By Justin Melillo
The second event of the 2023-24 iRacing World of Outlaws Thrustmaster Sprint Car Series season is set for battle on Monday night in upstate New York at Weedsport Speedway. In the opening round at Volusia, Alex Bergeron took the checkers in a wild one, taking the lead in the standings early as he searches for his fourth career series championship.
These races feature qualifying and heat racing to determine the 20 drivers that will compete in the main race. There will be four heat races of 10 laps each, where the top four will advance forward through to the main event. There will also be two 12-lap consolation races where the top two finishers in each will move on. In the 35-lap feature races, caution laps do not count. This is the first Sprint Car season since iRacing’s Dirt Refresh was launched in June.
The action starts on Monday night at 9PM ET, live on both DIRTVision and iRacing’s social media channels.
Last Race: Bergeron had a possible fourth career iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Car title slip out of his grasp in the 2022-23 season, losing by just eight points to Tyler Schell. On Monday, he bounced back from that defeat with a season-opening victory at Volusia after setting the quick time in qualifying and finishing second in his heat. Bergeron was up against the quick Hayden Cardwell, the driver who defeated him in the heat race, as well as Shawn English, winner of the third duel. Both Cardwell and English would fall out of contention in the later stages of the feature, leaving Bergeron to battle Logan Rumsey and James Edens in the closing laps. Bergeron held on and scored his 20th career series win.
Last Season: In the 2022-23 season, Weedsport was the penultimate race of the season. In that battle, Dylan Yeager came out on top, leading the final 11 laps enroute to victory. The race itself was a consequential one for the title as Timothy Smith failed to transfer to the main, resulting in a huge loss of points to both Bergeron and Schell and setting them up for the final fight for the title. This season, Weedsport won’t have quite the same implications being the second race on the calendar instead of the second-to-last.
Track Info: Weedsport Speedway in upstate New York is a 3/8 mile, D-shaped clay oval with an asymmetrical layout. Formerly known as Cayuga County Fair Speedway, the original track that opened in 1955 was a 1/3 mile oval. In 1970, it became its current configuration, changing hands at ownership a few times before settling on its current group in 2014. Weedsport has raced yearly for World of Outlaws and Super DIRTcar Series, but back in the 1980s, this venue was well-known for its ability to host concerts for some of the top rock bands of the era.
Next Up: After Weedsport, the third race of the season will take place in the virtual Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania over at Williams Grove Speedway. Last season at the half-mile clay oval, it was Cardwell picking up his second victory of the season.
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.
