THE BIG 127: Matjoulis Captures First Tour Victory of Season 2 with Pro Late Models at Eldora
Former World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series champ makes seven winners in seven races
Jan. 13, 2021 – He might have been racing from his house in Ashville, NY, but Blake Matjoulis was right at home at Rossburg, OH’s Eldora Speedway Wednesday night.
The 2019 World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model iRacing World Champion led all 40 laps around The Big E behind the wheel of his Swindell SpeedLab #127 en route to his second career DIRTcar eSports Tour Feature victory presented by Hoosier Racing Tire.
Matjoulis cracked the whip right at the drop of the green, took the lead from outside the front row and made the 24-car field pay, never once letting any of his competition get too far underneath him in attempts to steal the spotlight. More specifically, his three biggest threats in the field – Alex Bergeron, Dylan Houser, and Kendal Tucker.
Matjoulis and Bergeron stuck to the bottom in the opening stages of the race while before long, Tucker and Houser began to make the high side work. Those three swapped spots all race long, passing inside and outside and using every lane available on the track. However, this only allowed Matjoulis to ride out front comfortably.
Houser, of Ocala, FL, eventually proved he knew the high side the best and was able to close-off the runner-up spot to his competition just after the halfway point, then sight his sights on the leader. And Matjoulis knew he was coming.
“Houser was definitely good up there,” Matjoulis told DIRTVision announcer Josh Pike in the post-race interview. “He tracked me down a little and I was just able to hold onto the top spot. It would have been hard for him to pass, but he was definitely right there.”
With less than 10-to-go, Houser had caught Matjoulis’ rear decklid and was gaining a tenth on him each lap. Until he made a critical mistake and scrubbed the Turn 3-4 wall with six laps remaining, breaking his momentum just enough to throw his chance for victory out the window.
Matjoulis held off one final charge from Houser and third-place Evan Seay in the final corners to score his second career Tour victory and first since the second race of Season 1, back in May of 2020.
“Definitely a close race between the top three, no breathing room, no room for mistakes. When you get to these races, it’s all about being consistent. Frankly, we didn’t make any and were able to hold on for a win,” he said.
The DIRTcar eSports Tour action wraps up in just two weeks’ time with the eighth and final race of Season 2 at Lernerville Speedway on Wednesday, January 27, once again featuring the ground-pounding, Earth-shaking, window-rattling Super DIRTcar Series Big-Block Modifieds! Register today at DIRTcar.com/eSports and watch all the action live on DIRTVision!
Hoosier Racing Tire Feature (40 Laps) – 1. 127-Blake Matjoulis [2]; 2. 2-Dylan Houser [6]; 3. 33-Evan Seay [8]; 4. 00-Kendal Tucker [1]; 5. 12-Alex Bergeron [3]; 6. 033-Richard Murtaugh Jr. [4]; 7. 1-Jesse Enterkin [13]; 8. 49-David Heileman [7]; 9. 79-Maxime Plante [17]; 10. 000-Kevin Dedmon [11]; 11. 115-Boddie Parker [18]; 12. 71-Keven HÈbert [16]; 13. 171-Brandon Freeburg [14]; 14. 02-Chance Carr [15]; 15. 787-Cody Zobrist [12]; 16. 54-Larry Barber Jr [5]; 17. 7-Aaron Sparks [19]; 18. 34-Corey Mullinax [20]; 19. 03-Lyndon Whitfill [10]; 20. 89-Austin Friedman [9]; 21. 46-Jonathan Nause [22]; 22. 07-Marko Mitchell [21]; 23. 56-Tyler Schneider [23]; 24. 75-Andrew Piercefield [24]
KILLED IT: First-Time Street Stock League Starter Kilgore Wins at USA Int’l
Jackson notches another podium finish, Hackney places third in debut
After leading all but one lap of the 30-lap Feature in his Chevy Performance Street Stock League debut Wednesday night, Carl Kilgore could barely believe his eyes when the caution flag flew with just three laps remaining.
“It all started at that restart,” Kilgore told announcer Josh Pike in the DIRTVision post-race interview. “When we had that caution come out… man, my guts were turning, I ain’t gonna lie to you.”
Tyler Jackson, the two-time Feature winner in Season 2, had been breathing down his neck for several laps before the caution, and was ready to make the move to put himself in DIRTcar eSports Victory Lane at USA International Speedway.
“I knew Tyler Jackson was going to have something because right before the caution came out, I saw him go to the top of Turns 1 and 2. Those last two laps when he came off of 2, and had the run down the backstretch, I was watching my mirror and seeing where he was wanting to go,” he said.
Green flag; pedal down. Kilgore stayed glued to the bottom lane in the corners and hugged the outside wall down the straightaways as the field raced out the final laps in green-white-checkered fashion.
Jackson was unable to make the move on the top side that he found advantageous to his run earlier, but he had one option left as he flew down into Turn 3 for the final time around the virtual three-quarter-mile oval.
A bump, a tap, a shove… call it what you will, but it didn’t work to Jackson’s favor in the end. Kilgore somehow was able to hang onto his #021 Street Stock through Turns 3-4, beating Jackson in a drag race to the stripe to pick up his first career DIRTcar eSports victory.
“Going into 3 on that last lap, I had a feeling something was coming… so I just kinda prepared myself for it, drug the brake a little bit through the center to keep the side-bite in there, and we got the drive off to get the win.”
Kilgore’s teammate, Keith Hackney, crossed the line in third after running a good slice of the race in second and smashing into a spinning lapped car towards the home stretch. He also picked up his first career podium with the League and a $50 check for his efforts.
The Chevy Performance Street Stock League action wraps up in just two weeks’ time on Wednesday, January 27, with the eighth and final race of Season 2 at Lanier National Speedway. Register today at DIRTcar.com/eSports and watch all the action live on DIRTVision!
Chevy Performance Feature (30 Laps) – 1. 021-Carl Kilgore [2]; 2. 8-Tyler Jackson [5]; 3. 69-Keith Hackney [3]; 4. 18-Kyle Sirratt [1]; 5. 111-Lewis Clark [8]; 6. 9-Dalton Peavy [6]; 7. 0-Mitchell Clark [9]; 8. 003-Thorne Zimmerman [16]; 9. 2-Bradley Weaver [17]; 10. 5-Jason Metoxen [15]; 11. 11-Sterling Beard [10]; 12. 93-Steve Miskolczi [11]; 13. 15-Michael Putnam [23]; 14. 5-Zak Williams [18]; 15. 7-Brayden McMahan [21]; 16. 89-Billy Smith [22]; 17. 002-Clifford Bellomy [24]; 18. 82-Paul Visage [4]; 19. 66-Preston Dimsdale [13]; 20. 95-Brian Brunscheen [19]; 21. 26-Sean Stevens [14]; 22. 79-Dakota Osborn [12]; 23. 26-Sage Luther [7]; 24. 02-Bradley Steinruck [20]
DIRTcar Racing is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel), Chevy Performance Parts, iRacing (Official Online Racing Game) and NAPA Auto Parts (SDS). Contingency sponsors include: ARP Automotive Racing Products (SDS), ASI Race Wear (SDS), Bicknell Racing Products, Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux, Cometic Gasket (SDS), COMP Cams (SDS), DART (SDS), Fox Shox (SDS), and Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum) (SDS); along with manufacturer sponsors, including: Beyea Headers, FireAde, Intercomp,Racing Electronics and TNT Rescue.
Sources: Jordan DeLucia, DIRTcar Racing PR