It was the tale of two very different races at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park on Wednesday night in the seventh and eighth events of the 2023 iRacing Off-Road Championship Series season. Marking the halfway point of this championship battle
While the first race still had its share of scrapes and bruises amongst the field, rookie Jarrett Liebert was purely dominant from the pole position. Starting alongside Killian Dall’olmo and ahead of the championship leader Keaton Swane, Liebert safely created a gap enough to start pulling away.
Swane played impeccable defense for the last step of the podium, increasing his points lead by seven points over the defending champion Connor Barry. Barry scored his worst finish of the season so far – sixth – but would invert to start in third for the next race behind Josh Fox on pole and Alex Bergeron alongside.
The second race was hectic from the drop of the flag. Wild Horse Pass only has four corners, and on the opening lap, it seemed that there was a flip in almost every single one of them. Fox, Swane, Josh Edmundson and more were all wrapped up in the chaos, but because there was so much, they were all able to gain some spots back.
Up front, there was no clear dominant force. Liebert, despite running the fastest lap of the second race, was mired back in traffic and had to settle for a sixth place in the second race. For the lead, it was between Bergeron, Barry and the rookie Joel Blewitt.
Barry, still seeking his first win of the 2023 season, was able to get alongside Bergeron for the lead, but before he could complete a pass, Blewitt was able to bypass them both. Eventually, Bergeron was able to get back by and Dall’olmo was able to get back up for his second runner-up finish of the night, with Blewitt taking third.
Barry took fourth, and with Swane’s misfortunes in the second race, he was able to gain back 10 points on the championship. The net result was Swane maintaining the lead into the halfway point of the season, but only now by two points over the still winless Barry.
Behind them, Liebert and Blewitt are within striking distance as well, the championship leading quartet now more than a race ahead of the rest of the pack, now led by Dall’olmo following his 100 point night with two second place finishes.
Next week is an All-Star event at Crandon Short, but points racing returns in two weeks with the first repeat track of the season, what was the season opener at Wild West Motorsports Park.
Wild Horse Pass Race #7 – Top 10 Results:
| FIN | STA | TRUCK # | DRIVER | INTERVAL | LED | PTS | AGG. PTS |
| 1 | 1 | 25 | Jarrett Liebert [R] | 16 LAPS | 16 | 50 | 55 |
| 2 | 2 | 5 | Killian Dallolmo | +1.830 sec | 0 | 48 | 52 |
| 3 | 3 | 2 | Keaton Swane | +3.015 sec | 0 | 46 | 49 |
| 4 | 7 | 27 | Joel Blewitt [R] | +3.581 sec | 0 | 44 | 44 |
| 5 | 6 | 4 | Josh Edmundson | +4.397 sec | 0 | 42 | 42 |
| 6 | 4 | 1 | Connor Barry | +7.127 sec | 0 | 40 | 42 |
| 7 | 5 | 9 | Alex A Bergeron | +9.665 sec | 0 | 38 | 39 |
| 8 | 9 | 12 | Josh Fox | +10.354 sec | 0 | 36 | 36 |
| 9 | 14 | 15 | Nicholas Dachelet | +11.019 sec | 0 | 34 | 34 |
| 10 | 16 | 20 | Tyson Miller | +11.596 sec | 0 | 32 | 32 |
Wild Horse Pass Race #8 – Top 10 Results:
| FIN | STA | TRUCK # | DRIVER | INTERVAL | LED | PTS | AGG. PTS |
| 1 | 2 | 9 | Alex A Bergeron | 16 LAPS | 12 | 50 | 89 |
| 2 | 7 | 5 | Killian Dallolmo | +1.106 sec | 0 | 48 | 100 |
| 3 | 5 | 27 | Joel Blewitt [R] | +1.710 sec | 4 | 46 | 90 |
| 4 | 3 | 1 | Connor Barry | +2.387 sec | 0 | 44 | 86 |
| 5 | 12 | 10 | Jakob Rafoss | +2.881 sec | 0 | 42 | 70 |
| 6 | 8 | 25 | Jarrett Liebert [R] | +4.293 sec | 0 | 40 | 95 |
| 7 | 11 | 8 | Christopher Plumley | +4.901 sec | 0 | 38 | 68 |
| 8 | 14 | 28 | Nicholas Welhouse [R] | +5.069 sec | 0 | 36 | 60 |
| 9 | 6 | 2 | Keaton Swane | +5.390 sec | 0 | 34 | 83 |
| 10 | 1 | 12 | Josh Fox | +7.766 sec | 0 | 32 | 68 |
2023 iRacing Off-Road Championship Series Standings:
| POS | TRUCK # | DRIVER NAME | POINTS | BEHIND | WINS | T5’s | T10’s |
| 1 | 2 | Keaton Swane | 359 | LEADER | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 2 | 1 | Connor Barry | 357 | -2 | 0 | 7 | 8 |
| 3 | 25 | Jarrett Liebert [R] | 345 | -14 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 4 | 27 | Joel Blewitt [R] | 338 | -21 | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| 5 | 5 | Killian Dall’olmo | 275 | -84 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 6 | 4 | Josh Edmundson | 272 | -87 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | 10 | Jakob Rafoss | 237 | -122 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 7 | 15 | Nicholas Dachelet | 237 | -122 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 9 | 20 | Tyson Miller | 221 | -138 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 10 | 9 | Alex A Bergeron | 217 | -142 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
2023 iRacing Off-Road Championship Series Schedule
| Week | Date | Track | Laps |
| All-Star | 26-July | Crandon International Raceway – SHORT | TBA |
| 5 | 2-August | Wild West Motorsports Park | 16 | 16 |
| 6 | 9-August | Bark River International Raceway | 11 | 11 |
| 7 | 16-August | Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park | 16 | 16 |
| 8 | 23-August | Crandon International Raceway | 10 | 10 |
