A late caution allowed Tyler Riggs to stay out front and hold on for his first ERSCA victory at Chicagoland Monday night. Unlike previous races, cautions were prevalent all race. Although, I wouldn’t dare call the racing sloppy. In fact, if you go back and watch the race replay, it seems as if there was a commentators curse over this race. About 3-5 laps before every caution, the SYM TV booth would mention the yellow flag. Maybe I’m reading into it too much, regardless this race was another great example of why ERSCA is quickly becoming one of the best leagues in all of iRacing. Because these dudes are the real deal and they put on one hell of a show.
Points at a Premium as Riggs Snags the Win
Chicagoland is a bit of a wild card to me. Yeah it’s a mile and a half track, but far from a cookie cutter so I’m not sure how you can be “good” at this track. Luckily for you guys watching at home I don’t race in ERSCA. Tate Lightle led early and often from the pole position, trading the lead with Crump and Josh Adams occasionally. Then with 16 laps to go, Lightle got loose going through turns 3 and 4. The field shuffled around the slower cars avoiding an incident until turn 1. Then all hell broke loose. Scott Crump was forced down into the grass, but maintained control and merged back onto the track. Although Crump didn’t make any contact, the field piled up as he merged, which luckily allowed Crump to salvage a good points day from a what would’ve been a wreck out in the final laps.
After the chaos was sorted out, Tyler Riggs was our leader. Riggs held off Marshall Stanley during the GWC finish to grab Team PRM their second win of the season and his first. This is huge as there are several drivers close to the cutoff line in the standings as the All-Star race approaches. Riggs stealing the win combined with the late wreck means points were limited and the drivers that needed them most, likely didn’t get the points they wanted.
Rollin’ on to the Roval
The one thing we haven’t put the ERSCA drivers through? Road racing. Per my inside ERSCA contacts, Damien Leininger is allegedly a road ringer so I’m taking the bait and picking him to win at the Roval. Marshal Stanley is also a road course guy by trade so watch for him to pull out another strong finish next week. Since its inception a couple years ago the Roval has been wild in real life and in sim racing. I’d imagine we’ll see at least one caution from each chicane and maybe even a spin for the win. Tune in next week on SYM TV to see who the real road ringers are in ERSCA and who needs to stick to left turns!
Top 10 Power Rankings
- Tate Lightle
- Scott Crump
- Josh Adams
- Nick Masse
- Dylan Thomas
- Damien Leininger
- Joe Francis
- Brandon Key
- Vincent Isabella
- Will Cannon
Victory Lane: Tyler Riggs
The win just feels surreal to me. Came into the race hoping to contend for a top 10 and throughout the night just keep working hitting the proper marks and really trying to hook the bottom. With 60 to go I made the decision to pit in order to split up the runs into two 30 lap segments in order to be able to push hard and get the most out of the tires so when we got that caution with just over 30 to go and I saw that some of the fastest guys were trapped a lap down or were going to have to take a wave around I knew I could gamble a bit. I drove my rear off those last 20 laps and was doing all I could to protect the bottom. Can’t thank Marshall Stanley and Johnie Parham enough for the clean racing there and that respect will be paid back for sure
– Tyler Riggs on his first ERSCA win
As I mentioned before we have the Roval next, but the week after is the Dayz Gone By All-Star race. I promise you won’t want to miss that one as we will have a few very special guests join in for that race. For now though, you can find all your ERSCA coverage on our Racing page and our Twitter!
