Ray Alfalla back in winner’s circle at Atlanta Motor Speedway

It’s been a long, trying year for the four-time eNASCAR iRacing champion.

First, he missed the eNASCAR Peak Antifreeze iRacing Series playoffs not even a full year removed from his fourth title.

Weeks later, as the season concluded, he found himself outside the Top 20, not locked in for the 2020 season, and relegated to the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Series.

One week in, the bad luck continued, wrecking out early at the virtual Daytona International Speedway in the season premiere of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Series.

The bad times seem to be behind Ray Alfalla, as he led 81 of the 150 laps en route to victory at the virtual Atlanta Motor Speedway on Tuesday night.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Alfalla said to Podium eSports in victory lane. “We were not expecting that weather, obviously it was a lot more cloudy than we had been practicing pretty much all week. We had a setup that worked in cooler weather that we decided to use, and the car was just awesome.”

After starting in ninth, Alfalla was a man possessed, making moves early to get into third place before the first caution of the race at lap 15.

Santiago Tirres started the day on the pole and led the first 34 laps, but gave way to Alfalla at lap 35.

In the middle of green flag pit stops, the second and final caution of the day flew at 67, when Liam Brotherton bounced off the wall into a lazy spin.

Brian Schoenburg, along with a handful of other drivers, were on a slightly different strategy, and found themselves in prime position at the caution having stayed out as long as possible.

The final restart saw Bob Bryant take the lead after staying out, but it didn’t take too long for Alfalla to find his way back to the front.

After the final round of pit stops, the race stayed green, and Alfalla won handily, with a margin-of-victory of over three seconds over Chris Shearburn, who finished second.

John Gorlinsky, who won at Daytona last week, finished in sixth and maintains his points lead heading into Richmond Raceway next week.

Alfalla jumps from 34th to 9th in the standings, while 2019 eNPAiS drivers Logan Kress, Timmy Hill, Michael Guaraglia, Caine Cook, Adam Benefiel, Benjamin W. Nelson, and Ryan Lowe leave Atlanta below 20th in the standings.

The Top 20 Pro Series drivers in the points at the end of these seven weeks will be added to the 2020 eNPAiS driver roster with the Top 20 from the 2019 Peak Series.

SOURCES:
iRacing.com
Podium eSports

RACE RESULTS:

1. 2 – Ray Alfalla
2. 36 – Chris Shearburn
3. 80 – Brandon Hayse Kettelle
4. 53 – Bob Bryant
5. 18 – Santiago Tirres
6. 21 – John Gorlinsky
7. 32 – Bryan Blackford
8. 41 – Graham A. Bowlin
9. 47 – Nathan Lyon
10. 6 – Steve Sheehan
11. 12 – Nicholas Shelton
12. 98 – Justin Bolton
13. 02 – Chris Overland
14. 08 – Jeremy R. Allen
15. 28 – Casey Tucker
16. 34 – Brad Mahar
17. 00 – Will Cooley
18. 55 – Caine Cook
19. 5 – Brian Schoenburg
20. 91 – Alex McCollum
21. 01 – Braden Boulos
22. 31 – Logan Kress
23. 27 – Ashton Crowder
24. 13 – Matthew Wright
25. 26 – Ethan Lane
26. 64 – Jeremy B. Davis
27. 42 – David Shutt
28. 24 – Cody Byus
29. 51 – Eric J. Smith
30. 8 – Adam Gilliland
31. 56 – Timmy Hill
32. 30 – Corey A. Carpenter
33. 25 – Kollin Keister
34. 54  – Michael Guest
35. 33 – Benjamin W. Nelson
36. 10 – Liam Brotherton
37. 81 – Adam Benefiel
38. 15 – Michael Guariglia
39. 95 – Jesse Schwarz
40. 7 – Ryan Lowe