Bark River, Mich. ~ It was a mix of gamesmanship and adrenaline, fueled by high-octane dreams of winning races and clinching championships as the twelfth round of the 2024 AMSOIL Championship Off-Road season wrapped up a three-day weekend in Bark River, Mich.
The Bark River International Raceway was primed and perfected for the triple header and withstood 54 races over the past 72 hours. The track withstood the endless pounding of the sports best buggies, side-x-sides, and pro trucks as racers banged doors and throttled down in the definitive, penultimate weekend of Champ Off-Road.
With only one round remaining for the Pro classes in Crandon on Labr Day weekend and two for the sportsman, there was no time like the present to move to the top of the leaderboard.
Henderson Doubles Down in Pro 4, Cuts into Points Lead
There is no tiptoeing around the track in a Pro 4. The science and the personas won’t allow it. But there has to be a mentality of treading softly, especially early in the contest when positioning and adrenaline are of peak concern.
Saturday’s winner, Jimmy Henderson, was a perfect mix of patience and power on the opening lap. He let Cole Mamer and Andrew Carlson lean on each other and then found enough of an opening to get through and into the lead. For a driver who is finding confidence in a new truck and trying to chase down points leader and defending champion CJ Greaves, the clean air was important and led to a second straight win and a dig into the points lead.
“It was an awesome race,” said Henderson. “I knew CJ was coming, and I was just running. That last lap, I probably burned the tires off it. But it’s just amazing to come here and have the weekend that we just had. But CJ’s going back to work. The rest of the Pro 4 teams are going back to work. That means we have to go back to work.”
Greaves was extremely patient at the start of the race, and a 30-point lead with only two rounds remaining allowed the defending champ to sit back and wait. But Greaves got on the move and set the fastest lap of the day as he tracked down Henderson. But the goal is the Pro 4 title, and Greaves knew Henderson was quick enough and strong enough to battle for the top spot. Greaves was only a few truck lengths back of Henderson and brought the truck in for his third podium of the weekend.
Johnny Greaves was buried in ninth off the start, and the Hall of Famer kept moving forward, driving to a third-place finish, his second trip to the podium on the weekend.
Greaves will head to Crandon with a 23-point lead over Henderson with only one round (Saturday) dedicated to pro points racing.
Thomas Sweeps Pro 2, Strengthens Championship Credentials
Mickey Thomas took off on Sunday, where he left off on Saturday. The Friday and Saturday winner was uncatchable with a lead all weekend long, and starting on the pole on Sunday allowed the points leader the cleanest air of the day.
Thomas lined up next to Ricky Gutierrez and launched off the line once the green flag dropped. Thomas, who led all but five laps over the three days of racing in Michigan, pulled away from the field off the mid-race restart and drove to his sixth win of the season. With Ryan Beat leaving the race early, Thomas will head to Crandon with a 37-point lead.
“What a weekend,” said Thomas. “I’m almost speechless. This place is awesome. We had a flawless weekend; it really couldn’t have gone better. We are feeling pretty good, and Crandon’s another good track for us.”
Gutierrez and Kyle Greaves were dicing for the runner-up position early on, with Greaves wrestling it away after the mandatory caution. The rookie Greaves put a strong run at Thomas together but also had to keep Keegan Kincaid in his rear-view. The two would cross the line second and third.
Parrish Wins in Pro Lite, Gibbs Clinches Title
With each pro race allowing for 57 total points, Trey Gibbs didn’t need to do much to clinch the 2024 Pro Lite championship. He entered the day with a 91-point lead over Johnny Holtger, and taking the green flag would lock it down with only one round left on the schedule.
Gibbs got his start and the championship, but contact on the first turn knocked the round 11 winner out of the race.
It might not have mattered, as Carson Parrish was flying on Sunday. The round six winner started on that row and went on a tear. He pulled away from the field and never looked back, picking up his second win of the season and second podium of the weekend.
Carson Brown looked to have locked down the runner-up spot, but Matt Wood was looking for his first podium of the season. Wood moved into third on lap four and then caught and powered past Brown for the runner-up spot with three laps left in the race. It was Woods’ first trip to the podium, and Brown’s third-place finish marked his first time on the box since round two.
Parson Extends Pro Spec Points Lead with Win
Nick Visser returned to action one day after a major crash knocked him out of the Pro Spec race. But Dylan Parsons was the story early and often on Sunday.
Visser got the hole shot, and Parsons followed him around the long Bark River track. Just as they passed the start line again, Parsons got underneath Visser and into a lead he wouldn’t relinquish. The points leader drove through clean air for his second win of the weekend while the trucks were busy swapping positions behind him.
Wyatt Miller was the beneficiary of patience as the rookie waited for the trucks in front of him to make a mistake. First, Visser had to pull off the track with a flat tire, and then Miller made a pass stick with two laps remaining to jump into the runner-up spot and secure his fourth podium in his fifth career race. Van Den Elzen regrouped after going wide and earned his third podium of the weekend in third.
A Bark River Sweep for Bernloehr
What a weekend for Pro Buggy points leader Jordan Bernloehr.
The red-hot Bernloehr came into the weekend with a sweep at Dirt City in his corner. He was even more impressive in Bark River, winning all three rounds to sweep his second straight weekend of racing. Bernloehr got the lead off the start and was untouchable, driving to a nearly four-second win over Ryan Schwalbe and a tight pack of contenders.
Schwalbe put together his best day of racing this season. He got around Chaden Minder on lap six and then held off immense pressure from Billy Buth, Minder, and Lorenzo Bonacci over the final six laps. It was Schwalbe’s first podium of the season. Buth kept things close behind the runner-up, edging out Minder at the line for the final podium spot.
Bootle Holds of Greaves for Pro SXS Win
Jeb Bootle isn’t about to let CJ Greaves walk away with a Pro SXS championship. He also didn’t let the points leader get around him on the last lap as Bootle notched win number two of the weekend in Bark River.
Bootle was on a rail early in Sunday’s contest. He started on the front row and was a missile moving to the front of the field. Bootle, who picked up his first career Pro SXS win on Friday, was the driver to beat on Sunday. First, he held off the charge from Andrew Carlson and then a late surge from Greaves, who closed the gap to 6/10ths of a second at the finish line.
Greaves’s runner-up spot meant he dropped three points to Bootle in the points race, but he will head into the final round in Crandon with a 25-point lead.
Owen VanEperen didn’t win the race on Sunday, but he beat a lot of cars to the finish. VanEperen started dead last and worked his way into contention, taking over the third spot with a lap-and-a-half remaining.
Greaves Returns to Top of Pro Stock SXS
CJ Greave’s five-race win streak was snapped on Saturday when Jeb Bootle took home the Pro Stock SXS win. But Greaves went to work and reestablished himself atop the Pro Stock pecking order.
Greaves has been starting most of his races in the middle of the pack this season and has been winning many races by calculating the mid-race, mandatory caution restart. That wasn’t a factor on Sunday as Greaves started on the pole, launched into the lead, and drove to his eighth win of the year.
Greaves also extended his points lead to 38 after Bootle finished third. He trailed runner-up Owen Van Eperen across the finish line for his third podium of the season.
Pro-AM SXS
It was a weekend of highs and lows for Pro-AM SXS driver Matt Boerschinger. Luckily, the highs outweighed the lows as Boerschinger picked up a pair of wins, including Sunday’s wire-to-wire win.
Boerschinger’s win on Friday was a momentary high as he was nearly dead last Saturday after an early race mechanical issue. Boerschinger left no doubt on Sunday, leading from start to finish for his third win of the season.
Cody Jones is digging hard to catch David Gay and Bill Berger in the points race. Jones moved past Jared Jadin on lap seven and then held Gay and Berger down the stretch for his second podium of the weekend. Gay would hold off Berger for third and increase his points lead by two points in the process.
Sportsman SXS
Bryce Carlson and Brayden Kernz had a great battle that went down to the final turns, but Carlson held on to win his first Sportsman SXS race of the season.
Kernz kept his championship hopes alive by finishing second and will head to Crandon (unofficially) 31 points behind Trent Peetz, who finished fourth on Sunday. Peetz applied heavy pressure on Riley Marquardt, who held off the points leader to finish third for his second podium of the weekend.
Super Stock Truck
Scott Boulanger’s season has had its trials and tribulations, including purchasing a new truck mid-season. He has the truck dialed in as the season winds down, picking up two straight wins in Bark River, including a dominant ride on Sunday.
Boulanger had to hold off a hard-charging Cory Holtger for the second straight race. The two were separated by half a second on Saturday, and an identical time distanced the two on Sunday. Holtger stretched his podium streak to nine, while Joe Maciosek worked his way from 12th to third after a last-lap pass from Braden Beauchamp.
That pass gave Maciosek two additional points over Beauchamp, who entered the day with a three-point lead over Maciosek.
Stock Truck
Coming into Sunday’s action, only 24 points separated the top six drivers in Stock Truck, and there was a tie between Brian Peot and Kirk Graff at the top of the standings.
There have been ten different winners in Stock Truck this season, including Malakai Yakel, who took home Saturday’s win. Yakal would secure the rare second win by leading wire-to-wire and holding off round six winner Tyler Hoffman by half a second at the line.
Hoffman picked up his fifth podium finish after getting into the runner-up spot with three laps remaining. Tyler Mullins finished second on Saturday and backed it up with a third on Sunday.
As for points, Peot pulled off to the side of the track on the first lap, while Kirk Graff finished the day seventh. Unofficially, Graff will hold the points lead heading into Crandon.
1600 Light Buggy
There was a lot of contact early in Sunday’s 1600 Light Buggy showdown, but points leader Connor Schulz found a way to dodge the log jams and moved towards the front of the pack.
Schulz started seventh off the line but steered clear of carnage before getting to the lead position on lap three. Schulz picked up his tenth win of the year and picked up enough points to unofficially clinch the championship.
On Sunday, Saturday’s winner, Jake Schilleman, backed up his top finish with a second-place showing. With two laps to go, Dylan Rohloff moved into the third and final podium spot.
1600 Single Buggy
Riding the top of the 1600 Single Buggy standings has been a rollercoaster this season, and with only a limited number of races left in 2024, every position matters.
Round nine winner Sean Springstroh grabbed the early lead, but Travis Trelstad found the front spot by lap three. Trelstad would go on to take his first win of the season, and it was a well-earned effort.
That’s because points leaders John Fitzgerald and Connor Schulz had quickly moved up from their fifth-row starting positions and were hunting down Trelstad for a win and valuable points. Fitzgerald held the runner-up advantage first, but Schulz moved around for the second position with two laps to go. Schulz tried to catch and pass Trelstad, but Trelstad held Schulz off by 2/10ths of a second at the line.
Fitzgerald was a half-second back and will head to Crandon with a 15-point lead.
Mod Kart
Gavin Plummer has been stockpiling wins over the past few rounds as he tries to catch Avery Hemmer for the top of the Mod Kart standings.
Hemmer responded with a three-podium weekend in Bark River, including wins on Saturday and Sunday. Hemmer made an early race pass on Wesley Vande Voort for the lead and stretched out a big lead by the end of the 12-lap feature.
Vande Voort would hold off Gavin Plummer for the runner-up spot for his first Mod Kart podium of the year. Plummer finished third and unofficially sits 23 points behind Hemmer with two rounds left in Crandon.
Short Course Kart
Camden Paitl’s second-half surge has raced up the Short Course Kart leaderboard.
Paitl passed Jacobi Tullberg on lap four and then kept a narrow lead intact as he drove to his third win of the season and fourth straight podium. Tullberg threw everything he had at Paitl for the top spot, but his second-place finish marked his second straight trip to the podium in Bark River.
Friday and Saturday winner Wesley Vande Voort finished third, one spot ahead of points leader Finley Holtger. The gap between the top two is now down to 16 points.
570 SXS
Raymond Deininger picked up his first win and podium of the season on Saturday. He earned his second straight victory by holding off a hard-charging points leader over the entire length of the race on Sunday.
Ellah Holtger had a one-point lead coming into the day and finished second, one spot ahead of Logan Fritzinger. Holtger now holds a three-point lead over Fritzinger heading into Crandon.
170/200 SXS
It is now seven straight wins for Brixton Wirt in the 200 SXS class. Wirt led from start to finish to sweep the weekend in Bark River. Points leader Raymond Deininger finished second.
In the 170 SXS portion of the race, Drake Dreher won for the fourth time this season. Saturday winner Ashton Dreher was second, and Axel Dreher crossed the line in third.
Youth SXS
Libby Nielsen grabbed a big early lead in Sunday’s Youth SXS race, but points leader Hudson Houle made a late charge to earn the weekend sweep.
Houle didn’t catch the race leader until lap six and, one lap later, had vaulted into the top spot. It marked Houle’s eighth straight win and ninth overall. Nielsen earned her second podium of the weekend and sixth overall.
Isaac Otto ran with the front pack throughout the race and finished third, his second podium finish of the year.
Up next for AMSOIL Championship Off-Road: The final two days of AMSOIL Championship Off Road of racing will be held on Friday and Saturday, September 6-7 at Crandon International Raceway in Crandon, Wis. The Pro classes will race one final round for points on Saturday while the series Sportsman classes will race Friday and Saturday.
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.
