Coming into the penultimate race of the 2023-24 iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series season, two drivers managed to set themselves apart from the rest of the field, with the possibility of eliminating a majority of the field from title contention a focal point as the series visited Eldora Speedway on Monday night.
Momentum Simsport teammates Ryan Avila and Aiden Forster have spent the majority of the season at the top of the points, their consistency on display as others like Alex Bergeron, Kenny Miller and Timothy Smith managed victories in the first six weeks of competition. Forster finally broke through in the seventh race, at Fairbury, but Avila continued to lead the way, still searching for his first career win.
Meanwhile, the three-time champion, Bergeron, has been lights out in more than half the races. On Monday night at Eldora, Bergeron picked up his fifth win of the season, tying the most wins in a single season record that he set on the way to his first championship in 2019. It marked his 24th career victory, and just barely kept him in the fight for the title, 55 points behind in third.
The championship lead also changed hands for the first time since the fourth race of the season at Lincoln. That’s when Avila and Forster moved into the top two spots, with Avila maintaining the advantage through a total of five races. Following Eldora, the new leader is Forster, by the biggest margin yet—21 points—now with only one race left to decide who wins the championship.
From the start of the Eldora festivities, Forster was well ahead of his teammate. He claimed the quick time lap while Avila struggled to qualify in 17th. Bergeron put himself fifth on the chart, which meant all three would contest the first heat of the night. Fireworks started early as they rounded the final corner on the first lap as Bergeron just slightly touched Forster, sending the #20 sideways into a slide. Bergeron took the lead and went on to win while Forster recovered to finish in third. Avila managed fourth and all three would move on to the main event later in the evening.
The second heat saw a last lap dash between Tanner Pettit and Logan Rumsey for the win, and more importantly, the chance to start on the front row. Pettit had it, but Rumsey kept it close throughout. On the final two laps, Rumsey threw it in, sliding up as Pettit pulled the crossover. Each time, Pettit would succeed back into the lead, but off of the final corner, it became a drag race, and Rumsey was able to hold on for it.
Heat 3 was the most tame race of the night, with Kendal Tucker taking early control and winning the race, wire-to-wire, with all four of the top four starters also moving on to the Feature. The chaos returned in the fourth and final heat as a massive incident involving Shawn English, Blake Matjoulis, and Lane Snook managed to shake up the transfer spots. Joey Lingron won handedly, while Matjoulis was able to continue on and advance in the final spot.
Kenny Miller and James Edens took wins in the two Last Chance Races, with Ross Keiser and Chance Ciskowski taking the final two transfer spots. Defending champion Tyler Schell failed to advance and was mathematically eliminated from his title defense.
In the Feature, Bergeron was once again untouchable, leading all 35 laps in the caution-free event. There were a few cars that tangled, including Rumsey, which ultimately eliminated him from title contention as well, but the wreck was not enough to warrant a slow down period. Forster was able to pick off the majority of the cars ahead of him from the ninth starting spot, finishing third behind Bergeron and Aiden Bierlein. Avila, on the other hand, struggled to find any spots, losing one from where he started to finish 14th.
A difference of 30 points at Eldora gives Forster the advantage entering the finale at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. Bergeron, despite five wins on the season, is barely within the range. He’ll need to have another perfect night while Forster and Avila strike out in the finale to even have a chance, as there’s only a maximum of 78 points available.
iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series results from Eldora Speedway were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Driver |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
Pts. |
| 1 | 1 | 12 | Alex A Bergeron | 35 | 0.000 | 35 | 13.664 | 78 |
| 2 | 5 | 13 | Aiden Bierlein | 35 | -1.556 | 0 | 13.716 | 74 |
| 3 | 9 | 20 | Aiden Forster | 35 | -5.778 | 0 | 13.775 | 70 |
| 4 | 3 | 00 | Kendal Tucker | 35 | -6.025 | 0 | 13.732 | 69 |
| 5 | 6 | 24 | Tanner Pettit | 35 | -6.869 | 0 | 13.785 | 65 |
| 6 | 4 | 16 | Joey Lingron | 35 | -7.190 | 0 | 13.769 | 63 |
| 7 | 7 | 33 | Evan Seay | 35 | -7.456 | 0 | 13.745 | 59 |
| 8 | 12 | 50 | Clayton Davies | 35 | -7.504 | 0 | 13.751 | 55 |
| 9 | 14 | 11 | Kenny Hoffman | 35 | -8.256 | 0 | 13.789 | 51 |
| 10 | 15 | 86 | Timothy S Smith | 35 | -8.736 | 0 | 13.808 | 48 |
| 11 | 17 | 23 | Kenny Miller | 35 | -8.812 | 0 | 13.786 | 45 |
| 12 | 11 | 14 | JD Brown | 35 | -8.943 | 0 | 13.824 | 45 |
| 13 | 18 | 52 | James Edens | 35 | -9.707 | 0 | 13.802 | 41 |
| 14 | 13 | 49 | Ryan Avila | 35 | -10.007 | 0 | 13.791 | 40 |
| 15 | 19 | 8 | Ross Keiser2 | 35 | -10.777 | 0 | 13.850 | 37 |
| 16 | 20 | 47 | Chance Ciskowski | 35 | -12.049 | 0 | 13.770 | 35 |
| 17 | 10 | 25 | Tyler Ducharme | 35 | -12.204 | 0 | 13.875 | 35 |
| 18 | 2 | 41 | Logan Rumsey2 | 35 | -13.361 | 0 | 13.900 | 35 |
| 19 | 8 | 42 | Noah Carpenter | 3 | -32L | 0 | ——— | 32 |
| 20 | 16 | 127 | Blake Matjoulis | 3 | -32L | 0 | 13.956 | 28 |
iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series points after Race #9 are as follows:
- Aiden Forster, 581
- Ryan Avila, 560
- Alex A Bergeron, 526
- Logan Rumsey, 498
- Evan Seay, 454
- Tyler Schell, 427
- Tanner Pettit, 421
- Noah Carpenter, 387
- JD Brown, 387
- James Edens, 385
WATCH: iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series Race #9 – Eldora
The conclusion to the 2023-24 iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series season takes place on January 29th at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Last season, Schell went on to win the race and the title by only eight points over Bergeron.
The virtual Sprint Car racing action from Charlotte 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.
