BURLINGTON, ON: Tyler Schell endured a ferocious charge from iRacing ace Alex Bergeron to score a victory in his Rivalz Pro Elite division debut Tuesday night at Knoxville Raceway. The Millersburg, Pennsylvania, racer endured a late race restart and clung to the bottom of the track to hang on for the win.
“This is one of my better tracks,” said Schell in victory lane. “I was just trying to stick to what I knew, and I ran the bottom the best that I could and I held Alex off.
“When I saw the caution I was like if you mess up you’re going to lose the race here. You’ve gotta drive perfect when you’ve got Alex there because you know he’s not going to make any mistakes.”
Bergeron stalked the leader for most of the race before turning up the wick in the closing laps. The standout iRacer from Quebec got right to the tail tank of Schell, but he wasn’t able to find the opportunity to make the pass.
“We were quicker than Schell there for sure,” said Bergeron. “On lap 14 or 15 or so we found something on the bottom, and he just went low and kinda mirror drove. It’s not part of the rules there, but second place is pretty good for the points.
“The car is very fast. We just keep on going fast, and what we do is keep looking at the points, and second place is good for us.”
Bergeron enjoys a commanding lead in the season points standings at the midway point of the schedule. If he can hold on to take the championship he will pick up $1,500 for the title.
Last week’s feature winner Shaun Timmerman rounded out the podium. Timmerman spent the entire race in the top five, but he wasn’t able to find the speed needed on the cushion to mount a serious challenge on the leaders. Rounding out the top five at the checkers were Brandon Schultz and Larry Moody.
Sixth through 10th were Ryan Beagle, Troy Wagaman jr, Adam Buchanan, Dakota Kuhn, and Keith Jackson. Jesse Costa finished 19th after starting on the pole and leading the first three laps.
The Rivalz Elite Pro Division will be back in action next Tuesday, January 28th, when the series visits Lanier Raceway. Drivers can qualify for the event by finishing top three with the Ohsweken Outlaws series next Monday or by finishing top five in the Rivalz Gauntlet event Tuesday prior to the Lanier race.
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