The Early Bird Truck Series was at Iowa for race #1 of the new season. Rob Partridge took the pole. Tires could have been an issue but all drivers seemed to manage the wear. Oddly enough, the only 2 cautions were caused by blow outs. It was a heart breaker for Floyd Broadley that was leading the race with 5 to go when his right front exploded. Unfortunately for some of us that were good on tires and fuel a GWC was called. Two insane green laps that saw Rob Partridge taking the win in front of Brian Kenney, Pete Rawicz, Floyd Broadley and John Stanley rounding up the top 5. Great race by all. See you all next week at Chicagoland.

 Nortex Early Bird Series at GTRL Standings

Jason Cotterill came through to take victory in this keenly fought season finale. Some great racing throughout, whether exiting pitlane (see photo) or on track.

The first half of this race looked like it would come down to Kevin Yates or Rob Partridge, but pole sitter Tim Kirby was finding the changes he liked to go with scuff tires and put the field to bed in the end. Kirby had to hold on for a GWC; otherwise, he would have won by about 3 seconds. Cobb hung around the top 5 and finished 2nd while John Richards came back from an incident on lap 56 to finish 3rd in this 150 lapper. Patrick and Pete Rawicz rounded out the top 5. The Winter Cup series finishes up its regular season next Friday at Iowa.

 Winter Cup Standings

Another great race with just two cautions. An incredible finish where Brian Kenney edges Rob Partridge by 0.002 of a second. Setup would allow you to run multiple grooves but if you were brave the top one was definitely the fastest. This was the end of Season 4 of the Early Birds Trucks Series. We'll be back next week at Iowa under the auspices of GTRL. I will send out the new IP address in a general email to all. Same time, just a different channel. Thanks again to the GTRL crew for allowing us to continue this series.
Congrats to Rob Partridge for the Championship of Season 4. Finishing 2nd Brian Kenney, 3rd yours truly, 4th Larry Norman and 5th Floyd Broadley. Congrats to all drivers that joined us through out this series. A lot of fun and a lot of coffee. See you all next week at Iowa! 

 Early Bird Series 4 Standings

1 caution and the last 140 laps on the same set of tyres for top two Rob Partridge and Andy Graydon. Right side tyres were 'shot' for both drivers with 5 laps to go with spotter warnings flying everywhere. And the cars became a real handful. Partridge having led by over 6 seconds at one stage, the last 30 laps saw Graydon claw his way back to finish only 1.8 seconds down at the flag. Great race again between Rob and Andy on the long runs. Picture - last lap, close but not close enough. Salem as bumpy as hell (as always) but in beautiful settings too!

Long green-flag runs, lots of passing, and many different strategies. This race had one caution on lap 63 of 150. Drivers could use 5 sets of tires and most used every set, but Rob Partridge stayed out saving fuel and tires to take the win on fumes. John Richards finished 2nd by taking two tires on the last stop. Third place finisher Cobb and several other drivers had to fight back from pit-road speeding penalties. This was a great sim race.

 Winter Cup Standings