The stars were out in the afternoon in Joliet, Illinois for the 2017 edition of the American Sim Racing Series All Star Race. 24 drivers, all of which have won a race though out the past calendar year, found themselves racing for the title of “best of the best.”
Nicholas Kohan picked up where he ended in last year’s All Star event and that is first place. He laid down a blistering lap, edging out Sam Maxwell for the pole. The series utilized an open qualifying procedure for this event as a test of sorts for next season. Jordan Ashelin qualified third with rivals Ty Hester and Jared Mogard rounding out the top 5.

The league instituted a smaller fuel tank for this one-off event and it paid off with multiple differing strategies. Some teams opting to short pit and maximize tire gains while some teams staying out as long as possible and trying to catch the field a lap down with a yellow flag. The latter is exactly what would happen halfway through the race. Nicholas Kohan and Mitch Brown were the biggest beneficiaries of the timely yellow flag. It would be Kohan and Brown that would lead most of the event with Kohan’s 83 laps led and Brown’s 40 laps led constituting for 91% of the race. The other lap leaders included Tom Giannini (5), Danny Rodgers (4) and Sam Maxwell (2).

The last leg of the race would feature a thrilling battle between the #57 of Kohan and the #81 of Brown with Kohan eventually besting Brown , pulling away to a six second advantage at the drop of the checkered flag. Brown’s teammates Jason Stewart and Danny Rodgers finished 3rd and 4th with Scott Smith finishing 5th, respectively.

We at ASRS are extremely excited to see what 2018 brings with the addition of the Cup Series cars. The racing tonight was phenomenal with a theme of “clean and green.”

Congrats to Nicholas Kohan on his reclamation of the “best of the best” crown for 2017.