The battle for the inaugural title of the iRacing Off-Road Championship Series took another turn on Wednesday night (27th July 2022). After a win and a third place finish, Connor Barry is back on top of the points standings, now seven points ahead of the former leader Keaton Swane.
Barry was able to score the first win on the night. In the second race, Jakob Rafoss was victorious, holding off Swane in the closing laps to win his first career Off-Road Championship event. Swane, who finished sixth in the first race and received no qualifying points, is back on offense with only two events left.
In the All-Stars, Luke Knupp took the field to school, winning both races easily in the Pro 2 Lite trucks. Both series took on the Wild West Motorsports Park. Next week, the series heads back to Bark River. In two weeks, the series will conclude with two events at Crandon.
RACE #11: BARRY BEATS SWANE FOR WIN, TAKES POINTS LEAD
Cam Pedersen took the fastest time on Wednesday night, grabbing an extra five points towards his championship run. Alex Bergeron, Killian Dall’olmo, Barry and Josh Edmundson rounded out the Top 5 and all scored qualifying points. Swane just missed out, qualifying in sixth.
After the invert, Quentin Dall’olmo led the field to green alongside Josh Fox and Swane just behind. After a few laps, Swane was able to take control following door-to-door racing with Quentin Dall’olmo and Edmundson.
Barry was also able to fight his way through the field, eventually finding his way to second and on the chase towards Swane and the lead.
As this series has led to throughout the previous five weeks, things got physical up front. Barry was able to make his way around Swane with some standard contact, but Swane wasn’t giving up that easily. As the duo raced into the second corner, Swane attempted a crossover as Barry was starting to set up his exit.
The two made contact and Swane managed to bank off of the inside wall. The resulting contact allowed Barry to pull to an insurmountable advantage as Swane struggled home to finish in sixth with heavy damage.
WILD WEST RACE #11 – TOP 10 RESULTS:
| POS | TRUCK # | DRIVER NAME | INTERVAL | POINTS | AGG POINTS |
| 1 | 2 | Connor Barry | 16 LAPS | 50 | 52 |
| 2 | 112 | Alex A Bergeron | +5.393 sec | 48 | 52 |
| 3 | 58 | Josh Edmundson | +6.026 sec | 46 | 47 |
| 4 | 48 | Cam Pedersen | +6.569 sec | 44 | 49 |
| 5 | 18 | Killian Dall’olmo | +8.766 sec | 42 | 45 |
| 6 | 21 | Keaton Swane | +9.236 sec | 40 | 40 |
| 7 | 11 | Connor Parise | +10.181 sec | 38 | 38 |
| 8 | 13 | Jakob Rafoss | +10.788 sec | 36 | 36 |
| 9 | 91 | Felix Roy | +11.426 sec | 34 | 34 |
| 10 | 22 | Quentin Dall’olmo | +13.019 sec | 32 | 32 |
RACE #12: RAFOSS HANGS ON FOR FIRST CAREER WIN
The result of the first race essentially placed Barry back in control of the series, but once again, Swane would have a great starting spot due to the invert of the Top 8 finishers.
Just like the previous visit, inverting to the lead was Rafoss, seeking his first win after a close loss earlier in the season at the same track. Back in that race, Pedersen was able to get by for another win as Rafoss came home second. This time, Rafoss has other plans.
Looking to bounce back from the misfortunes of the first race, Swane was all over the front runners of Rafoss and Connor Parise. Once Parise was out of the question, Swane made it his job to try and get the lead and gain as much back on Barry.
While Barry was able to move his way up into third place, he was too far back to do anything with Rafoss and Swane. Just barely taking the lead in the points over Swane, Barry needed Rafoss to hang on for the victory.
Swane gave it everything he had, but Rafoss held on for the win, the first of his career.
WILD WEST RACE #12 – TOP 10 RESULTS:
| POS | TRUCK # | DRIVER NAME | INTERVAL | POINTS | AGG POINTS |
| 1 | 13 | Jakob Rafoss | 16 LAPS | 50 | 86 |
| 2 | 21 | Keaton Swane | +0.490 sec | 48 | 88 |
| 3 | 2 | Connor Barry | +2.709 sec | 46 | 98 |
| 4 | 11 | Connor Parise | +6.187 sec | 44 | 82 |
| 5 | 18 | Killian Dall’olmo | +6.388 sec | 42 | 87 |
| 6 | 58 | Josh Edmundson | +7.508 sec | 40 | 87 |
| 7 | 91 | Felix Roy | +7.994 sec | 38 | 72 |
| 8 | 48 | Cam Pedersen | +9.423 sec | 36 | 85 |
| 9 | 112 | Alex A Bergeron | +9.512 sec | 34 | 86 |
| 10 | 36 | Christopher Plumley | +11.865 sec | 32 | 58 |
POINTS LEAVING WILD WEST
Besides the top two in the standings, the remainder of the Top 10 all stayed the same. Entering Wild West, Swane had a three point advantage over Barry. With two points from qualifying, a win in the first race of the night and a third place in the second, Barry now holds on to the lead but barely over Swane.
Swane is seven points behind now, and there are only four races in the final two events to catch back up. The pair have left behind the rest of the front runners, with Edmundson more than a full race behind. Rafoss, despite the win and eighth place finish in the first race, still sits in tenth despite that gap closing.
2022 IRACING OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES POINTS THRU WILD WEST:
| POS | TRUCK # | DRIVER NAME | POINTS | WINS | T5’s | T10’s |
| 1 | 2 | Connor Barry | 540 (–) | 2 | 11 | 11 |
| 2 | 21 | Keaton Swane | 533 (-7) | 2 | 8 | 12 |
| 3 | 58 | Josh Edmundson | 478 (-62) | 0 | 8 | 10 |
| 4 | 91 | Felix Roy | 457 (-83) | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| 5 | 18 | Killian Dall’olmo | 454 (-86) | 0 | 5 | 10 |
| 6 | 48 | Cam Pedersen | 425 (-115) | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| 7 | 112 | Alex A Bergeron | 422 (-118) | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| 8 | 11 | Connor Parise | 416 (-124) | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| 9 | 36 | Christopher Plumley | 375 (-165) | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 10 | 13 | Jakob Rafoss | 370 (-170) | 1 | 3 | 6 |
ALL STARS: LUKE KNUPP DOUBLES UP AT WILD WEST
A shorter field than normal made no difference, for better or worse, for the All-Stars on Wednesday nights. Luke Knupp and Zachary Drapkin found themselves as the top runners, as usual. The battle for the overall win came down to the wire as Knupp barely edged Drapkin for the top spot.
The second race for the All-Stars also went to Knupp who was able to get through the field much easier than Drapkin. Trever Teal led the majority of the way after the invert, but Knupp caught and passed him and made it a perfect night once again.
Here are the top scorers in All-Stars this week at Wild West:
WILD WEST – TOP POINT SCORERS IN RACES 11 & 12:
| POS | TRUCK # | DRIVER NAME | POINTS | RACE 11 FINISH | RACE 12 FINISH |
| 1 | 29 | Luke Knupp | 100 | 1st | 1st |
| 2 | 56 | Zachary Drapkin | 92 | 2nd | 4th |
| T-3 | 03 | Keenan Kusan | 82 | 4th | 7th |
| T-3 | 85 | Mikey Lawrence | 82 | 8th | 3rd |
| T-5 | 72 | Trever Teal | 72 | 14th | 2nd |
| T-5 | 91 | Ryan Burton | 72 | 3rd | 13th |
| T-5 | 3 | Eliott Watson | 72 | 5th | 11th |
| T-8 | 66 | Blake Reynolds | 70 | 7th | 10th |
| T-8 | 10 | Brendan Lichtenberg | 70 | 12th | 5th |
NEXT RACE: BARK RIVER REDUX
Only two race weeks remain in this inaugural off-road championship season. Bark River will be the venue for the penultimate round of the schedule.
The All-Stars will be up first with a pair of seven minute races, back in the Pro 4 Trucks. Both the Championship Series and the All-Stars will be on display starting at 8:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 a.m. BST on iRacing.com/live or the iRacing social channels.
2022 iRACING OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES SCHEDULE
| Week | Date | Track | Race 1 | Race 2 | ALL STARS |
| 7 | 03 August | Bark River International Raceway | 11 | 11 | PRO 4 |
| 8 | 10 August | Crandon International Raceway – Full | 10 | 10 | BEETLE LITE |
