UTV RACING NEWS

UTV RACING NEWS

Here’s to promoters and racers for a great 2021 UTV racing season, and there’s good UTV racing news coming in 2022! Short-course racing has been spectacular, as have longer desert races. For its first time out, Oklahoma’s MidAmerica Outdoors (MAO) has put on stellar events with great racing. MidAmerica’s course, while very rocky, makes great use of a long valley with massive hills and a wide variety of jumps and obstacles. The long and twisty course also has plenty of places for spectators to enjoy the close racing, and race weekends include plenty of action and fun activities. While not a part of the MAO 2021 $210,000 UTV race series, Visions was MAO’s biggest event in July.

Kyle Chaney won the Pro Short-Course class over Cody Martin and Scottie Lawrence for an all-X3 podium. Cody Miller made the trek from Texas to win the UTV Endurance ahead of Paul Wolff and brother Hunter for another all-Can-Am podium. The eighth and championship MAO round is October 30th.

Texas also has good UTV racing news, with the renamed 2021 Outlaw UTV Racing Series. The 10-round, $200,000 series has a great Texas-sized track with Texas-sized jumps and a bowl turn. The Miller brothers have dominated the Pro Turbos, with Cody taking four wins and Hunter taking two wins in the first six rounds. In Pro NA 1000s, Polaris factory athletes Ronnie Anderson and Kainan Baker dominated the first five rounds, but Talon pilot Cross Kirchmeier won the sixth round. Pro $30,000 championship checks will be handed out November 7th after the double-header finale.

The 10-round, 2021 World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS) has also put on great events despite having to reschedule the first three rounds due to COVID-19. Crazy Horse Campground in Lake Havasu hosted the first and third rounds, and Canyon MX Park in Peoria, Arizona, hosted the second round. In Pro Turbos, Beau Judge (C-A) won the first two rounds, and Beau Baron and Davi Haagsma later fought back for Polaris. Judge won again in Idaho. Rising star Cayden MacCachran has won three Pro Stock 1000 rounds, and Casey Sims has also won a round. RS1s have won every Pro Stock race so far.

Great American Short-course (GAS) has done a great job of bringing West Coast short-course racing back after the Lucas Oil Off-Road Race Series (LOORRS) was abruptly canceled for 2021. Chance Haugen has dominated Production Turbo, and Dallas Nord won three of four Pro Stock races.

The Champ Off-Road Tour has had awesome racing at iconic venues such as Crandon International Raceway and ERX Park. Crandon’s land-rush start and wide, 1.3-mile track produced wide-open racing, while ERX’s big jumps, high-banked turns and split lanes also provided great racing. Defending Pro Mod and Pro Stock champion CJ Greaves and 2018 LOORRS Production 1000 champ Brock Heger have dominated Pro Stock UTVs and traded wins at every venue. In Pro Mod UTVs, Andrew Carlson (Pol) has won three rounds, Lucas Oil Midwest short-course 2019 Pro Turbo champion Kyle Chaney has won two, and Rodney and Owen VanEperen have won two and one round respectively. Champ has four rounds to run at press time, and it’ll be fun and exciting to see all these series wrap up.

As we reported last month, WORCS and SCORE have announced their 2022 race dates (see “Schedule”), and Best in the Desert and Utlra4 just announced UTV rule changes for 2022 that will surely further the sport. BITD is streamlining the current UTV classes, eliminating RS1s. Classes will be UTV Production Turbo (T901), NA Production (1801), Open (B901), Super Stock (S901), Sportsman Rally (R901) and Trophy Unlimited (2901). UTV Super Stock is two-seat only, while Production classes must have at least two seats. The only models that have a production run of at least 1000 units are from Arctic Cat, Can-Am, Honda, Kawasaki, Polaris and Yamaha and are legal. Maximum tire size is 33×9.5-15.

Oh, and pros must be at least 14 years of age. Call it the “Max Gordon rule.”

Ultra4 is also streamlining UTV (4900) classes, and Stock Production UTVs must run factory frame pans, engines, CVTs, diffs, transmissions, steering racks, ECUs, turbos, shock-mount points and bodies. Pro Modified UTVs must also use the list for Stock Production but can run aftermarket Turbos and frames. Both must be 80 inches wide or less and run tires 33 inches or smaller. Open UTVs must be 1000cc or less, while Unlimited UTVs must use OEM engines of any displacement, and they can also run in class 4400.

Here’s to a great 2021 and its champions and an even better 2022.

See more about WORCS racing at Glen Helen here: BEAU JUDGE & CAN-AM WIN GLEN HELEN WORCS TURBOS – UTV Action Magazine