Caplinger, Wigent, Kalish Win VOREX Sagebrush National at Wild West
The 2nd Annual VOREX Sagebrush National, the opening event of the Virtual Off-Road Endurocross (VOREX) season promoted by Jim Beaver Esports and #Yes2Motorsport, saw dozens of sim racers head to the virtual Wild West Motorsports Park on Thursday night for the first round of one of iRacing’s most unique off-road championships. Featuring a pair of 10-minute races for GT3 cars and Pro 2 Lites before a 20-minute spotlight race for top-tier rallycross cars, the race set the stage for a dramatic title chase that will carry on all year long.
Series and Event Info
Formerly a multi-class series with longer races, VOREX was completely reimagined for 2024. Instead of sending out three classes together for a single 40-minute race, the duration was split and three classes were given a share so all drivers can compete in all cars. Seven of last year’s nine races were retained, with two new events created at the end of the season to complete the calendar, and events were spread out to run on the last race week of most months.
Also introduced was a new point system that puts a premium on both speed and winning. Regular lap leaders get one bonus point, while the leader of the most laps and racer who turns the fastest lap get five points. The race winner gets 50 points, followed by 40 in second, five-point gaps through the top five, two-point gaps through the top 10, and one-point gaps down to a single point for 20th place. Racers are allowed to drop their worst score of the season.
Sports Car Trophy (Legacy GT3s)
The fight for the win in Sports Car was destined to go down between Matt Kalish and Wes Graham from the get-go. They qualified first and second, within .094 seconds of one another, and left the rest of the field in the dust. Kalish pulled a gap on Graham until catching lapped traffic, allowing Graham to close back in, but Kalish would manage to lead every lap and hang on by .408 seconds at the line. James Moench, Bryan Sawyer, and Ian Munroe completed the top five as the only other cars on the lead lap, while third place qualifier Chris Leone recovered from a spin off the start to finish sixth.
Light Truck Trophy (Pro 2 Lite)
Like Sports Car, Light Truck saw a single leader up front for all 12 laps, but Pacey Wigent wouldn’t face the same kind of late-race challenge. Wigent would pull away all race long as a four-truck contingent of Graham, Kalish, Moench, and Trever Teal would have a spirited fight to complete the top five. Moench would grab second from Graham with two to go as Kalish and Teal spent the second half of the race settled into fourth and fifth.
Super Car Trophy (Rallycross Supercars)
The premier race of the night doubled the clock from 10 minutes of racing to 20, and forced a pit stop in the process. Despite that, the rapid pace meant the field still completed 25 laps, most of which were spent behind Eric Caplinger, who qualified on pole and led all but three during the pit cycle. He’d build an early lead on teammate Sawyer, who briefly lost second place to Russell Peterson before Peterson spun on Lap 11.
Sawyer would inherit the lead for two laps after Caplinger was among the first drivers to pit, and Leone would lead Lap 14 before coming in himself. By then, Caplinger had a 10-second lead on Sawyer and would maintain a double-digit margin for the rest of the night. Moench would become the only driver to podium in all three races with a third place finish, while Peterson and Leone would round out the top five.
Next Event
Round 2 of 9 in the 2024 VOREX season sees the series head to Bark River International Raceway on February 29 for the 2nd Annual Frozen Lake National. More information on the event will be available at jimbeaver15.com and yes2motorsport.com closer to race week. Additional weekly #Yes2Motorsport events are available each Thursday starting at 7PM ET and each Saturday starting at 8PM ET.