The Dandy Dan Geren revenge tour is off to a good start. Coming off three consecutive championship runner-up seasons, the Iowa native roared to the front of the field following the final set of pit stops, distancing himself from the competition before holding off a hard-charging Chris Stofer in the First Medical Equipment 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

It’s the first time Geren has won the season opener in the Lionheart IndyCar Series presented by First Medical Equipment.

“I knew coming off four I would have to hold the bottom,” Geren said. “I didn’t know if the tires would hold the bottom or not, but they sure did. I’m glad it worked out.”

Stofer and his teammate - and defending series champion - Adam Blocker, worked tirelessly over the final 15 laps to run down Geren and Michael Goodman. The Adrenaline Motorsports duo dispatched of Goodman and Stofer made a final lap charge on Geren, but ended up a only getting to his rear wheel in the final corner.

“Adam and I just worked together to get up there,” Stofer said. “Luckily there was lapped traffic but it also hurt us a bit. If we could’ve got around them sooner than I may have had more than one crack at Dan at the end.”

For Geren, the win marks a much improved start to the season. Last year, Geren wrecked out of the race, in what would become a seemingly never-ending trend of incidents that Geren was swept up in. By mid season, Geren was buried outside the top five in points.

But a late season run of continuous top five’s and victories saw Geren nearly steal the championship, finishing 13 points short. He hopes a better start this year will lead to a first championship.

“I felt like Homestead kinda owed me one,” Geren said. “This is a great start to 2019.”

Blocker was content with third, after starting deep in the field and working his way to the front.

“I slid my box in the last stop, cost me about a second,” Blocker said. “I don’t know if that mattered because I got hooked up with Stofer. The lapped cars didn’t do us a favor either.”

Goodman settled for fourth, with a third Adrenaline driver - Andrew Kinsella - in fifth.

A third of the field was wiped out or damaged during the final caution, a giant wreck on the front straight.

As the cars crossed the line to begin lap 78, Ken Hacker clipped the right rear tire of third place Tony Showen. The two cars spun up the track in front of the field, collecting more than a dozen cars, including Sage Karam, early leader’s Joe Hassert and Dustin Wardlow, Scott Bolster and more.

Three other cautions slowed the action.

On lap 68, Dustin Wardlow slid up and touched with Joe Flanagan. As Flanagan spun, Jason Galvin was left with nowhere to go. Mike Rigney was also eliminated in the wreck.

David Altman brought out a caution after early contact with Paul Jenkins sent him spinning into the inside wall. Altman attempted to head to the pits and could not, causing the second yellow on lap 45.

Shaun Cole brought the opening caution in turn one of the season, clipping the apron and spinning. Bart Workman, Justin Kirby and Marc Cohn were each collected.

The Lionheart IndyCar Series presented by First Medical Equipment heads to Watkins Glen for the Minus 273 Grand Prix at the Glen presented by Cranfield Simulation. The race can be seen live on the iRacing eSports Network with presentation by Global SimRacing Channel at 10:35 p.m. EST on March 27.

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The long off season is over, the 2019 All-Star Race winner has been crowned. Now it is time for the drivers of the Lionheart IndyCar season to get back down to business at the first race of the 2019 season, the First Medical Equipment 200 from Homestead Miami Speedway.

It has been an off season of changes for the Lionheart Series, with a completely revamped rulebook, highlighted by a new team championship. In years past, each team scored points with up to 5 drivers. This year, it is down to 3 drivers per team maximum. Never fear for some of the powerhouse teams though, a new “organization” championship allows 2 teams to team up and earn points towards a separate prize. This change has seen a number of teams and drivers change places.

Perhaps the least changed is the Adrenaline Motorsports team. Andrew Kinsella, Adam Blocker, Joe Branch, Tony Showen and Chris Stofer are all back for another year at with rookie Bryan Carey joining last season’s team champions. Kinsella, Blocker and Carey will make up Adrenaline Red, while Stofer, Showen and Branch will make up Adrenaline Black.
Also returning largely intact is Synergy Motorports. Jorge Anzaldo, Brandon Limkemann, Dan Geren, Dustin Wardlow and Ron Hacker are joined by Ron’s Brother Ken Hacker. Anzaldo, Limkemann and K. Hacker will make up Synergy West, while R. Hacker, Dan Geren and Dustin Wardlow make up Synergy East.

No Name Racing folded at the end of last season, with 3 of their drivers, James Krahula, Jason Galvin and Big Joe Hassert joining Brian Yaczik and Brian Greenlee at Loud Pedal Motosports. Chris Lanini rounds out the 6th entry for the organization. Thumbs Up Cancer Down has also come on board as a sponsor, with Yaczik, Greenlee and Krahula on LPM Thumbs Up, while Galvin, Hassert and Lanini are on the Cancer Down team.

Skid Mark Motorsports has expanded this season. Joining Scotty Johnson, Bart Workman and Brian Beard are rookies Paul Jenkins and James Brant. Johnson and Workman will be on the Skid Mark Gold, while Brant, Jenkins and Beard will be on the Skid Mark Black.

The final organization will be an alliance formed between NLR and  Controlled Chaos Racing. The NLR trio of Tyler Graaf, Isaiah Dupre and Greg West will for one team, while the Controlled Chaos duo of Bob Mikes and Samuel Reiman will form the other.

The 8 Ball Motorsports team of Michael Goodman and Justin Weaver, The NHR e-Sports team of Stephen Laarkamp and Connor Harrington, and the Dragonfly Racing team of Robert Blouin and David Altman all return for another season largely unchanged, but all have elected not to go for the organization championship, instead choosing to remain independent.

Finally we have the new teams. SimPit Racing with Shaun Cole and John G. Hill, Darkside Racing with Scott Bolster and Jason Robarge, Fat Dog Racing with Joe Flanagan and Mike Rigney all enter the league this season and look to chase after the team crown.

Last but not least, sim racing giants Coanda Sim Sport join the Lionheart IndyCar Series with Sage Karam at the wheel.

Got all that? Good, because the action is just about to kick off, and there is still much more to talk about. Last season, Adam Blocker took the crown by doing just enough in the finale at Auto Club to hold off Dan Geren. The road course races that he used to seal his championship got a whole lot less straight forward for Blocker this season, with road course aces like Bryan Carey and Sage Karam joining an already talented field of drivers.

Andrew Kinsella, Brian Yaczik, and Dan Geren all had spells of dominance on the ovals last season, but in the end none were consistent enough to keep Blocker from raising the championship at season’s end. Will one of these drivers be able to put together a full season and take the championship back from Blocker?

What about Michael Goodman? The most consistent driver over the last 2 seasons, Goodman won the all-star race, and looks ready to take the next step and launch his challenge for 2019.

Then there is the old guard. Jason Galvin, Chris Stofer, Big Joe Hassert, James Krahula and Joe Branch. All contended for wins last season, but not as consistently as any of them were hoping. Will a veteran of the series step up in 2019 and reclaim the Lionheart Series for their own?

Then there is the new blood. Last year’s rookie battle came down to Stephen Laarkamp and Justin Weaver, with Weaver ultimately taking the crown. They finished 5th and 6th overall in last year’s standings. Will one of them up their game another notch and be contending for the craown at the end of the season.

Then finally there is this year’s rookie crop. Sage Karam is quick in both real life and sim racing, but he may never have been tested on iRacing as much as this series will test him. Will he rise to the occasion? Shaun Cole and John G. Hill are veteran sim racers who will be in the hunt on many tracks. Bryan Carey is a road course ace, while Mike Rigney has shown pace in practice so far.

This season undoubtedly marks the most competitive IndyCar season in Lionheart and iRacing history. Who is left standing at the end of this race, let alone this season is anyone’s guess.
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Tune in this Wednesday, March 13th at 10:35pm Eastern time for all the action only on the iRacing eSports Network presented by GSRC.

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In the end, one driver was just too good at saving fuel.

Michael Goodman captured the Lionheart Season 7 All-Star Race presented by Von Hanson’s Wednesday night at the virtual Rockingham Speedway. It marked the first All-Star win of Goodman’s career in the Lionheart IndyCar Series presented by First Medical Equipment.

Goodman passed 8 Ball Motorsports teammate Justin Weaver in the final corner, as Weaver’s car sputtered on ethanol fumes.

“I felt horrible for Justin,” Goodman said. “We got towards the end and he said his fuel was in the red, and on the last lap he said he was out so I just went high. It was nice to finally get one of these.”

Weaver coasted across in second, just ahead of Brian Yaczik.

“What a heartbreaker there running out,” Weaver said. “That yellow came out and I just said screw it, we’re going to stay out for track position. And I was fuel saving behind Sage and he hit the wall, so I just had to keep my foot in it out front and hope for the best. It just didn’t work out.”

IndyCar star Sage Karam dominated the event, leading 97 of the 148 laps after starting third.

Karam quickly worked his way around Yaczik and Goodman, the pole winner, and was rarely challenged. But following the final caution of the event, Karam rocketed through the field only to have Weaver keep pace.

Challenged for the first time all race, Karam made an uncharacteristic mistake exiting turn two and slapped the wall, ending his night 31 laps from the end.

From there, Weaver held Goodman at bay while Yaczik saved fuel, convinced the first two would run out.

“I hate fuel milage racing with all of the passion you could hate things with,” Yaczik said. “I was riding in sixth gear and lifting and I was only a half lap to the good. I don’t know how either of them made it. Add it to the list of things I suck at.”

The race was slowed by three cautions. The first, a competition caution on lap 41, bunched the field up and allowed everyone to get tires.

At the first caution, several contenders had already found the wall and retired, including defending champion Adam Blocker, series runner-up Dan Geren and Dan Geren. Race sponsor Bob Mikes had damage from net code contact with Jason Galvin - a common theme on the night - and also retired.

On the lap 46 restart, Karam jumped out to a quick lead. The second caution flew on lap 50, when Brandon Limkemann received net code contact from Chris Stofer while battling for second.

Limkemann spun off turn two, with Andrew Kinsella slamming into him, ending the night for both. Goodman collected slight nose damage but was able to get his car repaired.

On the restart, the revamped Loud Pedal Motorsports team showed its might, with Yaczik, Galvin and Joe Hassert swapping second through fifth with Chris Stofer. That ended when Galvin and Stofer made net code contact, ending Stofer’s race.

A few laps later, more net code contact between Galvin and Hassert caused Big Joe to slap the wall.

Galvin’s luck ended on lap 91, when Weaver clipped the apron in turn three and slid up, pushing Galvin into the wall. The crash brought out the final caution and setup the fuel saving dash to the finish.

Nine cars were still running, and only Weaver stayed out when the pace car lights went off. As others topped off on fuel, that move would prove to be the difference.

Just four of the 20 starters finished the race, with Mike Rigney surviving early contact to finish fourth.

In the All-Star Shootout earlier in the night, Brian Beard beat Rigney and Bryan Carey to the stripe, securing a spot in the main event for each.

The Lionheart IndyCar Series presented by First Medical Equipment packs up and heads south for its traditional season-opening stop at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The First Medical Equipment 200 kicks off season seven on Wednesday, March 13 and can be seen live on the iRacing eSports Network with production by Global SimRacing Channel at 10:35 p.m. EST.

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