The inaugural iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship round at Lernerville Speedway promised a unique challenge for the 35 best sim racing sprint car drivers in the world, and Monday’s action didn’t disappoint. When the checkered flag finally fell, it was Swindell SpeedLab’s James Edens who took his first victory of the season, recovering from a disappointing season opener at Volusia Speedway Park to quickly take the lead from teammate Kendal Tucker and dominate the remainder of the 35-lap main event.
“That was awesome!” said Edens. “Last week was definitely a bummer, to say the least, and I’m not too sure what happened, but we put in some time this week and it paid off. It seemed like every practice race we ran, you could be two or three wide, and wherever you were running, there were always good battles. (Lernerville) has put itself at the top of the list for dirt racing right now, especially in the sprint cars, and it feels good to get a win at the new track!”
Tucker took the lead from top qualifier Shaun Timmerman early to win the first heat, with Edens, Alex Smolders, and Cameron Merriman using heat wins of their own to complete the first two rows. Alex Bergeron recovered from a disappointing qualifying performance to win the first last chance qualifier, while Logan Clampitt won the second to set the 20-car grid.
But just as Tucker stole the lead from Timmerman early in the heat, Edens immediately challenged Tucker at the start of the main event. Despite Lernerville’s lack of an outside retaining wall, a defining characteristic that was expected to cause trouble throughout the night, most drivers were more than willing to run the high line, and only two cautions—one for John Battista on Lap 3 and another for Volusia runner-up Blake Cannon on Lap 14—slowed the pace. At race’s end, all 20 drivers completed every single lap.
Full results from iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship action at Lernerville Speedway were as follows:
Fin. | St. | No. | Driver | Laps | Led | Interval | Best | Pts. |
| 1 | 2 | 52 | James Edens | 35 | 34 | 0 | 15.01 | 78 |
| 2 | 6 | 3 | Lewis Hewett | 35 | 0 | -1.033 | 15.091 | 74 |
| 3 | 5 | 9 | Joel Berkley | 35 | 0 | -1.912 | 14.963 | 71 |
| 4 | 1 | 00 | Kendal Tucker | 35 | 1 | -1.949 | 15.194 | 69 |
| 5 | 4 | 17 | Cameron Merriman | 35 | 0 | -2.206 | 15.071 | 66 |
| 6 | 17 | 12 | Alex A Bergeron | 35 | 0 | -2.526 | 15.005 | 59 |
| 7 | 15 | 2 | Dylan R. Houser | 35 | 0 | -3.209 | 15.235 | 57 |
| 8 | 12 | 71 | Cole V Cabre | 35 | 0 | -3.502 | 15.193 | 55 |
| 9 | 3 | 211 | Alex Smolders | 35 | 0 | -3.829 | 15.277 | 54 |
| 10 | 8 | 49 | David Heileman | 35 | 0 | -4.183 | 15.063 | 50 |
| 11 | 14 | 74 | Adam Elby | 35 | 0 | -4.371 | 15.331 | 46 |
| 12 | 16 | 85 | Tyler Schell | 35 | 0 | -5.822 | 15.319 | 44 |
| 13 | 11 | 44 | Blake Cannon | 35 | 0 | -6.427 | 15.249 | 43 |
| 14 | 20 | 81 | Dillon Semmelmann | 35 | 0 | -7.125 | 15.341 | 39 |
| 15 | 19 | 39 | Chase Cabre | 35 | 0 | -7.317 | 15.235 | 33 |
| 16 | 18 | 99 | Logan Clampitt | 35 | 0 | -8.053 | 15.382 | 34 |
| 17 | 13 | 24 | Shaun Timmerman | 35 | 0 | -9.26 | 15.403 | 34 |
| 18 | 10 | 5 | Braden Eyler | 35 | 0 | -9.471 | 15.116 | 33 |
| 19 | 7 | 54 | John Battista | 35 | 0 | -11.101 | 15.507 | 32 |
| 20 | 9 | 92 | Mike Keegan | 35 | 0 | -11.28 | 15.509 | 29 |
The iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship season continues next Monday with another debut event, this time at Fairbury American Legion Speedway. As always, the race will stream live at on Monday at 9PM ET/6PM ET on the iRacing eSports Network. 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.
Image via Swindell SpeedLab
