Tag: Utah Motorsports Campus

Bakkerud goes back-to-back in Nitrocross Salt Lake City

Andreas Bakkerud became the first driver to sweep both finals of a double-header weekend in Nitrocross at Utah Motorsports Campus on Sunday. As with Saturday, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing JC driver Bakkerud started the final from pole position, and …

Andreas Bakkerud became the first driver to sweep both finals of a double-header weekend in Nitrocross at Utah Motorsports Campus on Sunday.

As with Saturday, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing JC driver Bakkerud started the final from pole position, and led teammate Robin Larsson into the first corner. From there, the pair held station for the remainder of the four-lap main.

Larsson, however did face intense pressure from Conner Martell on the final two laps, a duel which resulted in a huge crash for Martell which also collected Lia Block.

Coming into the final corner, Larsson and Martell were door-to-door with the Vermont SportsCar driver going wide and slamming into the pit wall. The resulting dust cloud covered the entire start/finish straight, leaving Block with zero visibility and she slammed into Martell’s sticken machine at full speed.

The crash handed Oliver Eriksson third place, ensuring a repeat of Saturday’s podium. Eriksson prevented a DRR podium sweep by getting by Fraser McConnel on the final lap after Jokering a lap later than the Jamaican to overlap.

Tanner Foust got by the late race crash to finish fourth, while Block was classified fifth after limping across the line, with Kevin Eriksson sixth after being bumped off the track just after the Joker merge on lap 1 following contact with McConnell.

McConnell was seventh after his late race fade, with Martell classified eighth – although he did take the fastest lap before he retired.

Larsson now assumes the points lead with a 12 point advantage over Oliver Eriksson, while Bakkerud-s back-to-back wins means he now sits third in the points, 28 off the top spot.

NITROCROSS SALT LAKE CITY II FINAL RESULTS

Mitchell De Jong dominated Sunday’s Nitrocross NEXT EVO final, after emerging from the first turn on the opening lap in the lead. He and Tommi Hallman entered the corner door-to-door, with De Jong edging past.

Hallman then had to defend from Casper Jansson, with the Finn managing to keep second ahead of the reigning NEXT champion.

Kainan Baker won the second Side-by-Side final of the weekend after getting by Kory Willis by alternating his Joker strategy, leaving it late to take the alternate route. Banks Hovey, another to Joker late, finished second, while Gray Leadbetter finished third.

Oliver Flemente won the second Baja Bugs final of the weekend ahead of Kyle Zirkus and Nick Eisenhouer.

Pastrana resists Kevin Eriksson pressure to take Nitrocross win in Utah

Travis Pastrana held off a charging Kevin Eriksson to claim his first win of the 2023-24 Nitrocross season at Utah Motorsports Campus. After both got their longer joker lap out of the way early, they engaged in a tense fight for the round win, but …

Travis Pastrana held off a charging Kevin Eriksson to claim his first win of the 2023-24 Nitrocross season at Utah Motorsports Campus.

After both got their longer joker lap out of the way early, they engaged in a tense fight for the round win, but despite his best efforts, the elder Eriksson brother couldn’t get by the 2021 series champion.

While the joker was said to equate to a two-second deficit to the main lap, Pastrana grabbed an early lead. That came after Vermont SportsCar teammate Conner Martell led the field onto the main lap, but a mechanical issue brought him to a halt on the exit of Turn 1. That resulted in an accordion throughout the rest of the field which claimed Oliver Eriksson, who sustained heavy front-end damage after hitting Conor Daly.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing JC RX Cartel driver Andreas Bakkerud would have been in the box seat to take the lap one lead were it not for the traffic — he jokered on the second lap and immediately set about hunting down the lead pair of Pastrana and Kevin Eriksson.

There was little to choose between the trio over the final two laps of the four-lap final, with Kevin Eriksson closing to within half a second heading onto the last lap. That gap continued to come down to the point where Eriksson was making contact with Pastrana heading into the last paved section of the track, but he couldn’t find a way past.

Bakkerud similarly held station for the second half of the race, coming home third, while Benito Guerra took his career-best finish in fourth, having mirrored Pastrana and Kevin Eriksson’s joker strategy.

Daly also took a best result to-date with fifth, matching the top four drivers’ lap times, and bettering them on the final lap of the race, despite starting the day by missing both practice sessions. Reigning champion Robin Larsson was a distant sixth after sustaining a puncture in the opening lap melee, while Martell was able to get going after his stoppage, but finished over a minute adrift of race winner Pastrana.

FINAL RESULTS

FULL EVENT CLASSIFICATION

Mechanical issues prevented Conor Martell from converting a career-best qualifying performance into a strong overall result. Tyler Tate/Nitrocross

Martell’s disappointing final was a stark contrast to the rest of the day, where he looked set to claim a landmark result.

He started off with his first-ever Top Qualifier result, beating Kevin Eriksson and Bakkerud in the deciding race. He then won his semifinal, Pastrana and Larsson winning the other two.

Pre-event points leader Fraser McConnell had a torrid round, which started with him being excluded from his heat race for a technical infringement after winning on the road. After that, a second-place finish behind Martell in his semifinal wasn’t enough for a final berth, meaning he needed a strong result in his Last Chance Qualifier to make it. However, there he made contact with a wall and broke a driveshaft, leaving him on the sidelines for the main, along with XITE Energy Racing duo Tanner Foust and Oliver Bennett who were the other drivers who didn’t advance through the heats, semis, and LCQs.

As a result of his troubles, McConnell tumbled to fifth in the points, with Kevin Eriksson assuming the lead, ahead of Pastrana and Bakkerud.

NITROCROSS GROUP E CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

In Nitrocross NEXT, Casper Jansson dominated the five-lap final to win ahead of points leader Lane Vacala, but Vacala was later declared winner for the third round in a row after Jansson failed a ride height check post-race.

Jimmy Henderson was therefore awarded second after finishing third on the road, with series newcomer Patrick Gruszka classified third. Lia Block finished second initially, but was also excluded for the same ride height infraction as her Olsbergs MSE teammate Jansson.

Kainan Baker was once again the victor in Side-by-Sides, claiming his third win from three starts so far this season. The 15-year-old beat Tyler Remmereid, while Chip Ganassi Extreme E racer Amanda Sorensen rounded out the podium, despite contact with Mika Block on lap three that resulted in the 12-year-old son of rallying legend Ken Block retiring from the race.

In Baja Bugs, Blake Wilkey was the winner with Ryan Rodriguez and Greg Shapiro completing the podium.