Brooks Delivers in Yokohama Duel
Head-to-head battle sees door-to-door action in Antigo
Antigo, Wis. ~ AMSOIL Championship Off-Road revved up its season in Antigo, Wis. on Friday night as nearly 250 trucks, buggies and side-by-sides hit the track in preparation for the opening weekend of off-road, short-course action.
The weekend will be highlighted by two rounds of racing, starting on Saturday morning. But before the point chases get underway, the series unveiled a well-crafted exhibition of Pro 2 prowess. The Yokohama Duel of Champions, driven by Vision Wheel, brought bracket racing to short-course, along with a $10,000 purse and exciting door-to-door action to kick-off the new year.
The concept was simple, take the top Pro 2’s from qualifying, line them up in a head-to-head format, let them run three laps with the winner moving on. The track proved extremely raceable on Friday night, and no racer was faster than Jerett Brooks.
Brooks, who built a new truck in the off-season, was quick from the get-go. He was the top qualifier, giving him valuable real estate on the inside line for all of his match-ups. He earned his trip into the final after winning a hotly contested race against Ryan Beat in the second round. Once there, he used that ideal starting spot to gain the edge on Mickey Thomas as the two came barreling out of the first turn. Thomas was able to close the early gap, but Brooks was clean through the final turns to win the inaugural Yokohama Duel.
“The only reason we won this today was from qualifying first and having that spot on the inside,” said Brooks. “Dead stop starts are always my weakness and I was able to have the inside every time on turn one which really put us in the spot today. It’s cool to come out, qualify first and win this opener.”
The win gave Brooks a $6,000 payday, with Thomas taking $3,000 for second. Kyle Kleiman went head-to-head with Troy Cox for third place, with Kleiman taking home the win and the $1,000 pay day.
The AMSOIL Championship Off-Road series starts in full on Saturday, June 4th in Antigo, Wis. 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.
