2023 Round 31 Cup Results
Pearson sweeps both 2023 Talladega races and quite possibly replaces Dave Douglas as the king of ANZCAR superspeedway racing!!!
Talladega Super Speedway would be the battleground for round 31 of the 2023 ANZCAR Cup and round 5 of the 10 race chase playoffs.
Matthew Raymond would take pole position and lead the first lap before opting to drop to the back of the field to ride in relative safety. Teammate Ruben Phelps would take over the lead and after getting his bonus point for leading a lap before he would also drop back to join his teammate, Raymond.
Early on Phil Otto would take it 3 wide and take the lead by lap 5. Chase driver Norman Clark in a must win situation for the championship would be on the attack early sitting 3rd with a teammate in Jamie Nankervis right behind.
Dave Douglas would drop back with a number of other chase drivers opting to run at the back perhaps a bit concerned about the energy up at the front. Joshua Carroll-Walden would start running the high line joined by Tom Pritchard, Andrew Dyson, Douglas and Brad Fenly. Lap 18 would see JCW and Pritchard get clear of the low line and drop down to the front of the low line. Dyson and Douglas doing the same on lap 26.
Lap 28 would see Otto would be the first driver to kick off the green flag pit cycle after contact with Justin Whitcher separates the car pack a bit. After the pit stop cycle Douglas leads a 5-car pack with each driver wanting one of the others to head the line and burn up their fuel.
By lap 54 all the 3 main packs had all caught up and formed 1 big line.
With 33 laps to go we would start seeing the 2nd Green Flag pit stop cycle kick off with a lot of cars having to pit on their own rather than in packs. The bulk of the pack pitting with 29 laps to go and hopefully good to go with fuel to the end.
After this pit cycle Ryan Jones would lead from Dyson. Big time fuel saving going on throughout the field. Jaie Schultz, Luke Crum, JCW, Koby Jordan would get a monster run on the high line charging up to the front of the field to take the top 4 positions.
Lap 72 would see the races first caution and Chase driver Lachlan Urquijo would cop a big hit on the front. After getting repairs he would be able to continue on.
Lap 79 would see the 2nd caution of the race and once again it would be Urquijo in the wrong place at the wrong time again copping even more damage but still able to keep going and fighting for points.
From the restart the battle for the win was on. At times cars running 3 wide and 4 deep and on the last lap there would be 3 separate incidents kick off. This would allow Neil Pearson and Dyson working well together as a tandem power there way to the win.
Next week the series heads to the Charlotte Roval. Another cut off race where 2 more drivers will be eliminated from the chase.
Race Statistics:
Total Laps: 90
Cautions: 2 for 6 laps
Lead Changes: 26
Incidents
Lap 72 - Jamie Nankervis
Lap 79 - Dave Douglas
Lap 90 - Jaie Schultz (protest)
Restarts
N/A
Post-race Tech
Ryan Jones - No Submission DQ
Tom Pritchard - No Submission DQ
Jamie Nankervis - No Submission DQ
Noddy Tompkins - No Submission DQ
Top 10 Finishers:
1: Neil Pearson.
2: Andrew Dyson
3: Joshua Carroll-Walden
4: Steven Williams
5: Ruben Phelps
6: Jaie Schultz
7: Shayne Bowen
8: Ryan Jones
9: Matthew Raymond
10: Brad Fenly
Talladega Super Speedway would be the battleground for round 31 of the 2023 ANZCAR Cup and round 5 of the 10 race chase playoffs.
Matthew Raymond would take pole position and lead the first lap before opting to drop to the back of the field to ride in relative safety. Teammate Ruben Phelps would take over the lead and after getting his bonus point for leading a lap before he would also drop back to join his teammate, Raymond.
Early on Phil Otto would take it 3 wide and take the lead by lap 5. Chase driver Norman Clark in a must win situation for the championship would be on the attack early sitting 3rd with a teammate in Jamie Nankervis right behind.
Dave Douglas would drop back with a number of other chase drivers opting to run at the back perhaps a bit concerned about the energy up at the front. Joshua Carroll-Walden would start running the high line joined by Tom Pritchard, Andrew Dyson, Douglas and Brad Fenly. Lap 18 would see JCW and Pritchard get clear of the low line and drop down to the front of the low line. Dyson and Douglas doing the same on lap 26.
Lap 28 would see Otto would be the first driver to kick off the green flag pit cycle after contact with Justin Whitcher separates the car pack a bit. After the pit stop cycle Douglas leads a 5-car pack with each driver wanting one of the others to head the line and burn up their fuel.
By lap 54 all the 3 main packs had all caught up and formed 1 big line.
With 33 laps to go we would start seeing the 2nd Green Flag pit stop cycle kick off with a lot of cars having to pit on their own rather than in packs. The bulk of the pack pitting with 29 laps to go and hopefully good to go with fuel to the end.
After this pit cycle Ryan Jones would lead from Dyson. Big time fuel saving going on throughout the field. Jaie Schultz, Luke Crum, JCW, Koby Jordan would get a monster run on the high line charging up to the front of the field to take the top 4 positions.
Lap 72 would see the races first caution and Chase driver Lachlan Urquijo would cop a big hit on the front. After getting repairs he would be able to continue on.
Lap 79 would see the 2nd caution of the race and once again it would be Urquijo in the wrong place at the wrong time again copping even more damage but still able to keep going and fighting for points.
From the restart the battle for the win was on. At times cars running 3 wide and 4 deep and on the last lap there would be 3 separate incidents kick off. This would allow Neil Pearson and Dyson working well together as a tandem power there way to the win.
Next week the series heads to the Charlotte Roval. Another cut off race where 2 more drivers will be eliminated from the chase.
Race Statistics:
Total Laps: 90
Cautions: 2 for 6 laps
Lead Changes: 26
Incidents
Lap 72 - Jamie Nankervis
Lap 79 - Dave Douglas
Lap 90 - Jaie Schultz (protest)
Restarts
N/A
Post-race Tech
Ryan Jones - No Submission DQ
Tom Pritchard - No Submission DQ
Jamie Nankervis - No Submission DQ
Noddy Tompkins - No Submission DQ
Top 10 Finishers:
1: Neil Pearson.
2: Andrew Dyson
3: Joshua Carroll-Walden
4: Steven Williams
5: Ruben Phelps
6: Jaie Schultz
7: Shayne Bowen
8: Ryan Jones
9: Matthew Raymond
10: Brad Fenly
