Photo Credit: MC² Editing Services.
With 49 trucks unloading to kick off Season 6, winning the Route 66 Paint & Wallpaper Twin 100s meant staying out of trouble and making well-timed moves. Paul Pepper and Ryan Zima did a pretty good job of that Tuesday night at Daytona, clearing the scene of race-ending accidents and earning their first trips to PGRL’s Victory Lane.
RACE 1 RECAP:
Race 1 begin with Tyler Dohar starting on pole position after setting a blistering 52.193 second qualifying average. The event ran green until lap 27, when Woody “Steady Hands” Mahan slid through a patch of oil leaving pit road, ending up on the infield road course. Woody remarked, “Whoever put down that darn fluid should have had their vehicle serviced at Mahan Speed Laboratories. Then this would never have happened!”
Disaster for the front-runners struck on lap 37, when a bad bump wiped out the top eight trucks. Paul Pepper, scored 9th on the previous lap, made it through the smoke Cole Trickle style. The yellow flag flew, ending the race. Pepper was ahead at the moment of caution and was scored the winner. Johnathon Caddell, returning to league competition after retiring from the Navy, finished 2nd. Gael Brooks, who advanced 45 positions from his starting spot, rounded out the podium.
RACE 2 RECAP:
With the sun going down, the intensity ramped up. Nathan Guilford began the second Twin 100 from the top spot, benefitting from the full-field invert. Brian Yaczik and Thomas George quickly made their way to the front from their 11th and 46th starting positions, respectively. The two Ford drivers looked strong staying ahead of the chasing pack, which was often three wide, five to ten rows deep.
Contact between multiple trucks on lap 34 accordioned up towards race-leader Yaczik, ending the night of the #55 machine. Debriefing with his team in the Loud Pedal Motorsports hauler, Yaczik said, “What can LPM do for you? Give you a fast truck — even if it ends up on the hook from the lead.”
A late-race restart saw Thomas George and Scott Eckrich tandem to a sizeable lead. Ryan Zima chased the duo down from the top lane and, as the PGRL champions moved high, Zima made an elevator move to the bottom. Zima cleared George for the lead, just as Mike Rasimas was bumped from behind and shot into the Turn 4 wall. The yellow flag flew, and the #4 truck of Zima found itself in Victory Lane. Ryan Keiss and Paul Pepper rounded out the podium.
POINTS IMPLICATIONS
Paul Pepper takes over the points lead, with Gael Brooks 30 markers back.
AROUND THE TURN
PGRL heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Say No To Grip 100 presented by GamingGuyL on Twitch on September 12th. Catch all the slipping and sliding on the Virtual Grip Network LIVE at 8:50pm Eastern.
FULL RACE REPLAY – ROUTE 66 PAINT & WALLPAPER TWIN 100s AT DAYTONA