it would be Neil Odegard, who would claim the pole award for this week. Odegard’s lap of 29.575 was a tick faster and enough to edge out Lamm for the top starting spot.
Odegard would lead the field down to the green flag and take charge of the lead early. We would see the first action of contact early on lap 3, coming out of turn 2 between Nick Crawford and Matt Cherry, sending Cherry down to the inside wall. There would be no caution, but the first would soon come on lap 7 for a self-spin from Tom Dreiling. Drivers would come in for pit stops and some elect to take just 2 tires while the rest chose 4. This would set up an interesting restart, because it would be Robert Moyer Jr who would restart the field, but he decided to choose the outside lane. Odegard would have a great run on the inside and take the lead going into turn 3, but then contact between Zach Hall and Mike Abbott coming off of 4 would turn into a pileup on the front straightaway. Abbott was running in 5th at the time of the crash, but his night would end early and result in a 30th place finish. Not the night he was looking for, but he will look to bounce back next week!
Not much would change on the next restart, as most drivers who elected to pit on the previous caution up front, decide to stay out. Odegard would restart the field once again and it would be awhile before we see the yellow again. Things settled in amongst the top 5, and Odegard was still out front with the lead. There was however, one driver that fans and the broadcasters had their eyes on, Keith Haney. Haney had started the race in 22nd position, but by lap 37, he found himself in 6th place, and was running the fastest laps during that time of the green flag run. On lap 59, we saw an unfortunate incident between Tyler Conroy, who at the time was running in 3rd, and the lap car of Shane Nicewonger. They got together coming off turn two and that sent both of them down to the inside wall. You would think a caution would fly, but iRacing decides to keep this race green.
Odegard would start the cycle of green flag pit stops on lap 62. Mark Whitley, who was running in 2nd, was keeping pace with Odegard and decides to follow behind him for 4 fresh tires and a full tank of gas. This would momentarily hand the lead over to Keith Haney until he decided to make his stop. Brandon Mullen would set himself apart on a different cycle becoming the leader and choosing to stay out for as long as he could in hopes he could have a caution come out while leading. He too would have to pit handing the lead back over to Odegard. Though Odegard was out front, he still had Whitley, Lamm, and Keith Haney in sight of his rear view mirror.
Haney would still be the one to keep an eye out on, because he was slowly catching the 3 guys ahead of him. He would catch Lamm, make the pass, and by lap 88 had put himself up to 2nd with a pass on Whitley. Haney slowly runs down Odegard but on lap 111, almost had a slip up off turn 2 that could have costed him, but fortunate enough for him he doesn’t lose much time and decided to bring the Haney Boys Racing machine down pit road to start the next cycle of green flag pit stops. This would actually put Haney out in front once Odegard and the rest of the leaders came in to pit, because he was able to make up time while they stayed out on old tires.
On lap 123, contact between Brandon Mullen and Waylon Lamm in the middle of turn 3 would finally end the long green flag run and bring out the 3rd caution of the race. Whitley had an awesome on board camera shot, just barely missing the wreck on stream. Nice heads up on his part to get his car woah’d up! After pit stops, it would be Odegard yet again to bring the field down to the green. He would lose the lead to Haney after he gets loose out of turn 2 on the restart. Haney would slowly build his lead, and what looked like his race to lose, for the second week in a row a late caution with 5 laps to go comes out while he is in the lead! Haney once again decides to stay out, but unlike last week the leaders behind him decide to stay out as well.
This would set up a one lap shootout, and what a shootout to the finish it was! Haney would lead the field to the green and Jerald West aka J-Weezy spun his tires, opening a door of opportunities for drivers behind him. Lamm would get in front of Odegard and inside Whitley going into one, and there would be a 3 way bump between Odegard and Lamm, and then Lamm and Whitley. Unfortunately, Odegard who had dominated much of the race, leading 99 laps, looks to check up, but with Cedrick Hunter on his inside there was nowhere to go. Tyler Conroy who looked as if he was going to end up with a top 10 after his early incident would also get caught up as well. The shootout would all come down for second place. Going into turn 3, you have last week’s winner Bob Skinner on the outside, Mark Whitley in the middle, and Waylon Lamm on the inside. These guys would battle it out and while Keith Haney crosses the line to take the win, it would be Waylon Lamm and Mark Whitley rounding out you top 3.
It was an awesome ending to a race, in which these drivers showcased their driving talents and what it’s like to perform under pressure. If you were not able to catch this action live, don’t worry because you can still watch the aired video on OSRNETWORK. Congratulations to Keith Haney on the win and to all the drivers for putting on one heck of a show! Don’t forget to watch us live, each Saturday night over on OSRNETWORK on YouTube or on iRacing.com. We thank all of you who watch us race each week, and we hope you enjoy the show. Until next time, stay cool out there, and keep those lug nuts tight!
Story Done By Waylon Lamm.