Former World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series champ makes seven winners in seven races
He might have been racing from his house in Ashville, NY, but Blake Matjoulis was right at home at Rossburg, OH’s Eldora Speedway Wednesday night.
The 2019 World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model iRacing World Champion led all 40 laps around The Big E behind the wheel of his Swindell SpeedLab #127 en route to his second career DIRTcar eSports Tour Feature victory presented by Hoosier Racing Tire.
Matjoulis cracked the whip right at the drop of the green, took the lead from outside the front row and made the 24-car field pay, never once letting any of his competition get too far underneath him in attempts to steal the spotlight. More specifically, his three biggest threats in the field – Alex Bergeron, Dylan Houser and Kendal Tucker.
Matjoulis and Bergeron stuck to the bottom in the opening stages of the race while before long, Tucker and Houser began to make the high side work. Those three swapped spots all race long, passing inside and outside and using every lane available on the track. However, this only allowed Matjoulis to ride out front comfortably.
Houser, of Ocala, FL, eventually proved he knew the high side the best and was able to close-off the runner-up spot to his competition just after the halfway point, then sight his sights on the leader. And Matjoulis knew he was coming.
“Houser was definitely good up there,” Matjoulis told DIRTVision announcer Josh Pike in the post-race interview. “He tracked me down a little and I was just able to hold onto the top spot. It would have been hard for him to pass, but he was definitely right there.”
With less than 10-to-go, Houser had caught Matjoulis’ rear deck lid and was gaining a tenth on him each lap. Until he made a critical mistake and scrubbed the Turn 3-4 wall with six laps remaining, breaking his momentum just enough to throw his chance for victory out the window.
Joe Grabianowski Photo
Matjoulis held off one final charge from Houser and third-place Evan Seay in the final corners to score his second career Tour victory and first since the second race of Season 1, back in May of 2020.
“Definitely a close race between the top three, no breathing room, no room for mistakes. When you get to these races, it’s all about being consistent. Frankly, we didn’t make any and were able to hold on for a win,” he said.
The DIRTcar eSports Tour action wraps up in just two weeks’ time with the eighth and final race of Season 2 at Lernerville Speedway on Wednesday, January 27, once again featuring the ground-pounding, Earth-shaking, window-rattling Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds! Register today at DIRTcar.com/eSports and watch all the action live on DIRTVision!
Hoosier Racing Tire Feature (40 Laps) – 1. 127-Blake Matjoulis [2]; 2. 2-Dylan Houser [6]; 3. 33-Evan Seay [8]; 4. 00-Kendal Tucker [1]; 5. 12-Alex Bergeron [3]; 6. 033-Richard Murtaugh Jr. [4]; 7. 1-Jesse Enterkin [13]; 8. 49-David Heileman [7]; 9. 79-Maxime Plante [17]; 10. 000-Kevin Dedmon [11]; 11. 115-Boddie Parker [18]; 12. 71-Keven HÈbert [16]; 13. 171-Brandon Freeburg [14]; 14. 02-Chance Carr [15]; 15. 787-Cody Zobrist [12]; 16. 54-Larry Barber Jr [5]; 17. 7-Aaron Sparks [19]; 18. 34-Corey Mullinax [20]; 19. 03-Lyndon Whitfill [10]; 20. 89-Austin Friedman [9]; 21. 46-Jonathan Nause [22]; 22. 07-Marko Mitchell [21]; 23. 56-Tyler Schneider [23]; 24. 75-Andrew Piercefield [24]
