Bergeron Strikes Back With iRacing World of Outlaws Carquest Sprint Car Win at Knoxville
January 17th, 2023 by Chris Leone
Alex Bergeron showed the iRacing World of Outlaws Carquest Sprint Car Series field the form that has led him to so many wins and series championships over the years on Monday night, dominating the 35-lap feature at Knoxville Raceway for his second win of the season. The victory, Bergeron’s second in two years at one of sprint car racing’s most iconic tracks, allowed him to retake the championship lead from Cedar Lake winner Timothy Smith with two rounds remaining.
Tyler Ducharme posted the top time in qualifying and won the first heat, with Lincoln winner Kenny Miller, Bergeron, and Tanner Pettit taking the other three heat wins and Ryan Avila and Tanner Miller winning the last chance qualifiers. Ducharme would only hold the lead in the first two laps of the feature before Bergeron took the lead and never let go.
Contact between Ducharme and Miller, who were battling for second, caused the first caution, dropping Miller to the back of the field and ending Pettit’s race early on Lap 5. The second caution would see Ross Keiser climb the Turn 4 wall and flip down the frontstretch on Lap 12, but the race wouldn’t be interrupted from there. Bergeron took full advantage of the second half of the race staying green to build a nearly two-second lead over Evan Seay in second.
With Smith coming home third, Bergeron managed to flip his five-point deficit in the standings into a two-point lead going into the final two events of the campaign. Besides the largest share of the $25,000 prize pool, the championship contenders are competing for a trip to the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in February. The winner will be honored during pre-race ceremonies during the February 9-10 sprint car portion of the event, serving as an honorary flagman and receiving the official championship trophy, VIP pit passes, and a ride in the pace car.
iRacing World of Outlaws Carquest Sprint Car Series results from Knoxville Raceway were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Driver |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
Pts. |
1 | 3 | 12 | Alex A Bergeron | 35 | 31 | 16.413 | 78 | |
2 | 5 | 33 | Evan Seay | 35 | -1.782 | 0 | 16.597 | 74 |
3 | 8 | 86 | Timothy S Smith | 35 | -1.854 | 0 | 16.484 | 71 |
4 | 10 | 85 | Tyler Schell | 35 | -3.357 | 0 | 16.655 | 67 |
5 | 11 | 20 | Aiden Forster | 35 | -4.302 | 0 | 16.690 | 64 |
6 | 17 | 49 | Ryan Avila | 35 | -4.829 | 0 | 16.528 | 59 |
7 | 1 | 25 | Tyler Ducharme | 35 | -4.990 | 2 | 16.517 | 60 |
8 | 13 | 127 | Blake Matjoulis | 35 | -5.382 | 0 | 16.550 | 54 |
9 | 20 | 1 | Mason Hannagan | 35 | -6.610 | 0 | 16.610 | 50 |
10 | 7 | 48 | Dylan Yeager | 35 | -7.195 | 0 | 16.695 | 50 |
11 | 2 | 23 | Kenny Miller | 35 | -7.747 | 0 | 16.558 | 49 |
12 | 16 | 17 | Eric Witner | 35 | -10.285 | 0 | 16.631 | 44 |
13 | 19 | 52 | James Edens | 35 | -11.799 | 0 | 16.650 | 40 |
14 | 18 | 9 | Tanner Miller | 35 | -13.014 | 0 | 16.374 | 39 |
15 | 6 | 14 | JD Brown | 35 | -14.221 | 0 | 16.578 | 40 |
16 | 9 | 00 | Kendal Tucker | 19 | -16 L | 0 | 16.687 | 37 |
17 | 14 | 60 | Shawn English | 18 | -17 L | 0 | 16.440 | 34 |
18 | 12 | 5 | Braden Eyler | 14 | -21 L | 0 | 16.587 | 33 |
19 | 15 | 4 | Ross Keiser | 11 | -24 L | 0 | 16.577 | 30 |
20 | 4 | 24 | Tanner Pettit | 5 | -30 L | 0 | 16.487 | 31 |
iRacing World of Outlaws Carquest Sprint Car Series points through eight rounds are as follows:
- Alex Bergeron, 515
- Timothy Smith, 513
- Tyler Schell, 476
- James Edens, 416
- Kendal Tucker, 406
- JD Brown, 390
- Kenny Miller, 367
- Braden Eyler, 355
- Evan Seay, 350
- Mason Hannagan, 336
The iRacing World of Outlaws Carquest Sprint Car Series season continues next Monday at Weedsport Speedway, where Hayden Cardwell is the defending winner. As always, the action streams live at 9PM ET on DIRTVision and across iRacing social media channels.
For more information on the iRacing World of Outlaws Carquest Sprint Car 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.