Crandon, Wis. ~ ERX Motor Park has offered up some of the tightest racing over the past few seasons, and the opening round of the AMSOIL Championship Off-Road weekend was no exception.
The nearly one-mile track features technical racing at its finest. Devilish whoops, blinded vertical jumps and a slipper sand section were waiting to swallow-up the best off-road racers on the planet. By the end of the weekend, the season will hit its midpoint, and racers were eager to close the championship gap in Elk River, Minn.
Johnny Greaves Gets Third Pro 4 Win
After a dominating performance in Elk River on Friday night, Johnny Greaves proved that there is still plenty left in the tank and that he’s still willing to throw it into a tight turn with any of his younger counterparts.
Racing a Pro 4 at the end of a long, hot day, with the setting sun casting deep shadows across the mile-long track, is a recipe for chaos. The high-horse-powered four-wheel drives dig into every last speck of loose dirt looking for traction. Johnny Greaves found more than enough forward bite to grab his first win of the season.
Hometown kid Andrew Carlson took the first swing at the lead, heading off the line ahead of CJ Greaves. After the #15 truck of Carlson spun out, the younger Greaves took the lead. Two minutes later, though, CJ had to pull to the side to deal with an electrical issue.
That put Kyle Chaney up front, with Johnny Greaves a close second. Johnny quickly got around Chaney, as did the 99 of Kyle LeDuc. For the next several laps, LeDuc was on a mission to get around Greaves. The two were door-to-door several times, but LeDuc wasn’t able to get out front and with two minutes left on the clock, LeDuc had to pull into the hot pit for a tire change. Greaves put it on auto-pilot from there as he motored to the top of the box.
“I wasn’t on point through practice and qualifying,” said Johnny Greaves. “I just told the guys ‘Don’t worry, it will come around once they put the real green flag in front of me’. We had a lot of pressure from Kyle that whole race, and I got to thank him for running me clean. We had a great battle going. But you know I just hit my marks, and everything went well.”
Meanwhile, CJ Greaves was able to get his truck reset and back on track without losing any laps. After rejoining in tenth, CJ slithered his way into podium position before getting past RJ Anderson for second.
Anderson, who was dealing with a mechanical issue, would drop back another spot as Jimmy Henderson made his way past on the last lap. Henderson, who started in the top three but dropped back as far as eighth, set his fastest lap time of the race on the second to last lap. It marked his second straight podium.
Kleiman Climbs Back on Top in Pro 2
Former class champion Kyle Kleiman has been searching for the winning formula this season, and he thrust himself back into contention with a spectacular performance on Friday night.
After winning the 2020 Championship Off-Road title, Kleiman has been in search of a win since then. At ERX, Kleiman took the lead off the start, with current points leader Jerett Brooks on his bumper. With a lot of carnage popping up behind them, the pair set an extremely quick pace. They would dice it up for the majority of the race, but the day belonged to Kleiman, who handled the pressure with a champion’s poise.
“Honestly it was just being smooth,” said Kleiman. “I know I was giving up a lot of ground in the 180, but these guys are fast, and I knew if I opened up the door, these guys would take it. But hey, it paid off in the end.”
It appeared as if Brooks was going to take home the runner-up spot, but then round two winner Ricky Gutierrez got involved. Gutierrez seemed to be driving a completely different truck than the rest of the field over the final few laps. His aggressiveness, (and clean driving) through traffic allowed him to catch Brooks on with less than two laps to go, and nearly caught the race leader before finishing in second. Brooks would stay on the podium in third.
Win Number Two Extends Greaves Points Lead
Kyle Greaves has become extremely difficult to beat at ERX Motor Park. He has five career wins at the Minnesota venue. That success, along with momentum coming into round five, was a perfect recipe on Friday.
Greaves and Brock Heger lined-up side-by-side on the start and when the green flag dropped Greaves was able to slingshot his way into the lead. The race was enticingly tight between the two throughout, but Greaves is a tough beat once he gets the lead and Hege was unable to match his speed on Friday night. It marked the fourth straight win for Greaves and his second win in three races. It also extended his points lead over the defending champion.
“We just keep coming back and loving this track more. They changed the whoops, and it was a little sketchy in the beginning, but we are here to race and get through it with the other guys.
Heger’s runner-up finish was a nice bounce-back after a rough outing in round four at Crandon last month. Behind him, Carson Parrish and Brody Eggleston went bar-to-bar for the final podium spot, with Parrish notching his second straight third place finish.
Carlson Captures Top Spot in Pro Turbo
Andrew Carlson needed some bounces to go his way in Pro Turbo SxS this weekend, and the Elk River native got what he was looking for.
Carlson, who won at ERX in 2021, came through turn one behind Ronnie Anderson and in front of Kyle Chaney. The three would go back-and-forth for much of the race, with Anderson leading at the halfway mark. But after the restart, Carlson jumped into the lead and didn’t look back, taking his first win of the season as he looks to climb back into the championship mix.
Anderson was left to deal with Chaney and eventually Owen VanEperen. Chaney would suffer a flat tire with three laps to go, allowing VanEperen to move into podium position. He made several runs at Anderson over the final laps, but Anderson wasn’t allowing it as he held on for second.
PRO STOCK SXS: A ten car invert pushed the top drivers in points deep down the start order for Friday’s Pro Stock SXS final. That meant Brock Heger, CJ Greaves and Owen VanEperen would have a lot of work to do if they were going to find their way to the podium.
Early on it was pole-sitter Joe Dresel who took command of the race, but a major crash brought the field to a stop after three laps. That reset brought forth enough opportunity for the points leaders to get into position for the lead. Heger struck first, getting around the top two drivers in a single bound. A few turns later, CJ Greaves and VanEperen followed suit.
Greaves would close the gap on Heger, and was setting up a possible photo-finish, but Greaves hooked a rut and was knocked off his line. That gave Heger the open air he needed as the current points leader took home win number four this season.
VanEperen was able to get past Greaves momentarily, but Greaves powered his way back in front to finish second, just ahead of VanEperen.
PRO SPEC: Gray Leadbetter kept the wolves at bey in an exciting Pro Spec race on Friday.
Leadbetter, who won round one in Antigo, was on the pole to start the race. She snuck out in front and for the first half of the race was able to keep round four winner Nick Visser in her rear-view. But Visser would find trouble after the restart, and it looked like Leadbetter was going to go uncontested the rest of the way. But Eaton Sleaper closed the gap late, pressuring Leadbetter to the line. Leadbetter would take the win, with Sleaper in second and Chris Van Den Elzen rounding out the podium in third.
SPORTSMAN FRIDAY
SUPER BUGGY: Ezra Ebberts was asked to fill in for his dad Dale at ERX, and he took full advantage by winning the Super Buggy race on Friday.
Ebberts got out front right away and was able to hold off some of the sport’s most accomplished buggy drivers for his first career win. Class rookie Billy Buth put in a spirited run for his third straight podium. Veteran Michael Hester closed the gap on points leader Mark Steinhardt with a third place finish.
PRO AM SXS: Bill Berger led from start to finish, but it was a drag race through the final turns as the current points leader picked up his second straight win.
Berger was strong on the straight stretches, but the competition found ways to continuously close the gap. While Berger took the win, he also took the points lead from ERX runner-up Colin Kernz. Kernz finished .339 of a second behind Berger with Logan Christensen less than a car length behind Kernz.
MOD KART: After some opening lap shuffling, Chase Moeller came out of the scrum with the lead and checked out on the field to pick up his first win of the season. Following Moeller to the Mod Kart podium was Zack Wirhanowicz in second and Troy Johnson in third.
1600 LIGHT BUGGY: Connor Schulz became the first 1600 Light Buggy driver to find a winning streak this season. Schulz took over the lead after separating himself from a four-wide line on the first lap. From there, he was able to keep a winning distance over his brother Colin Schulz, who finished second. With the win Connor Schulz takes over the points lead from Colin. Greg Stingle finished third.
170 SXS: Ashton Dreher returned to the winners circle with an exceptional run in Friday’s 170 SXS final. Dreher got the lead on lap two and held off Kody Krantz (second place finish) and Wyatt Olson (third). Olson’s third puts him in the overall points lead.
STOCK TRUCK: Cory Holtger continued his winning ways by noting his third victory in Stock Truck. Holtger was able to get around Diesel Shanak for the lead on lap seven and pulled away for the win. TJ Ewert put continued pressure on Shanak for the next few laps, gaining the runner-up spot on the final circuit. Shanak was able to regroup and finish third.
SHORT COURSE KARTS: Carter Zahara led the first lap, then the final two trips around ERX on his way to his first Short Course Kart win in 2022. Wesley Vande Voort led the race between that time, but came to a stop with two laps remaining, giving Zahara the race lead and the win. Reed LeDuc finished in second, and now holds the overall points lead. Finley Holtger started eighth but crossed the finish line in third.
1600 SINGLE BUGGY: Travis Trelstad and defending 1600 Single Buggy champion Dylan Parsons had a great mid-race battle, but Trelstad was able to win the showdown and led the second half for his first win of the season. Colin Schultz took over the driving duties for Michael Seefeldt on Friday and the back-up driver found his way onto the podium early before moving into second with two laps to go. Points leader John Fitzgerald kept his podium streak alive by finishing third.
SPORTSMAN SXS: Cody Jones had to get through a little bit of traffic early before making a late move to nab his first Sportsman SxS win of the season. Jones started sixth, but methodically moved up into the top three after five laps. He kept finding more speed as the race ticked away and was able to get past Dustin DeGrand with two laps to go for the win. With DeGrand in second, Ben Berger was able to finish where he started, in third.
SUPER STOCK TRUCK: It was a nail biter inside the #873 of Kyle Cooper as he fought off massive puffs of smoke billowing out of his Super Stock Truck to hold on long enough for his second straight win.
While Cooper was out front, it turned into a spectacular battle for the runner-up spot. Ben Holtger and Joe Maciosek were bumper-to-bumper for the six laps, with Maciosek finding enough at the end to finish second.
570 SXS: It was a wire-to-wire win for Ryker Remington, but it was anything but easy for Remington as Chase Braun was on the attack from the very start.
With Remington out front, Braun seemed tethered to the race leader and when the checkered flag came out, Remington kept the advantage. He finished just .023 of a second ahead of Braun for his third straight win. Ellah Holtger ran alone for most of the races, finishing third.
AMSOIL Championship Off-Road returns to action on Saturday, July 16th at ERX Motor Park in Elk River, Minn. Each race weekend features PRO Truck classes, various sportsman classes including open-wheel buggies and both sportsman and PRO side-by-side classes. Every round of racing is aired via live stream exclusively on FloRacing.com.
About ISOC: AMSOIL Championship Off-Road and AMSOIL Championship Snocross are owned and operated by the International Series of Champions (ISOC) out of Albertville, Minn. For more information on its events and schedules, go to www.champoffroad.com.