By Mike Mallett
Dominance is the only way to describe Braden Eyler’s performance in the opening round of the iRacing Dirt Track Digest Lockdown Showdown presented by SprintCarUnlimited.com at the virtual Knoxville Raceway.
The only hiccup for Eyler on the night was that he didn’t set overall fast-time. That honor went to defending Knoxville Nationals champion David Gravel. Other than that, he was flawless. Eyler timed third, won his heat then ran away from the competition to win the Dig Race Products A-Main.
He is the high point man at the end of the night with 496 points to lock himself into Saturday’s finale.
“We got more guys here tomorrow,” commented Eyler, of Franklin, Pa. after the win. “I’m sure Alex Bergeron is running and he’s never a slouch. He’s a champion for a reason. We’ll see what we can do here on Saturday. I’m going to try to give her a good run.”
Eyler wasted little time getting the lead in the 25-lap feature. Northeast Modified driver Anthony Perrego started on the pole of the feature after dominating the final heat race of the night with David Flick next to him. The pair raced each other hard going into the first corner opening up the bottom lane, that was all Eyler needed.
Eyler dove low going into turn one and stayed there at the exit of turn two. He got a monster run of the second corner which propelled to the race lead.
“The bottom of one and two was really there pretty much the whole race,” mentioned Eyler. “The top was just; it was just really burned off. There was a lot to lean on. It wasn’t grip. You couldn’t really make it work. All you would do is go up there and bounce around.”
From there, Eyler extended his advantage over the field. The battle for second was a good one as Australian Craig Dunn contended with Flick. They waged a war for the position until the only caution of the race was necessary two cars got together in turn one.
Eyler lined up as the leader for the restart with Dunn, Flick, Perrego and seventh starting Jeremy Zarfos in the fifth position. Eyler had choice of lanes so he went to the outside for the green.
As he raced away as the action resumed, the battle for fifth heated up between Brett Michalski, Adam Buchanan and Zarfos battled while Flick and Dunn exchanged blows for second.
By the time things settled down, Eyler stretched the lead with Dunn comfortably in the second position. Zarfos eventually grabbed the third spot from Flick with Buchanan also getting by him as well.
Buchanan briefly grabbed the third position from Zarfos before Zarfos rallied to get back by just after the halfway point.
Eyler went on to score the easy victory when he crossed the line with nearly a five second advantage and the overall point lead after the first qualifying night.
Dunn, of Maryborough, Queensland, Australia ended up finishing second. Dunn searched around late in the race trying to find a quicker lane, but it was all for naught.
“It was pretty good,” stated Dunn. “I’m a little disappointed with my qualifying run. I was hoping to be bit higher in qualifying. It was nice to get a heat win and then I stayed out of trouble in the feature.”
Zarfos completed the podium at a track that he admittedly doesn’t usually run well at. The Pennsylvania driver was pleased with the outcome as he looks for more on Saturday night.
“I’ll take it,” said Zarfos after the main. “I don’t do a lot of practice to be honest. I think I hold my own on this whole iRacing deal for not practicing much. I actually got 100 laps of practice in tonight before the race. It had to play a part in it somehow or another. I’ll take it for sure.”
Buchanan finished in fourth allowing him to rebound from a poor qualifying effort. Eighth starting Richie Preston completed the top five.
Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux heat race wins went to Dunn, Michalski, Eyler, Flick and Perrego. Chris Hile won the C-Main and Wyatt Brown won the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprint B-Main.
The DTD Lockdown Showdown presented by SprintCarUnlimited.com is an iRacing event being held at the virtual Knoxville Raceway. Th event is broadcast on the Dirt Track Digest Facebook page for FREE each night and continues on Friday night, April 10 at 8 p.m. The Lockdown Showdown finale goes green at 7 p.m. on April 11. The best iRacers in the country are taking on the some of the best the Northeast racing scene has to offer.
Stay tuned to Dirt Track Digest as well as our Facebook page for the latest developments for the first ever Lockdown Showdown. Check out SprintCarUnlimited.com for the latest in the world of Sprint Car racing.
Sprint Car Feature Finish, 25 Laps: 1. Braden Eyler; 2. Craig Dunn; 3. Jeremy Zarfos; 4. Adam Buchanan; 5. Richie Preston; 6. Jesse Dakus; 7. Brett Michalski; 8. David Flick; 9. Larry Moody; 10. Wyatt Brown; 11. Brandon Planck; 12. Kevin Loveys; 13. David Gravel; 14. John Guarino; 15. Anthony Perrego; 16. Brad Patton; 17. Madison Mulder; 18. Kyle Rochinski; 19. Eric Rutz; 20. Brian Parr; 21. Zane Scott; 22. Matthew Hearn; 23. Christopher Hockley; 24. AJ Kingsley.
Top 20 in Points after Night 1: 1. Braden Eyler 496; 2. Jeremy Zarfos 481; 3. Craig Dunn 478; 4. Larry Moody 476; 5. Richie Preston 475; 6. Jesse Dakus 473; 7. David Gravel 467; 8. Brett Michalski 456; 9. Brad Patton 451; 10. Brandon Planck 447; 11. David Flick 440; 12. Kevin Loveys 438; 13. Brian Parr 416; 14. Anthony Perrego 414; 15. Jeffrey Herrick 408; 16. Madison Mulder 406; 17. Adam Buchanan 405; 18. John Guarino 403; 19. Kyle Rochinski 394; 20. AJ Kingsley 391.