iRacing: Maiato Steals The Win in Thrilling Fashion in Round 4
After a week away from the simulators the stars and cars of the NASTRACK & More Sim Racing leagues packed up their haulers, don’t worry all cars and motors were accounted for, and headed towards the Midwest track that is Michigan International Speedway. On deck The Kirsten’s Dream 150, a 75-lap feature placing some of the best sim racers on the very rough, very quick, 2-mile D-shape oval. A very special event as we hit the track not only to crown a winner but in my mind to pay tribute and raise awareness for childhood cancer. Fellow sim racer Randy Hughes lost his daughter to the courageous battle with cancer. We hit the track in her honor and I suggest everyone hit the Facebook page created in her honor Kirsten’s Dream Foundation.
Right out of the gate familiar names from both leagues found their names nestled at the top of the leaderboard. Keith Maiato would top the charts as the only car to post a time in the mid two’s (40.257), the rest of the field found themselves running three’s & four’s. You know you are going to have a barn burner when the top sixteen of twenty-eight cars that took time were only separated by two tenths of a second.
Though Maiato was fastest in practice he was not able to duplicate those results in qualifying, posting a time only tenth fastest on the field. Don’t worry though I will just go ahead right now and let you know not to count him out just yet! Travis Wall, sporting a new color scheme again this week, posted the fast time of the session with a 40.337 (178.5 mph) to grab the pole. Todd Marcotte, Shawn Pierce, Steven Burnett, and Chris Simard would round out the top five all posting times within a tenth of a second of the top spot!