The Upstate Racing League Les Enterprises MP Roy Inc. Pro Late Model Series stormed into Thunder Valley, TN for Chase race one of five, the CKF Construction 125 on Thursday night at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Justin Fuller was the top seed and points leader heading into the Chase racing action but Nicklas Rasmussen and Brandon Oddo were close behind. Who would strike first?
VTFantasyRacing.com Race Recap:
Brandon Oddo would start from the NHR Pole, with Nicklas Rasmussen starting to his outside. It wouldn’t take long for there to be trouble though, as on lap two the top seed in the Chase Justin Fuller would be sent through the spin cycle. Luckily for Fuller, no other cars would make contact and he would avoid serious damage. On the restart Oddo would retake the lead, with Rasmussen close in tow. A slip on the apron by Oddo would allow Rasmussen to pull along side him and when the second caution flag flew Rasmussen would be scored as the leader.
AJ Hamel would join the fray up front with Rasmussen and Oddo until contact between Brian Rogers Jr., and Justin MacDuff would trigger a massive pileup that would collect many drivers. Chase drivers Stefan Marinak and John Ada would see their respective nights end early due to damage.
Rasmussen would receive pressure from Oddo on the restart, but would slowly pull away and tighten his grip on controlling the race like a boa constrictor. Hamel would start to pressure Oddo for second but Rasmussen was in his own zip code, due to the battling of the two drivers behind him. Hamel was finally able to clear Oddo after many laps of trying and would set his sights on Rasmussen. By the time Hamel got to second it was too late, as Nicklas had a sizeable lead and the race would stay green until the checkered flag.
Late in the race, Oddo would fade and that would allow Brian Rogers Jr. to move into the top three. In the end though, nobody had anything for Denmark’s Nicklas Rasmussen and he would claim his third victory of the season in dominating fashion. AJ Hamel opened his bid for a championship by finishing in second, followed by Chase drivers Brian Rogers Jr., Haag TV Hard Charger Award Winner AJ Bunch, and CJ LaVair in the top five. Jason Stehney won the Nein Shiza Autosport Rookie of the Race Award with his seventh place effort.
With his win, Rasmussen leads the Chase standings by seven points over Hamel and eight points over Rogers with four races remaining. The field is still tight, and a lot is left to happen as the URL heads to the Langley Speedway for the NYDKS 175 and Chase race two of five. Coverage begins live on LSRTV at 9:30 PM EST on Thursday night. Be sure to stay tuned to the website and like us on Facebook to stay up to date with news and events regarding the league!
CKF Construction Official Results:
CKF Construction 125 Results: 1. NICKLAS RASMUSSEN (C), 2. AJ Hamel (C), 3. Brian Rogers Jr. (C), 4. AJ Bunch (C), 5. CJ LaVair (C), 6. Justin Fuller (C), 7. Jason Stehney (C)(R), 8. Brandon Oddo (C), 9. Jay Dubuque (-1), 10. Al Smith Jr. (-1)(C), 11. Rex Hoyle (-2)(R), 12. Mike Holtsclaw (-2), 13. Alex Orians (-3)(R), 14. Dylan Gaudette (-12), 15. Cale Frennier (-20), 16. John Ada (-26)(C), 17. Justin MacDuff (-95)(C), 18. Stefan Marinak (-110)(C), 19. Eric Spencer (-110)(R), 20. Shawn Cool (-111)(R)
Provisionals (15 pts): James McIntyre Jr. (R), Jay Dee Callahan (R), Erik Haag
