Side-by-side racing in the midwest has been exceptionally strong over the past few years, with dozens of drivers shoring up the field in multiple classes. The entry lists will look the same in the ERX Off-Road National from ERX Motor Park this weekend, but for the second time in three seasons, there’ll be a new sanctioning body at the helm.

Championship Off-Road officially takes over this weekend from the Lucas Oil Midwest Short Course League, which had itself replaced TORC: The Off-Road Championship in 2018. Promoted by the same group that handles Snocross, COR inherited the same events on last year’s schedule, while also bumping the July event at Dirt City Motorplex from a regional to a national level.

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CJ Greaves has long proven that it’s possible to dominate both Pro Truck and SXS racing at the same time, but he’ll be far from the only one maintaining multiple race programs this year. Whether it’s Kyle Chaney, Jimmy Henderson, or Scottie Lawrence, each of whom are slated to join Greaves in Pro 4 this year, many of the top side-by-side racers in the midwest will be going for dual podiums throughout the weekend.

Last year’s ERX round saw a pair of sweeps in the Pro classes, with Chaney pulling off the feat in Pro Mod and Greaves managing it in Pro Stock. They weren’t the only Pro drivers that scored two podiums in the weekend, though, as Kyle Greaves placed second to his cousin in both Pro Stock races and Rodney VanEperen added second and third place results in Pro Mod. Sportsman was a different story, on the other hand, as six different drivers finished on the podium throughout the weekend.

Many of the drivers expected to run up front this weekend were in action two weeks ago at Dirt City, running the second race of the SXS Sports King of the Elements season. Chaney and VanEperen entered as Pro Mod favorites, and Jack LeTourneau impressed in Pro Stock with a heat victory over VanEperen, but none of the three finished those races; VanEperen still came out of the weekend with a Pro Stock victory, but only three racers (Henderson, Lawrence, and Tyler Livingston) finished on the lead lap of the grueling Pro Mod final.

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The full 2020 Championship Off-Road schedule is as follows:

  • July 10-11: ERX Motor Park
  • July 25-26: Dirt City Motorplex
  • August 14-16: Bark River International Raceway
  • September 4-5: Crandon International Raceway (World Championship)
  • September 25-26: Crandon International Raceway (Brush Run)

Friday and Saturday’s ERX Off-Road National will stream at champoffroad.com/livestream starting at 12:20PM ET (9:20AM PT) on both race days.

Images via Championship Off-Road

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