Oliver Eriksson claimed his first win of the Nitrocross season at Glen Helen Raceway, holding off a charging Conner Martell who enjoyed a breakthrough performance in the headline Group E class.
It was Eriksson’s first podium of the season, and first victory since last season’s visit to Circuit Trois-Rivieres.
The Olsbergs MSE made a strong getaway from pole position, but was challenged by Andreas Erikson through the first corner, the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing JC RX Cartel driver sneaking past Martell and Kevin Eriksson who started alongside his younger brother on the front row of the grid.
Bakkerud soon fell away, landing from a jump on the main straight at an angle, then being collected by Kevin Eriksson who had nowhere to go. The contact allowed Martell to move into second while Oliver Eriksson stretched out in front.
Oliver Eriksson continued to keep Martell at bay on the second lap, but the Vermont SportsCar driver began to close in on lap three, as both started to pull away from Fraser McConnell who, along with the lead pair, was one of only three drivers to not take the longer Joker route on the opening lap.
Martell jokered a lap later, ceding position to teammate Travis Pastrana, who’d had a quiet race up to that point, but when it was his turn to take the mandatory longer route a lap later, Martell returned ahead.
Joker strategies had allowed Oliver Eriksson to enter the last lap with a considerable lead, but he hadn’t played his hand yet, doing so on that final tour. That brought him and Martell together once again, this time closer than ever.
Martell ran the Swede close towards the end, making contact at the final turn, but had to settle for second – the first time he’s finished on the podium since the first part of the Phoenix doubleheader in November 2022.
The fight for third ended just as intensely, with Robin Larsson and Kevin Eriksson going door-to-door to the line, with Larsson just edging his compatriot. Early podium challenger McConnell faded to fifth by race end, ahead of Bakkerud who recovered strongly to finish ahead of Pastrana. Brian Deegan was classified eighth after spinning out at the first corner, moments into the final.
Oliver Eriksson’s win came after he finished second to Larsson in the Top Qualifier race earlier in the day – a race he got into after a heat win against Bakkerud.
McConnell, Larsson, and Kevin Eriksson won the other heats, while the remainder of the field went to the Last Chance Qualifiers. They were won by Martell and Bakkerud, with series debutant Viktor Vranckx being the only casualty, missing the final after retiring from the opening lap of the first LCQ. The Belgian had shown strongly in the preliminary rounds, finishing second in both his qualifying seeding heat and qualifying heat.
With Larsson ensuring Kevin Eriksson missed the podium for just the second time this season, he also snatched the championship lead for the first time this season. The reigning champion leads by 12 points.
NITROCROSS GROUP E CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
In NRX NEXT, Casper Jansson led from lights to flag in the final, with an early challenge from Lia Block fading away as she fended off a charging Jimmy Henserson on the joker merge mid-race.
Block held on for second, while U.S. rally regular Patrick Gruszka was third. Lan Vacala and Henderson – who jokered after Block on the penultimate lap – rounded out the top five.
Pastrana, who along with Brian Deegan was pulling double duty in both Group E and Side-by-Sides, won the latter ahead of Kainan Baker and Michael Leach. It was Pastrana’s second consecutive win in the support class after he claimed victory in Phoenix a month ago.
Ryan Rodriguez was victorious in the Baja Bugs category, ahead of Blake Wilkey and Kyle Zirkus.