Last Thursday night, the RB Performance Super Late Model Series ran their 4th race of the season as they visited the Iowa Speedway for a 100-lap event. The points leader entering the night was Justin Brooks, and he would start things off in open qualifying by jumping to the top of the speed charts to grab the pole starting spot for the feature, with Ty Spearman starting with him on the front row in 2nd. 31 cars would end up starting the race.
At the drop of the green, Brooks got a good start and led the field down into turn 1. Spearman would follow in for the 2nd spot with James Linkiewicz settling in 3rd in the opening laps. As the leaders tried to pull away, the rest of the field was trying to sort things out as they battled two and three wide early. Kevin Myers and Nicolas Moreau swapped the 4th and 5th positions a couple times early on. Out front though, Spearman was right on the bumper of Brooks and on lap 9, Spearman would put his car out front to take the lead, just before the first caution of the night flew.
After the restart, the top 4 remained unchanged for the next portion of the race as Spearman led over Brooks, James Linkiewicz, and Nicolas Moreau. Ryan Borges and Eric Gaudreault-Drapeau battled for the 5th spot early on as well, while again the field was trying to settle in. But a couple cautions would prevent the green flag runs to get too deep, slowing the pace of the field and setting them up for some intense restarts. On the lap 31 restart, the battle was on for the lead as Spearman and Brooks would fight it out side-by-side for two straight laps, using both lanes of the track before Brooks would get the run and took back the lead on lap 33.
A few laps later on lap 39, the caution would come out, and this is when most of the field would come down pit road to take on new tires. Four drivers would stay out though, and it was Todd Sipe who inherited the lead over Myers, Bill Martin, and Mike Whited, with the rest of the field lining up behind Brooks who came out 5th. The new tires would prove to be quite valuable as it took just 3 laps for Brooks to work his way past Sipe to regain the lead on lap 47. A few laps later after a restart, Spearman found his way back up into the 2nd spot, with Tyler Ducharme moving up within the top 5 for 3rd. Martin was hanging tough despite not pitting when the others did to hang in the top 5, with Borges and Moreau fighting for the top 5 as well.
Spearman’s shot for the win would disappear though on lap 66 however. An incident near the back of the field would bring out the caution, while at the same time Spearman would get loose out of turn 4 and his car would slide through the infield grass, putting him back deep in the field for the rest of the race. He would eventually work his way back up into a 7th place finish, which would be disappointing as he was fighting for the lead throughout the race.
Another round of pit stops for some drivers, and another quick caution, would set the field up for the final run of the race on lap 82 to the finish. Brooks remained in the lead over Ducharme, Gaudreault-Drapeau, Ian Layne, and Borges on the restart. Brooks got the jump and pulled out to the lead with everyone else behind him fighting for the top 5. Ducharme would run 2nd for a couple of laps before getting loose and going off track, but the green flag would stay out. Gaudreault-Drapeau moved up into 2nd, but Borges was on the move and looking to run him down. Matt Rolfe made his first appearance in the top 5 late in the race, and was also tracking down the two drivers in front of him as the run went on. With Brooks’ lead already up over 1 second, the lead would continue to grow as the battle to watch was for the 2nd spot. Borges began putting the pressure on Gaudreault-Drapeau, looking to get up beside him, and they would start to battle it out with less than 10 laps to go. As they fought for position, they had also caught lapped traffic, and Rolfe was able to close as well to join the fight, but there was no where to go as they battled side-by-side for the spot.
But back out front, Brooks was enjoying what he was seeing in his mirror as they were battling, and getting smaller and smaller. He would pull out to over 3 seconds in the lead and would come around to take the checkered flag, his 3rd SLM win of the season and his 25th career SARA victory. Borges would end up winning the late battle for 2nd, with Gaudreault-Drapeau hanging onto the 3rd spot. Rolfe would remain in the 4th position, with Martin making a late charge back up to the top 5.
1. Justin Brooks
2. Ryan Borges
3. Eric Gaudreault-Drapeau
4. Matt Rolfe
5. Bill Martin
6. Nicolas Moreau
7. Ty Spearman
8. Ian Layne
9. James Linkiewicz
10. Russell Berry
11. Sam Clark
12. Dale Owen
13. Todd Sipe
14. Jeff Hoggard
15. Jeff Kendrick
16. Tyler Ducharme
17. Dustin Burns
18. Dustin Riccioni
19. Anthony Celentano
20. Brandon Simmons
21. Ken Belanger
22. Clay Snider
23. Mike Whited
24. Kevin Myers
25. Mike Rhyno
26. Mike Belanger
27. Fred Moreau
28. Robert Matthews
29. Ray Farlow
30. Huston Hamer
31. Cameron Hobbs
This week the series will make up their week #2 event that got cancelled as they head back to Lucas Oil Raceway for 125 laps.
With his 3rd win in 4 races, Justin Brooks extends his points lead to 108 points over 2nd place. For full results and standings, click HERE.