World Cup: Two Weeks and Counting

by Nick Neben on October 15th, 2009

Less than two weeks remain in the third season of the World Cup of iRacing. Last week three regional championships were up for grabs, Italy has now taken a lead that looks too big for DE-AT-CH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) to overcome, New England still holds the point in the Northeastern Region over New York, as South America tries to hang on to a narrow lead over the Mid-South for the Southeastern Region.

The third smallest club in iRacing, South America is in a battle with the Mid-South club for the Southeastern Region. South America has stayed out in front of the Mid-South by around 400 points over the last week, but one big push by the seventh largest club in iRacing could send South America back to the drawing board for the fourth and final Regional Season Club Championships (RSCC) before the World Cup of iRacing. The Southeastern Region has yet to have a repeat club champion this year, with the Mid-South and Carolina Club each taking the top spot, and South America is looking to make January’s Regional Annual Club Championship (RACC) a three club battle with a Season Three victory.

New England has pulled out to a 400 point lead over New York as Week 10 was a huge week for New England, outscoring New York by more than 800 points. New York is starting to push back in Week 11 making up 400 of those points in two days. New York is aware of what a third RSCC would mean, leaving only one season to sweep the region and lock themselves into the World Cup of iRacing. Expect to see many New England and New York club cars out on the track fighting for those valuable club points in the finals days of Season Three.

The Central European Region is looking to be the first region with a three time champion as Italy pulls away from DE-AT-CH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). Over the last two weeks Italy has tallied over 800 more points than DE-AT-CH. They now hold a 1582 point lead and are well on their way to a three-peat. This leaves the DE-AT-CH, International, and Scandinavia Clubs waiting for the Season Four RSCC, and a fresh start to take down Italy.

In the Central US Region the Great Plains have lost 200 points in their lead over the Midwest, but still are 2100 points ahead. The lead had shrunk to 1800 but the Great Plains took to the track and gained 300 more points this week than the charging Midwest. Back in the fourth spot Illinois is making some noise.  Even though the Season Three RSCC is out of the picture they have out-gained all the other clubs in the last three weeks by more than 700 points, and are closing in on Texas for the third position.

The Celtic Club is still pulling away from Benelux and the rest of the Western European Region now with a lead of 3500, and outscoring all other clubs in the past three weeks by more than 1000 points.  This will be the first RSCC for the Celtic Club, and they will be the third qualifier for the Regional Annual Club Championship. Iberia, currently fifth out of the five clubs, and Benelux are the only clubs going into Season Four who are not qualified out of the Western European Region.

Ohio has kept to their championship form even with a huge lead in the Mid-Atlantic Region and gained 1000 more points than the other four clubs in their region over the past few weeks. Ohio will capture their second RSCC. The Atlantic sits second, Virginias Club third, Pennsylvania fourth and New Jersey fifth.

In the Pacific Region the West Club now is approaching a 5000 point lead over Australia and a 10,000 point lead over third place California. The West has dominated the region and will take their first RSCC in Season Three. Australia will have to try a little harder in Season Four to gain a spot in the RACC and join The West and California.