Ryan Returns to iRacing World of Outlaws Winner’s Circle at Knoxville

Logitech G Altus Esports’ Tim Ryan returned to the top step of the podium in the iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship for the first time in a year and a half on Monday night, taking the checkered flag at Knoxville Raceway in the second race of the season. Ryan extended a lead of more than a second to hold off Slick Simsport’s Hayden Cardwell, the 2020 iRacing World of Outlaws Late Model World Champion, and perennial frontrunner Kendal Tucker of Swindell Speedlab Esports.

“It feels awesome, obviously,” Ryan said after the victory. “I took the last year off so I felt a bit rusty in the first round, but tonight I was in control all night long. I’m sure as the season goes along, we’ll get stronger as we get to blow the cobwebs off.”

Ryan, Adam Elby, Tucker, and Cardwell won the four heat races, while JD Brown and John Battista took the two last chance qualifiers. From there, it was off to the 35-lap feature, which went green from flag to flag for the first time this season. Ryan never yielded the top spot during the main event, extending his lead to more than a second by race’s end.

Alex Bergeron, the two-time defending series champion and winner of last week’s opener at Volusia Speedway Park, climbed from eighth on the starting grid to fourth at race’s end. That sets up a tight points battle through the first two races of the season, with Cardwell on top thanks to back-to-back podium finishes, but Bergeron and Ryan tied for second, just one point behind.

iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship results from Knoxville Raceway were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Driver

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts.

1198Tim Ryan353516.89478
2422Hayden Cardwell35-1.393017.00075
3300Kendal Tucker35-1.625016.90772
4812Alex A Bergeron35-2.529016.97068
5274Adam Elby35-4.395016.94466
61435Nick Cooper35-4.641016.92260
71585Tyler Schell35-6.333017.00557
81952James Edens35-7.518017.05753
913211Alex Smolders35-8.294017.15651
102034Colton W Hardy35-9.346017.11447
111637Zane Scott35-9.387017.06946
12103Lewis Hewett35-10.449017.09845
1358Cole Neuhalfen35-10.621016.98644
1417114JD Brown35-10.762017.11939
15627Colton Davis35-10.886017.09840
161210Rusty L Kruger35-11.720017.19137
171854John Battista34-1 L016.95333
1874Dillon Semmelmann28-7 L016.96034
1995Braden Eyler19-16 L016.99431
201117Cameron Merriman12-23 L017.04929

 

iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship points through two rounds are as follows:

  1. Hayden Cardwell, 147
  2. Alex Bergeron, 146
  3. Tim Ryan, 146
  4. Nick Cooper, 134
  5. James Edens, 118
  6. Tyler Schell, 112
  7. Kendal Tucker, 105
  8. Adam Elby, 101
  9. Rusty Kruger, 87
  10. Cole Neuhalfen, 84

The 2020-21 iRacing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car World Championship season continues next week with a return to Fairbury American Legion Speedway. As always, the race can be streamed live on DirtVision on Monday at 9PM ET. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.