Ultimate National Sim Racing

     After a race characterized by hard racing and extreme track conditions, Mile High Motorsports came out for the second week in a row, victorious. It became very clear that they would be the team to beat early in the race, as for at a time they would nearly be in a lockout of the top 5. Meanwhile, the race would bounce between cautions and green flag runs, as a combination of three-wide racing and a nearly grip-free track surface would result in multiple wrecks. 

     Green flag pit stops were narrowly avoided by a caution near the halfway point throughout the race, and began to separate the haves and the have-nots. By the end of the 115-lap event, it would come down to Green White Checkered finish, with Dylan Smith leading the field to the green. He held a defensive line on the bottom of the track throughout the first lap of the two, but coming to the white flag Jordan Buster timed his run to come out of turns 3 and 4 and match his younger teammate's run and then some. Coming through the kink, the two were dead even, but by the exit of the final turn, Buster had the clear advantage, and took home the victory.

     Buster being the other co-owner of Mile High Motorsports along with Corey Carpenter, have completely swept the first two weeks of the season. We were able to catch up with Buster after the race, and he said this.

"We went from two MHM Cars last year to five this year, and this time it sure won't just be a hot wheels party. I still believe that when I come back I can still make the chase because now I am in contention for the wildcard. Figures, haha, I get the points lead before I leave for two weeks. I can't believe how strong we are right now; if we can keep this up, then we could easily get all five cars in the chase. Maybe this year Mile High can finally snag that elusive Octan Cup title."

By Dominic Aragon
UNSR Media Correspondent
November 18, 2012

Photo by Dominic Aragon / UNSR Media
Ian Dowdy leads the pack on the final lap. See more photos from the race HERE.

Ian Dowdy held off a last lap charge to pick up his first career UNSR Super Speedway Series win Saturday night at PiggzCreek Super Speedway.

Dowdy, a long-time partial schedule driver, won his first UNSR sanctioned race in his fifth season, leading a total of nine laps on the night.

“I’m just glad I finally won here,” said Dowdy from victory lane. “To race here as long as I have, it’s nice to finally win one of these things.”

Dowdy looked as if he was ready to play defense out of turn four. Drivers Corey Carpenter and Matt Wishart, who were running second and third, tried to get a high line draft to work coming down the front stretch on the final lap.

While trying to make a charge to the outside, Wishart gave Carpenter’s No. 30 car a push that sent both cars towards the inside wall. Both cars proceeded to spin down pit road with Carpenter and Wishart finishing 18th and 22nd respectively.

The race featured 34 cars on the lineup, the second highest car count in UNSR Super Speedway Series history (The highest was last week’s season opener with the 36 car max). 24 cars finished on the lead lap, while six drivers did not finish.

UNSR’s Super Speedway Series will be taking next Saturday off to allow the drivers to spend quality time with their families for the Thanksgiving holiday. The first two races have produced first time winners, as seven races remain on the schedule.

The next stop on the schedule is Racenut Super Speedway, where defending race winner Matt Wishart led four laps to capture his only win of the season in Season 9.

Notable Finishers:

2nd – #6 Dylan Smith
Dylan Smith ran inside the top-10 for much of the race en route to a top-5 finish, his first of the season. Smith, who claims he has bad luck at Super Speedway tracks, was not involved in any accidents Saturday night. His runner-up finish enabled him to rise 20 positions to 11th in points.

4th – #1 Doug DeNise
Doug DeNise’s fourth place run looks like a solid effort on paper, but the run shows another story. His top-5 run is his second of the season, which is remarkable considering the driver has had one top-5 finish combined in the prior three seasons of the Super Speedway Series. The top-5 also propelled the Rolla, Missouri to the points lead, a position he has not held since UNSR’s Season 1 Rookie Truck series (over two YEARS ago). The two consecutive top-5 finishes have given the driver a spark to a stalled UNSR career, and natural momentum. DeNise is the only driver to have two top-5 finishes in both races this season.

“I feel we can go out and be in contention for race wins,” DeNise went on to say. “Our team is the real thing.”

7th – #56 John Poole III
Defending champion John Poole III knocked off another top-10 finish, which helped his No. 56 team climb to 3rd in points. Poole was third in points after two races in last season. Déjà vu? Although it is too early to name a champion of the series, Poole did confirm to UNSR Media he has worked out a deal to run the full season with his new team, and expects to be in the championship hunt with a few races to go.

8th – #31 Jeffrey McClintock
McClintock, who was expected to run select races, made his presence known on Saturday night. He started the race from the second row in 3rd, and ran most of the race inside of the top-10. Despite being spun out in a mid-race accident, he was able to rebound to finish 8th place, and now finds himself 2nd in points with seven races to go. He is the leader right now in his rookie class.

18th – #30 Corey Carpenter
Carpenter won the pole for the event, edging Nick DiPalmo by two one-hundredths of a second. Carpenter ended up leading the most laps, 17, and ran inside the top-5 for most of the race. On the final lap, an unsuccessful attempt to try and overpower race leader Ian Dowdy sent he and fellow driver Matt Wishart spinning to the inside of the track. Despite the run, Carpenter rose five spots to 10th in points, as he is the highest driver in the standings not to record a top-10 finish.

29th – #07 Gabe Hershel
Gabe Hershel and his iconic No. 07 car came into the race as UNSR’s most recent Super Speedway Series winner. Hershel started 15th, but blew the motor with six laps to go, relegating the team to a 29th place finish.

34th – #8 Jordan Buster
Jordan Buster’s showings in the first two races may give the driver a reason to be angered, but the cool-headed driver is keeping his head high and his attitude positive.

“It’s been terrible luck, but we will turn it around,” said the hopeful Buster. “I think we can go out next [race] and win it.”

Buster’s race only lasted eight laps. The driver was in the back of the first pack in the opening laps of the race. While climbing through the field, Mason Welborn, a driver who was a few car lengths ahead of him, spun his car to the outside down the backstretch. In an effort to save the car, Welborn overcorrected and came down the track. Welborn’s back end clipped Buster’s car, and sent Buster to the inside of the track, flipping a total of 17 times. The spectacular wreck left Buster’s car totaled and his hole deeper to climb out of.

The once pre-season speculated championship contender now sits with an average finish of 32nd and 37th in the championship standings, 56 points back from the lead.

Point Standings Race 2 of 9
1) #1 Doug DeNise 81
2) #31 Jeffrey McClintock* -3
3) #56 John Poole III -4
4) #36 Xander Clements -9
5) #41 Brian Mercurio -10
6) #09 Dominic Aragon -11
7) #07 Gabe Hershel -19
8.) #48 Joshua Clements -21
9) #18 Jack Paynter -21
10) #30 Corey Carpenter -24

By Dominic Aragon
UNSR Media Correspondent
November 11, 2012

Gabe Herschel picked up his first career UNSR Super Speedway Series win Saturday night at Daytona.

Herschel led 13 laps, completing a last lap pass on Xander Clements. Herschel teamed up with part-time driver Jeffrey McClintock and Doug DeNise to charge an outside line draft to take the top spot out of turn four on the final lap.

The Neptune Township, New Jersey Native made one start last season, scoring an abysmal 19th at Riki Raceway.

Because Herschel was not inside the top-20 in points last season, he and 19 other drivers had to attempt knockout qualifying. With UNSR regulating the number of starting positions on the grid to 36, two drivers, Collin McNaught and Jacob Leistman, posted the two slowest times in the session and did not qualify for the race.

The win has Herschel as the points leader with eight races left on the schedule. Herschel could not be reached for comment regarding the idea he may run the full schedule. Jeffrey McClintock, Doug DeNise, Xander Clements, and John Poole rounded out the top-5.

Notable finishers:

3rd – Doug DeNise: Doug DeNise was the highest finishing driver for Aragon Motorsports on Saturday night. The one-time SS Series winner ran mid-pack for much of the race, but went through the second-to-last wreck unscathed, which was the wreck that set up the green-white-checkered finish. That set the driver up on the front row for the GWC attempt. DeNise helped the charge on the outside on the final lap and scored his first top-5 run in four races.

4th – Xander Clements: Xander Clements was the highest finishing driver for Hot Wheels Racing on Saturday night, leading six laps en route to a top-5 run. The No. 36 car ran conservatively in the back for much of the race, but muscled its way to the front towards the end of the race. Clements was the leader at the GWC and the white flag, but was ultimately passed by Herschel coming out of turn four. Although Clements starts the season strong, he later stated he will not be running for the series title.

5th – John Poole: Defending series champion John Poole III showed no signs of off-season rust by winning the pole position for the opener. Poole would fail to lead a lap and pick up a coveted bonus point, but he kept his car out of trouble, posting another top-5 run, a site that was commonly seen in his title run last season. Poole said during the off-season that he would not be able to contend for the title this season due to prior commitments, but no word if those plans have changed.

7th – Jack Paynter: Paynter, who struggled last season, led the race high 16 laps to post a solid seventh place effort. The only Toyota driver in the field let a total of 26 laps last season, but proved to be a contender for the win, staying in the top-5 for much of the first half of the race.

12th – Dominic Aragon: The driver of the 09 car tried to play his race safe by fading to the back to work with brother Martin Aragon early in the race. The defending race winner was caught up in an early wreck and received engine damage. Despite dropping a lap down late in the race, Aragon was the recipient of the free pass, avoided being collected in the last-lap wreck, and finished 12th.

29th – Jordan Buster: Buster Nation’s Jordan Buster night could be best described as a nightmare. Buster started in the top-10 and ran well in the first half of the race, but damaged obtained from wrecks in the race kept his car from reaching top speed. Buster maintained minimum speed, but fell six laps down to finish 29th place, the last car running on the racetrack. The No. 8 team is rumored to run the full-schedule but finds themselves in a hole heading into Piggzcreek.

In the Innagural Nabisco Championship Week, four different winners were crowned, all earning their championships in completely unique ways. It provided for some of the greatest racing action that UNSR has seen all season long, and although it was a complete roller coaster, each driver came out with a smile on their face.

In the also Innagural Dirt Late Model Tour, Dylan Smith took the title by being the only driver to not only race all races, but compete in each feature event. Smith did have to go to a few Last Chance Qualifiers, but he did manage to make his way into the Elite 10 by the end of the night, never finishing last. With that, he locked up the championship unofficially with two races to go, as both second and third in points at the time had restraints to keep them from competing in the finale of the series. Smith finished out his championship run with a sixteen point deficit on a custom point system over runner-up Jordan Buster.

As we headed to Tuesday night for the first of two races to actually be performed at the Homestead Miami Speedway, everyone knew who the champion was; they had known for over half the season. Although he did not manage to officially clinch the championship until two races to go, Brian Mercurio knew that as long as he started each race from five races to go, he would win his first ever UNSR Official Series Championship. The fifteen year-old pulled off the amazing season with a total of five wins, and twelve top 5s. He had over one hundred and twenty points back up to runner-up finisher, Dominic Aragon.

However, Jordan Buster had a true shot to turn his luck around in the Octan Cup Series Finale on Thursday, after constantly tweaking his setup from the previous season. However, after a round of green flag pit stops and over 2/3rds of the race completed, Cullen Brown had clinched the most laps led, allowing him to finish third or better and lock up the title. None-the-less, Buster never gave up, and fought tooth and nail in the final thirteen laps until coming out with the victory. By winning the race, Buster joined the likes of Stevie Minson and Brandon Hauff, the only other multiple and just two race winners of the fourteen race season. However, Cullen Brown took the championship by two points by finishing second before a hard-charging Carson Clements could get to him. Carson took his best finish of the season with a bronze medal. Brandon Hauff had an outside shot at the title only eleven points back, but could not fight his way to the front and fell back to sixteen points behind the champ. Xander Clements held on to a sixth place finish, which kept him in fourth place on the standings just two points ahead of Brandon Lawson. With his best finish, Carson Clements passed Dominic Aragon to take home sixth place in the points, and Aragon falling back to seventh. With that, it is currently the best finishing position of an UNSR Pro Series Rookie to date.

Three races down, one to go. John Poole lead the point standings by twenty eight points over Dominic Aragon, and never clinched the championship until the first car of the finale race retired, making it impossible for Aragon to pass him. Texas World has been on the schedule ever since the series began, and for the first time in the three seasons, it would host the season finale. After race that was simplar par, John Poole would go above and beyond the necessary needs to win the championship and take home the victory with teammate Brandon Lawson coming behind in second. This was the second ever championship for the team, although the win was bitter-sweet, as it was the last race for him with the team. Poole had previously announced that he would be signing with Speed Inc. as the new GM.

Over the Winter Season, UNSR will host an IROC-like series along with its signature Drivers' Choice Superspeedway Circuit. Over forty drivers have already pre-registered in the UROC Championship, and fourteen for Drivers' Choice. Keep your eyes on the prize, boys!