Oval S1 Reviews

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Round 15: Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway

Nashville Fairgrounds hosted the final race of the J2iCS Oval Series. The event, which was split into two heats, saw a small field of contenders. The first heat was relatively caution free with NBR taking the win leading 70 laps. CanonRacer won the fastest lap bonus point.


In heat 2, the race ran green for 51 laps before the first yellow flag due to an issue with Mike Costello's #71 car. NBR dominated the first portion of this race, however, Nickalator took the lead back after the restart. He lead the final 13 laps to take home the race win and season championship.


With this oval season in the books, who will reign supreme next season in new cars, on some new tracks, and against new drivers? J2iCS Oval Season 2 begins in September. In the meantime, get ready for the Summer Slinger beginning on June 7th: Sprint Cars at Lanier Dirt.

Round 14: Michigan International Speedway

The penultimate round of the J2iCS Oval Division took on the 2 mile Michigan International Speedway, just outside of Detroit. With NBR's return, drivers were extra crafty when working on setups throughout practice. With the help of CanonRacer, Water Cooler Dale had his highest qualifying effort of the season starting in the third position behind NBR and Bobnova respectively. Dale also took the lead on lap 8 for 5 laps, ending a 3 season lap lead drought.


However, although Dale's setup was fast, it chewed up tires. Mike Costello handily took the lead away on lap 13. Dale also brought out the first caution on lap 21 after losing control into the infield and coming across the nose of Rewmeister.


After the restart, the race stayed green for 80 laps. During green flag pit stops, drivers struggled to get onto pit road safely. 7 different drivers had unsafe pit entries.


Although the lead changed multiple times during throughout this green flag run, the battle was heating up between NBR and Mike Costello. Costello's long run car had an edge on NBR.


It is still unknown why the yellow flag on lap 104 flew. Some say a hot dog wrapper was in turn 3, but others say it was a race control error. In any event, it stacked the field up again. However, this restart was quickly put under caution again as drivers wrecked coming to the green.


Costello and NBR continued to restart up front until the final restart on the G/W/C. An extremely hard fought battle came down to the wire with Mike Costello taking his first ever J2iCS victory by a margin of .061 to NBR. John Tyndall surprised the series with stealing the fastest lap bonus point. Brenden Johnson had a notable performance as well finishing in the top-5 (5th place).


The J2iCS oval series rolls into Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway for its final race of the season. Nickalator is looking to handily win the championship.

Round 13: Charlotte Motor Speedway

The J2iCS Oval Division made its stop at Charlotte Motor Speedway expecting calamity as always. While a number of drivers struggled to keep their cars off the trioval wall, this was the first caution free race of the season.


Bobnova was hungry for a victory when he grabbed the pole during qualifying. After frustrating performances at Texas and Indianapolis, this was his race to lose. Meanwhile, Orbits Jupiter had his eyes set on yet another victory as well. He qualified 2nd.


Even though Jupiter was fast throughout the whole race, leading 40 laps, he had his fair share of problems like spinning out exiting pit lane. Jupiter took the fastest lap bonus point, but ultimately finished 1 lap down in 7th.


On the other hand, Bobnova had his run of the season leading 69 (nice) laps which ultimately gave him the victory. His teammate, Jordan Beck, who finished in 2nd, had one of his best performances all season as well.


Speedy drivers like Mike Costello, Guantanamo Bae, and Nickalator rounded out the top-5 respectively.


As the season winds down with only two races remaining, Nickalator has a comfortable lead in the standings followed by Orbits Jupiter, Guantanamo Bae, Bobnova, and Ajensen in the top-5. Points from drop races will be posted soon after the next race at Michigan International Speedway.

Round 12: Phoenix International Raceway

The J2iCS Oval Division rolled into Phoenix with an appetite for action. However, the first heat race was pretty tame until a yellow flag at lap 24. The race was barely restarted when multiple drivers spun exiting turn 1 to bring out the second caution of the race. However, Nickalator brushed off both yellows to take the win in heat 1. He lead all 36* laps and gained the fastest lap bonus point. *The race was extended by one lap due to a Green/White/Checkered finish.


Heat two was filled with much more chaos as every driver was using up all of their talent to gain as many points as possible. Through all five yellow flags, Nickalator once again stole the show leading every single lap of the race. Jordan C Beck had a close run at Nickalator for the vast majority of the runs, but was involved in a late race crash with AJensen and others.


Following Nickalator was Orbits Jupiter in 2nd, Water Cooler Dale in 3rd, Malgasm in 4th, and Bobnova rounding out the top 5. Malgasm, in his first J2iCS Main Series Event, wow'd the field with a top-5 finish.

The J2iCS Oval Division continues on to the Charlotte Motor Speedway for more action.

Round 11: Concord Speedway

The J2iCS Oval Division returned to the States to race at Pocono Pocket Edition: Concord Speedway. This trickier triangle posed new challenges to the J2iOS drivers as setups were challenging to create. Orbits Jupiter was absolutely untouchable at Concord.


Orbits Jupiter grabbed the pole once again and dominated race 1. He lead 78 of 80 laps and snagged the fastest lap time bonus point. Throughout race 1, hard battles were fought throughout, but Orbits Jupiter triumphed in the end. Kelford, the younger brother of Orbits, surprised the field with a second place qualifying effort. However, he retired after racing just 40 laps.


Race 2 was a clean sweep for Jupiter as well. He lead all 45 laps and even had a self-inflicted incident to show for it. While there were wrecks throughout the field, including Water Cooler Dale rolling his truck after a hard hit from Jordan C Beck, Jupiter kept it clean throughout both heats with a total astonishing 2x.


The teams pack it up and head out to the desert to take on Phoenix. The 1.5mi ringers are ready to drop back in the entry list to see where they place.


Round 10: Twin Ring Motegi (Oval)

The J2iCS Oval Division made its first international appearance alongside the J2iCS Road Division at Twin Ring Motegi. The 60 lap shootout had a lot of exciting battles throughout the field. However, a big wreck on lap one changed shook things up right away.


Slugnificent's KEKW truck got loose after touching the turn 2 apron. A number of drivers avoid him, but Jordan C Beck hits the outside wall. Kelford's 710 Chrome truck attempts to avoid Beck hitting Slug and chaos ensues. Nearly half the field is collected.


After the restart, Bobnova runs away as fast as he can from Orbits Jupiter. However, further back in the field, Water Cooler Dale slowly picks off drivers moving his way up to 3rd before green flag pit stops. His slide job in turn 3 sticks and holds the position until he pits a few laps later.


Following the only green flag pit stop cycle of the race, Orbits Jupiter claims the lead from Bobnova who is not quite out of the woods yet. Orbits Jupiter is being hunted down by Bobnova until a yellow flag. Rocky's car crashed hard into the pit wall and ends up stranded on the racing line.


Lap 53: Water Cooler Dale spins and nearly saves it until RTupps hits him. No yellow comes out and Orbits Jupiter pulls slightly away from Bobnova. Orbits sets a freaky fast 35.977 and comes home the winner once again. Nickalator as had an outstanding run, starting in 11th and finishing in 3rd.


Round 9: Thompson Speedway

The J2iCS Oval Division continued at Thompson Speedway for two heat races. NBR dominated a caution filled race 1 leading 44 of the 50 scheduled laps. Drivers found the 5/8 mile track difficult to turn fast consistent laps. Of the five cautions in race one, all but one were caused by loose trucks through the turns. The final 12 laps were green after race control determined restarting the race single file would allow for green flag laps to happen.

Race two saw NBR continue his reign leading all 50 laps. Since there were only two cautions in the second race, drivers saw more opportunities to pass and race. Of the drivers, Bot14 impressed the crowd finished in 6th after overcoming an 18th place starting position.


Round 8: Daytona Road

The J2iCS Oval Series drivers took on the Daytona Road Course last night! In a surprise upset, Guantanamo Bae took the win over Nickalator by over 7 seconds! Playing his cards right with a late pit stop, NBRacing was able to set the fastest lap of the race with only a few laps remaining. The three podium finishing drivers had pulled away from the remainder of the pack in a dramatic fashion, battling the entire race for their positions.

Much of the field struggled throughout the race to keep the car on the track, but the halfway mark of the race marked a competition caution that brought the field back together for the second half of the race. This allowed drivers like Bobnova and Rocky to finish 4th and 5th respectively. A combination of their pit strategy and overall speed allowed them to make their way back to the top 5. After a grueling 40 laps on Daytona Road Course, the J2iCS Oval drivers are relieved and excited to do some :shorttrackracin: at Thompson Speedway!


Round 7: Indianapolis

As was expected, the J2iCS Oval Main Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was full of racing and nearly void of incidents. Over the course of the 50 lap race, only one caution flag was brought out after a collision between Rocky and Nickalator. NBRacing, the points leader heading into Indianapolis, was unable to attend the race due to a scheduling conflict. This absence allowed other J2iCS drivers to shift their way further up the points standings.

Bobnova took pole position with a lap time of 51.830 but was unfortunately unable to hold off a charging Orbits Jupiter. Bobnova put himself into the wall on lap four, essentially taking himself out of contention for the win. Orbits Jupiter had an absolutely stellar run, taking the fastest lap bonus point with a time of 51.922, leading 42 laps, and holding off Water Cooler Dale for the win. Dale overcame a nearly 8-second deficit after green flag pit stops to finish 1.3 seconds behind the winning Jupiter. Bobnova played a large role in Dale's charge to the leader, with a handful of huge bump drafts in order to close the gap.

In his first race in the J2iCS Oval Series, rookie driver Mike Costello finished on the podium in third, followed by speculated teammate RTupps in 4th. CrazySheep who has been consistent all season, rounding out the top 5.

Highlights

Round 6: Watkins Glen

The first road course race of the season was raced cleanly, with the pack finding their ending position early on in the race. NBRacing scored yet another win, leading 69 of the 71 laps. The issuance of a new tire model prior to the race led to a rather painful experience, though a majority of the drivers were able to adapt to the new feeling.

NBRacing lapped all drivers but his teammate Nickalator, who managed to score the bonus point for the fastest lap of the race; his first of the season, clocking in at a 1:13.478. Guantanamo Bae and Bobnova posed a threat to the race leader, leading 1 lap individually. However, they couldn't make it to the end in the lead due to penalties issued to Bobnova and a crash from Guantanamo Bae. Team Nick^2 scored a 1-2, with Guantanamo Bae taking the final podium position.

Round 5: Texas

Due to the recent COVID-19 lockdowns throughout all of Italy, the J2iCS Oval Main Division was forced to pack it up and head back to the states from Monza. A number of tracks were notified of this change and Texas Motor Speedway came through with a last minute date. Untested for this season, drivers raised questions regarding calamity and competition. Unexpectedly, pack racing was the name of the game for the majority of the race.

Bobnova snagged the pole award and bonus point, and was able to hold off NBR for the first 10 laps of the race. Aside from Green flag pit stops, NBR went on to lead 101 of the 120 scheduled laps.

Throughout the race, Rocky and Water Cooler Dale duked it out for a number of positions resulting in each driver taking damage from the drivers beating on each other. Dale definitely got the short end of that stick finishing out the race in 9th. Rocky recovered from his incidents nicely and finished in 3rd.

Bobnova, gambled on pit strategy in order to take the lead away from NBR. Bobnova led for another 7 laps, but this was to no avail. NBR quickly caught Bobnova as his tires fell off. The late race pit stop unfortunately cost him a strong finish at Texas, as a pit road speeding penalty during that pit stop forced Bobnova back to the 10th position.

Team Nick^2 took a 1-2 finish, with NBR taking another win. Teammate Nickalator finished behind by nearly 9 seconds.

Round 4: Bristol

Bristol brought tons of close racing and lots of action throughout both races. To no one's surprise, NBR took the win in race one with ease by leading all 100 laps. Multiple drivers had trouble controlling their trucks early on in the race which caused more than a few yellow flags. Lots of torn up race cars with high incident counts forced a number of front runners to finish towards the back. Orbits Jupiter, the polesitter, finished 8th, and Water Cooler Dale, who qualified 5th, finished in 11th. With race 1 in the books, race 2 was sure to be spectacular as well.

With 100 laps under his belt, Guantanamo Bae took the lead away from NBR early, but was absolutely destroyed during the first caution resulting in a ride behind the tow truck to get that Wheaties truck repaired. Orbits Jupiter who has been contending for wins throughout the season was able to lead 12 laps, but some late race contact between Orbits Jupiter and NBR handed Nickalator his first win of the season. Once again, Orbits Jupiter snagged the fastest lap bonus point, while both Crazy Sheep and Water Cooler Dale scored their season high finishes as well.

Round 3: Darlington

The J2iCS oval season continued at The Lady In Black for race three. Aside from a few minor incidents, the race had a relatively quiet start. Many drivers earned their Darlington stripes within the first handful of laps, but pit strategy played an important role as there was only one caution. After cycling through two rounds of green flag pit stops, Orbits Jupiter, who led 22 laps throughout the race, was on his way to his first win of the season. However, a lap 72 yellow flag stalled his progress and lost the lead to NBR on lap 66 after the restart. By the end, NBR clearly knew how to domesticate The Track too Tough to Tame. He and his #10 Fastenal Chevrolet led a total of 65 laps and won with a margin of just over 3 seconds. This is his 3rd win of the season. Guantanamo Bae managed to snag the fastest lap bonus point with a 27.966.

Round 2: North Wilkesboro

Race two of the J2ICS Oval Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway was expected to have plenty of short-track-racin' moments, but the race surprised many with a number of extended green flag runs. Strong efforts were put forth by each driver in the field, but NBRacing managed to hold off the field for two straight heat victories.

NBRacing obtained the fastest lap in qualifying, starting on pole and obtaining a bonus point. Guantanamo Bae and NBRacing swapped positions for a majority of the race, with Guantanamo Bae leading over 25% of the race. However, in the end NBRacing was able to pull ahead, earning him the win. Team Nick^2 finished with a 1-2 in Heat 1 when Nickalator finished in 2nd, with Guantanamo Bae finishing in a close third. In a surprise snag, CaptainCK grabbed the fastest lap bonus point within the heat.

The second race of the night also had it's fair share of green flag running, until Nickalator experienced sub-orbital spaceflight after overcorrecting and glitching into the wall, causing a massive pile-up that included drivers such as Rocky and Guantanamo Bae. NBRacing was able to clinch his second win of the night, leading a whopping 93 of the 104 laps. Nickalator and Jordan fought for the final few laps, but Jordan was able to keep ahead; earning himself a 2nd place finish with Nickalator finishing in 3rd, exactly one-tenth of a second behind. NBRacing was also able to obtain the fastest lap of race 2, a blistering 17.725 second lap, earning himself a bonus point.

Round 1: Daytona Oval

The first race of the J2iCS oval season got off to a raucous start at Daytona International Speedway. Sector surprised the field by stealing the pole with a 51.906 in his first ever points-paying oval series start. He lead the first 5 laps of the race until a wreck took out Nickalator, Guantanamo Bae, AJensen, and Rocky. After the restart, CaptainCK got a huge push from NBR for the lead. With a number of cautions in succession, Captain would lead the next 21 laps.

Lap 50 saw the first big one of the night. After a misfired bump draft, Team Space Sheep cleared out the field going into turn 3. AJenson and Guantanamo Bae were the only cars to avoid damage during that incident. The second big one came on lap 65. A misjudged bump from from Rocky turned NBR into the outside wall collecting most of the pack. NBR, who is a favorite for the oval championship, was forced to tow back to the pits due to the incident. A small incident late in the race forced a Green/White/Checkered finish. After pitstops, Bot14 and Trishula Alter cycled their way to the front. They commanded the race on the second to last lap and holding the front row side by side until turn 3 on the final lap.

Midway down the back straight, RTupps got blocked into the grass and collect a number of trucks running towards the back. Meanwhile up front, Nickalator bump drafted Bot14, but Bot tries to block going into turn 3. They wreck and carnage ensues. A handful of lucky drivers make it through including the winner: Trishula Alter. Alter had a quiet race for the most part, but was there when he made it count. Guantanamo Bae, Jordan C Beck, Water Cooler Dale*, and CaptainCK made it through the carnage as well. *Dale was scored in 11th place after incurring too many incident points due to the last lap wreck.