By Justin Melillo
The iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series took on Port Royal Speedway on Monday night for the eighth race of the 2023-24 season. Three-time series champion Alex Bergeron claimed his fourth win of the year at “The Speed Palace” after qualifying fifth, winning the first heat race, and outpacing points leader Ryan Avila throughout the evening.
Oklahoma native Matthew Powell put it on the pole position in qualifying, ahead of Avila and Nitro Circus Sim Racing teammates Ross Keiser and Kenny Hoffman. Those four drivers would lead their respective heats to the green, but only two would go on to win.
Heat 1 saw Bergeron step up from his fifth place qualifying effort, starting alongside Powell in the quick dash. On lap 7, Bergeron took control as Powell began to fade. Shawn English was also able to get by for second while defending champion Tyler Schell took fourth. In the second heat, Avila was able to get away easily over Timothy Smith and Clayton Davies as Tanner Pettit moved from eighth to finish in fourth and transfer.
The third heat was the wild card race, a race that devolved and saw a title contender keep his hopes alive. Aiden Forster missed it in qualifying, managing 23rd overall which meant a sixth place start in Heat 3. The majority of the field ended up wrecking at one point or another. Forster barely escaped catastrophe, but sacrificed Noah Carpenter in the process. Forster would win and take JD Brown, Keiser, and Chance Ciskowski to the feature.
Heat 4 was less chaotic as Kenny Hoffman dominated, taking Evan Seay, Braden Eyler and Logan Rumsey through to the main event. Rumsey tangled with Blake Matjoulis for the final transfer, ultimately resulting in a DNQ from the former Late Models champion in the second Last Chance race. James Edens and Noah Carpenter made it through LCQ 1, while Joey Lingron and Tanner Miller took the final two spots from LCQ 2.
In the main event, there were two cautions, each of which restacked the field behind Bergeron. Avila kept chasing while Seay moved into third around Forster. Bergeron went on to lead every lap and score the win. Avila, Seay, Forster, and Hoffman rounded out the top five.
Port Royal marks Bergeron’s 23rd career victory, but despite having half the wins this season, his chances at a fourth career title are dwindling as he sits 72 points behind Avila with only two races to go. Avila and last week’s winner, Forster, have pulled away from the rest of the field, only separated by nine points. Logan Rumsey sits third, still with a chance as well, 57 points behind Avila.
Avila still has yet to win a feature race, but even if he doesn’t in the last two races, he could become the first driver to take a title without a win. He’s got two more chances, at Eldora and Charlotte, on the 22nd and 29th of January, before the season is decided.
iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series results from Port Royal Speedway were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Driver |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
Pts. |
| 1 | 1 | 12 | Alex A Bergeron | 35 | 0.000 | 33 | 16.262 | 78 |
| 2 | 2 | 49 | Ryan Avila | 35 | -0.642 | 0 | 16.271 | 75 |
| 3 | 8 | 33 | Evan Seay | 35 | -1.308 | 0 | 16.457 | 71 |
| 4 | 3 | 20 | Aiden Forster | 35 | -1.662 | 0 | 16.390 | 69 |
| 5 | 4 | 11 | Kenny Hoffman | 35 | -2.069 | 0 | 16.534 | 66 |
| 6 | 6 | 86 | Timothy S Smith | 35 | -2.203 | 0 | 16.561 | 62 |
| 7 | 16 | 41 | Logan Rumsey2 | 35 | -2.567 | 0 | 16.525 | 57 |
| 8 | 13 | 85 | Tyler Schell | 35 | -2.767 | 0 | 16.501 | 54 |
| 9 | 7 | 14 | JD Brown | 35 | -3.205 | 0 | 16.526 | 53 |
| 10 | 15 | 47 | Chance Ciskowski | 35 | -4.956 | 0 | 16.697 | 48 |
| 11 | 10 | 50 | Clayton Davies | 35 | -5.390 | 0 | 16.580 | 47 |
| 12 | 17 | 52 | James Edens | 35 | -5.409 | 0 | 16.671 | 43 |
| 13 | 9 | 46 | Matthew Powell4 | 35 | -5.652 | 0 | 16.689 | 43 |
| 14 | 20 | 9 | Tanner Miller3 | 35 | -5.761 | 0 | 16.548 | 39 |
| 15 | 19 | 42 | Noah Carpenter | 35 | -6.588 | 0 | 16.368 | 37 |
| 16 | 12 | 5 | Braden Eyler | 35 | -8.770 | 0 | 16.430 | 37 |
| 17 | 14 | 24 | Tanner Pettit | 35 | -13.009 | 0 | 16.528 | 34 |
| 18 | 18 | 16 | Joey Lingron | 25 | -10L | 0 | 16.479 | 30 |
| 19 | 11 | 8 | Ross Keiser2 | 20 | -15L | 0 | 16.566 | 31 |
| 20 | 5 | 960 | Shawn English | 13 | -22L | 0 | 16.559 | 30 |
iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series points after Race #8 are as follows:
- Ryan Avila, 520
- Aiden Forster, 511
- Logan Rumsey, 463
- Alex A Bergeron, 448
- Tyler Schell, 425
- Evan Seay, 395
- Tanner Pettit, 356
- Noah Carpenter, 355
- James Edens, 344
- JD Brown, 342
WATCH: iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series Race #8 – Port Royal
There are only two races left in the 2023-24 iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series season. On January 22nd, the second-to-last race of the season takes place at Eldora Speedway. Last season, Eldora was the second race of the season, and it was won by Hayden Cardwell.
The virtual Sprint Car racing action from Eldora will stream live on that Monday night, at 9PM ET, on both DIRTVision and across iRacing social media channels.
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.
