Marc Cohn had made 32 starts heading into Talladega; Gael Brooks, 21. In practice, the pair talked about what it would mean to finally end their 0-for streaks in PGRL, agreeing that taking the checkers first that evening “would be pretty good”. By the end of the night, the two sim racing veterans were the league’s newest first-time winners — and Brooks entered the record books with a margin of victory of 0.000 seconds.
RACE 1 RECAP:
In a result that left tech inspectors fearing for their jobs, trucks #70, 71, and 72 lined up in the top three starting positions. Scott Eckrich, who earned the Mahan Speed Laboratories Pole Award with an average qualifying time of 55.948 seconds, led the field to the green flag. Eckrich was quickly jumped by Adam Jurski, followed by Marc Cohn. Jurski and Cohn combined to lead 28 of the event’s 40 laps.
Green flag stops proved pivotal and, with clean execution in the pits, Loud Pedal Motorsports Group drivers found themselves at the front of the field in the closing stages of the race. Adam Jurski and Gael Brooks challenged for the top spot, but couldn’t break up the dominant pairings of Marc Cohn and Scott Eckrich, and Michael Chrobok and Woody Mahan. When a race ending yellow flew, Cohn was ahead of Chrobok at the last scoring loop — the right time to be P1 for the driver sponsored by Wrong Time Watch. Chrobok settled for second, while Mahan earned his first podium finish of the season, coming home a pretty good third.
RACE 2 RECAP:
Cody Dempster started on pole position, but it was Colton Salek — from 8th on the grid — who led lap 1 of Race 2. The Graafix eSports-powered machines of Creighton Carter, Matt Taylor, and Isaiah Dupre looked strong, taking turns at the front. Disaster struck on lap 18, however, when a bad bump sent Carter careening up and over the three-wide pack. At least 15 trucks received damage in the melee, including the #17 Loose is Fast Podcast Ford of Gael Brooks.
While the caution allowed the #17 team to repair most of its damage, the yellow came too early for drivers to get in their fuel window, making another round of green flag stops a necessity. Ryan Zima, Michael Chrobok, and Jordan Harnish formed a three-truck breakaway, but had their momentum disrupted by lapped traffic. Gael Brooks, with help from Cody Eldred, and later Adam Jurski and Thomas George, mounted a charge to the top spot. Brooks ran side-by-side with Chrobok for the lead in the closing laps, banging doors coming to the checkered flag. Brooks held on by the slimmest of margins to take his first win, beating perpetual runner-up Chrobok by 0.000 seconds.
POINTS IMPLICATIONS:
Points leader Michael “Can’t Close” Chrobok survived Talladega with two second-place finishes, extending his advantage from 236 to a whopping 330 points. Adam Jurski moved into P2, with Brian Yaczik now sitting P3.
AROUND THE TURN:
PGRL heads to Michigan International Speedway for the Wrong Time Watch Michigan Mix-up on November 14th. Catch all the action from the Irish Hills on the Virtual Grip Network LIVE at 8:50pm Eastern.
FULL RACE REPLAY: