Championship Off-Road Race Preview: Crandon

It all comes down to this: the grand finale of the 2022 Championship Off-Road season sends hundreds of the world’s top off-road racers to “The Big House” for the season-ending Polaris Crandon World Championships at Crandon International Raceway. COR’s Pro classes will close out their campaigns with a single points-paying round on Saturday, while the Sportsman divisions will get two rounds apiece; the action wraps up on Sunday with the World Championship rounds and season-ending Red Bull Crandon World Cup that pits Pro 4s against Pro 2s.

The first vehicles hit the track as part of this year’s World Championships on Thursday for a full day of practice, before the Lucas Oil Labor Day Parade brings competitors through downtown Crandon on Friday morning. Sportsman racing kicks off on Friday afternoon and runs into the evening before Saturday’s COR season finales.

Only a handful of the pro COR classes appear to be settled coming into the finale, with CJ Greaves’ 30-point lead on Kyle LeDuc in Pro 4 the most secure. Pro 2 remains as razor thin as it’s been all year, with Jerett Brooks holding just two points on Cory Winner, and Nick Visser has the same advantage over Gray Leadbetter in Pro Spec. Large side-by-side fields all season long mean that Brock Heger (+22 on Greaves in Pro Stock) and Hamish Kelsey (+17 on Kyle Chaney in Pro Turbo) will still have some work to do to hang onto their leads, while Pro Lite is poised for a true winner-take-all battle, with Kyle Greaves, Heger, and Trey Gibbs split by just three points coming into the finale.

If all that wasn’t enough to get excited about, there’s also an Ultra 4 event to enjoy on Saturday night. The Crandon Classic will feature Crandon’s UltraCross course, with side-by-side, Every Man Challenge, and the premier 4400 class all set to compete. Putting the icing on the cake is the second annual Class 11 World Championship, which will headline Friday Night Thunder with the Rugged Radios Class 11 Pro-Am under the lights.

But the independently sanctioned World Championship races on Sunday are the big money shows that everyone wants to win. There are nine of them in all, encompassing most of COR’s Pro divisions, Ultra4, and Class 11 before giving way to the Red Bull Crandon World Cup that ends the year. Keegan Kincaid is the defending World Cup winner, as he and Ryan Beat gave Pro 2 the edge on last year’s podium with two trucks to Pro 4’s one with Johnny Greaves. When the checkered flag falls on this year’s World Cup, a whopping 44 races will have completed one of the biggest events in off-road racing all year long.

Nearly 65,000 people are expected to be on hand for this weekend’s Polaris Crandon World Championships, with tickets still on sale for $70 for a weekend pass. For those who won’t be on site at Crandon, the Friday and Saturday action will be streamed on FloRacing as with every other Championship Off-Road event. Sunday’s Red Bull Crandon World Cup will be streamed at CrandonOffRoad.com and numerous industry partner websites.

Images via Championship Off-Road