By Dane Simpson
Premier Series
Martinsville is a deceptively challenging track. More than most courses, Martinsville tests a drivers patience as well as their driving ability. Adam Jones #46, John Nobinger #44 and Christopher Hamilton #64 all took their turns leading the field. It would be Hamilton that punched his ticket to the next round of playoffs, while many other playoff drivers cracked under the pressure. In the race for the Wildcard spot Paul Butler #77 made significant headway finishing 3rd, up from his qualifying spot of 9th. Incident counts were much higher than normal in the Premier series as Thaddeus Marshall #89, Eric Andrews #9, Carl Handwerk #18, Dane Simpson #96 and Robert Hattenbach #99 all brought home 30 or more incident points during the race. Heading into the final race of round one of the playoffs there are more than one driver in a must win situation coupled with a tight race for the last couple spots.
Hamilton punches his ticket to Round 2
GT3 Series
Nürburgring Grand Prix played host to this weeks Core GT3 series race. The Pro division saw Nick Nickerson #2, Mason Smith #6 and Carl Handwerk #18 qualify and finish in that same order. Handwerk would lead 2 laps through the pitting cycle, with Nickerson leading the other 44. In the Amateur division Adam Jones #46 took the win over Matthew Goering #07 and Nick Brown #92. In the Team standings, there is a three way tie for 1st between Team TBD, AZ Motorsports and Baby Got Track, with REVolutionary Racing only 100 points behind. The series shifts gears and heads to the high banks of Daytona next week for some excellent practice leading up to the 24 hour in January.
Nickerson continues to roll with another win
Jones lights his way to another victory
Developmental Series
A favorite of many around the Core camp, the Developmental series brought the Dirt Street Stocks to Limaland. Dylan Wilbers #16 would lead all 80 laps of the feature stretching out his points lead to a comfortable 43 points. Premier drivers showed their love for the race taking 4 of the top 10 spots. David Peplinski #846 and Robert Hattenbach #99 would round out the top three D-Series drivers, finishing 3rd and 5th respectively. Next week is the final race before getting into the double points portion of the series, featuring the Formula Vee at a track unseen in the D-series for some time, Phoenix Road Course.
Wilbers fends off a late charging Marshall for the win
