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O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis played host to the Michigan Circle Track Sim-Racing on October 26th. As part of a touring series, the drivers of the MCT-SRL must adapt the various tracks from week to week. The race at ORP was a good reminder of how different some of these tracks can be. Last week’s race was held at Rockford Speedway, a quarter mile track with banking from 10 to 22 degrees in the corners and 6 degrees on the straights. ORP by comparison is a relatively flat 2/3 miler, with only 3 degrees of banking on the straights and 11 in the corners. Although I’ve driven this track numerous times over the years, sim-racing in the RDRL Ultra Tuff Truck Series, I simply couldn’t figure out the track this trip. The line I’ve run in the past didn’t work worth a darn and trying to match the line everyone else was running only succeeded in a brush with the outside wall. Unable to adapt, it actually made my race strategy very simple; Log laps and avoid being a rolling roadblock.

While I was puttering around the track like Granny on a Sunday drive, most of the other drivers were tearing up the asphalt. Lansing’s John Hernly lined up his blue No.64 on the poll, with a 22.163 second (111.429 mph) lap. Starting next to him was Jimi Ward, racing from Calgary, Alberta in the No.21 with a 22.367 second (110.413 mph) lap. Hernly led the grid to the green flag and the drivers were on the gas for the start of the 100 lap event.

Kalamazoo’s Phil Loedeman in the No.0 and the No.74 DeWitt’s Craig Curtis tangled for the first caution of the race on lap 3, when both drivers tried to go for the same piece of real estate. Following the restart, the field settled in for a long green flag run, which included some green flag pit stops for tires. The common chassis set up being used by all the drivers was hard on the right front and everyone was in dire need of new rubber.

Last week’s winner, Kyle Lawson of Minerva, Ohio in the No.16 and Jimi Ward in the No.21 collided on lap 81 and they entered the back straight. Ward on the inside, turned Lawson after contact with the left rear quarter panel of Lawson’s car. The incident sent Lawson’s No.16 for a barrel roll down the back straight, as Ward’s car hammered the inside wall. Both drivers had to load their crumpled machines on the virtual wrecker and look toward to next week’s race at Cayuga.

The field had become very spread out over the course of the 78 lap green flag run and the caution flag bunched them up once again. Hernly entered the pits in first place, but a long pit stop allowed Curtis to win the race off of pit road. When the race restarted on lap 88, the only cars on the lead lap were the No.74 of Curtis, the No.64 of Hernly and the No.71 of Todd Whiteside, from Victoria Harbour, Ontario. Two laps later, Hernly drove into turn 3 hard in an attempt to get under Curtis. Get under Curtis he did, but he was unable to keep his car on the bottom. Hernly’s car slid up the track first collecting Curtis and then Whiteside. Soon to join the party was the lapped No.69 of Ken Gunn from Dayton, Ohio. Gunn, stuck on the high side, simply had no place to go.

After another round of pit stops, the race restarted on lap 96. Curtis retained the lead, Whiteside second and Hernly third. As Hernly and Whiteside were dueling over the second place spot, Curtis easily drove his battered No.74 to the win. Hernly eventually grabbed second place, with Whiteside taking third place honors.

MCT-SRL O'Reilly Raceway Park Results