Travis Pastrana held off a charging Kevin Eriksson to claim his first win of the 2023-24 Nitrocross season at Utah Motorsports Campus.
After both got their longer joker lap out of the way early, they engaged in a tense fight for the round win, but despite his best efforts, the elder Eriksson brother couldn’t get by the 2021 series champion.
While the joker was said to equate to a two-second deficit to the main lap, Pastrana grabbed an early lead. That came after Vermont SportsCar teammate Conner Martell led the field onto the main lap, but a mechanical issue brought him to a halt on the exit of Turn 1. That resulted in an accordion throughout the rest of the field which claimed Oliver Eriksson, who sustained heavy front-end damage after hitting Conor Daly.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing JC RX Cartel driver Andreas Bakkerud would have been in the box seat to take the lap one lead were it not for the traffic – he jokered on the second lap and immediately set about hunting down the lead pair of Pastrana and Kevin Eriksson.
There was little to choose between the trio over the final two laps of the four-lap final, with Kevin Eriksson closing to within half a second heading onto the last lap. That gap continued to come down to the point where Eriksson was making contact with Pastrana heading into the last paved section of the track, but he couldn’t find a way past.
Bakkerud similarly held station for the second half of the race, coming home third, while Benito Guerra took his career-best finish in fourth, having mirrored Pastrana and Kevin Eriksson’s joker strategy.
Daly also took a best result to-date with fifth, matching the top four drivers’ lap times, and bettering them on the final lap of the race. Reigning champion Robin Larsson was a distant sixth after sustaining a puncture in the opening lap melee, while Martell was able to get going after his stoppage, but finished over a minute adrift of race winner Pastrana.
Mechanical issues prevented Conor Martell from converting a career-best qualifying performance into a strong overall result. Tyler Tate/Nitrocross
Martell’s disappointing final was a stark contrast to the rest of the day, where he looked set to claim a landmark result.
He started off with his first-ever Top Qualifier result, beating Kevin Eriksson and Bakkerud in the deciding race. He then won his semifinal, Pastrana and Larsson winning the other two.
Pre-event points leader Fraser McConnell had a torrid round, which started with him being excluded from his heat race for a technical infringement after winning on the road..
After that, a second place finish behind Martell in his semifinal wasn’t enough for a final berth, meaning he needed a strong result in his Last Chance Qualifier to make it. However, there he made contact with a wall and broke a driveshaft, leaving him on the sidelines for the main, along with XITE Energy Racing duo Tanner Foust and Oliver Bennett who were the other drivers who didn’t advance through the heats, semis, and LCQs.
As a result of his troubles, McConnell tumbled to fifth in the points, with Kevin Eriksson assuming the lead, ahead of Pastrana and Bakkerud.
NITROCROSS GROUP E CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
In Nitrocross NEXT, Casper Jansson dominated the five-lap final to win ahead of points leader Lane Vacala. Jimmy Henderson completed the podium, holding off Lia Block, with series newcomer Patrick Gruszka fifth and Eric Gordon sixth after being hampered by a poor start.
Kainan Baker was once again the victor in Side-by-Sides, claiming his third win from three starts so far this season. The 15-year-old beat Tyler Remmereid, while Chip Ganassi Extreme E racer Amanda Sorensen rounded out the podium, despite contact with Mika Block on lap three that resulted in the 12-year-old son of rallying legend Ken Block retiring from the race.
In Baja Bugs, Blake Wilkey was the winner with Ryan Rodriguez and Greg Shapiro completing the podium.
