Friday Night Thunder Features Spectacular Sportsman Racing to Open Crandon’s 55th Anniversary
Crandon, Wis. ~ The final weekend of racing for the 2024 AMSOIL Championship Off-Road season is upon us, with the bonus of celebrating Crandon International Raceway’s 55th year of short-course competition.
Friday was a day to celebrate for race fans, with the annual Labor Day Parade in downtown Crandon. But it was also a day to celebrate the sport’s heartbeat: the Sportsman classes. They will receive two days of points racing at the Big House, with titles still on the line across nearly every class.
No Pros was no problem for Friday Night Thunder, a spectacular day of racing featuring an unbelievable amount of action for teams looking to win at the birthplace of Midwest Short Course racing.
Friday Night Thunder
Super Stock Truck: In the tightest race coming into the weekend, Braden Beauchamp had a one-point lead over Joe Maciosek for the top spot in Super Stock Truck. Mix in Cory Holtger sitting five points back and Nick Byng 12 behind the leader; the gloves are expected to be off this weekend.
Byng made a big move up the leaderboard on Friday. He grabbed the lead on lap two and drove a great race out front, holding off Scott Boulanger for his first win of the season. Round three winner Ronald Kosciesza got around Colt Wierzba with two laps to finish third.
Beauchamp would finish outside of the top ten in twelfth after pulling off on lap six. Maciosek was also off the pace early and went off the track on the same lap as Beauchamp. Holtger worked his way from ninth to sixth, and unofficially, he will sit second behind new points leader Byng.
Stock Truck: The top six drivers in Stock Truck entered the day with only a 22-point separation in the class standings. The top five held just an eleven-point differential, with Kirk Graff holding the top spot.
Trent Peetz came into the weekend with a 31-point lead over Brayden Kernz, who picked up the round 11 win in Bark River. It turned into an excellent day for Kernz but a challenging round of racing for the points leader. Kernz would take care of business, driving to his third win of the season. But for Peetz, he had to pull into the hot pit on lap four with a broken front end. He would reenter but well off the pace before finishing 26th, only picking up a single point.
The most competitive class in Champ Off-Road was just that on Friday, led by a mad scramble to get positioning early. Tyler Mullins was fifth coming into the day but was first for the opening three laps. That’s when Tyler Hoffman slipped past and into a lead he wouldn’t relinquish. Hoffman entered the day seven points behind Graff and cut his lead in half after his second straight win. Graff finished as the runner-up ahead of TJ Ewert.
Pro-AM SXS: Benjamin Heiting and Kyle Sharkey led a full field of Pro-AM SXSs around turn one and set a fast pace for the rest of the calls to chase.
Sharkey kept Heiting in second place for the first few laps, but Heiting found an opening on lap six just after the mandatory mid-race restart. Sharkey was unable to reel Heiting back in as Heiting drove to his second win of the season.
Sharkey would finish on the podium for the first time in 2024, finishing a few car lengths behind Heiting at the line. Round nine winner Bill Berger finished third, just ahead of Cody Jones, as both drivers tried to catch points leader David Gay, who finished tenth. Gay needed to finish fourth or better or ahead of both drivers to clinch the championship one round early.
Sportsman SXS: Friday’s Sportsman SXS class featured the largest field of cars, 34, of any Champ Off-Road race this season. The increased car count will play a significant role in the top of the standings as the weekend shakes out.
Kernz would pick up 52 points with the win and will enter the final round with an unofficial 22-point lead. Ben Berger finished second and Riley Marquardt made a last lap pass for third.
1600 Light Buggy: Connor Schulz had wrapped up the 1600 Light Buggy championship in Bark River, but he came into the weekend looking to keep for a clean sweep in Crandon this season.
Schulz found his way around Greg Stingle on the first lap and pulled away on the high-speed Crandon circuit. With a slick track underneath, Schulz drove his 11th win of the season, finishing ahead of Stingle, who regained the runner-up spot on the final lap after passing third-place finisher Jake Schilleman.
1600 Single Buggy: The points chase for 1600 Single Buggy has been a roller-coaster swap-fest all season long. Three drivers have a realistic shot at the top spot, including points leader John Fitzgerald, Connor Schulz, and Michael Seefeldt.
With a 17-point lead coming into the day over Schulz, Fitzgerald had some room to play with. Seefeldt was determined to get his second win of the year and led the first five laps. But Schulz again found his way into the lead after the mid-race restart and drove to his fifth win.
Seefeldt kept pace, finishing in the runner-up spot, but Fitzgerald played the championship strategy well on Friday. He stayed out of early trouble and moved into third halfway through the contest. Unofficially, Schulz picked up five points on Fitzgerald, who will hold a 12-point lead heading into Saturday’s finale.
Thursday Crandon Youth Cup Presented by Yokohama
Racing got underway at Crandon Thursday, with practice, qualifying and several Championship Off-Road points races for the Youth classes.
Mod Kart: Gavin Plummer’s second-half surge continued at Crandon. Plummer picked up his third Mod Kart win in the past five rounds. He was able to cut into Avery Hemmer’s points lead by five to 21, with Hemmer finishing second. Wesley Vande Voort was the third-place finisher.
Short Course Kart: Wesley Vande Voort finished second in Thursday’s Short Course Kart contest but will enter the final day of racing on Saturday with the points lead.
Jacobi Tullberg took home his first win of the season, finishing well ahead of Vande Voort. But Vande Voort ran uncontested in second, and with Finley Holtger finishing 11th, Vande Voort erased Holtger’s 16-point lead and will go into the final round with a two-point advantage. Roman Tullberg finished third.
570 SXS: Kody Krantz earned his third 570 SXS win of the season on Thursday. Jack Betts made a last-lap pass to finish second, his third podium of the year. Points leader Ellah Holtger finished third, two spots ahead of Logan Fritzinger, and will go into Saturday with a seven-point lead.
170/200 SXS: Ashton Dreher won his sixth 170SXS race of the year on Thursday by holding off Axel Dreher at the finish line for the win. Axel Dreher would finish second, and Drake Dreher would finish third.
Youth SXS: Hudson Houle won Thursday’s Youth SXS clash. He held off Emma Lytle’s late charge for the win. Bryce Powers was third.
Up next for AMSOIL Championship Off-Road: The final round of AMSOIL Championship Off-Road of Pro and Sportsman racing will be held Saturday, August 31st, at Crandon International Raceway in Crandon, Wis. Winners of Saturday’s race will also be crowned Crandon World Champions.
With a subscription, you can watch every round of the AMSOIL Championship Off-Road season live on www.FloRacing.com and on the series television partner Fox Sports. For more information on how you can follow along this season, click here.
