After The Flag Vol. 2 (Mar 18-24)

This past week was one of the biggest weeks of racing in GreenFlagTV's history, with two high-profile events taking place over the course of the weekend, and all of the action in between leading up to it.

HTRL
Following a wild season opener at Daytona, the HTRL MFRD Cup Series moved to Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina for their 2nd race. Rockingham proved to be a very technical race for the grid, but surprisingly, despite the challenges, the race would end up going caution-free. This allowed for Benjamin Lacy to pull out a lead in the late stages, outlasting Nick Nickerson by cutting out a pit stop from his strategy. There were 5 different leaders throughout the race, but leading all but 6 laps would be Lacy and Nickerson, with Tony Hilbrands, Ty Marasco, and Dalton Kilroe all getting laps lead merely through pit stop cycles.

OMSRL
Coming off of a rough race at Martinsville, there was some question as to how the truck series would fare come Darlington, a track notorious for being tough to race at. We would be graced with one of the better races of the season. Like HTRL there were few lead changes, but there were plenty of battles to go around in the midpack. Spenser Ray and Robert Peterson found themselves on competing pit strategies until a caution came out with less than 20 laps remaining. This would put them back on the same cycle, and would allow for Spenser Ray to cruise away with the victory.

BEER League
Wednesday would see the Beer League make it's debut in Portugal at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. The Portimao circuit proved a tremendous challenge, with the roller-coaster tendencies catching many drivers out. The main event featured 4 separate multi-car pileups in just the opening lap alone, proving it was not a track that liked being trifled with. Alexander Klenk would break a 5-race streak where only Alexander Hammonds or Alex Koffard were race winners, becoming the 5th different winner of the season. Ryan Clanton, making his first ever start in BEER League competition would finish an impressive 2nd, and Alex Koffard making a signature drive through the field to finish 3rd.

SPEED
The Thursday night cup series would see it's lone road course race of the season at Austin, Texas this week, racing at Circuit Of The Americas. The first half of the race was nothing short of action-packed, with the top 4 engaged in constant dog-fighting for the opening 20 laps. When pit stops happened shortly after at the halfway mark, the top 4 would break apart, leaving only a handful of cars in the midpack to squabble for best of the rest. One such battle was Shane Winemiller vs. Christopher Darling, with the pair of drivers exchanging several blows. The battle would see a dramatic close when Darling spun it in turn 11 on the final lap.

CIS
After a long wait, the Classic Indycar Series made their debut on GreenFlagTV with a stellar opener at Circuit Of The Americas for their 10th anniversary season. The race proved to be one of attrition, with COTA's many challenges catching several in the early laps. Defending champion Joshua Chin battled it out with Cameron Dance all race, with the pair never being separated by more than 3-4 seconds, save for pit stops. A fierce battle for 6th in the closing laps would come to dramatic blows in the final laps as the leaders caught them, causing chaos in the final sector. Chin would go on to win, marking a good start to his title defence.

ASRL
Two drivers would make their first starts in the Sunday night cup series, Steve Vrooman and Alex Howland. The older 2008 scan of Atlanta Motor Speedway proved that it was still as big a challenge as ever, with numerous drivers being caught out. A duo of cautions in the closing laps would see a 5 lap shootout to the end. Jan Van Lier would finally take his first win of the season, with the cautions upsetting strategies for points leader Hunter Engrav and more.

GreenFlagTV's Race Of The Week
This week's award has go to go the VSCA SportsCar Championship's 12 Hours of Sebring. The second swing to Florida saw plenty of hard-fought battles throughout, with a couple of full course yellows breaking up the running in the first half. Much of the second half ran unimpeded, but everyone knew weather loomed on the horizon.

With just a few hours left to go, rain would finally break out over Sebring. The rain would throw several teams for a loop. Spins were plentiful on the bumpy circuit, but for the most part, teams were able to stand firm and overcome the changing conditions. The rain wouldn't last forever, but the water it deposited would remain in parts of the circuit until the checkered flag.

A final full course yellow within the last hour created a dogfight for the overall win. WorldOfSimRacing's Alvaro Martínez would come under fire from Composite Performance's Nicholas Johnston, with Johnston trying a last lap lunge into Sunset Bend. Martínez would stand his ground though, finally putting the WorldOfSimRacing Cadillac into victory lane.

Weekly Winners
Benjamin Lacy: HTRL MF Racing Designs Cup Series -- Race 2, Rockingham Speedway
Spenser Ray: OMSRL Truck Series -- Race 9, Darlington Raceway
Ryan Clanton: BEER League -- Race 9, Autodromo Internacional do Algarve
Kevin Cantonio: SPEED Tires Plus Cup Series -- Race 6, Circuit Of The Americas
Composite Performance: VSCA SportsCar Championship -- 12 Hours Of Sebring, GTP
Rising Panda Racing: VSCA SportsCar Championship -- 12 Hours Of Sebring, LMP2
Fischer Motorsport: VSCA SportsCar Championship -- 12 Hours Of Sebring, GT PRO
Digital Chicane: VSCA SportsCar Championship -- 12 Hours Of Sebring, GT AM
Joshua Chin: Classic Indycar Series -- Race 1, Circuit Of The Americas
Jan Van Lier: ASRL NextGen Cup Series -- Race 8, Atlanta Motor Speedway

Next Week
HTRL MF Racing Designs Cup Series Race 3 -- Las Vegas Motor Speedway
OMSRL Truck Series Race 10 -- Phoenix Raceway
BEER League Race 10 -- Circuit Zandvoort
SPEED Tires Plus Cup Series Race 7 -- Richmond Raceway
TNGG IEL Truck Series Race 4 -- Bristol Motor Speedway