DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Story by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman – Real Sim Racing photo –
In two separate battles of wit and determination, Jose Gonzalez and Corbin Himstreet proved that they were the best of the best in Real Sim Racing action on Monday night at Daytona International Speedway.
The duo made it to the front of their respective 26-car fields and scored the victories in the 40-lap Full Throttle Duels, the qualifying races for next week’s =RSR= Full Throttle Cup Series season-opening SimVibe Daytona 250.
Gonzalez led the final 18 laps of Duel No. 1, but had to hold off a furious last lap charge from both Mike Kelley and Anthony DeBaro to score the victory. Kelley was side-by-side with Gonzalez off turn two for the lead, but lost his momentum halfway down the backstretch and couldn’t mount a second run.
In a caution-free race that featured seven lead changes between four different drivers, Gonzalez wheeled his No. 26 Puerto Rican Meatball Company Chevrolet to the win by a scant 0.099 of a second at the finish line over DeBaro.
“These guys are getting tighter and tighter, and I think the competition is going to be that way all season,” Gonzalez said. “There’s so many good guys in the field this year.”
“Tonight was a clean race. I learned it helps to be on the bottom. Anthony gave me the push I needed [to get back to the line for the win] and nobody was being stupid. So it was just a good night, and I’m happy to come away with a victory.”
The second duel was dominated by polesitter Ross Cado, who led the first 36 laps in succession, but a late-race surge opened the door for a surprise winner to make the turn into Gatorade Victory Lane.
Boomtown Sim’s Corbin Himstreet made a thrilling drive from seventh to the lead in a half-lap span to nose out in front just before the caution flag flew for a crash with four laps to go that ended the race.
As Kevin Linden, Mitch Rollo, Rodney Perry, Greg Evans, Sean Casto, Christopher Hurlow, Chad Cole and other were all collected in the carnage, Himstreet circled around to take his first-career Duel victory.
The result gives him back-to-back triumphs in FTCS competition (one points win and one non-points win) following his season-ending score at Homestead Miami Speedway in 2015.
“That was the goal for this 69 team after winning Homestead last season,” Himstreet smiled. “I’m glad to say we picked right up from where we left off. Winning the 500 would be substantially more special than this one tonight – but any win during Speedweeks is huge.”
“Knowing that we’ll be rolling off fourth next week takes a big weight off our shoulders, and now we can focus on getting the car to a point that we can stay up front all day. Hopefully we can have the same result in the big show.”
The only other incident in Duel No. 2 was a caution on lap 29 for trouble involving the No. 00 machine of Anthony Fredericks.
The two Full Throttle Duels set positions 3-32 in the Daytona 250 starting grid. The top 15 finishers in each duel were placed in order in the row corresponding to their Duel (Race 1 – inside row; Race 2 – outside row).
The front row was set by Garry Mercer Trucking Pole Qualifying earlier in the night — Tim Matthews and Ross Cado were the fastest two qualifiers and earned the top two positions on the starting grid for next Monday’s season-opener.
With the Full Throttle Duels complete and the 43-car field locked for the Daytona 250, the =RSR= Full Throttle Cup Series turns its full focus to the final event of Daytona Speedweeks and the start of the 2015 points season. The Daytona 250 will air live on Monday, Feb. 22 beginning at 9:15 p.m. Eastern on LSRTV.
For more information on Real Sim Racing, visit the series on the web at www.realsimracing.com.
RESULTS: =RSR= Full Throttle Cup Series; Full Throttle Duels; Daytona International Speedway; Feb. 16, 2015
Duel One
- Jose Gonzalez
- Anthony DeBaro
- Bobby Terrell
- Mike Kelley
- Rett McBride
- Stefan Marinak
- Justin Michael
- Tim Matthews
- David Comstock
- Daniel Eberhardt
- Carl Shedd
- Dwayne Vincent
- Mark Bratcher
- Matt LaCross
- C.J. LaVair
- Adam Blattel
- Rich Jette
- Douglas Wyatt
- Glenn Campbell
- Doug Roth
- William Hale
- John Abbott
- Brennan Mercer
- Thomas George
- Brayden Whitaker
- William Amaker
Duel Two
- Corbin Himstreet
- Dan Murray
- Nick Kohan
- Scott Eckrich
- Johnathon Caddell
- Ross Cado
- Sean Casto
- David Washington
- Jimmie North
- Nelson Rivera
- Kyle Taraska
- Steve Gottschalk
- Scott Simley
- Anthony Fredericks
- Mitch Rollo
- Kevin Linden
- Rodney Perry
- Greg Evans
- Chad Cole
- Bryan Harvey
- Christopher Hurlow
- Jason Lester
- Sean Boundy
- Joseph Theis
- Nick Silver
- Scott Stenzel (DNS)
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
Email Race Chaser Online: news@racechaseronline.com
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