AUDIO/RECAP: Back on the Throne; Bobby Terrell Returns to Asphalt Assault Victory Lane in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Audio and recap by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Jacob Seelman/iRacing.com photo —

Wednesday night during Round Two of Real Sim Racing’s Asphalt Assault TV Series (AATS), the tour’s most dominant driver returned to Victory Lane — just not necessarily in dominant fashion.

Instead, Bobby Terrell stole a win on a late-race restart, firing like he was shot out of a cannon at lap 123 and holding on as Dwayne Vincent and James Thorndike got together and wrecked in the back of the field to claim the checkered flag under caution and notch his 15th career AATS victory.

“It’s been a little while since we’ve gotten one of these,” Terrell said in Victory Lane. “I love these style of cars and we had a good piece tonight, so I knew we were going to be in contention and we made it count there at the end.”

Terrell did take the lead at one point under green flag conditions — but was worried the strategy call would not pay off with the rash of cautions in the closing laps.

“I wasn’t too too nervous — I had tested in practice the two tires and fuel strategy and I wasn’t using very much of my left sides at all — so i knew we had the tires, but you’re always wondering what could go wrong on a restart. I feel like I probably still would have held him off if we had stayed green because our tires were still pretty good, but we caught that caution and that was enough.”

=RSR= rookie Chase Cabre had a thrilling run in the late laps, holding on in several three-wide situations and powering past polesitter Jeff Ward on the final restart to finish runner-up to Terrell in his series debut, something that was not lost on the young hotshoe.

“I just lined up right behind Bobby and I knew he was going to fire early,” Cabre said of the last restart. “I just went for the hole and made it stick, and we ended up second. To do that in my first start with these guys — who are all so competitive, it’s a great field — that’s a really cool feeling for me. Hopefully it’s only the first of many.”

Ward came home third after leading the most laps (52) on the night and looking like he had the car to beat for the second straight week in =RSR= competition, with Thomas George and Eric Brundies rounding out the top five at the finish.

Brundies was subbing for AATV rookie Anthony Palombo, who finished third at Fontana two weeks ago in the season opener.

In all, the lead changed hands eight times between four different drivers. Five caution flags slowed the pace for 18 laps, including a wicked crash with seven laps to go during a three-wide battle inside the top five that saw Adam Benefiel get turned headfirst into the outside turn three wall. Benefiel had led 28 laps on the night and was a contender for the win before the mishap, ultimately finishing 29th.

The =RSR= Asphalt Assault Series returns to action in two weeks’ time with the Thunder Valley 200 from Bristol Motor Speedway.

For more information on Real Sim Racing, visit www.realsimracing.com.

Audio with race winner Bobby Terrell: