James Blaiser picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Grand National Series career in Tuesday's Race 5 at the Occoneechee Speedway when his #83 completed all 25 laps under power.
The finish came in his 3rd career series start. In the SCRL Grand National Series, it's the 1st for car #83 and the 18th for running at the finish. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 5th for the #83 and 339th for running at the finish.
Entering the third ever season of the SCRL's highest series, Blaiser was one of many drivers making their league and series debut and has a lot of pressure on his shoulders to perform well. Blaiser would finish a impressive 16th in his debut at Beach & Road Course, and after before forced to sit out at Charlotte, Blaiser would have his worse race to date, struggling around the half mile track at Lakeview finishing 38th before being forced to sit out in the last round at Carrel.
The entry list for the third time this season would be filled with both full and part-time drivers as for the fourth time in series history, drivers would be racing at the one mile speedway.
In qualifying, Christian Russel would score his third career series pole with a time of 36.116 seconds. Blaiser would struggle in qualifying, posting a time of 36.644, 0.528 seconds off Russel's time, placing Blaiser 38th on the grid. Securing the 42nd and final starting spot was the #77 Smith-Klein Chevrolet Inc. Ford of McKenzie Dell, who posted a time of 36.844 seconds, 0.728 seconds off Russel's time.
On race day, Dell would struggle to get a hold of the one mile track as at the end of Lap 1 she was already 6.615 seconds back of the leader, that margin only growing as she fell to 7.345 on Lap 2, 8.385 on Lap 3, 9.105 on Lap 4 and 9.875 on Lap 5. By this point in the race, Dell's car finally gained some speed as she would knock the #59 Buesink Police Special Ford of Cole O’Ash into on last on Lap 6, with O'Ash 10.204 seconds behind the leaders. O'Ash would continue to struggle falling to 10.915 on Lap 7 and 11.744 seconds behind on Lap 8 when just seconds later the battle for last would come to an unexpected and sudden end.
At this point in the race, Blaiser had only gained three spots, up to 35th on Lap 8 when entering Turn 1, the #92 Plymouth of Andrew James had a massive run and tried to slow down to avoid hitting Blaiser but ran out of time as he slammed into the left rear of Blaiser's car, causing Blaiser's car to spin out and hit the outside guard rail with the left side of the car, while James would clip Blaiser's car and also sent him up the track and into the wall. Both drivers would quickly regain control of their vehicles and would drive back to the caution flag, with Blaiser trailing on Lap 9. During the caution both drivers would refuse to head to pit road as no damage could be seen on either car and both reported they are also driving fine. When the green flag came back out with twelve laps to go, Blaiser would find it impossible to get back into a rhythm, falling to 16.298 seconds behind the leaders when the checkered flag waved.
The remaining Bottom Five were: 41st was the aforementioned #92 of Andrew James, 40th was the #59 of Cole O'Ash, 39th was the #100 of Jeff Stott and 38th was Beach & Road Course last-place finisher the #16 Holzmueller Motor Corp. Ford of Jack Jet.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #83 has finished last in a Grand National Series race as well at Occoneechee.
*This is the first time the #83 has finished last in a Grand National Series race as well at Occoneechee.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #83-James Blaiser / 25 laps / running
41) #92-Andrew James / 25 laps / running
40) #59-Cole O'Ash / 25 laps / running
39) #100-Jeff Stott / 25 laps / running
38) #16-Jack Jet / 25 laps / running
42) #83-James Blaiser / 25 laps / running
41) #92-Andrew James / 25 laps / running
40) #59-Cole O'Ash / 25 laps / running
39) #100-Jeff Stott / 25 laps / running
38) #16-Jack Jet / 25 laps / running
S3 SCRLASTCAR SCRL Grand National Series Driver's Championship
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