The only two drivers who have left a race weekend leading the points in the inaugural 2022 iRacing Off-Road Championship Series season are the two left to battle for the inaugural championship next week.
Following a pair of solid finishes right next to one another, Connor Barry will take the points lead to Crandon by 14 points over Keaton Swane. Neither of them won on Wednesday night (3rd August 2022), however. Those honors would go to Félix Roy and Killian Dall’olmo, the two who happen to be third and fourth, respectively, in the championship standings.
Meanwhile, the battle for top bragging rights in the All-Stars series is even closer after factoring in the drop weeks in the previous races. Luke Knupp and Zachary Drapkin have been the class of the field all season long. Sure enough, they split the victories at Bark River on Wednesday night.
RACE #13: ROY RETURNS TO VICTORY LANE
With a points battle brewing, the top two talents on the season rose to the top straight away. Barry scored the pole position and claimed five bonus points. Swane would follow right behind, taking home four points early. Dall’olmo, Nicholas Dachelet and Alex A Bergeron rounded out the Top 5.
The invert put Toni Lähteenmäki at the top of the board after his eighth place qualifying effort. Starting alongside Roy, the pair led the field to the green flag as chaos ensued immediately.
Josh Edmundson started third after the invert, but contact with Bergeron as they took the green turned things upside down for the once championship hopeful. Edmundson was forced into an error which saw him flipping off course in the first corner.
Bergeron wouldn’t get off scot free as he also would find trouble, and the pair would find themselves fighting to stop the bleeding for the rest of the night.
Up front, Roy was able to get around Lähteenmäki for the lead. In third, a career run was brewing for Dachelet, but he had Barry and Swane breathing down his neck for multiple laps.
Barry made the move first, but Dachelet put on a stellar defense. The sturdy moves forced Barry into an error as he lost multiple spots. Swane was able to get by Barry, but Dachelet didn’t play favorites. Swane held strong and settled for fourth while Barry rebounded to finish fifth.
BARK RIVER RACE #13 – TOP 10 RESULTS:
| POS | TRUCK # | DRIVER NAME | INT. | POINTS | AGG. POINTS |
| 1 | 91 | Félix Roy | 11 LAPS | 50 | 50 |
| 2 | 92 | Toni Lähteenmäki | +1.694 sec | 48 | 48 |
| 3 | 23 | Nicholas Dachelet | +2.362 sec | 46 | 48 |
| 4 | 21 | Keaton Swane | +4.063 sec | 44 | 48 |
| 5 | 2 | Connor Barry | +4.775 sec | 42 | 47 |
| 6 | 12 | Josh Fox | +8.895 sec | 40 | 40 |
| 7 | 36 | Christopher Plumley | +10.284 sec | 38 | 38 |
| 8 | 18 | Killian Dall’olmo | +11.005 sec | 36 | 39 |
| 9 | 11 | Connor Parise | +11.499 sec | 34 | 34 |
| 10 | 525 | Cody Retzlaff | +12.109 sec | 32 | 32 |
RACE #14: DALL’OLMO DOMINATES FOR FIRST EVER WIN
After finishing eighth in the first race of the night, Dall’olmo inverted to the pole position for the second. Christopher Plumley started alongside, but his night went up and over too soon as he ramped off of a berm into oblivion, finishing 22nd.
The early festivities allowed Dall’olmo to pull out to a decent lead as Josh Fox, Barry and Swane attempted to close the gap. Again, Barry wanted by Fox to increase the gap between him and Swane, but once more, it backfired.
Fox was dealing with internet issues through the night, and the warping may have caused a part of the contact that ensued between him and Barry about halfway through. Fox fell through to eventually finish eighth, but the contact also allowed Swane to get by Barry for the runner-up spot.
Meanwhile, Dall’olmo was gone. He had enough of a gap where he didn’t need to push for the rest of the race. Barry kept the pressure on Swane as Dachelet and Roy attempted to get in on the podium action.
One last shot from Barry, but with the bigger picture in mind, Swane would finish second mostly uncontested as Barry took third. Roy and Dachelet finished out the Top 5.
The winner, Dall’olmo, scored his first career victory in the series and becomes the eighth different winner on the season and in series history.
BARK RIVER RACE #14 – TOP 10 RESULTS:
| POS | TRUCK # | DRIVER NAME | INT. | POINTS | AGG. POINTS |
| 1 | 18 | Killian Dall’olmo | 11 LAPS | 50 | 89 |
| 2 | 21 | Keaton Swane | +1.664 secs | 48 | 96 |
| 3 | 2 | Connor Barry | +1.970 secs | 46 | 93 |
| 4 | 91 | Félix Roy | +3.497 secs | 44 | 94 |
| 5 | 23 | Nicholas Dachelet | +3.691 secs | 42 | 90 |
| 6 | 11 | Connor Parise | +7.308 secs | 40 | 74 |
| 7 | 58 | Josh Edmundson | +7.616 secs | 38 | 62 |
| 8 | 12 | Josh Fox | +7.901 secs | 36 | 76 |
| 9 | 87 | Tommi Hallman | +8.862 secs | 34 | 60 |
| 10 | 6 | Brandyn Proudfoot | +9.001 secs | 32 | 62 |
POINTS LEAVING BARK RIVER
After being served with a 10 point penalty from the iRacing stewards following Wild West, Swane found himself 17 points behind Barry entering the penultimate event of the season at Bark River. The two qualified in the points together with Barry outscoring Swane by a single point.
In both races, Swane was able to come out on top ahead of Barry, but each position is only worth two points. In total, Swane was only able to pick up three of the points needed to take back the points lead.
Without the penalty, the distance would only be four points, but instead, Barry will have a more comfortable 14-point gap ahead of Swane with only the doubleheader at Crandon remaining.
If Barry can do what he did at Bark River, finishing right behind Swane, even if Swane were to get max qualifying points, Barry would still be able to claim the title by five points. However, it is anyone’s guess as to how the finale will play out, especially with a pair of land rush starts to each finale race.
Mathematically speaking, both Roy and Dall’olmo could have an outside shot as well as Edmundson, but in reality, it would likely take a pair of back row finishes from the Barry/Swane duo for either to have a chance if any of those three’s nights are perfect.
Meanwhile, the relegation battle for 12th has Jakob Rafoss on the bubble by 19 points over Tommi Hallman. The Top 12 points finishers will be locked into the 2023 season, should it happen, while the bottom 12 will all face relegation and a climb back into the series through qualifying and contender rounds.
2022 IRACING OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES POINTS THRU BARK RIVER:
| POS | TRUCK # | DRIVER NAME | POINTS | WINS | T5’s | T10’s |
| 1 | 2 | Connor Barry | 633 (–) | 2 | 13 | 13 |
| 2 | 21 | Keaton Swane | 619 (-14) | 2 | 10 | 14 |
| 3 | 91 | Félix Roy | 551 (-82) | 2 | 6 | 12 |
| 4 | 18 | Killian Dall’olmo | 543 (-90) | 1 | 6 | 12 |
| 5 | 58 | Josh Edmundson | 540 (-93) | 0 | 8 | 11 |
| 6 | 11 | Connor Parise | 490 (-143) | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| 7 | 112 | Alex A Bergeron | 459 (-174) | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| 8 | 48 | Cameron Pedersen | 445 (-188) | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| 9 | 36 | Christopher Plumley | 421 (-212) | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 10 | 6 | Brandyn Proudfoot | 402 (-231) | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 11 | 12 | Josh Fox | 373 (-260) | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 12 | 13 | Jakob Rafoss | 370 (-263) | 1 | 3 | 6 |
ALL STARS: KNUPP, DRAPKIN SPLIT BARK RIVER VICTORIES
While there’s nothing more than bragging rights on the line for the Off-Road All-Stars, both Knupp and Drapkin have turned the battle for the top into a slugfest.
Knupp struck first on Wednesday at Bark River. While Drapkin battled hard to try and make up every possible point, Knupp was able to hold him off, along with a charging Zach Knowles making his first start of the season.
The second race saw an invert of the entire 15-Pro 4 truck field, which unfortunately put a really slow Traxion.GG driver on the pole position. After the No. 53 was out of the way, it was Drapkin who managed to snake through the entire field on the first lap to take the lead.
Knowles and Knupp battled for the second spot, but Drapkin was long gone by the time those two made their way through the traffic. It would be Knowles taking the runner-up in the second race as Knupp wound up finishing in third.
With two races left in the first season, only two points separate the Knupp/Drapkin duo. They’ll be far enough ahead of Blake Reynolds and Eliott Watson that they won’t have to worry about anyone else for the title bout.
Traxion.GG’s Aeroteq and RynoGT4 are fifth and eighth in the overall standings so far, and both will be looking to maintain to improve on that in the final races at Crandon next week.
ALL-STARS POINTS AFTER RACE #14 AT BARK RIVER:
| POS | TRUCK # | DRIVER NAME | WINS | POINTS | R13 | R14 |
| 1 | 29 | Luke Knupp | 7 | 488 | 1st | 3rd |
| 2 | 56 | Zachary Drapkin | 4 | 486 | 2nd | 1st |
| 3 | 66 | Blake Reynolds | 2 | 418 | 4th | 5th |
| 4 | 3 | Eliott Watson | 0 | 414 | DNS | DNS |
| 5 | 03 | Keenan Kusan | 0 | 392 | 8th | 6th |
| 6 | 85 | Mikey Lawrence | 0 | 382 | 9th | 7th |
| 7 | 72 | Trever Teal | 0 | 370 | 7th | 4th |
| 8 | 91 | Ryan Burton | 0 | 358 | 6th | 14th |
| 9 | 777 | Adam Briggs | 0 | 352 | 5th | 8th |
| 10 | 10 | Brendan Lichtenberg | 0 | 346 | 13th | 9th |
NEXT RACE: CRANDON CHAMPIONSHIP CLASH
This is it, only one event remains in this inaugural iRacing Off-Road Championship Series season. A return to Crandon International Raceway will determine who will take the 2022 championship title in both the All-Stars and Championship Series.
The All-Stars will be up first with a pair of seven minute races, likely in the Beetle Lite, but that may not be the case depending on All-Star feedback. 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 |
| 8 | 10 August | Crandon International Raceway – Full | 10 | 10 | BEETLE LITE |
