FUSION Racing + FUSION Squad

27 of the world’s best off-road sim racers and real-world racing superstars took to iRacing on Thursday night for the General Tire eShort Course World Cup presented by Fistful of Bourbon, the second edition of the premier virtual short course event in the world. When all was said and done, it was Holden Heitritter who made the most of the event, scoring the victory in the Pro 4 feature from Crandon International Raceway and the overall World Cup win on points.

This year’s event featured a switch from four races to two, a Pro 2 round at Wild West Motorsports Park and Pro 4 race at Crandon, with heat races to set the grids and full inversions on all sessions. Along with a list of top sim racers who qualified for the all-star event through finishes in Jim Beaver eSports events from 2020, celebrity crossover drivers Travis Pastrana, Greg Biffle, Ron Capps, Parker Kligerman, Bucky Lasek, and Landon Cassill joined real-world off-road invitees Alan and Rodrigo Ampudia, Ronnie Anderson, and Mikey Lawrence to give the event some real-world flair.

The full-field inverts forced the sim racers to work their way through the celebrity traffic throughout the night, producing exciting action in both divisions. In Pro 2, Gary Greene held off Josh Fox for the first heat win, while Heitritter and Trenton Briley came home first and second in the second heat. In the feature, though, it was an intense three-way battle between Joe Lusk, Connor Barry, and Brandyn Proudfoot—the latter coming from the very back of the field—that ended with Lusk taking the checkered flag.

The Pro 4 race at Crandon featured the track’s trademark landrush starts, and two new heat winners: 2020 Jim Beaver eSports Crandon World Cup winner Luke Knupp took the first, and Briley held off Bobby Rafferty to win the second. In the main event, drivers faced a two-lap shootout at the very end of the race, with Heitritter pulling away from an intense battle by drivers like Dave Bodio and reigning eShort Course World Cup champion Cam Pedersen to take the victory and secure the World Cup title. Former Baja 1000 winner Alan Ampudia was second in the race with Rafferty third, and that podium was joined by Knupp and Barry in locking up their 2022 World Cup berths on event points.

The final points table for the 2021 General Tire eShort Course World Cup presented by Fistful of Bourbon was as follows:

Pos.	No.	Driver Name	Pro 2 Q	Pro 2 H	Pro 2 F	Pro 4 Q	Pro 4 H	Pro 4 F	Total
1	512	Holden Heitritter		25	12	8	15	50	110
2	77	Luke Knupp	4	10	25		25	25	89
3	528	Connor Barry		6	40	4	18	20	88
4	10	Alan Ampudia		4	30		10	40	84
5	7	Bobby Rafferty		12			18	35	65
6	17	Trenton Briley		18	7		25	12	62
7	20	Joe Lusk	2		50		10		62
8	22	Brandyn Proudfoot	8		35		6	8	57
9	48	Cameron Pedersen	10	12	4	10	4	16	56
10	12	Josh Fox		18	1		2	30	51
11	21	Gary Greene		25	10		6	3	44
12	131	Bobby Sandt Jr.		10	16		8	7	41
13	11	Connor Parise		6	6		12	14	38
14	14	James Ambrosius	6	15	14				35
15	77	Parker Kligerman		1	20		4	4	29
16	16	Dave Bodio		8			2	18	28
17	72	Sean Stratton		15	3		8	1	27
18	52	Ronnie Anderson		8	18				26
19	58	Josh Edmundson				2	12	10	24
20	50	Mason Prater				6	15		21
21	85	Mikey Lawrence		2	8			9	19
22	28	Ron Capps		2	9		1		12
23	89	Landon Cassill		1	5			5	11
24	16	Greg Biffle		4				2	6
25	199	Travis Pastrana						6	6
26	36	Rodrigo Ampudia			2		1		3
27	81	Bucky Lasek							0

 

The 2021 General Tire eShort Course World Cup presented by Fistful of Bourbon will make its television debut on the CBS Sports Network on February 14, 2021 at 1PM ET/10AM PT. The iRacing-produced hour-long broadcast will feature all of the highlights and main events from the second annual event.

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