By Justin Melillo
The battle for the 2023-24 iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series championship came down to the final laps at The Dirt Track at Charlotte on Monday night between two Momentum Simsport teammates, Ryan Avila and Aiden Forster. When the checkers flew, it took a tiebreaker to decide it.
The drivers were racing each other in the points, but on track, Avila battled inside the top five while Forster, who had a 21-point lead entering, was tasked with climbing out of the hole from a 16th starting spot in the feature. Avila managed to finish second and score 75 points while Forster snatched eighth at the line, earning 54. Forster’s win at Fairbury earlier this month was the difference in deciding the champion.
Forster, a sophomore in the series from Michigan, crossed the line without celebration. The points were too close, and the confirmation didn’t come in until the results were made official. “I didn’t even know if I won it,” said Forster. “I didn’t know where Ryan finished. This is crazy, I’m speechless.”
After taking the points lead for the first time last week, Forster found himself racing out of a deficit from the end of qualifying. Logan Rumsey scored the quick time while Avila managed eighth. Forster was down in 16th, which placed the rivals in the fourth heat race. Alex Bergeron also still had an outside chance, but he found himself even further down the order, in 22nd.
Rumsey was untouchable all night, winning his heat and leading every lap in the feature. The runner-up in the Late Model ranks last year was able to break through for his first career Sprint Car victory, vaulting him ahead of Bergeron in the final standings when it concluded. Bergeron battled from sixth in the second heat, advancing by finishing fourth while James Edens won to keep his chances alive. Bergeron’s Team ABR teammate, Aiden Bierlein, scored the win in the third heat, but all eyes were on the fourth and final heat as Avila and Forster took to the grid.
Avila was able to make quick work of Tyler Ducharme for the top spot, but behind that, the battle for fourth was intense. In a three-wide situation, Forster and Casey Simons made contact, sending the championship leader up into Shawn English. Nathan Van de Wakker scooted by for the transfer spot, but Forster kept in it and managed to get back by and keep his chances alive.
With Forster making the Feature, it mathematically eliminated Bergeron from title contention. Van de Wakker would still make the feature through the last chance races with Tanner Pettit, Clayton Davies, and defending series champion Tyler Schell.
There were two cautions in the feature race, both of which kept Forster in contention. The first one flew when Braden Eyler was turned around in the center of the field. Forster barely missed running into the stopped car, but he would have to restart from 15th with the laps continuing to run down. Up front, Avila was comfortably in third, holding a nearly double-digit advantage as they ran mid-race. Forster made some daring three-wide moves to clear into the top 10, but the nine ahead were too far away and the points deficit was still at three.
Another caution involving Blake Matjoulis with 11 laps remaining would breathe new life into the battle. On the final restart, Forster was able to get the two spots he needed to take the lead back from Avila, but Avila also managed an extra position, by inches over Timothy Smith, to take the runner-up spot to tie it up once again.
With the two teammates sitting at 635 points, the tiebreaker and $10,000 prize went to Forster. When all was said and done, one lap was the difference: the only lap Forster led all season long, when he was able to claim the win at Fairbury over Hayden Cardwell.
iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series results from The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Driver |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
Pts. |
| 1 | 1 | 41 | Logan Rumsey2 | 35 | 0.000 | 33 | 13.616 | 78 |
| 2 | 4 | 49 | Ryan Avila | 35 | -0.568 | 0 | 13.711 | 75 |
| 3 | 11 | 86 | Timothy S Smith | 35 | -0.569 | 0 | 13.641 | 70 |
| 4 | 3 | 13 | Aiden Bierlein | 35 | -0.863 | 0 | 13.690 | 69 |
| 5 | 7 | 16 | Joey Lingron | 35 | -1.705 | 0 | 13.683 | 65 |
| 6 | 2 | 52 | James Edens | 35 | -2.675 | 0 | 13.765 | 63 |
| 7 | 8 | 25 | Tyler Ducharme | 35 | -2.868 | 0 | 13.723 | 59 |
| 8 | 16 | 20 | Aiden Forster | 35 | -3.001 | 0 | 13.732 | 54 |
| 9 | 10 | 23 | Kenny Miller | 35 | -3.163 | 0 | 13.744 | 52 |
| 10 | 12 | 11 | Kenny Hoffman | 35 | -3.384 | 0 | 13.803 | 49 |
| 11 | 17 | 24 | Tanner Pettit | 35 | -3.380 | 0 | 13.737 | 43 |
| 12 | 15 | 42 | Noah Carpenter | 35 | -3.648 | 0 | 13.765 | 44 |
| 13 | 18 | 50 | Clayton Davies | 35 | -4.101 | 0 | 13.696 | 41 |
| 14 | 6 | 14 | JD Brown | 35 | -4.716 | 0 | 13.794 | 42 |
| 15 | 20 | 89 | Nathan Van de Wakker | 35 | -4.705 | 0 | 13.812 | 37 |
| 16 | 9 | 127 | Blake Matjoulis | 35 | -7.402 | 0 | 13.793 | 37 |
| 17 | 13 | 5 | Braden Eyler | 35 | -7.614 | 0 | 13.820 | 34 |
| 18 | 19 | 85 | Tyler Schell | 35 | -8.104 | 0 | 13.713 | 29 |
| 19 | 5 | 8 | Ross Keiser2 | 35 | -8.718 | 0 | 13.848 | 32 |
| 20 | 14 | 12 | Alex A Bergeron | 14 | -21L | 0 | 13.753 | 28 |
iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series points after Race #10 are as follows:
- Aiden Forster, 635, 1 win
- Ryan Avila, 635
- Logan Rumsey, 576
- Alex A Bergeron, 554
- Tanner Pettit, 464
- Tyler Schell, 456
- Evan Seay, 455
- James Edens, 448
- Timothy Smith, 445
- Noah Carpenter, 431
For more information on the series, visit www.iracing.com/woosc. For more information on the World of Outlaws, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
