Robin Larsson wrapped up his second Nitrocross title with a clean sweep on the second day of the season-ending Las Vegas doubleheader.
The DRR JC RX Cartel driver won every one of his preliminary races en route to the final, but it was after the second heat race — which he merely needed to start after winning his first race of the day — that he wrapped up the title.
That didn’t lead to him taking it easy in the six-lap final though, and he duly launchedd into an early lead from pole position, as Timmy Hansen, the 2018 Nitrocross champion returning to the series for the first time since 2021, settled in behind him from second on the grid.
Behind the lead pair, Larsson’s RX Cartel teammate Andreas Bakkerud hit trouble early on, being sent into the wall at Turn 1 after a door-to-door brush with Guillaume de Ridder. The race continued though, with Hansen making life difficult for Larsson up front as de Ridder shadowed him.
Hansen came closest to taking the lead in lap 3 off the gap jump, when he looked up the inside of the hard left hander which immediately followed it, but Larsson remained resolute up front. He tried again in the same place a lap later, but the result was the same.
Larsson’s win ended up being secured on lap 5 when, on the approach to the gap jump, de Ridder tapped Hansen as he attempted to take second and join the lead battle. The move cost both time, allowing Larsson to pull away. Hansen was able to recover some of the lost ground, but not enough by the race end.
Larsson eventually won by 1.444s from Hansen, with de Ridder locking in third in his second round in the series.
Fraser McConnell finished fourth after a quiet final, the position solidifying second in the points for him. Conner Martell was fifth, but his final will be remembered for what happened post race, when he performed a burnout against the concrete wall in front of the fans which resulted in his front tires bursting into flames.
Viktor Vranckx was sixth in his team’s third car, which sported an Evel Kneivel-inspired, livery. He was driving the alternate car after crashing heavily on Saturday which necessitated a hospital visit.
Oliver Eriksson was classified seventh after he joined Bakkerud in retiring early on.
NITROCROSS LAS VEGAS II FINAL RESULTS
After winning on Friday, McConnell entered Saturday’s season finale still with a shot at the title, but his failure to win his first race of Sunday effectively ended his hopes.
McConnell finished second to Hansen in his first heat, with the others being won by Bakkerud and de Ridder. McConnell was then able to win in the next round, along with Oliver Eiksson, but his absence from the Top Qualifier race, as a result of missing out on a heat win, proved vital.
Later in the day, finishes outside the top-two in the Last Chance Qualifiers prevented Kevin Eriksson, Oliver Bennett, Patrick O’Donovan, and Travis Pastrana from advancing to the main event.
NITROCROSS LAS VEGAS II OVERALL CLASSIFICATION
With drivers’ lowest scores dropped – not including Calgary where everyone scored zero points by default after the weather affected the event — Larsson took the title by 82 points over McConnell, with Kevin Eriksson, who led the standings in the first part of the season, third, 101 points adrift of Larsson. Bakkerud finished the season fourth, ahead of Oliver Eriksson in fifth, with Pastrana sixth despite sitting out the second round at Glen Helen Raceway in December.
NITROCROSS 2023-24 FINAL STANDINGS
The Nitrocross NEXT season ended with Casper Jansson taking an eighth consecutive win. The streak is a record for any U.S.-based rallycross series in any class.
The final was subject to a lengthy red flag delay after a roll for Ellis Spezia on lap 3 while taking the joker.
Once it restarted, Elias Svensson capped off a fine debut weekend by finishing second behind Jansson, while Lane Vacala finished third.
In Side-by-Sides, Branden Sorensen won on home turf ahead of Banks Hovey, Gray Leadbetter, and his sister Amanda Sorensen, with three-time NASCAR Truck Series champion Matt Crafton completing the top-five. After crashing out of the SxS Open final, season champion Kainan Baker won the PRO invitational class final.
The Baja Bugs final victory went to Blake Wilkey, ahead of UFC star Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, who took his first podium finish of the season. Jim York completed the podium.