Jim Beaver eSports Sweeps Top Five in iRacing Off-Road Championship at Wild West
Images via Cam Pedersen/@FITS.photos
Jim Beaver eSports drivers Cam Pedersen, Jakob Rafoss, Felix Roy, Connor Barry, and Connor Parise pulled off one of the most impressive feats in the young history of the iRacing Off-Road Championship Series on Wednesday night by locking out the top five in the second race from Wild West Motorsports Park. As a result, Pedersen became the first repeat winner of the 2022 season, while Barry extended his points lead and all five drivers locked themselves firmly into top-10 points positions.
Pedersen (#48 Team General Tire Pro 4) earned his second Vision Wheel Pole Award of the season with a qualifying lap of 49.947, one of five JBeS trucks within the top-eight inversion range, while Keith Jeffery (#88 Heat Wave Visual Pro 4) would take advantage of the invert to start first in the first race. Jeffery would lead the first nine laps on the night, earning the Big Green Egg Green Flag Award in the process, before being passed by teammate Josh Edmundson (#58 Next Level Racing/Apex Gaming PCs Pro 4). Edmundson would lead the next six laps before eventually coming home second, as Barry (#2 CBR Performance Products/Team General Tire Pro 4) and Pedersen would take third and fourth.
JBeS would benefit from the invert in the second race as well, with Rafoss (#13 Team General Tire Pro 4), Parise (#11 Next Level Racing Pro 4), and Roy (#91 Case Construction/Joyal Pro 4) in the top three starting spots. Rafoss, winner of the final eShort Course Triple Crown race of 2022 at Crandon in a Pro 4, led the first 11 laps of the race to claim his own Big Green Egg Green Flag Award before Pedersen finally caught him and made the winning move. Joining the quintet of Pedersen, Rafoss, Roy, Barry, and Parise in the top 10 was Brandyn Proudfoot (#6 Rigid Industries/Team General Tire Pro 4), who scored ninth place finishes in both races.
Barry leads the point standings through six of 16 races with 284 points on the strength of one win and top-five finishes in every race so far. Roy (third), Edmundson (fifth), Rafoss (sixth), Pedersen (eighth), Parise (ninth), Proudfoot (10th), and Jeffery (13th) complete the eight-truck roster. On the All-Star front, JBeS eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series driver Blake Reynolds remains one of the most consistent racers in the series, with three top-fives and five top-10s to start the year; he placed eighth and 11th in his two races on Wednesday.
The 2022 iRacing Off-Road Championship Series season continues on Wednesday nights on twitch.tv/iracing and across JB15 social media channels. Broadcasts kick off at 8:30PM ET with All-Star action before the sim racing pros do battle for $25,000 beginning at 9PM ET.