​The final leg of the Lionheart IndyCar Series’ Midwest swing finds the series returning to Gateway Motorsports Park for the Platidipgarage.com 150. The swing has meant 3 races in as many weeks for the Lionheart Series drivers, and fatigue could be an issue on the tricky egg-shaped oval. The wall off turn two is a cruel mistress; exit the corner to high and your race can end with suspension damage. Exit to low, and your race could end against the inside guardrail as the back of the car rotates around. The drivers who fight through the fatigue and are precise lap after lap will be the drivers who come out ahead.

Last week at Chicagoland it was Dan Geren who immerged victorious, fending off challenges from Jake Wright, Chris Stofer, Adam Blocker, and Big Joe Hassert among others. This allowed Geren to close up on Championship leader Jake Wright, who finished third. Wright’s lead now stands at 47 points with 4 races remaining. Andrew Kinsella finished 5th at Chicagoland, leaving the Canadian rookie 112 points back of Wright. With another top ten finish for Wright, the cut-off for being in the hunt before the finale remains 92 points, leaving Kinsella 20 points to make up over the next 3 races to join Geren for a shot at Wright in the finale. It was a fine day for Adrenaline Motorsports at Chicagoland. In addition to Kinsella’s 5th, Chris Stofer came home 2nd, Adam Blocker - 4th, and Tony Showen - 7th. Kinsella stretched his lead in the rookie of the year standings over Michael Goodman to 94 points, while Wright continues to lead the sim money standings.

If Geren is looking to keep his momentum going and the pressure on Wright, their might not be a better track in the service for him to it on. Geren is the defending race winner from Season 4, and will surely be looking for another strong finish to keep narrowing the gap to Wright. Another Gateway win would go along way.

Wright, however, is on a roll of his own. It has been 5 straight races that Wright has found himself on the podium, with two 2nd place finishes, two wins, and a 3rd since a 6th place finish in round 16 in Atlanta. Wright has seemingly been able to succeed at any type of track, and while Gateway has a somewhat unique layout, that doesn’t seem to be a hurdle for the 2-time defending champ.

Jason Galvin has shown speed on high downforce short tracks so far this season, while Andrew Kinsella has a win at New Hampshire. Galvin is locked in a battle with James Krahula for the final spot in the top 5 in points, while Kinsella is looking for any ray of hope to keep his championship dreams alive, while simultaneously looking to lock down rookie-of-the-year honors. With plastidipgarage.com sponsoring not only the race but the cars of Galvin and Kinsella, look for the pair of them to be near the front come the end of Wednesday’s race.

With patience a virtue, Joe Branch and Brian Yazick are two more names that spring to the front of the discussion of possible winners. The gentlemanly Branch loves short track racing, and has the ability to stretch his fuel tank further then most others in the league. Yaczik meanwhile has had some of his best runs on short tracks this season, finishing 3rd two races ago in Iowa, and leading in New Hampshire before wing damage saw him spin out of the race.

2 rookies to watch out for are Adam Blocker and Scott Bolster. Blocker has 4 top 5’s in 8 starts, while Bolster has been strong on short ovals, with an 8th place at Dover.

The plastidipgarage.com 150 can be seen at 10.35 EDT on Wednesday October 25th on GSRC and iRacing Live.

​It was Dan Geren who immerged victorious at Chicagoland Speedway Wednesday night, fending off challenges from Jake Wright, Chris Stofer, Adam Blocker, and Big Joe Hassert among others. This allowed Geren to gain some much needed points on Championship leader Jake Wright, who finished third. Wright’s lead now stands at 47 points with 4 races remaining. Andrew Kinsella, who sits third in the championship, finished 5th, leaving the Canadian rookie 112 points back of Wright. It was a fine day for Adrenaline Motorsports at Chicagoland. In addition to Kinsella’s 5th, Chris Stofer came home 2nd, Adam Blocker battled hard with Kinsella to the line to finish 4th, and Tony Showen came home a respectable 7th.

The race started out mirroring the championship, with Points leader Jake Wright on pole by a scant 0.021 seconds over 2nd in points Dan Geren. Before one lap was even complete, however, the caution slowed the field for an incident between Vincent Bluthenthal, George Adams and Brian Greenlee. Netcode contact between Adams and Bluthenthal resulted in the two spinning into the turn three wall, with Greenlee the innocent bystander left with no where to go.

Caution would slow the field once more on lap 7 for contact between Chris Lannini and Jack Bogan. Bogan would continue, but Lannini was suffered more extensive damage. A few drivers opted to get out of sequence and fill up the tank early, most notably Andrew Kinsella, who had started back in 13th position.  Kinsella re-immerged 25th.

On the ensuing green flag run Dan Geren and Jake Wright swapped the lead a few times as the drivers had multiple grooves working on the 1.5-mile tri-oval. Behind them, Blocker, Michael Goodman, Big Joe Hassert and Joe Branch battled to round out the top 5. A long green flag run saw a round of green-flag pit stops with the notoriously tricky pit road entrance nearly catching out a few drivers such as Bob Mikes and Mitchell Mohler. Kinsella would use the pit cycle to lead a few laps, picking up an all important bonus points to keep pace with Geren and Wright. By the end of the window Kinsella had gained back 10 spots in just 40 laps to sit 15th.

Once the pit cycle had sorted itself out, Jake Wright emerged as the leader by 1.2 seconds over Dan Geren. Chris Stofer used a great pit cycle to vault himself up to 3rd place, and was son battling with Geren for 2nd. Big Joe Hassert and Jason Galvin rounded out you top 5.

Just as the next cycle of green flag stops was starting on lap 71, Michael Gray got put into a death spiral on the back straight after net code contact with Woody Mahan, causing chaos for those who had already pitted. Brian Yaczik, Jason Galvin, Jason Robarge, Jorge Anzaldo and Pierre Daigle were among those who found themselves at the at the tail end of the lead lap on the restart. Meanwhile it was a blessing for Kinsella, who by now had worked his way up to 11th, and the others on that short stint strategy, as it allowed them to get back on strategy with the leaders.

Wright would lead the pack back to the green with Geren, Stofer and Hassert hot on his heals. An intense battle broke out between two rookies as Justin Weaver and Adam Blocker traded 5th position back and forth. The important battle, however was at the front of the field as Geren was finally able to solve Jake Wright and take the lead. Wright fell back to 4th as first Stofer then Hassert also got by Wright.

Jason Galvin spun on lap after contact with Chris Lanini, ending his day. Galvin spun down to the inside of the track and the track stayed Green.

Lap 100, and the final round of green flag pit stops hit the field. James Krahula and Big Joe Hassert opted to pit early, while Dan Geren, Jake Wright and Michael Goodman opted to stay out longer. Big Joe Hassert immerged from the pit cycle in the lead by 1 second over Dan Geren, but with 10 lap older tires. Geren would real him in over the coming laps before finally passing Big Joe with 15 laps to go Wright had immerged from the pits in 6th position right infront of Andrew Kinsella, but quickly got 5th from James Krahula before passing Adam Blocker with 13 to go.

Robert Blouin caught the wall with 12 to go, but managed to keep the track green. There was one last bit of drama, however as with just 7 laps to go, the caution was out for Chris Lanini in his third incident of the night spins trying to avoid the slowing car of Dustin Wardlow. On the ensuing caution Big Joe Hassert and James Krahula pitted, hoping fresh tires would allow him to get back to the front. With Just two laps to go, the order was Geren, Stofer, Wright, Blocker and Kinsella. 

While they would ultimately finish this way the final two laps were anything but calm. Wright and stofer battled for 2nd while Blocker, Kinsella and Weaver went 3 wide into turn 1 on the restart. As they crossed the start finish line for the white flag lap, Jason Robarge and Big Joe made contact, taking Joe Branch out with them. Ultimately, nobody and nothing could stand between Dan Geren and the checkered flag. Geren picked up some much need points on championship rival Jake Wright.

If you thought this race sounds action pack, then you should check back Wednesday October 23rd for the plastidip.com 150 at Gateway Motorsport park. Catch the action at 10:30 EDT on GSRC and iRacing live. 

The Lionheart IndyCar Series continues it’s Midwest swing this Wednesday night at Chicagoland Speedway for the Von Hanson’s 200. Chicagoland is the home track of a number of Lionheart members including league founder Jorge Anzaldo.

​There’s an old saying in racing: “I’d rather be lucky then good.” This held true for many of the top 10 last week at Iowa Speedway. Driver’s such as David Altman, Robert Blouin, and Rory Collins inherited top 10 finishes when 5 of the top 6 cars had to pit with less then 10 laps remaining due to a long green flag run to end the race. Andrew Kinsella, who led the most laps, looked poised to take home the win; but then some bad luck befell him as he lost momentum trying to lap a slower driver, relegating him to a 2nd place finish.

​Which brings us to the question that terrifies every racer: what happens when you come up against a driver who is both lucky and good? The answer, it appears, is you get Jake Wright. On 3 separate occasions Wednesday night, Wright came within inches of getting collected in other drivers’ wrecks, and on each occasion, he escaped unscathed. He made the right call to follow Kinsella onto pit road under the final caution giving Wright and Kinsella just enough fuel to make it to the finish. Then, when Kinsella got boxed in by lapped traffic, Wright was able to pounce and steal a win away from his championship rival. Brian Yaczik drove a smart and solid race to finish 3rd, with rookies Scott Johnson and Woody Mahan each getting their first top 5’s in the Lionheart series with 4th and 5th place finishes. 2nd place in the Championship, Dan Geren was one of the 5 drivers who found themselves a few laps short on fuel, finishing a lap down in 17th place.

With 5 short races to go in this fabulous season, it is time to talk championship scenarios. With Geren’s trouble at Iowa, Jake Wright now holds a 55 point advantage over Dan Geren when drop races are taken into consideration.  Kinsella is a further 50 points back of Geren, 105 back of Jake for the Championship lead. With a couple of hard-luck finishes in the last few weeks, Michael Goodman has now fallen 87 points back of Kinsella for both 3rd in the championship and the Rookie of the Year title, making Kinsella the prohibitive favourite for Rookie of the Year. Looking ahead to the season finale, Jake Wright’s task is pretty clear. The season finale, along with the other 2 triple crown races at Pocono and Indianapolis are double points races, meaning a maximum of 126 points on offer. The Lionheart Series drops a racer’s 3 worst result from their points total. With a top drop week of 34 points, Wright must enter the season finale 92 points or more ahead of 2nd place to be guaranteed a 3rd consecutive championship. For Wright, this means that priority #1 is continuing his unprecedented streak of top 10 finishes. By finishing in the top 10, Wright will preserve his top drop week, while limiting the ground his rivals can make up on him in the next 4 races. For Dan Geren, if Wright doesn’t falter, it will need to be top 5’s from here on out. Geren must average no worse then 10 points less then Wright per race over the next 4 races to even have a shot in the finale. The better he does, the better his shot. For Kinsella, the task is even more straightforward; he has 13 points to make up over the next 4 races to even have a shot, meaning he is likely going to have to win at least one more time before Auto Club. Given Wright’s dominance on road courses this season, those results will surely have to come either this week at Chicagoland or the next round at Gateway.

While the championship battle is fine and dandy for all those involved, there are 30+ other drivers whose sole focus is winning the race. From Iowa, where patience is a virtue, we travel to Chicagoland, where aggression may be the most important ingredient. In that vane, two drivers to watch have to be Chris Stofer and Big Joe Hassert, who last season at the similarily configured Kansas Speedway combined for one of the closest finishes in league history. Stofer has shown tremendous speed on 1.5 mile ovals this season, consistently mixing it up in the top 5 at each 1.5 mile track they have visited. Big Joe meanwhile, in a season derailed by hardware and internet issues, showed that he was one of the cars to beat last week at Iowa, before finding himself on the wrong pit strategy at the end of the race.
Defending race winner Robert Blouin is another one to watch out for. In season 3, Blouin lead only one lap, but it was the one that counted, making his fuel strategy work and bringing home the trophy. If this race once again falls to fuel strategy, look for a patient driver such as Blouin to come through for the victory.
Another one to watch out for this week is Bob Mikes. Mikes won earlier this season at the similarly configured Kentucky Motor Speedway, and has been around the top 10 all season. Look for Mikes to once again be strong at Chicagoland.

​For dark horse, Woody Mahan and Justin Weaver are two names that spring to mind. Mahan took home is first career top 5 at Iowa and had been knocking at the door for several rounds. Look for him to continue to build momentum. Weaver, meanwhile, nearly won on debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway, another 1.5 mile track.

The Von Hanson’s 200 can be seen Wednesday October 18th, at 10:35pm EDT on GSRC and iRacing Live.

It was a tale of two races. First was a race to survive the carnage; second, the race to save fuel. Ultimately, Jake Wright proved why he’s still the favorite to win the Lionheart IndyCar Series presented by First Medical Equipment championship.

The two-time defending series champion avoided several wrecks early, then saved enough fuel late before making a daring outside pass for the lead with two laps to go, en route to his series-leading eighth win of the season.

“Iowa is one of the toughest tracks we go to, and most unpredictable,” Wright said. “I’m not really sure how I caught up like I did. I know Dan (Geren) and Brandon (Limkemann) helped out, but somehow I caught up to (to Andrew Kinsella)...I got lucky. I can't believe I survived.”

Wright avoided major wrecks that saw contenders like Michael Goodman, Bobby Mikes, Chris Stofer and Pierre Daigle eliminated.

On lap 41, Goodman pushed exiting turn four, collecting Mikes. Wright avoided the wreck by inches, if that.

“I don’t know how I avoided that one,” Wright said. “I kind of saw it coming and maybe that helped, but I still thought I was in it.”

The final caution flew on lap 89 for Jason Galvin, who had sustained earlier damage brushing the wall while racing with Adam Blocker.

With a fuel window of roughly 50 laps, several drivers, including Wright, Kinsella and Jorge Anzaldo topped off. Geren, the pole winner for the eighth time this season and Wright’s biggest championship adversary, led a group of other fast cars, including Joe Hassert and Limkemann who stayed out, having hit pit road 10 laps earlier.

Another caution never flew, causing the drivers to peel off for pit road under green with less than 10 laps remaining. Kinsella, propelled to the lead, held a two second lead with six laps remaining.

Wright, with plenty of fuel, started reeling off quick laps and cut the lead in half with four to go. As the duo came off turn four with two laps remaining, Wright rocketed past Kinsella and drove away for the win.

“The lapped cars decided to not cooperate with me at the end,” Kinsella said. “Plain and simple. A lapped car with damage ran the middle lane and I had to slow to go under him. Then cars with fresh tires decided to go three-wide and that was it. I never got my momentum back.”

It was a crushing loss for Kinsella, who sits third in points and maintains a longshot chance to winning the championship in his rookie campaign.

“I worked really hard to get to that point,” Kinsella said. “I knew as long as it went green, my strategy was going to work...I felt we had the strongest car and we were able to make passes where others couldn’t most of the day, so it’s really disappointing to lose in the last two laps.”

Through the chaos, several drivers with poor qualifying performances turned in inspiring runs.

Brian Yaczik drove from 15th to finish third.

“That was an interesting race,” Yaczik said. “I didn’t approach it super aggressive because I know how Iowa is...that caution came out with 52 laps to go, and we brought this thing back in a third place finish. Finally, another good finish.”

Scott Johnson - from 33rd on the grid - earned his first top five finish in fourth, with Woody Mahan also scoring his first Lionheart top five while driving through the field from 20th.

Joe Branch, Bart Workman, David Altman, Robert Blouin and Rory Collins completed the top ten. Branch started 16th, while nobody else started in the top 20.

In a race that featured five cautions in its first half, only Galvin’s spin brought out a yellow in the second half of the race. The flip in momentum put Geren - who finished a lap down in 17th - in a huge championship hole.

Joe Hassert, who led the second most laps, finished 15th, with Adam Blocker 16th.

Kinsella (52) led the most laps, followed by Hassert (46) and Geren (41). Wright led only two laps - the two most important - while Blocker and Mitchell Mohler both led a single lap.

The first caution came on lap three, as Brian Greenlee experienced a mechanical failure and spun in turn two.

On lap 13, Dave Barber spun exiting turn four. Jack Bogan could not avoid the spin, which looked to be contained to just two cars until Scott Bolster, Pierre Daigle, Justin Weaver and several others were gathered up while avoiding the wreck.

The carnage early meant just 22 of the 36 entrants finished the race. 13 cars finished on the lead lap.

Wright extended his lead 55 points over Geren, the largest margin of the season. Kinsella sits 105 back of the lead with five races remaining.

The Lionheart IndyCar Series presented by First Medical Equipment heads to series founder Jorge Anzaldo’s home track, Chicagoland Speedway, for the Von Hanson’s 200 Thursday night. The race can be seen live on the Global SimRacing Channel at 10:40 p.m. EST.

For more information on the Lionheart IndyCar Series presented by First Medical Equipment, visit www.LionheartRacingSeries.com.

​