If you’re a fan of side-by-side racing of any type, this weekend’s World Championship Off-Road Races at Crandon International Raceway has something for you. Not only will Championship Off-Road and Midwest Off-Road Racing crown the season-long champions for the pro and sportsman divisions, respectively, but Ultra4 will also join the fray with a full slate of races on Crandon’s ultracross track that includes action of a whole different discipline.
What had been two intense Pro SXS points battles all year long spread out in COR’s penultimate event at Bark River International Raceway, with single-digit points leads expanding to 17 for Rodney VanEperen in Pro Mod and 47 for Brock Heger in Pro Stock, respectively. But anything can happen in the final event of the year, a fact that has been proven time and again this season with leaders pulling off with mechanical failures and drivers following up race wins with DNFs.
VanEperen made his way around Andrew Carlson for the top spot in the Pro Mod standings at Bark River, with his son Owen climbing to second heading into Crandon as well. Still, Carlson remains third at just 22 points back, so don’t expect the Polaris RZR factory driver to yield to the Yamaha duo quite so easily. Owen’s consistent season of double duty SxS action also sees him sitting third in the Pro Stock standings.
But Pro Stock has been owned by Heger and CJ Greaves all year long, as the duo have battled for the honor of COR’s only driver to lead two Pro divisions at the same time thanks to stellar campaigns in their respective truck divisions. They had been separated by single-digit points for most of the year until Heger swept Bark River and Greaves posted a 20th place finish in the first race. It’ll take a similar anomaly for Heger to open the door for Greaves in the final race of the year.
The Ultra4 Crandon Classic supplements the short course action with a challenge of its own, and points awarded in both Ultra4’s North and East divisions. Jacob Versey will look to expand his 60-point lead in the North division, while Jamie McCoy enters with the 68-point advantage among East racers.
The COR Pro Stock and Pro Mod season finales will run at 3:45PM and 4:15PM on Saturday, before giving way to the Ultra4 SXS action at 7:15PM that night. Pro Stock and Pro Mod will return to the track on Sunday for their Crandon World Championship races at 11:45AM and 12:30PM on Sunday, respectively. Sportsman SXS racing will run throughout the afternoon on both Friday and Saturday.
Images via Championship Off-Road
