After months of planning, the SARA Fall Brawl Spectacular took the spotlight in the iRacing short track world as nearly 60 drivers put their name on the entry list of “sim racing’s biggest short track event of the year” which ran just over a week ago from October 26th through November 1st. When the cars hit the track on that Monday, it kicked off a full week of qualifying including Time Trials, Qualifying Dashes, Heat Races, and Last Chance Qualifiers, followed up by five Feature events that ran 900 total laps throughout the weekend. Almost 1,200 total official laps were ran throughout the Fall Brawl including the qualifying nights, and that’s not counting the time and effort that drivers spent in testing and practices.
When everything was all said and done, two drivers came out of the Fall Brawl as the big winners, stealing much of the spotlight throughout the week. Ryan Borges etched his name as the winner of the inaugural Fall Brawl Super Late Model feature event, and Ty Spearman joined him as he took home a feature event win as well, and both drivers walked away with a large amount of cash and prizes.
For Ty Spearman, he got the week started off on the right foot as he picked up some prize money right away on night number one. Spearman picked up the fastest lap in SK Modified Time Trials with a lap of 16.522 seconds, just .02 seconds faster than second place, and earned himself $5 for that. Then he went out on Tuesday night and backed it up by taking the fasted lap in the Street Stocks Time Trials as well, adding another $5 to his total with a lap of 18.916, again just .02 seconds faster than second place. His other qualifying efforts throughout the week also resulted with him starting inside the top ten for all five races.
When the feature events got underway on Saturday, Spearman kept the pedal down in the SK Modified race. After starting 5th, he made his way into the lead by lap 26 and looked to have one of the cars to beat. He battled with the lead with a couple of fellow teammates, but retook the lead with just 19 laps to go, and went on to pick up the SK Modified NEO Racing News Fall Brawl 150 feature event win, leading a total of 94 laps in that race.
Following the SK Modified win, Spearman didn’t have as much luck in the Street Stock race, getting involved in an early incident that resulted in him finishing 14th. He then led 22 laps in the Super Trucks and ended up with a top five finish in 4th. On Sunday, he had a top five run going in the Pro Late Models before getting knocked back in the second half of the race, before working his way back towards the front late but would end up finishing in 6th. In the main event in the Super Late Models, he had the car to beat, starting in the top spot and leading the first 184 laps of the race before heading down pit road to get tires. After taking those tires, he was on the move back towards the front before getting caught up in a wreck that ruined his chances to win the race, but still ended up finishing in the top ten in the 8th spot.
In total, Ty Spearman picked up $65 in purse money, including $23.60 for his SK Modified win. In addition to the purse money he won, he also added $10 for the two Fast Lap awards he received, and an additional $5 for leading the most laps throughout the Fall Brawl weekend with a total of 300 laps led. Spearman will also receive a free Fall Brawl t-shirt from his SK victory. And after racing in all five events, Spearman also had the lowest combined finishing total of 33, and has earned the NHMS Prize Package via Matt Rolfe, which includes two tickets to both Saturday and Sunday to watch all of the racing action at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September of 2016. Ty Spearman’s total cash and prize winnings come in at $350.05, or $80.05 in cash and $270 in prizes.
For Ryan Borges, it was a different story to his week as the first 6 days of competition didn’t quite go exactly as he had hoped for. But when the week came to a close, it was Borges that stole the spotlight and took home the biggest win of the week.
Throughout qualifying week, Borges found himself starting inside the top ten in just two of the races. He did pick up the Qualifying Dash win in the SK Modifieds which put him on the pole for that race. During Super Late Model qualifying night, he ended up finishing 3rd in the Qualifying Dash, and would near the front of that race. But his other three qualifying efforts set him back as he would start 11th in the Street Stock race, 18th in the Super Trucks race, and back in 21st for the Pro Late Model race.
In the SK Modified feature event on Saturday, Borges started on the pole and jumped out to lead the first 13 laps, but would fall back after that and found himself outside the top ten before getting involved in a couple incidents which resulted in a 19th place finish. The other two feature events on Saturday went a little better for him as he ended up finishing 7th in both the Street Stocks and Super Trucks, but never really found himself contending at the front of the field.
When Sunday rolled around, Borges had a long road ahead of him in the Pro Late Model race, having to start back in the 21st spot, and he was never able to crack the top ten in that one, after a spin and a wreck that followed knocked him back to a 12th place finish.
The main event, the race everyone was looking forward to, went a lot better for Borges though as he would start on the front row of the Benengen.com Ford Fall Brawl 250. He hung inside the top five for the entire first half of the race, and it wasn’t until past lap 150 that he fell back some as guys with newer tires made their way to the front, but Borges hadn’t taken his tires yet and was given the chance to on a lap 184 caution. Just after getting his fresh rubber, he would get collected in the same wreck that Spearman had gotten involved with, and Borges thought his night was over. The car clearly drove just fine though with a little bit of damage, and he started making his way back towards the front.
By lap 216, Borges found himself back in the top five, and a few laps later on lap 225, he was up to second and making his charge at the leader. A caution on lap 229 allowed Borges to battle it out with Jason Williams in the final laps, and Borges was able to quickly fall in line off of the restart, and made his move into the lead with just 14 laps to go. No one was going to catch him in the final laps, but with the help of a couple caution, Borges would cross under the checkered and yellow flags, to pick up the inaugural Fall Brawl Super Late Model event win, etching his name as the winner of “sim racing’s biggest short track event of the year.”
The big win for Ryan Borges would see him take home $250 for the Super Late Model victory, in addition to the $20.90 that he earned in purse money for his other Fall Brawl finishes. Borges has also picked up a free Fall Brawl t-shirt from his SLM win. Borges was also eligible to pick up the NHMS Prize package after racing in all five events, but finished 3rd overall for that prize with a combined finish of 44. Ryan Borges’ total cash and prize winnings come in at $290.90 or $270.90 in cash and $20 in prizes.
Other notable drivers that earned some cash and prizes from the event include the other feature winners, Ty Majeski ($98.36 cash and prizes), Stefan Marinak ($75.79 cash and prizes), and James Linkiewicz ($66.82 cash and prizes), and other drivers that picked up solid finishes including Jason Williams ($89.60 cash), Hunter Combs ($56.03 cash), Dale Owen ($44.49 cash), and Todd Sipe ($41.31 cash).