Ryan Avila takes maiden World of Outlaws Pro Series victory in inaugural Huset’s Speedway event

A year removed from being on the losing end of a tie for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car championship, Ryan Avila finally cemented his name as a World of Outlaws Pro Series winner on Monday night. In the series’ first trip to Huset’s Speedway, battling in the 410 Sprint Cars, Avila charged from third on the grid to pass both Tyler Schell and JD Brown to take the victory.

The final caution involved Avila and Schell as they battled for second. The two argued over the same spot on the track, which forced the former champion, Schell, into a slide as Avila managed to maintain his position. “I apologize to Tyler,” Avila noted immediately post-race. ” That was all on me. In my head, I thought he was going to slide up just a little bit more, and I had the run, so I went with it.”

On the ensuing and final restart, Avila lined up right behind Brown as they took the green. Brown got out of shape, allowing for Avila to scoot around and into the lead. In the closing laps, Avila held off another World of Outlaws eSports champion, Evan Seay, to score the historic win.

“I felt like we were one of the better cars there,” Avila continued. “Super tough track, one of my favorite tracks now. Finally picked up the win.”

QUALIFYING

Every week, the new wrinkle to the points format this season, which includes both Championship points and automatic transfers to the Feature from qualifying, plays a big part in how the Features stack up with track position as important as ever. As it will be all season long, the top-eight qualifying times every race will forgo all other pre-feature activities, including Heats and Last Chance races, and line up in reverse order at the front of the field of the Feature.

Avila managed to put it sixth, which inverted him to start in third for the Feature. Seay laid down the quick time, collecting 25 points but lamenting on the invert in his interview as he was forced to start eighth. Brown took the invert to the pole and led the Feature to the green flag.

HUSET’S SPEEDWAY Qualifying Top 8:

1. Evan Seay
2. Logan Rumsey
3. Dylan Yeager
4. Conner New
5. Bradley Cox
6. Ryan Avila
7. Tyler Schell
8. JD Brown

HEATS

Everyone from ninth on back in qualifying were sorted into three Heat races of up to nine cars each. This season, only the top-three transfer to the Feature from the Heats, and everyone else is sent to fend for themselves in the Last Chance races.

Kendal Tucker, who is in the main fight against Logan Rumsey for the Pro Series title this season, only managed to place 12th in qualifying, which meant he would start second in the first Heat. Tucker did manage to improve a spot, taking the Heat 1 win over Matthew Powell. Ethan Johnson started first and finished first in the second Heat of the night, barely holding off Mike Augustine at the end. In the third and final Heat, Shawn English had a three-way brawl with Landon Cardoza and Aiden Forster. They would all transfer to the Feature after finishing in that order.

Heat 1 Transfers:

1. Kendal Tucker
2. Matthew Powell
3. Steven Gaines

Heat 2 Transfers:

1. Ethan Johnson
2. Mike Augustine
3. Blake Matjoulis

Heat 3 Transfers:

1. Shawn English
2. Landon Cardoza
3. Aiden Forster

LAST CHANCE RACES

The final four spots are set through the Last Chance races. Both races would see the close quarters racing get too close for comfort, shaking up the respective orders. Chase Stewart and Loic Bernier were able to win both of their respective LCRs, but it was both Kadyn Berry and Connor Dudek coming up strong to finish second in their respective races to transfer in as well.

Last Chance 1 Transfers:

1. Chase Stewart
2. Kadyn Berry

Last Chance 2 Transfers:

1. Loic Bernier
2. Connor Dudek

FEATURE RACE

Brown led the field to the green, but an immediate caution on the third lap bunched everyone back up for another restart. Matthew Powell got the worst of the first wreck and would retire as a result. The second caution flew a few laps later, this one involving Landon Cardoza and Shawn English, both able to continue onward.

As Brown continued to pace the field, the quick laps ticked off and patience was running thin. Avila felt he had the pace, and Schell was continuing to hold him off. Suddenly, the two made contact, and the race was thrown into a third caution period. The damage was enough to end Schell’s night early, but Avila continued on with a working machine.

On the final restart, Brown got a case of the wobbles, and Avila punched it through and into the lead, nearly making contact in the process. This set up a four-man battle for the win, with Dylan Yeager ripping the cushion up top and Evan Seay following behind. Brown ultimately fell back to finish in fifth, getting passed by Logan Rumsey in the closing laps. Up front, however, Avila took Yeager’s line away and then drove away. Seay tried to catch him, but the laps ran out, and Avila was crowned the winner.

Feature Race results from WORLD OF OUTLAWS PRO SERIES, Race 7 at HUSET’S SPEEDWAY were as follows:

WORLD OF OUTLAWS PRO SERIES Points following Race 7 at HUSET’S SPEEDWAY are as follows:

1. Logan Rumsey, 740
2. Kendal Tucker, 711
3. JD Brown, 651
4. Dylan Yeager, 598
5. Ryan Avila, 585
6. Blake Matjoulis, 563
7. Ethan Johnson, 518
8. Mike Augustine, 476
9. Evan Seay, 441
10. Tanner Pettit, 403

With Rumsey climbing up to finish fourth while Tucker only managed to get to sixth, the points lead for Rumsey extends from 15 to 29 points with only three races remaining. Brown is in striking distance, still within a race to the lead, 89 points behind in third. Next up is another Late Model battle, this time at Fairbury Speedway on January 13th.

Race #8’s broadcast at Fairbury will once again be live at 8:00 pm ET on that Monday night, live on DIRTVision and all of iRacing’s social channels.

The driver roster will be set each week through qualifying races that are open to all members with a Class A Dirt Oval license. These races will run on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 8PM ET, and the top 35 point scorers will be invited to the iRacing World of Outlaws Pro Series league each week for the Monday night main event. After the Monday show, the league is cleared out, and the process begins again. Points will be tracked as normal across those 10 main events to crown the series champion.

For details on how to qualify, visit www.iracing.com/woo-pro-series/qualifying.

For more information on the series, visit www.iracing.com/woo-pro-series. 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.

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