After a sold out weekend in Utah, Nitrocross Rolls On To Phoenix’s Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, November 10-11.
The two night, second stop of Nitrocross 2023-24 culminated with a thrilling Group E final under the lights Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Utah Motorsports Campus. Two years after cars last launched across the venerable facility’s jaw-dropping 130-foot gap jump, Nitrocross returned to its birthplace with a fitting homecoming, both for the series and its founder, Travis Pastrana as he won round 2 Friday night for his first win of the season.
“Winning this race, at the birthplace of Nitrocross, is unbeliveable,” said Pastrana. “Wins are hard to come by, but winning here is more special to me. This track is unlike any other track in the world and will always hold a special place in my heart, so to win here, it just means a little more.”
Robin Larsson (SWE), defending Group E Driver Champion, got back on track Saturday following a disappointing result on day one. While Pastrana won Friday’s final, Larsson – who made the podium seven times last season – uncharacteristically did not finish in the top three.
Coming into Saturday however, Larsson shrugged off any disappointment, He first battled through the Last Chance Qualifier to make the final, where he stayed with Kevin Eriksson (SWE) before making a quick pass around him during Kevin’s Joker merge. This seemingly secured a second-place finish for Larsson. However, in a surprise twist,Andreas Bakkerud (NOR) did not take the Joker during the race, resulting in a 30-second penalty that elevated Larsson to first, Erkisson to second, then rallycross icon – and founding Nitrocross driver – Tanner Foust (USA) to third.
Afterwards Larsson said, “You always feel good after a P2 or P3 finish, but a win is something extra, and this weekend we’ve had our struggles. Friday in the final I got into some carnage which left me with a puncture. I just tried to refocus today. But after some small mistakes I had to go through the LCQ. It wasn’t an easy road for sure, but it was such a relief to have a really good start in the final. I knew [winning the final] was going to be really hard to pull off. But after that start, I felt that I had everything I needed to win, and that I could win.”
For Foust, who made his return to Nitrocross, the energy from the sold-out Utah Motorsports Campus added extra competitive fuel for the drivers and made all the difference for the fans: “This is a different sport when there are a lot of people in the stands. It energizes the whole place. Particularly with an electric class, one of the challenges was always, ‘What are you going to do without the car noise?’ Well, when you have a big crowd like this one screaming and yelling and making the noise themselves, you don’t miss it.”
Following his first victory of the season, Larsson currently is in second place in the Group E season standings. Similarly, Eriksson moves into first following back-to-back second place finishes in Utah, along with winning Top Qualifier on Saturday. Bakkerud sits in third while Fraser McConnell (JAM), Round One winner at Oklahoma’s MidAmerica Outdoors, slides back to fourth place while Pastrana, fresh off his Round Two win on Friday, moves within striking distance to fifth.
Road to the Championship Continues
Nitrocross 2023-24 will encompass 10 rounds spanning nine months set in six locations, ranging from the desert Southwest to the frigid Canadian Rockies. Larsson’s success Saturday gets him closer to hoisting the Ken Block Championship trophy for a second time. But Kevin Eriksson – along with Bakkerud, McConnell, and how Pastrana as well, are very much in the mix.
Next up, Nitrocross returns to the Valley of the Sun – Phoenix, Arizona – for more double-header action November 10-11 at Wildhorse Pass Motorsports Park. Tickets are available now at Nitrocrossracing.com,
For fans that cannot make it out to the track and experience Nitrocross in person, Rumble Sports, the leading platform for live-streaming action sports, will livestream the pulse-pounding action.
