After enduring the smell of defeat in the previous two weeks, defending Chevy Performance Street Stock League champion Tyler Jackson returned to his usual winning ways Wednesday night with a dominating performance at Kokomo Speedway, leading the last 17 laps of the race en route to his ninth career DIRTcar eSports Feature win.
Reigning DIRTcar eSports Tour champion Kendal Tucker scored his first victory of the season in his third start Wednesday night, taking the lead from polesitter Nick Cooper in the early going and holding on for the $250 victory.
Seay finishes second, keeps 1-point gap to Bergeron
The current DIRTcar eSports Tour points leader showed exactly why he sits atop the standings last Wednesday night.
Reigning iRacing Sprint Car World Champion Alex Bergeron climbed all the way from 11th on the starting grid to the lead in the first 14 laps of the first-ever 360 Non-Wing Sprint Car race in DIRTcar eSports and held on for his second career victory in the Epperson Painting Night Before the 500 pres. by Wheeler Motorsports Consulting.
“These are things you can add to your stats,” Bergeron said of the special event’s prestige. “The event being as big as it is, the Fake 500 at Indianapolis [Motor Speedway]… we’re not a part of that but will definitely be watching.”
The race, which drew a total of 49 entries in the preliminary event held before Elbows Up Sim Sport’s marquee Fake 500 event on asphalt, endured several caution flags in the 40-lap affair. Bergeron used those to his advantage, getting great restarts and using the very bottom lane around the Kokomo Speedway to dig for the lead in the early going.
On lap 13, he finally got his chance. Leader Dylan Yeager overshot the bottom lane into Turns 3-4 and Bergeron was there to pounce. He crossed the line in second by less than a hundredth of a second but was able to take the lead away for good the next time around.
“I just had to wait for the right chance,” Bergeron said. “We took it when [Yeager] made a mistake.”
From there on out, it was all Bergeron. Yeager gave it a valiant effort in the closing laps to catch the three-time iRacing world champion, nearly getting underneath him with six laps left, but clipped an infield tire, dashing his chances for victory.
Yeager brought it home in second, followed by Californian Adam Elby, making his first Tour start of Season 4, Hayden Cardwell and Gregory Lamey.
UP NEXT
The wings go back on the 360 Sprint Cars for this Wednesday night’s (Dec. 15) event at Williams Grove Speedway. Catch all the action live on DIRTVision.
Two drivers disqualified in rough-and-tumble League debut at famed half-mile
It indeed was Bristol, baby.
After 20 long, grueling laps around the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Jared, of Cedar Rapids, IA, managed to dethrone the top-two in Chevy Performance Street Stock League points in the final laps to score his first career win with DIRTcar eSports.
Jared became the third different winner in three weeks with the League, however, this one may have been the most exciting run to the checkers yet.
Fast qualifier and polesitter Charles Barnes, the lone Team No Love entrant from Benton, AR, led the opening laps with all 23 of his opponents behind him, beating and banging on each other for position as the laps clicked off and the caution flags flew.
Multiple wrecks toward the middle-rear of the pack sent several cars to pit lane during the race, including an incident under yellow that sent at least seven drivers either into the wall or into an innocent bystander. Bobby Rafferty, the League’s most recent winner at Limaland, was hit with a slew of incident points that disqualified him from the race in a later incident.
Defending League champion Tyler Jackson broke his way into the podium on Lap 6 and took the lead from Barnes after a restart three laps later. His lead wouldn’t last, though, as he and Jared began swapping slide-jobs for the lead on Lap 15. Jared barely beat Jackson to the line after a crossover move coming out of Turn 4, giving him control of the race from there on out.
But the race wasn’t over there. From the depths of the second Last Chance Showdown, Aussie competitor Sean Stevens climbed all the way from 14th on the starting grid and was breathing down the leaders’ necks inside of five-to-go. With him went Bailey Hipp, the runner-up at Limaland from Tryon, NC, making it a four-car battle for the lead.
When a final caution flag with three laps remaining restacked the field, the tempers reached a boiling point. Hipp got into Turn 1 too hard and got into the rear of Stevens, sending him around into the outside wall, doing a great bit of damage to his E1 SimRacing #26. Stevens immediately retaliated, running into the back of Hipp under caution, disqualifying him from the event.
The field took the green for the final time, and Jackson made a beeline for the lead. He tried the low groove in Turn 1, but Jared moved down to block, giving him the space he needed to bring the field back around to the checkers. Barnes assumed the top lane and drove around Jackson in Turns 3-4, beating him to the line by just under a second.
UP NEXT
The Street Stocks take to Indiana’s Baddest Bullring for a 25-lap Feature next Wednesday night, Dec. 15, at 6:40pm, marking the halfway point of the Chevy Performance Street Stock League in DIRTcar eSports Season 4. Catch all the action live on DIRTVision pres. by Drydene.
CONCORD, NC – Birds are thawing, pies are cooling, and DIRTcar eSports season four, round three is in the record books with Blake Matjoulis and Bobby Rafferty cleaning their plates first.
Blake Matjoulis won $250 in the 40-lap DIRTcar eSports Tour Feature at The Dirt Track at Charlotte driving the iRacing Drydene Pro Late Model this time around. The win should be a significant net gain in the points standings.
Matjoulis became the third different winner in the first three DIRTcar eSports Tour Features so far this season. He came into the night tied for sixth in points with a pair of Dylans; Yeager and Houser.
In Chevy Performance DIRTcar Street Stock competition, Bobby Rafferty was king. After tangling in the Heat Race and sorting it out, Rafferty and Bailey Hipp put on a 25-lap DIRTcar Street Stock barn burner at the virtual Limaland Motorsports Park.
Rafferty topped the duel for the $100 prize on the last lap. It was his first career DIRTcar eSports Feature win.
Pro Late Models presented by Drydene
It wasn’t quite a Thanksgiving turkey shoot for Blake Matjoulis but once he was out in front, the driver of the Swindell Speedlab #127 held his line and kept the competition in his Hoosier Racing Tire tracks for 40 laps. Close behind were Logan Rumsey, Kendal Tucker, and Dylan Yeager who battled tooth and nail all race for the final two podium positions.
Matjoulis couldn’t have started his Thanksgiving festivities any better.
“It was definitely a good run,” Matjoulis said. “We had that middle rolling. I don’t think we ever got off the middle/bottom. I took the lead, put down some consistent laps, never made any mistakes, and it paid off. We ended up pulling away there once we got 10 laps into a run. It felt really good there for a fixed setup.”
Forty-nine Drydene Pro Late Models attempted to make the 23-car field and it was stacked. The field was so good that Matjoulis never caught lapped traffic over the course of a 30+ lap green flag period.
“Usually you have some lapped traffic 15-20 laps into a run,” Matjoulis noted. “It was pretty odd not having any lapped traffic. But it was a good thing for me.”
The top side seemed to dominate qualifying and Heat Races but the winner worked the low line.
“I thought the bottom would have stayed along for a little longer but it seemed to fade around halfway,” Matjoulis said. “We just road the middle there. It would have been interesting to see some lapped traffic to see if they caught up but either way, I think we would have been alright.”
Logan Rumsey took home $175 for second place. His night was set up for success in the Heat Race when two heavyweights exchanged blows in front of him knocking themselves out of the top two spots.
“I didn’t expect much tonight,” Rumsey said. “I got lucky in the Heat Race. Alex [Bergeron] and Hayden [Cardwell] got together so I won the Heat.”
Drivers were constantly watching the changing Limaland surface.
“I wasn’t going to run the top in the Feature,” Rumsey noted. “I was just going to roll the middle to stay out of trouble. It worked out. Blake [Matjoulis] is so good at these slick tracks. Yeager was all over me. I’m pretty sure I was in the way but I’ll take it.”
Third place Kendel Tucker nabbed the final podium position from Dylan Yeager off the final corner of the race. Tucker wasn’t satisfied and knows he needs to improve overall.
“It was a really good run in the Feature,” Yeager said. “I gotta get my qualifying program together. It was terrible. Not sure what I need to do to figure out. It’s tough starting this far back every race I am in.”
DIRTcar Street Stocks presented by Chevy Performance
Former real-world racer and Orange County Fair Speedway fan Bobby Rafferty picked up his first career DIRTcar eSports Feature win after 25 hardscrabble laps around Limaland. Forty DIRTcar Street Stocks presented by Chevy Performance took time in qualifying to make the 24-car field.
The best of the best in dirt track iRacing were on hand and Rafferty came out on top with a last-lap pass after starting from the 12th position.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Rafferty said. “We’ve been strong with you guys in past races but haven’t had the luck fall our way. I am literally shaking after that race. Forget the $100 or anything. This is an official DIRTcar race win. Being a guy from the northeast that lives five minutes from Orange County Fair Speedway, this one means a lot.”
The tight confines of Limaland and its notoriously slick surface on iRacing made for a challenging race track for the competitors. Multiple cautions kept the field bunched up.
“It was a patience game,” Rafferty noted. “Myself, Brett [Rowles], and Bailey [Hipp] all got together in the Heat. I had a discussion with Bailey and to his credit, he manned up and apologized. He said it was on him and I said we were good. You know I race clean. I know you race clean. Let’s go put on a show. I think that’s exactly what we did. I hope everyone enjoyed the show we were able to put on for them.”
With a last-lap, lights out pass, Rafferty and the Street Stockers put on one heck of a show.
NEXT UP: DIRTcar eSports season four is off next week but returns with a special non-points race featuring the wingless 360 sprint cars in the Night Before the Fake 500. Sign up with iRacing and join the fun or watch it all live on DIRTVision on Wednesday, December 8.
