
Logan Rumsey closes in on World of Outlaws Pro Series title after Eldora victory
January 21st, 2025 by Justin Melillo
The needle on the 2024-25 World of Outlaws Pro Series title fight moved even more in favor of Logan Rumsey after 35 laps at Eldora Speedway on Monday night. Despite missing the top-eight in qualifying, Rumsey managed to win the second Heat, start 10th in the Feature, and then work his way up to take the lead and victory by night’s end for his third victory of the season.
“We just had a really good car there,” Rumsey said post-race. “You never really know what’s going to happen at Eldora. The track was actually pretty racey there at the start. It was kind of hectic. Right on the first lap, a car spun across my screen and I almost thought I was going to wreck. After that, we just started picking cars off. The car was unbelievably fast. Usually you can’t just blow past people like that, but we were able to. I slowly got up front, got to third, and sadly Adam (Elby) got spun out there. Thankfully we were running a turn-down line… if I would have been running the top, I would have drove right into him.”
His main rival in the championship, Kendal Tucker, kept his hopes alive after a rough qualifying outing. After falling to the Last Chance Races, Tucker won his way into the Feature, then moved up from 18th on the grid to continue his top-10 streak for the entire season, finishing eighth. Tucker only lost 26 points to Rumsey, which keeps him in the conversation heading into the finale. However, a lot will need to happen for Tucker to have a shot in Charlotte.
QUALIFYING
Every week, the new wrinkle to the points format this season, which includes both Championship points and automatic transfers to the Feature from qualifying, plays a big part in how the Features stack up with track position as important as ever. As it will be all season long, the top-eight qualifying times every race will forgo all other pre-feature activities, including Heats and Last Chance races, and line up in reverse order at the front of the field of the Feature.
JD Brown laid down the quick time for the night, taking 25 points with him to the championship battle, which meant he would start eighth in the Feature. Matthew Powell managed to get the coveted eighth-best lap time which meant an invert to the pole position. Rumsey, Tucker, Evan Seay and Blake Matjoulis were among the drivers who would be placed in the Heats.
ELDORA SPEEDWAY Qualifying Top 8:
- JD Brown
- Robbie Buchanan Jr
- Aiden Forster
- Adam Elby
- Ethan Winter
- Dylan Yeager
- Mike Augustine
- Matthew Powell
HEATS
Everyone from ninth on back in qualifying were sorted into three Heat races of up to nine cars each. This season, only the top-three transfer to the Feature from the Heats, and everyone else is sent to fend for themselves in the Last Chance races.
With the track fairly fresh, the racing was fastest on the top groove, which meant there wasn’t a lot of opportunities to pass in the early races. Blake Matjoulis won the first Heat, however, after a last-lap pass on Aiden Bierlein. Logan Rumsey and Evan Seay were the other two Heat race winners. Kendal Tucker, who was placed in the third Heat, failed to finish in the top-three, which meant he would have to contest the Last Chance Races.
Heat 1 Transfers:
- Blake Matjoulis
- Aiden Bierlein
- Tyler Schell
Heat 2 Transfers:
- Logan Rumsey
- Loic Bernier
- Ryan Avila
Heat 3 Transfers:
- Evan Seay
- Kenny Hoffman
- Shawn English
LAST CHANCE RACES
The final four spots are set through the Last Chance races. Kendal Tucker had to make the Feature, or his championship hopes and top-10 streak would end. He found himself in the first of two, starting alongside Chase Stewart on the front row. Stewart fell out after halfway, which allowed Tucker to take the lead and advance on.
The second and final Last Chance race was hectic, with the final two spots up for grabs among nine hungry drivers. After 12 intense laps, James Edens and Blake Carrick were the final two to make it through.
Last Chance 1 Transfers:
- Kendal Tucker
- Ty Schobelock
Last Chance 2 Transfers:
- James Edens
- Blake Carrick
FEATURE RACE
With no re-work of the track, the 35-lap Feature started off with a competitive surface for all 21 drivers immediately. That also meant that carnage was a sure possibility, and in the opening moments, disaster struck for Dylan Yeager, who was flipped around after contact with Adam Elby.
Following the restart, Matthew Powell led the field back around the large dirt oval with Elby and the field in tow. From 10th, Rumsey was making waves, moving into the top-five before halfway, right behind Aiden Forster and Mike Augustine.
With 15 laps to go, the leaders tangled, but the race stayed green. Powell and Elby managed to recover quickly, which kept the yellow flag away, but it also allowed Rumsey to take control.
Rumsey had Forster on his heels for the remaining laps, but they stayed the same crossing the line, allowing Rumsey to score his third victory of the season.
Feature Race results from WORLD OF OUTLAWS PRO SERIES, Race 9 at ELDORA SPEEDWAY were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Driver |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
Pts. |
1 | 10 | 41 | Logan Rumsey | 35 | 0.000 | 15 | 14.566 | 115 |
2 | 6 | 20 | Aiden Forster | 35 | -0.593 | 0 | 14.534 | 117 |
3 | 11 | 33 | Evan Seay | 35 | -1.433 | 0 | 14.554 | 107 |
4 | 4 | 39 | Ethan Winter | 35 | -3.412 | 0 | 14.637 | 109 |
5 | 9 | 127 | Blake Matjoulis | 35 | -4.568 | 0 | 14.689 | 101 |
6 | 2 | 19 | Mike Augustine | 35 | -5.172 | 0 | 14.460 | 101 |
7 | 16 | 49 | Ryan Avila | 35 | -5.636 | 0 | 14.659 | 93 |
8 | 18 | 00 | Kendal Tucker | 35 | -6.018 | 0 | 14.680 | 89 |
9 | 19 | 52 | James Edens | 35 | -6.437 | 0 | 14.705 | 83 |
10 | 14 | 11 | Kenny Hoffman | 35 | -7.285 | 0 | 14.628 | 85 |
11 | 12 | 13 | Aiden Bierlein | 35 | -7.610 | 0 | 14.724 | 82 |
12 | 15 | 85 | Tyler Schell | 35 | -7.689 | 0 | 14.769 | 78 |
13 | 8 | 14 | JD Brown | 35 | -7.908 | 0 | 14.621 | 87 |
14 | 17 | 960 | Shawn English | 35 | -8.728 | 0 | 14.659 | 72 |
15 | 20 | 17 | Ty Schobelock | 35 | -9.511 | 0 | 14.713 | 67 |
16 | 7 | 31 | Robbie Buchanan Jr | 35 | -9.861 | 0 | 14.752 | 76 |
17 | 21 | 21 | Blake Carrick | 35 | -10.122 | 0 | 14.693 | 60 |
18 | 1 | 01 | Matthew Powell4 | 35 | -10.820 | 16 | 14.512 | 64 |
19 | 5 | 074 | Adam Elby | 34 | -1L | 3 | 14.503 | 65 |
20 | 13 | 74 | Loic Bernier | 34 | -1L | 0 | 15.018 | 55 |
21 | 3 | 48 | Dylan Yeager | 30 | -5L | 0 | 16.290 | 57 |
WORLD OF OUTLAWS PRO SERIES Points following Race 9 at ELDORA SPEEDWAY are as follows:
- Logan Rumsey, 960
- Kendal Tucker, 882
- Dylan Yeager, 756
- JD Brown, 736
- Ryan Avila, 689
- Blake Matjoulis, 670
- Mike Augustine, 670
- Evan Seay, 655
- Ethan Johnson, 636
- Aiden Forster, 553
With a 78-point lead entering The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Logan Rumsey just needs a solid night in the final Dirt Late Model race of the season to claim his first-career championship. Those are the only two still left, after Dylan Yeager crashed out and lost too many points at Eldora this week.
Race #10’s broadcast at Charlotte will once again be live at 8:00 pm ET on that Monday night, live on DIRTVision and all of iRacing’s social channels.
The driver roster will be set each week through qualifying races that are open to all members with a Class A Dirt Oval license. These races will run on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 8PM ET, and the top 35 point scorers will be invited to the iRacing World of Outlaws Pro Series league each week for the Monday night main event. After the Monday show, the league is cleared out, and the process begins again. Points will be tracked as normal across those 10 main events to crown the series champion.
For details on how to qualify, visit www.iracing.com/woo-pro-series/qualifying.
For more information on the series, visit www.iracing.com/woo-pro-series. For more information on the World of Outlaws, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.