The RB Performance Super Late Model Series took their turn at Irwindale tonight for a 125 lap event on the half-mile speedway. Last week the series would have an impressive race as 35 cars took the track at Richmond, and this week 34 cars would show up to attempt to qualify for 30 spots on the grid.
After practice the field was split up into 3 heat races, which would take the top 9 cars from each heat followed by 3 provisionals to set the grid. Heat race #1 would roll off with Fred Moreau on the pole, and with just 1 caution in the heat, Moreau was able to hang on for the whole 15 laps and pick up the heat win. Heat #2 would see Todd Garren on the pole of his heat, but David Krikorian would take the top spot on lap 1 and went on to win his heat race. Heat #3 would have more action in it, as Colin Allman would take the pole and lead the first 12 laps, but after the only restart the leaders would get together which let Matt Rolfe take the top spot from his 7th place starting spot to win his heat race. 27 cars would advance through the heat races with Brian Tedeschi, Scott Blaney, and Mike Testa taking provisional spots at the back of the 30 car grid.
As the race got underway, Jacob Linkiewicz would inherit the pole position on the night as two of the heat winners did not make the grid in time. At the drop of the green flag, Jacob would ride the high line to lead lap 1, but Rolfe would battle on the inside to lead lap 2 before Jacob was able to power back by on the outside to hang onto the lead. The caution flag would fly a number of times in the early laps, and on each of the restarts Jacob was able to hold off the field to grab the lead back. Behind him, Todd Garren, Derek Robinson, and Jeff Bye would all battle hard on restarts trying to work their way up to the preferred outside groove. The caution flew a total of 10 times on the night, but when they green was out, there was plenty of action throughout the field.
Last week’s winner Trey Jarrell would start 15th in the event, and would eventually work his way up to the 2nd position on lap 64, and on a lap 78 restart, he would make his move on the leader. As they dropped the hammer, Jacob got a good jump on the outside but would get it sideways down the straightway, allowing Jarrell to move to the outside of the leader and make the pass off of turn 2. That would be the break that he needed as he wouldn’t look back from there.
The final restart would happen on lap 98, which set up a 27 lap run to the finish, where Jarrell was able to pull out to a sizable lead and came around to pick up his 2nd consecutive SLM victory to start off the season. Jarrell is undefeated in his 4 league starts this season. Kenny Lindsley made an impressive charge to the front as he would come from his 30th place starting position due to not making the grid, working his was all the way up to a 2nd place finish. Jeff Bye and Todd Garren would race near the front all race long and would finish 3rd and 4th, while Heath Smith worked his way up from 12th for a top 5 finish.
- Trey Jarrell
- Kenny Lindsley
- Jeff Bye Jr
- Todd Garren
- Heath Smith
- Derek Robinson
- Matthew Eddy
- Jacob Linkiewicz
- Joshua Hart
- Derek Holzhausen
- Paul Boswell
- Scott Blaney
- Mike Testa
- Brian Tedeschi
- Ken Belanger
- Aaron Walker
- Clay Snider
- Mike Belanger
- Michael Rennebu
- Matt Rolfe
- Anthony Celentano
- Trent Brown
- Brian Lambert
- David Krikorian
- Ronald Williams
- Colin Allman
- Ty Spearman
- James Linkiewicz
- Wesley Holland
- Jarrid Boiros
Next week the series heads to Oxford Plains for their week 3 event before our SARA 250 race next weekend.
For the full results and standings, click HERE.