In a week when the main championship protagonists failed to appear, Corey Wolf claimed top NASCAR iRacing.com Class A Series (NiCAS) honours at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Division Two driver claimed 156 points from the Miami-based virtual race circuit following a win in his first sim race of the week, to pip Justin Tromley by a single point. Trombley, who claimed three wins from three starts, finished the week four marks ahead of Ryan Ameen, who claimed the second division title this week once the Florida dust had settled.
Week 12 saw the NiCAS put 2010 Season One in the rear view mirrors at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
After twelve weeks of online racing in the NiCAS, Brian Schoenburg officially claimed his NASCAR-sanctioned championship crown, once proceedings had closed at the Homestead oval. Although Schoenburg failed to appear at the South Florida circuit, the Illinois Club driver had mathematically sealed iRacing’s inaugural Impala Class A title three weeks ago. “”It was a great season for the JDR Graphics Chevy,” commented the newly crowned champion this week. “Around the second or third race of the season, we decided we were going to run for the full season. We were fortunate to win as many races and we did… and for that I’m thankful. The main point was to run some races here to get more experience with set-up tuning for the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC). It definitely helped me. Thanks to Jesse Atchison and Justin Roberts for running it with me, and everyone else in the series for the competition. Also of course thanks to JD Laird for the good looking cars.”
Ending the season 251 points behind Schoenburg, Atlantic’s Atchison was another driver choosing to take a sabbatical from the final race of the season; in fact, only one driver in the championship top five made an appearance at Homestead during Week 12. Atchison, who bounced up and down the standings table like a line graph, took the runner-up spot, after a tough three months of racing. “The season was decent,” an upbeat Atchison told inRacingNews. “Other than when I had technical problems while leading the highest SOF Daytona race, I did as well as I was able to just about all season long. I usually ran together with Brian Schoenburg, Justin Roberts, and a couple of others once or twice a week. It just so happened that that turned out to be the championship battle, which Brian ended-up winning with an awesome season. Congrats on the title, Brian.”
Finishing the first NiCAS season of 2010 in third position, Charles Cosper was pleasantly surprised with his ‘podium’ finish in the standings table. Whilst the Texan collected 142 points this week, the haul was not enough to make any net gain on his total, with his Homestead result counting as a drop week. “I started out just racing to learn the car,” confesses Cosper. “I never thought that the season would be as successful as it was because up to that point the only Impala A races I had won were in the Club Run-offs at Michigan. Running with Ultimate Sim Racing Association helped tremendously by getting to run in their league races and feeling what the car does throughout an entire run. The highlight of the season was the Indy win over Nick Morse because it was such a battle. The race had a bunch of cautions then at the end we had a 20 laps run to the chequered where we were sliding all around and just doing whatever we could to win. I was not point racing at all but I am very satisfied where I ended-up because coming into the season I had such little experience.”
A tip of the hat goes to Sandeep Banerjee, who provided an "International" flair to the NiCAS.
Claiming fourth in the Championship by a slender 13 point margin, Sandeep Banerjee has the auspicious claim of being the only non-North American driver in the NiCAS top ten. From his base in India, Banerjee earned five wins from 18 starts this season to secure his top five finish.
“It’s been about the kind of season I thought it’d be,” explained the International Club member. “I knew that if any one of the big hitters like Brian Schoenburg ran it full-time, I’d be fighting for a top five in points at best; and that’s what happened. Great job by Brian to win the championship. It was fun racing the regulars.”
A former leader in the Championship, Justin Roberts ends the season in fifth position, after failing to attend any races at Homestead. Finishing just behind Banerjee, the Virginias Club driver missed his opportunity to sneak into fourth position in Week 12 with his absence, as Roberts needed an achievable 165 points to take the spot.
With the first NASCAR iRacing Class A Series now complete, it’s a time for drivers to reflect on a toughly-fought 12 week series, before heading to Daytona International Speedway for the opening round of the second season. Will Schoenburg return to defend his newly acquired title, or will the lure of NASCAR glory bring fresh challenges to the series?
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