FONTANA, Calif. — Audio, story and photo by Managing Editor Jacob Seelman for Speed77 Radio, Race Chaser Online and Real Sim Racing —
Shawn Breitzman had just enough fuel to make it to the checkered flag during Monday night’s =RSR= Icebreaker Winter Series race at Auto Club Speedway.
Literally just enough.
“It ran out about 50 yards from the line,” a stunned Breitzman said in Victory Lane. “I can’t believe we just pulled that off.”
Breitzman used a fuel-saving strategy that allowed him to assume the top spot when race-long contender Dwayne Vincent pitted for fuel and tires with 13 laps to go, then clutched the car and crept home almost at a snail’s pace to become the fifth different Cody Byus Racing entry to visit Gatorade Victory Lane in seven Icebreaker events across 2014 and 2015.
“I was running pretty low the last two laps; I had like one gallon left, so I was clutching it, turning it off and doing everything I could to save that last gallon,” Breitzman explained. “This is great though, it’s a big move and I’m super happy for our team. They do a great job and it’s fantastic to be sitting here tonight.”
The podium was filled with underdog faces, as Kevin Linden and Stefan Marinak rounded out the top three on a similar fuel-saving strategy to muster their best finishes of the 2014-2015 winter campaign as well.
“I haven’t had the best luck this season, whether it’s been someone else or something of my doing,” Marinak said after his third-place result. “I think we’ve been really fast and in contention to win some races but it just hasn’t panned out at the end. It was nice for one of these races to finally go our way, even if we didn’t get the trophy.”
Doug Roth and Johnathon Caddell rounded out the top five, with Breitzman’s CBR teammate David Comstock finishing sixth, the first of the cars to make a pit stop and drive his way back through the field in the closing laps.
“It was a variable that we didn’t predict tonight, we were just going for all out speed and to lead as many laps as we could,” a disappointed Comstock expressed following the event. “(My teammate) Shawn was saying he was really close on making and he did, so congrats to him. If we couldn’t win the race, it makes me feel better that a CBR team car was able to bring home the trophy.”
Fellow championship contenders Dwayne Vincent (who led the most laps on the night with 44) and E.J. O’Rourke finished in lock-step with Comstock, keeping the title fight on the razor’s edge heading to the season finale in Las Vegas next Monday.
Comstock started from the pole, but it was Vincent who took the lead early and held it all the way until the first caution flag of the night flew at lap 18 when the No. 84 of Jimmie North went spinning in turn two after getting help from Mike Montesi in an early race battle. Doug Roth stayed out to lead a lap, but it was rapid rookie Daltyn England who won the race off pit road and took the lead in his first-ever =RSR= start coming to the restart at lap 24.
Two quick cautions and a slow stop for England on lap 29, however, would shuffle the front-runners again, with Comstock staying out to reassume the point after a multi-car incident sparked by slight contact between the Roo Motorsports teammates of Garrett Atwell and Scott Saunders sent several cars scrambling and North getting the worst end of the deal after pounding the SAFER Barrier on the backstretch.
From there, a restart on lap 38 produced green flag action all the way to the finish, with Comstock and Vincent trading the lead three times between each other before Vincent’s pit stop paved the fuel mileage road for the top five to make it to the checkered flag.
England, after falling back on his slow pit stop, would smack the wall coming off of turn four racing for second and retire from the event with 24 laps to go, finishing 21st after a strong run in his =RSR= debut.
Statistically, the race featured three cautions for 12 laps and 12 lead changes among eight different drivers.
With the points contenders finishing sixth through eighth, Las Vegas becomes a double-points, winner-take-all epic between the top three in the standings. Vincent leads Comstock by three points, with O’Rourke only one point further back in third.
Should any of those three drivers win the Sin City finale next Monday, they would automatically claim the title by virtue of a minimum six-point swing between first and second thanks to the double-points rule in effect for the eighth and final race.
“We are going all-in at Vegas,” Comstock said of the season finale. “If you’re not here to watch how it turns out, you need to be because it’s going to be one heck of a show.”
For more information on Real Sim Racing, visit www.realsimracing.ileaguerace.com.
Audio with race winner Shawn Breitzman:
Audio with runner-up Kevin Linden:
Audio with 6th-place finisher David Comstock:
RESULTS: =RSR= Icebreaker Winter Series; Round 7 of 8; Auto Club Speedway; Fontana, Calif.
- #47 – Shawn Breitzman
- #48 – Kevin Linden
- #24 – Stefan Marinak
- #43 – Doug Roth
- #11 – Johnathon Caddell
- #20 – David Comstock
- #9 – Dwayne Vincent
- #23 – E.J. O’Rourke
- #14 – Bobby Terrell
- #6 – Ronnie Potts
- #22 – William Kempf
- #19 – Garrett Atwell
- #4 – Scott Simley
- #65 – Ed Williams Jr.
- #41 – Nathan Little
- #56 – Wyatt Wolfe
- #21 – Matt LaCross
- #98 – Steven Haring
- #10 – John Abbott
- #95 – Ralph Nolen Jr.
- #32 – Daltyn England
- #49 – Scott Saunders
- #29 – Brennan Mercer
- #55 – Dan Murray
- #84 – Jimmie North
- #62 – Rich Jette
- #31 – Mike Montesi
- #93 – L.D. Sarabia
- #71 – Jamie Pitts
- #111 – Tony Dreon
- #51 – Doug Manning
- #85 – Adam Benefiel (DNS)
- #82 – Jamie Moore (DNS)
- #12 – Joey Gattina (DNS)
- #2 – J. Randall Watkins (DNS)
