Scored the Duel Win in ASL Debut!

From Ross Cado, FFE Owner and Driver

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be taking the fourth place starting position on the grid for the American Simracing League’s Daytona 200, after scoring the win in Duel #2 this past Sunday evening!

Broadcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUCPjH4yD8A

I was elated to park my #12 Ford F-150 in Daytona Victory Lane at the conclusion of the tumultuous and crash-filled bout.

The #12 truck qualified 6^th overall, placing me on the inside of the second row in Duel #2. From the get-go, I pushed Jeff Hollingsworth (#97), outside poll-sitter and P1 starter of Duel #2, on the inside lane, while other drivers tested their efficacy in utilizing the higher lanes in order to eek by and snag the lead. Despite the 15% tape grill tape configuration of this fixed-setup structure, I was nevertheless hesitant to push too hard in the early going. The heightened nerves never went away throughout the duration of the race, and as evidenced by my victory lane interview, even remained afterwards.

The twitchy nature of the steering column with this setup, coupled with the surgical manner in which bumpers of the trucks matched up, made for a challenging, albeit short, race. Much was learned.

Eventually, the higher line of trucks prevailed over Hollingsworth and me on lap 5 going into turn 3, but with only the lead truck of that lane, the #26 of Trent Ringler, overtaking Hollingsworth. Ringler moved down into the lower lane after gaining the lead. The swarm of trucks was testy yet contained, and Ringler, Hollingsworth, and I remained 1-2-3 on the bottom lane until lap 10, when Hollingsworth decided to try his hand at the higher lane. An incident occurred on the backstretch when the #87 of Sean Bradley poked through a hold that was then closed by Hollingworth, causing the #97 to jolt sideways into me. I was slammed into on the right side and subsequently spun onto the apron.

However, I gathered it up without any further contact and was fortunate enough to bring the truck to pit road to be serviced under the yellow flag.

Repairing the damage to the #12 truck took over a minute, and then I was down and away and rejoined the race.

More crashes would follow, one of which caused me to take to the apron and then the grass in turn 3 in order to avoid.

Eventually, I found myself back up to fourth place for the final restart with two laps to go, but was held up by a slower truck in my lane. By the time we made it around to the backstretch, I had fallen back to seventh. Then, the #02, #14, and #27 trucks tangled in front of me and spun onto the apron. I quickly found myself behind Trent Ringler (#26) and Todd Cray (#21). Coming into the tri-oval on the white flag lap, Ringler and Cray crashed and I reacted by swooping low to avoid the wreck and take the checkered flag!

This win is a well-deserved statement to be made, via the perseverance and persistence considering my recent Internet connection woes, in addition to actually surviving the wreck-filled race. Due to an outage at my apartment, I hurriedly erected a temporary makeshift racing setup at my girlfriend’s apartment so that I could compete in this race. Many thanks to her! It was well worth the win!

I look forward to competing in the Daytona 200 this coming Sunday and earning the win from the fourth starting position. The warm welcome from the other competitors at ASL is well received. My hope is for hard, clean racing and a load of success in this league.

iRacing Session Event Log

Ross Cado #12 Race Stats
Started: 3^rd
Finished 1^st
Laps Led: 1
Average Lap Time: 1:06.525
Fastest Lap Time: 48.538 (Lap 7)
Incidents: 5