|
| :. North/South Conference |
April 22, 2002 |
| March 27, 2002 |
| (1) Team OLR |
Bye |
(3) Tiger
(6) ROAR North |
939
893 | |
| April 3, 2002 |
(1) Team OLR
(3) TIGER |
902
940 | |
Conference
Finals
| April 8, 2002 |
(3) TIGER
(4) NE |
973
859 |
|
| March 25, 2002 |
(5) HBRL
(4) NE |
747
953 |
| (2) LTRL |
Bye | |
| April 1, 2002 |
(4) NE
(2) LTRL |
922
920 | | |
WCR Championship
@
Texas Motor Speedway |
| :. East/West Conference |
| March 28, 2002 |
| (1) FTRL |
Bye |
(3) PRL
(6) ROAR South |
935
882 | |
| April 4, 2002 |
(1) FTRL
(3) PRL |
959
873 | |
Conference
Finals
| April 16, 2002 |
(1) FTRL
(5) KSR |
925
897 |
|
| March 26, 2002 |
(5) KSR
(4) MORL |
962
875 |
| (2) Chicago |
Bye | |
| April 2, 2002 |
(5) KSR
(2) Chicago |
948
874 | | |
 HAMPTON, GA - Tiger held off the late challenges of ROAR/North to advance in the WCR Playoffs by a score of 939-893 on Wednesday. Rallying behind SCR_BULIT, Tiger led a combined total of 95 of the 98 laps in the event. ROAR/North only managed to lead three laps among three of their six drivers.
 The evening started off on a marginal note for ROAR/North. While Mopar_ led the practice standings, ROAR only had five drivers in attendance until M_Bishop filled their field at the very last minute. Tiger, however, took the pole on the shoulders of SteveMcL, who turned a lap of 28.460 seconds (194.800 mph). Mopar_ led the ROAR/North brigade by starting on the outside pole.
 Jumping out in front of Mopar_ on the green, SteveMcL led the first 15 laps of the event. On lap four, ROAR/North's hopes already began to fade as the No. 25 of Mopar_ got out of the groove and began falling backwards, eventually ending up in 12th place by lap eight. Things only got worse for his team six laps later when the No. 79 of glassman backed into the turn two fence and brought out a yellow as the leaders completed lap 15. Dj8832 and Irvanfan74 each led one lap under the yellow flag.
 One4speed looked strong for ROAR/North on the ensuing restart, quickly passing Parsival and SteveMcL in turn one on lap 20 and 21, respectively, to run in third place. R_sassman ran second for ROAR and began to set his sights on the leader, SCR_BULIT, until lap 25 when Team Tiger triggered the first multi-car accident of the evening. SCR_DNR69 lost traction in turn three, taking out teammates Parsival and swalter. Mopar_ barely scratched the nose of his No. 25 while getting through the incident.
 Following the lap 30 restart, SCR_BULIT continued to lead, but lost the lead to SteveMcL on lap 36. Following the No. 85 Tiger car to the lead was one4speed. Trying valiantly to take the lead, one4speed ran a good deal of laps on the high side of the racetrack, side by side with the No. 85 of SteveMcL. The ROAR/North competitor, however, had to settle back into second spot as he was unable to take the top spot from the polesitter.
 It was Tiger's turn to bring out another yellow on lap 42, as the No. 11 of dj8832 spun in turn three when the No. 24 ROAR/North automobile of r_sassman took his line away cleanly. The No. 20 of one4speed stayed out for one lap under the yellow to lead what was ROAR/North's second led lap of the event.
 Less than five laps after the restart, ROAR/North finally brought out a caution flag in turn one. On lap 49, r_sassman, while being passed by the No. 44 of M_Bishop, spun and brought out the fourth yellow of the event. On lap 54, the race once again resumed and Mopar_ made a quick move to take the lead from SteveMcL in the first corner. One lap later, the No. 85 retook the top spot as the final yellow of the day flew for an incident exiting turn four. Sensing crunch time at hand, SCR_DNR69 made a miscalculation and got into the No. 22 ROAR/North car of Irvanfan74. Dj8832 was also taken up in the melee, while r_sassman caught a chunk of turn four concrete while missing the accident.
 The final 38 laps of the event were run under green from the lap 61 restart. SteveMcL led the field to the final green but lost the lead to his teammate, SCR_BULIT, on lap 70. After building up a nearly two-second lead on fourth place one4speed, Tiger began to lose time as ROAR's fastest man in race trim began to close in on the top three with around 25 laps to go. Hindering one4speed's run towards the front, however, was SCR_DNR69, who held on to the lead pack but would not yield track position to the faster car. Finally, on lap 83, one4speed was able to dispose of the lapped vehicle and go to work on the top two with a 1.04 second interval between himself and the leader.
 Tiger was slowing on used rubber, but one4speed kept his No. 20 stuck to the bottom and battled tooth and nail for second spot against SteveMcL. Pulling alongside of the No. 85 on more than one occasion, the No. 20 was unable to make the pass after burning off his right front tire trying to get by the lapped Tiger automobile. Tiger walked away claiming the top two spots, and three of the top five, sealing their win and advancing to the second round.
 "Being prepared with car setup, having a backup in case of connection or no show problems, and keeping an eye on the competition were keys in this race," said winner SCR_BULIT after the event. "The turning points in the race were our good pitstops for track position. SteveMcL and I were able to run the same speed and tire wear kept us 1-2 most of the race.
 "We came prepared but a couple of our guys had car problems when the race started that weren't there in the practice. The cars just didn't drive the same," the Tiger driver continued. "Consistency and staying out of trouble was our strategy. ROAR is a great team and we knew we would have a good, tough race with these guys. They're a class act."
 "The key to this race was the outstanding running of SteveMcL and SCR_BULIT," said fifth-place finishing Parsival, a member of Team Tiger. "Those 2 guys were hooked up, no doubt. They were able to keep the ROAR leaders at bay for that whole last green run, so my congratulations to them. I didn't want to, but I had to give up 4th to Mopar_ in the closing laps. My car was going away, and I didn't want to cause a wreck that would ensure a 2-lap shootout or something - those have not been good to us in the past - so I just let him go." Tiger travels to the Michigan International Speedway next week to take on undefeated Team OLR in round two of playoff action. OLR will be coming off of a bye week and is the favorite to overtake Tiger and advance to the semi-finals of WCR competition.
HAMPTON, Ga. - WCR has had a great season with the top end drivers of Onlineracin.com trying to run in a whole new way of thinking out on the race track. Team racing is so very different than anything we as racers have ever done before. This week the competition was going to be the toughest of all. WCR Conference Championships should reveal exactly what this whole competition was designed to do. We should see the best teams comprised of some of the best drivers on OLR racing green and clean. Today’s race will be just exactly what we hoped for with Team New England squaring off against the boys at Tiger Racing.
 New England had transformed from a near self-destruct during the 10-week regular season becoming a possible conference champion. They have run BaseRacer, their secret weapon, right to the bone these last few weeks. Today we might be able to see him, on one of his more favored tracks, take control of the race and set the tone for the next event. New England only has to follow their surprise effort from last week knocking off Looney Toones Racing League where #95 FDIESEL was in command.
 Tiger has been a very fierce competitor the whole WCR season. The last two weeks of playoffs have given them all the momentum any team could want. The ROAR NORTH victory led them right into the pride of Team OLR. I was not able to witness this event but what ever happens to Tiger today will still seem somewhat pail compared to the win at Team OLR’s home track at Michigan. Tiger will have to avoid their instinct of being solitaire and try to stay in a pack become the North/South Champs.
 This track for some seems Nascar’s most perfect track. For many years now this 1.54 mile quad oval track has been known as “the fastest.” Many feel it would be faster if they had only added two more degrees of banking to the 24 degrees when the track was redesigned. The infamous front stretch bumps are very tricky and add to even more adrenaline. Cars are loose off turn 4 as the tires wear and who would be a victim. Qualifying at the Atlanta Motor Speedway is always close at the top and this day would be no exception. Adam Dean (BaseRacer) would capture the pole at 28.295 followed by ChrisBMain at 28.370. The fastest qualifying run for Tiger Racing would be run of 28.395 posted by the 2001 Tiger Racing Champion Steve McLaughlin.
 This race was probably the best race I have seen these heavy-footed type of personalities drive. We did not have time to step away even for refreshment as they would run un-interrupted from start to finish. Tiger would appear tough right from the start.
 The #85 car of SteveMcL(Tiger) overtook BaseRacer(NE) inside of the 10 lap mark. It seemed as the #81 BaseRacer had decided to conserve tires. ChrisBMain would follow these two for some time until he started to fall off allowing SCR_BULIT(Tiger) to enter into the fight. SCR_BULIT won the most races in the regular season for Tiger Racing.
 Chris in his #59 NE team car came off the start with a bang looking to show his stuff but after about 35 laps his car just acted like the parking brake was on. He would be the only driver to even come close to bringing out a caution as he moved high to allow faster cars to pass he hung momentarily on the wall off of turn 2. With his vast amount of experience he saved the car and kept the show going. Wish he had wrecked so I could have visit the restroom and get a beer though.
 Team New England started to unravel a bit as several very small things started to turn their luck bad. Richard Kramer of CT.(NE) would get a few more gray hairs on his near 40 yr old head when his machine would develop problems and cause him to have to hit pit road for an extended stay putting him 12 laps down.
 Excitement was highest when the drivers all started to cycle in for the single pit stop they would need to go the rest of the way. Both teams used smart strategy for this as they did not all make a pass down pit road at the same time. Tiger racing’s SteveMcL started it all off and ChrisBMain would try and stay out to lead just one but it just wasn’t to be. Tiger would keep most of the NE team from leading a lap for bonus. BaseRacer would lead near that start and S_Kimball would cycle through. FDIESEL would also just miss that window and go an extra lap down.
 BaseRacer would stay right in the draft of SCR_BULIT till the last 15 laps or so when it became clear that he would not be able to mount a charge for the win. SCR_BULIT of Tiger Racing would add another win to his WCR portfolio. BaseRacer would show his frustration by crossing the line sideways behind the race winner. Who could blame him. What a wild ride he and Team New England took since his arrival on the team.
 The race would have a winner and a last place finish. The race needed a MVP I think. I believe it was the cool and effective pit stop by SteveMcL (Tiger) that got him back up to take the lead from un-pitted cars that could have made the difference. He would finish third on the day followed by SCR_DNA69 and team captain Parsival. That would round out the top five but an important fact of the race was 4 of the 6 NE drivers were a lap down or more where as all but one of the Tiger Racing team finished on the lead lap.
 I really enjoyed the excitement of watching this race and my congrats to every driver in the race. To make it this far to much skill and patients and this race will not be forgotten soon. I hope the next seasons WCR will be as exciting when it comes to the conference finals. Tiger would take the match with a score 973-859. This crowns Tiger Racing and all of its members NORTH/SOUTH Conference Champions. Next stop OLR’s WCR Championship at Texas Motor Speedway on Monday evening to face Rob Moore and the FTRL. Picture shows that swalter is already revved up over the idea.
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