| Kähäri roars to 8th Truck title at Rockingham |
| 09 February 2012 |
Sweden's Caspar Kähäri took a final race victory at the Rockingham Motor Speedway to clinch the 2012 Winter Truck Series title ahead of nearest rival Ian Smythe. Entering the final race, the two title rivals were level on points but Kähäri dominated the race leading 72 laps on route to victory, Smythe shadowed him throughout the race but realistically had no challenge for the rapid Swede who now makes it 8 titles in the Truck Series. Ruben Hornacek finished the season third in the standings with his lone victory at Talladega, ahead of Sergey Rebrov fourth, Pete Hillesheim fifth, and Paulo Rocha rounding out the top 6. Attention for the drivers now turns to the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona on 22nd February for the unique Championship-in-a-day event held on the 2.5 mile superspeedway. The short races are guaranteed to be edge of the seat stuff with a new rules package which has already seen speeds exceed 200mph in testing. |
| Close racing continues at LOR & Kentucky... |
| 13 January 2012 |
In keeping with NASCAR Camping World Truck Series tradition, the V8Thunder Truck Series went short track racin' at Lucas Oil Raceway this week followed by a blast around the Sprint Cup's newest track, Kentucky Speedway. Ian Smythe took the Pole at LOR, but with the top 6 being covered by just a tenth of a second, close action was guaranteed. At the start Caspar Kähäri rode the rim in turns 1 & 2 to take the lead on the outside and lead the opening 15 laps until the leaders came across traffic, at that point Smythe nipped past to lead for a few laps but it wasn't long until Kähäri had taken back his lead spot, the Swede stayed up front until the end leading 46 of the 50 laps. Behind Smythe looked to have second sewn up until Martin Buchan caught and passed him in the late stages. With constant traffic being a factor it wasn't long until Buchan hesitated exiting turn 2 behind a lapper and in an instant Smythe was back alongside entering turn 3, but the two touched sending Buchan into the wall and back to 13th, while Smythe continued to secure the second spot ahead of Ruben Hornacek in third. Immediately after the series took the long haul to Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, for 81 laps around the 1.5 mile speedway. With only 15 minutes of practice everybody was on the hurry up to fine tune their setups and Ruben Hornacek took the pole by a tenth of a second from Jim Turner. After what seemed like an eternity running under caution after two multi-truck wrecks exiting turn 2, the race eventually settled into a long green run with Caspar Kähäri and Martin Buchan both taking turns at the front, with Ian Smythe third and Ruben Hornacek fourth.  3-Wide Life: Smythe (#06 top), Peter Hillesheim (#3 middle) and Kähäri (#36 bottom) at Kentucky. Next week sees the series take to the relative wide open spaces of Gateway International and Talladega Superspeedway... Image courtesy Casper Kähäri/Scared Hitless Inc. |
| Smythe & Turner take wins apiece in Trucks |
| 05 January 2012 |
Ruben Hornacek took the first pole of the Series when the Truck Series rolled into Memphis Motorsports Park for the first of the 12 race Winter Series.  Race 2 of the night saw the series move to the concrete Nashville Superspeedway. Jim Turner was on his usual quick form and took the pole from Ruben Hornacek. After a few early yellows mainly caused by the tricky concrete surface, the race settled into a long green run that saw Turner and Hornacek swap the lead back and forth, with up to 10 trucks running in the lead pack it lead to some great side-by-side running on the mile and a third track. Turner held on to take the victory, with Paulo Rocha finishing second, Caspar Kähäri third and Ian Smythe fourth. After 2 of 12 races, including penalties, Smythe holds a slender lead in the series over Jim Tuner and Caspar Kähäri who are equal second 5 points back, Paulo Rocha holds 4th, Pete Hillesheim 5th and Sergey Rebrov round out the top 6. Next races: Lucas Oil Raceway & Kentucky Speedway on 12th January. |
| Trucks rumble in for 2012 Winter Series |
| 23 December 2011 |
The UK based V8 Thunder racing league proudly presents its Winter 2012 season, featuring the return of the popular Trucks series. Returning for it’s 17th season, The Truck Series will take place on the regular race night of Thursday night. Last running on the iRacing platform in Winter 2010, the series returns to it’s NR2003 roots and the NCTS09 mod last run in Summer 2009. As a break from the Cup tracks that we have raced all summer, the 12 race schedule will visit some different tracks including Indianapolis Raceway Park, Gateway, Nazareth and North Wilksboro. However, the always popular Talladega and Daytona should please with their high speed, unpredictable action whilst Kentucky and Homestead-Miami give drivers another chance to race at these popular venues, right turn fans will also be catered for with one, as yet to be announced, Road Course event. The season will begin January 5th with the first double header round at Memphis Motorsports Park and Nashville Superspeedway, while the finale sees the return of Rockingham Motor Speedway as the series concludes in the UK, the full schedule can be found on the Truck Series homepage. The season format will see double header rounds, two races each night, with a short break in between. The first race will be 20% distance with yellow flags off, the second 30% with yellows on. All rounds will be open setup and subject to full V8 Thunder sanctioning, with full penalties, analysis and championship scoring as we look to crown a new Trucks champion. The Truck Series is a free to play series and open to all existing and any potential new V8 Drivers, to race the series, all you need is a copy of Papyrus Nascar Racing 2003 Season, a wheel or gamepad (wheel preferable because Hardcore mode is active, Hardcore Mode is not suitable for keyboard driving) and a copy of the NCTS09 mod, which can be found in the Truck Series forum. To place an entry for the series, please complete the Entry Form located here. |
| Two key points decide title. |
| 16 December 2011 |
The Homestead-Miami Speedway is well known within the V8Thunder community for producing unique twists to finish up a Championship, and the Summer Cup Series was no exception to this when the series wound down in the Florida sunset. A relatively small field of 9 cars took the start of the delayed race, with Martin Buchan not starting and several drivers absent due to prior commitments. Jim Turner took the pole and lead away, but with the three championship contenders all knowing they had to win to secure the crown, it wasn't long before they started making their moves. Yosh Hughes was the first to challenge Turner for the lead, making his way up from his 3rd place starting spot he passed Ruben Hornacek and set about challenging Turner for the lead, meanwhile both Alex Ballestas (started 4th) and Ian Smythe (started 7th) stayed in touch with the rapid Scott. Disaster soon struck though, as Hughes passed Turner for that all important lead, the Phoenix based Turner got sideways exiting turn 2 and turned Hughes into the outside wall, both spun and took Hornacek with them, instantly ending any chance Hughes had of taking the title. After a pre-race rule change which allowed pit entry to be made at turn 4, it was, as many expected, to play a pivotal role in deciding the Championship, after the restart on lap 7, Ballestas took over the lead with Smythe following in 2nd, but, Smythe had pitted at the one to go signal so had a little extra fuel, as Ballestas pitted at the end of lap 37, Smythe stayed out and the almost inevitable yellow flew... Turner also pitted at the end of lap 37, but was clipped from behind by Alex Pab, although Turner kept his car under control and entered pit lane, Pab spun into the outside wall on the front stretch. The Homestead curse had struck again, Ballestas wisely drove through the pits to avoid going a lap down, but then run out of fuel in turn 4 which caused him enough delay to miss beating the pace car out of the pits by a few feet next lap by, Turner had done the same, but both drivers and Sergey Rebrov, who'd missed his original pit entry on lap 37, all overtook the pace car on the apron exiting the pits, and this, seemingly simple oversight, was enough to decide the title. At the restart Ballestas, Turner and Rebrov were all handed down stop/go penalties for overtaking the pace car on the pit exit road, and this virtually handed the title to Smythe. After serving their stop/go penalties, all three found themselves multiple laps down, the next caution quickly flew on lap 47 after Alex Pab spun trying to enter the pits, this gave Ballestas the lucky dog allowing him to get one of his laps back, but the title fight was over at that point as once the race restarted, it never went yellow again. Smythe wisely let Ballestas unlap himself at the restart, meaning the Columbian was on the tail end of the lead lap, but as the yellow never came, he wasn't able to take advantage of it and Smythe cruised to the victory and title by 6 seconds from Dariusz Maksajda in second, while Ballestas finished up third. "It was a bit of a gamble to let Alex unlap himself mid way through the race, because we didn't have the pace to beat him in a proper fight, but the caution didn't come so the gamble paid off, I'm very pleased to have won the series, but I'd have preferred it to be a fair fight, it's been a very long season and a black flag deciding the title was very unfortunate for Alex" Smythe commented after the race, he added "I'd like to thank everybody who races week in week out for making this possible, without the other drivers turning up, it would be a pretty boring series, anybody who made it to the final stretch deserves a medal, 11 months of racing is quiet a commitment". For V8Thunder, it was also a unique event, after 14 seasons, this was the first, and only, time, the top series overall title has been won by an Independent driver. "Yosh Hughes should take the bulk of the credit for that," Smythe said, "without his base set-ups kindly given to all the drivers before each race it's doubtful I'd be in this position because more often than not, I used Yosh's base setups quiet a few times this season". V8Thunder now takes a break for a few weeks over Christmas, before opening up the Winter Truck Series at Memphis Motorsports Park on 5th January 2012, entries for the series will be open soon. |
| V8 Set for Showdown in Florida |
| 01 December 2011 |
The V8 Thunder Cup Series draws to an end this week at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida for a 134 lap shoot-out around the 1 mile oval. Although based in the virtual world, the racing is just as competitive as it's real world counterpart, V8 Thunder allows drivers around the World to race from the comfort of their home together on digitally recreated race tracks from across America and the World, using the Nascar Racing 2003 Season simulation software. After 35 races spanning 10 months on 22 different tracks following the complete NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule, the Champion could be decided by something as simple as leading one lap, let's meet who is within a chance, and how they can win the series. #10 - Alex Ballestas Alex Ballestas heads into Miami as the Championship leader, having lead the series since April. The 36 year old was born in Bogota, Colombia and now lives in Frankfurt, Germany working as a Translator. He's been the surprise of the series, being a rookie to V8 Thunder, he's clocked up 5 wins and 30 top 10's on his way to Florida, but really it should come as no surprise as he drives for the dominant Cardiff based vMaxSR Team. However, Alex has not won a race since Kansas in June and his Chase campaign has been fraught with technical problems and finishing 9th at Phoenix didn't help matters when he crashed due to his screen freezing. Ballestas has an average finish of 5.5 during the Chase. "I like this grid with very competitive guys and always very fair races, should be a fun last race. Homestead has always been a lot of fun. Just hope it isn´t decided by technical issues by anyone. Hopefully everyone can finish the race with their cars in one piece". Ballestas commented before the week began. #06 - Ian Smythe Ian Smythe rolls into Miami on the back of a run of 9 top 5 finishes, the 39 year old from Surrey, England, is the reigning V8 Indycar Series champion and works as a website developer. Smythe is the odd one out of those in contention, driving without team backing as an Independent, he's had 3 wins so far this season notably mostly on 1 mile ovals, at Darlington, Dover and a lucky win at Talladega. Ian finished 2nd at Phoenix but admits he's been racing gently for the last few racing after having the threat of a race suspension hanging over him for the majority of the Chase due to clocking up too many penalty points during the season. "The potential suspension has really helped me on finishing the races clean recently, knowing you're a spin away from the sinbin has certainly focused my attention. Homestead is a great track for the final as it produces close and exciting racing, but the track hasn't been as very kind to me in the past, so it's anybody's guess how the race will go". Smythe said. Ian's average finish during the Chase is 2.5. #33 - Yosh Hughes "No longer Young" Yosh Hughes is the last realistic contender, the 41 year old from Lothian, Scotland is a Gallery workshop manager. Sitting 14 points back from the lead entering Homestead he comes in fresh off a win in the last race at Phoenix. Hughes is also team mate to Ballestas at vMaxSR, so there's yet another ingredient to add into the mix, does Hughes help his team mate to victory, or does he race him like any other rival and risk handing the title to Smythe? Despite winning the last race, Hughes average finish is 4.44 throughout the Chase, could his strong run be to little too late? "It should be a really interesting final race, I'm surprised to be in this position under the circumstances, my aim is too make a clean race and be in with a shout at the end, May the best man Win. " #14 - Chris Hill Chris "CJ" Hill is the last of the 12 Chase Drivers to be mathematically within contention for the title, but the SRD International driver needs nothing short of a miracle to take it. Sitting 155 points back from Ballestas, he needs the top 3 to wrack up enough penalty points to basically cancel out their race scores, then if that happens, Chris needs a top 5 to take the title. It might seem a long shot, but it's not unheard of for wicked twists of fate to decide titles at V8 Thunder. At 25 years old Chris is the baby of the contenders, presently studying Digital Media Design at Brighton University, but also the veteran of the group having raced at V8 Thunder since it began back in 2003. "I have been with V8Thunder since 2003 and have had a great time racing in the series. 2011 has been a fun year, I feel lucky to have notched up 7 wins and had some great races along the way... Going into the chase we were seeded 3rd and things looked good for a Championship run. Unfortunately we had some technical issues at Chicago and Dover and then a bad handling car at Kansas which really put to be our chances of a championship." Chris said, "I feel I am back on my game though with 2 wins in a row recently. All we can do at Homestead is go and have fun and try to win the race. It has been a really fun year though, thanks to the admins who make this happen and thanks to my fellow competitors for some great races.". To muddy the waters, the top 4 are not the only drivers capable of winning, Steve Pearce and Sergey Rebrov both have a win apiece this season, and of the other regular chase drivers, Peter Hillesheim, Ruben Hornacek, Alex Pab & Paulo Rocha are also more than capable of winning the race while having their own fight over the remaining top spots. Fellow SRD drivers Mathieu Souphy and Jack Keithley could also come out the woodwork to support Chris Hill while Martin Buchan could do the same for vMaxSR, so anything, literally, could happen in Florida. So who needs to do what to win? For Ballestas, Smythe & Hughes it's simple, win the race to take the title, if someone else not in contention wins the race, then it gets a bit more complicated: If Hughes finishes 2nd and leads the most laps, then Ballestas has to finish 4th or lower for the Scotsman to win (even if Smythe finishes 3rd). If Smythe finishes 2nd leads a lap and Ballestas is 3rd and doesn't, Smythe wins, if Ballestas leads a lap, he wins. There are literally hundreds of variations over who can take the title, but in the end, only one will factor into the drivers minds during the race, win it to win. |
| Homestead finale rescheduled for 15th December. |
| 24 November 2011 |
The V8Thunder Cup Series finale, scheduled for 24th November 2011, has been postponed to another date due to technical issues with our server. Further updates will be posted as and when available. Update: The Race has now been scheduled for 15th December 2011. This means the Winter Truck Series will be delayed until January. |
| Hughes triumphs in the desert. |
| 18 November 2011 |
The penultimate round of the 2011 V8Thunder Sprint Cup was held at the newly reconfigured Phoenix International Raceway, teams had to start with a clean slate when thinking about their setups. VMax seemed to get things together very quickly by locking out the front row with Yosh Hughes on pole and Steve Pearce alongside. Meanwhile championship contenders Alex Ballestas and Ian Smythe started much further back. Hughes took the lead at the start of the race and held it through most of the day, posting consistently quicker lap times than anyone else. The #14 of Chris Hill and #68 of Sanjin Haler tried to keep him honest, hill even took the lead away from the 33 on a restart but couldn’t hang on when his tyres wore out quicker. Championship leader Alex Ballestas was having a solid day and worked his way up to 4th by the mid stages of the race until lap 97 where he encountered a technical failure which resulted in him slamming hard into the inside wall on the backstretch before coming to a halt in turn 3. Towards the latter stages of the race Ian Smythe realised the opportunity to capitalise on the misfortunes of the #10 car and his car really came to life. Soon after the last restart he passed Hill for 2nd and went chasing after the leader. Hughes and Smythe short pitted during the last green flag run whilst the #14 stayed out hoping for a caution which eventually never came which saw Smythe grab the lead after the stops. Up front the #33 and the #06 had a great battle for the lead whilst the unfortunate Sergey Rebrove suffered an engine failure, giving up 3rd with 10 laps to go. Hughes eventually closed the 4 second gap to Smythe and overtook him entering turn 3 with a few laps remaining to take back the lead, Smythe's two fresh tyres being no match for the four of Hughes. Yosh took the deserved win with Smythe finishing right behind in 2nd. Chris Hill wound up 3rd, #48 Pete Hillesheim came home 4th and #68 Sanjin Haler rounded out the top 5. So the stage is set for an epic championship battle at the last race of the season, the Ford 400 at Homestead Miami Speedway. Just 14 points separate the top 3. Can Alex Ballestas hold on to take the championship or will Ian Smythe or Yosh Hughes wrestle it away from him? |
| Hill wins again with mixed results for title contenders... |
| 11 November 2011 |
With 3 races to go, the V8Thunder Cup series headed to Texas Motor Speedway. Ruben Hornacek took pole position with a blistering lap around the 1.5 mile speedway. The #21 lead the opening laps but then surrendered the lead to #14 Chris Hill as he fell down the order. Championship leader Alex Ballestas took over the race lead shortly before green flag pit stops around lap 30. The first caution of the day came out for an incident involving pole sitter Hornacek and the #74 of Sergey Rebrov on Lap 42. A long green flag run followed which saw Hill and Ballestas relentlessly battling hard for the lead. Championship contender #06 Ian Smythe was ever present in the top 5 despite racing with a migraine and got the jump on the 2 leaders when he pitted early under green and got the advantage of the fresh tyres just after the halfway point of the race. Hill and Ballestas were then able to run down the #06 to take over 1st and 2nd place respectively. On a restart with just over 50 laps to go Hill, who had lost 3rd gear on a previous restart, was slow away but flying Scotsman #42 Martin Buchan had an electric restart and took the lead on the exit of turn 2. Hill tried to tuck into 2nd place but got it all wrong and sent Buchan hurtling into the inside wall, collecting the unfortunate Pete Hillesheim in the process. Buchan was done for the day. Hillesheim continued until his engine expired setting up a 1 lap dash at the end of the race. Hill, Ballestas and Smythe had just pitted under green whilst #99 Alex Pab stayed out and managed to trap Ballestas 1 lap down. On the restart it would be 99,14,06. However, terrible luck befell the #99 Pab as technical issues struck whilst leading under caution with only a handful of laps to go. Hill inherited the lead but would have to fend off Smythe who had 4 fresh tyres compared to the #14 who took right side tyres only on his last green flag stop. Unfortunately however, Smythe spun his tyres on the restart and that was enough for Hill to hold on and claim his 7th win of the season. Smythe held onto 2nd, a solid points day for Ballestas in 3rd, the unfortunate Pab coming home in 4th place with Hornacek coming home in 5th. The day would prove a struggle for #33 Yosh Hughes who could never manage to get amongst the leaders, he managed to salvage a 6th place finish and keep himself in the title hunt. So with just 2 races to go now its off to the Arizona desert for the Kobalt Tools 500 at the reconfigured Phoenix International Raceway. With all the uncertainty that the new surface provides, will it set us up for a title showdown in Florida? |
| Hill take Martinsville victory, Hughes & Smythe chase Ballestas closer... |
| 04 November 2011 |
After the high banks of Talladega where Ian Smythe snatched victory from the helpless Erwin Greven who run out of fuel in turn 3 on the last lap, it was on to the smallest track on the calendar, Martinsville Speedway in Virginia for race number 7 in the 2011 Chase for the V8Thunder Sprint Cup. Points leader Alex Ballestas kicked off his day in fine fashion by grabbing the Coors Light Pole then lead the opening laps of the race from VMax teammate Yosh Hughes but was forced to retire due to technical issues very early on. Hughes and Ian Smythe realised that this was an opportunity they must capitalise on in order to put pressure on the Colombian in the title hunt. After a couple of early cautions for minor incidents the race then went green for almost 100 laps. Chris Hill lead throughout most of this time but was closely pursued by the #33 of Hughes. Storming his way through the field with added determination and a car that would be lightning quick over a long run was the #06 of Smythe who had started at the rear of the field and found himself running 3rd in the mid stages of the race. Hughes pitted early under green and managed to get the jump on Hill with the fresher tyres when pit stops cycled through. It looked like Yosh had things under control until he made a mistake, sliding wide in a corner allowing Hill to retake the lead; the ever catching Smythe now had the leaders in sight. With around 40 laps to go the yellow flag flew for the #21 of Ram Hornacek who was stranded on the back straight. Pit strategy ensued with Hughes and Smythe Taking 4 tyres whilst Hill took right sides only. After a clean restart the #99 of Alex Pab and #60 of Jim Turner then had a coming together inside 25 to go which set up a nail biting fight to the finish.  Tight fight: Smythe grabs the lead for about hundred yards from Hill while Highes looks on. Next week we head to Texas Motor Speedway for the AAA 500. Can Alex Ballestas return to winning ways or can Hughes and Smythe take the championship battle right down to the wire? |
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