In a series where a majority of race winners come from the first few rows on the grid, what Evan Seay accomplished in Monday night’s iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series event from Kokomo Speedway was nothing short of remarkable.
For starters, Seay became the second Late Model convert to win in a sprint car in the past two weeks, following Blake Matjoulis’ triumph to open the season last week at Volusia Raceway Park. But after finishing sixth in his heat race and needing to come through the B-main, Seay would have to take the victory from 18th place on a 20-car grid. He did just that by carving through the field over less than 20 laps, taking the lead from last year’s Kokomo winner Hayden Cardwell with 16 to go and never looking back from there.
Cardwell, who had qualified first and won his heat, held on for second, while series veteran James Edens completed the podium. Three-time defending series champion Alex Bergeron finished fourth, but back-to-back top-five finishes enabled him to take the championship lead from Matjoulis, who found himself ninth in the main event. Bergeron’s lead is currently nine points over Cameron Merriman, who finished third and sixth in the first two rounds of the season, and 15 over Matjoulis and Seay, who are tied for third.
Four cautions, including an immediate one on the first lap involving Seay and Dylan Yeager, slowed the pace on the Kokomo quarter-mile. But with the second half of the race running interruption-free, only 14 of the 20 main event starters were scored as completing all 35 laps.
iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series points through two rounds are as follows:
- Alex Bergeron, 144
- Cameron Merriman, 135
- Blake Matjoulis, 129
- Evan Seay, 129
- Logan Rumsey, 124
- James Edens, 117
- Kendal Tucker, 107
- Braden Eyler, 93
- Tyler Schell, 90
- Adam Elby, 88
The iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series season continues next week at Bristol Motor Speedway, which makes its debut in the championship after returning to the real-world series schedule last year. The event will stream live on iRacing social media and DirtVision on Monday at 9PM ET/6PM PT.
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Images via Justin Prince
iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series results from Kokomo Speedway were as follows:
Fin. | St. | No. | Driver | Laps | Interval | Led | Best | Pts. |
1 | 18 | 33 | Evan Seay | 35 | 16 | 10.929 | 73 | |
2 | 1 | 7 | Hayden Cardwell | 35 | -1.966 | 19 | 10.868 | 75 |
3 | 4 | 52 | James Edens | 35 | -2.993 | 0 | 10.855 | 72 |
4 | 2 | 12 | Alex A Bergeron | 35 | -3.606 | 0 | 10.878 | 69 |
5 | 7 | 41 | Logan Rumsey2 | 35 | -3.701 | 0 | 11.067 | 65 |
6 | 3 | 17 | Cameron Merriman | 35 | -5.522 | 0 | 10.833 | 63 |
7 | 8 | 7 | Carlen Cure | 35 | -6.340 | 0 | 10.947 | 59 |
8 | 6 | 74 | Adam Elby | 35 | -6.650 | 0 | 11.044 | 56 |
9 | 15 | 127 | Blake Matjoulis | 35 | -7.374 | 0 | 11.038 | 51 |
10 | 19 | 86 | Timothy S Smith | 35 | -7.990 | 0 | 10.968 | 47 |
11 | 12 | 99 | Gregory Lamey | 35 | -8.507 | 0 | 11.121 | 47 |
12 | 9 | 70 | Davin Cardwell | 35 | -9.902 | 0 | 11.103 | 45 |
13 | 5 | 18 | Austen Semmelmann2 | 35 | -10.000 | 0 | 11.030 | 44 |
14 | 13 | 13 | Aiden Bierlein | 35 | -11.093 | 0 | 11.235 | 40 |
15 | 14 | 91 | Ernie Williams Jr. | 34 | -1 L | 0 | 11.077 | 38 |
16 | 16 | 00 | Kendal Tucker | 34 | -1 L | 0 | 11.020 | 36 |
17 | 10 | 14 | JD Brown | 34 | -1 L | 0 | 11.181 | 35 |
18 | 20 | 48 | Dylan Yeager | 33 | -2 L | 0 | 10.857 | 29 |
19 | 17 | 5 | Braden Eyler | 21 | -14 L | 0 | 10.904 | 28 |
20 | 11 | 85 | Tyler Schell | 7 | -28 L | 0 | 11.354 | 29 |