The Ring Rewind

The allure of the Ring is incredibly strong. Everyone wants to master it, everyone wants to conquer it, but really... nobody does. In total 183 drivers took the grid in an attempt to tackle the green hell. Some survived, some, did not. The Gentlemen's Sim Racing Club sweeps sportsman in International. Three classes, three class wins and Brad Klenk, JM Thomas and Jake Manhire hold the top 3 spots in the standings as well. This team in their first season of the Majors has gapped the field nicely with MFR White a distant second.

In International Pro, Cam Dance's reign of terror is over (at least temporarily) as his win streak ends at four. Thomas Hinss and Harald Stadler each claimed class wins and are determined to keep Cam within arms reach.

Euro Sportsman saw; Adam Facciponti, Brian Boomsma and Eric D Feick claim class wins. Adam now has four wins in four starts in his stellar return to the Majors.

Euro Pro the class winner are unsurprisingly also the top 3 in the standings; with Dallas Pataska, Pete Harrod and Tim Claessens leading the way. Each has at least two wins on the young season and it feels already like the Championship is going to be a nail biter.

Americas Sportsman is as close as can be with the top 5 drivers with 6 points! Three of those earned class wins this weekend; Justin Garec, Joey Haynes and Chris Sherburn. The Sportsman team race is equally compelling with (defending champs) Forge leading the way, but with Sector 5, High Class and Vengeance hot on their heels. This battle is going nowhere.

Americas Pro saw Christian Challiner end his two race win drought, but he wasn't able to build up anymore of a lead as 2nd place runner Andrew Waring was able to take a class victory as well. James Walker got the last class win, his first win in the series and it was critical as Forge maintains a slim six point lead on Evolv.

Daytona Run down

Nobody said it was going to be easy...

Two hundred and twenty five drivers in seven splits took on the grueling 500 mile race in support of our friend John King. Yes there were cautions, even too many, but the racing was unmarred and quite often it was great.

Here are a few comments from the post race survey... "Had an absolute blast. Would love to see these at new Daytona again or even Talladega." "My favorite Majors race yet" "For me, running the 1987 cars, turn the majors Daytona 500 from yet another iracing Daytona 500 to something special. Something that had me more excited then I have been for a long time for a sim race. Hope like anything that it's run like this in 2021" "Wasnt looking forward to the cars at first but once I had some seat time they were a blast to drive. Took alot of skill to control them good unlike the newer cars."

While the cars were different and the racing was different the outcomes were not so much! In Pro our three regions all saw repeat winners from Round 1. Cam Dance, Tim Claessens and Christian Challiner all notched their 2nd wins in a row and are now 2 for 2 on the season.

2019 Champ, Cam went winless in 2020 and just came up short in the championship, he is altering the formula early this year. Tim Claessens is returning to the series in a big way notching his first 2 Majors wins and significantly bolstering the Grizzly TFR team's chances at a team title. Something they are trying to wrest from rival Bombshell. For Christian winning is nothing new. He now has multiple wins in all four season he has competed and has added to his record total with a historic 25th win. Of those 25, this one might be the most special as a Daytona 500 win has eluded him to this point and of course he was racing with good friend John King on his mind.

Actually, we were all #RacingforJohn. I hope we did him proud.