Jarvis Langtry made his first appearance at the Daytona Night race and showed he has what it takes! Although many thought that Van Brenk’s run of 6 wins meant that his 7^th would almost inevitably follow - as sure as night follows day, then day follows night, then night follows day – but this was a restrictor plate race, and everyone knows that anything can happen…

Van Brenk (R4H) grabbed pole, with Morris (JW Racing Team v2) close behind, then Oberg (TRM), Langtry and Croasdale (Pathfinder) completed the top 5 for the race start. The first lap saw the first yellow flag fly when Bouw (Dutch Virtual Racing) spun, causing others to spin in avoidance and collect some damage, including Pathfinder team-mates Handley and Bolt Senior.

The lap 5 restart saw Morris in the lead, followed by Langtry, Van Brenk, Oberg and Croasdale. However, the latter hit the apron out of turn 2 and his car slewed across the track into Morris and the outside wall. Morris barrel rolled back across the track and Miller (Arse-First), Netherwood (R4H) and Jones (TRM) were all caught as they tried to avoid the wreck. Handley was also unable to avoid Morris, leaving a number of cars with various degrees of damage. A very apologetic Croasdale retired his car immediately, although Morris was able to get his car repaired, albeit with seriously compromised pace.

Oberg retired his car after technical problems, and at the lap 12 restart, Langtry led with Van Brenk, Roy, DiVietro (Shake & Bake) and Tyler (Arse-First) behind. As a number of drivers got to grips with damaged and ill-handling cars, a leading group of 4 – Langtry, Jones, Roy and Netherwood - had established itself, with Van Brenk dropping back after being nudged by Roy onto the grass in the tri-oval, to join Bolt Senior and Tyler. Further back, DiVietro and Van Van de Kraats (R4H) were drafting, then Bolt Junior (Arse-First) was running alone. Miller and Morris were drafting together to make the most of their damaged machines. By lap 20 Jones had taken the lead, and he and Langtry began to draft away from Roy and Netherwood. Such was the pace of the front runners that they began to lap the damaged cars on lap 23, with Bouw and Handley struggling to maintain any kind of race pace.

As the race pattern settled, green flag pit stops were being contemplated by the teams – meanwhile on lap 33 Bouw, Thorvaldsen and Handley had joined up to draft even though each was on a different lap, and Bolt Senior had been caught by DiVietro and Van de Kraats in a battle for 7^th place.

The first pit stops were taken on lap 41, with Langtry peeling in from 2^nd place, followed by Roy, Netherwood, Van Brenk and Tyler, with only Jones opting to run a further lap from 1^st position. In a controversial incident, as Van Brenk made for his pit, Langtry hit the gas out of his pit box, turning the #87 into the pit wall. Van Brenk had to abandon his pit stop, but the contact had punctured a rear tyre, and as he spun onto the track as a result, an unlucky Bolt Junior hit Van Brenk to bring out the yellow. Van Brenk was forced to retire.

At the lap 49 restart, the field was led by Roy, from Langtry, Jones, Van de Kraats and DiVietro. Netherwood was a lap down in 6^th following the yellow, with Bolt Senior, Tyler, Morris and Thorvaldsen completing the top 10.
It was now dawn…..

Perhaps blinded by the rising sun, Roy rubbed the wall and dropped to 5^th on lap 50, whilst Bouw’s smoking car finally gave up on lap 52, eventually bringing the yellow out on lap 54 as his car ground to a halt on the apron. Netherwood regained the lead lap as ‘lucky dog’, with Roy also regaining the lead after the pitstops. Bolt Junior’s bad night, errr…day, was completed by retirement following a blown engine, whilst Jones took the lead on lap 61 and towed Langtry away from the rest.

Lap 73 saw DiVietro catch the apron and spin out of turn 2 to bring out the yellow. Langtry used the pit stop to pass Jones and led the field at the lap 77 restart, with Van de Kraats, Roy and Netherwood behind. Handley retired his off the pace machine at lap 82.

As night fell….

Jones scraped the wall on lap 87 and fell back to the following group, and on the same lap DiVietro spun out of turn 2 collecting Van de Kraats and Jones. Although the yellow lights didn’t fly immediately, Van de Kraats spun in turn 3 as a result of the damage and the final yellow of the race was then thrown.

Langtry was not to be challenged in the run to the chequered flag after the lap 92 restart, but there was action behind. Bolt Senior had made the top 5 after a ‘lucky dog’ move and he was battling Jones and Netherwood for third spot, behind Langtry and Roy. Jones had the quicker car though, and he passed Bolt and Netherwood, with the latter drafting him to the finish.

But it was a jubilant Langtry who took the honours, followed by a very happy Roy, then Jones completing the podium. Netherwood and Bolt Senior made up the top 5, with DiVietro 6^th, Tyler 7^th, and Van de Kraats 8^th. Special mention should be made of a valiant Morris, who brought his battered machine home in 9^th place after his lap 5 roll. A determined Thorvaldsen completed the finishers in 11^th place.

Race Report by Stephen Netherwood

In a race marred by a glut of yellow flags, Van Brenk (R4H) again stamped his authority on the league by taking the chequered flag at the end of the 120 lap event. Team-mate Van de Kraats played an excellent supporting role, finishing 2^nd ahead of consistently fast Oberg (TRM), and impressive team-mates Morris and Camp (JW Racing Team v2).