Lena, Wis. ~ The 2021 AMSOIL Championship Off-Road season entered its second half on Saturday as the series kicked off two days of racing at the Dirt City MotorPlex in Lena, Wis.

Dirt City is a track built by racers, for racers. It was originally built to bring more racing opportunities to grassroots racers but welcomed the Pro classes for the first time last season. The track features tight racing, rumbling rhythm and enough twists and turns to spin around the most seasoned pros.

For round seven of Champ Off-Road, the track also featured a lot of water as the skies opened up and caused enough havoc to end the day of racing early. Missing on the final tally were the Pro 2 and Pro 4 racers, which will be made up on Sunday morning with those classes running two races.

But before the cancellation, there was nearly a full day of racing. The rain held off for a majority of the day, but the wet weather did create some chaos for a few of the pro classes.

Heger Notches Number Five

Brock Heger’s first full season in Champ Off-Road has proven to be a success. The former West Coast champion has been a dominant force in both Pro Lite and Pro Stock SXS. He continued his winning ways on Saturday in Pro Lite, despite a deluge of rain that was a wild, wacky, and wet ride.

Heger was able to get out front right from the start on Saturday, keeping the air in front of him as clean as possible. He was able to stay out of the thick mud that sucked in several drivers as he notched his fifth win of the year.

Kyle Greaves had a wild ride on his way to the runner-up spot, He started third, but a flat caused him to pit and when he got back on the track, he was sitting ninth. He kept charging and found enough traction to claw his way back into second. He ran the fastest lap of the race by nearly ten seconds. 

Troy Schaden was able to navigate his way through the mud and the muck to finish third. He started eighth and kept the truck (relatively) clean and moved into third on the last lap. It is his first podium of the season.

VanEperen Speeds to Win in Pro Stock SXS

Rodney VanEperen started third but grabbed the lead on the second circuit and sped to his second win of the season. 

While out front for the majority of the race, VanEperen’s lap times were exceptionally quick, but he laid down a heater on the final lap, running a sub-58-second lap. Only him and eventual runner up Robert Loire. It marks Loire’s fourth podium and third straight top three ride.

Third place went to Andy Klecka, who started outside of the top five in seventh. He worked the whole race to get into podium contention, picking off riders nearly every lap before sneaking around points leader Andrew Carlson on the last lap for his first podium in 2021.

CJ Greaves Grabs Third Pro Stock Win

CJ Greaves picked up some much needed points in his championship quest as he once again battled with fellow Yamaha driver Brock Heger on Saturday for Pro Stock SXS supremacy.

Greaves has now won three races this season, and more importantly, two of the past three to extend his lead over Heger to ten points, Greaves had Heger in the mix, but also had pressure from Trevor Bushmaker, who was making his 2021 class debut. Bushmaker would finish second to Greaves, just a little over one second behind Greaves. Bushmaker started 16th on his way to the runner-up spot. Heger, who diced with Greaves for the first half of the race, and led two laps, finished third.

PRO BUGGY: Michael Meister was wicked fast on Saturday, but the points leader had to find an extra gear to get around Michael Hester on lap seven of the Pro Buggy race. Meister set the fastest lap of the race, but Hester was equally as fast for much of the race. Mike Kirkham Worked his way up the rung, starting fifth before finishing in third for his third podium of the year.

PRO AM SXS: The Marquardt’s are back on the winning track in Pro AM SXS. After combining to win the first four races, Dylan and Tyson missed the winners circle at ERX. While Dylan ran the fastest lap of the race, Tyson Marquardt took the lead from his brother on lap six and never looked back as he picked up his third win of the season, Dylan Marquardt finished second, just ahead of Jake Kosmecki, who now has five podiums this season.

SPORTSMAN SXS:  Jake Jorgenson is on a mid-season roll. The Arctic Cat driver is starting to flex his muscle in the Sportsman SXS class, and despite only sitting third in overall points, he has now won three of the past four races after a dominant performance on Saturday that saw him lead from start-to-finish.

Round six winner and current points leader Colin Kernz finished second. Derek Tilkens finished third.

SUPER STOCK TRUCK: Nick Visser is starting to heat up in the Super Stock Truck class. The Elcho, Wis. native won big on Saturday, making him a two-time winner in the past three racers. While Visser was leading from start-to-finish, points leader Joe Maciosek kept pace in second, with Kyle Cooper rounding out the podium in third.

170 SXS: Kody Krantz won his second 170 SXS race of the season as he took the lead off the start and continued to open up that advantage over the next several laps. Madisyn Winistorfer finished on the podium for the first time this season in second. Wyatt Olson finished third.

570 SXS: Colin Paitl notched his first win of the season in the 570 SXS race on Saturday. Ethan Dresel finished second and Dylan Rohloff took third in his first race of the season.

1600 SINGLE BUGGY: Tony Keepers took the lead off the start of the 1600 Single Buggy race and kept it as he earned his second win of the season on Saturday. Behind him, John Fitzgerald and Dylan Parsons battled it out for second with the points leader Fitzgerald holding position for the last few laps.

SHORT COURSE KARTS: Wesley Vande Voort hit paydirt with his first win of the season in Short Course Karts. Vande Voort took the lead with two laps to go, then held off Ellah Holtger for the win. Points leader Ava Lawrence finished third.

MOD KARTS: Michael Funk picked up his second straight win in the Mod Kart class. Funk, who has won three of the past four races, went wire-to-wire for the victory. Defending champion Easton Sleaper finished second for his seventh straight podium finish. Antonio Inglese finished third, his fifth straight podium.

1600 SINGLE BUGGY: Defending class champion Billy Buth picked up his first win in the uber-competitive 1600 Single Buggy class. Buth held off a challenge from Greg Stingle to notch his third podium of 2021. Stingle was able to hold off three-time class winner Connor Schulz for second.

STOCK TRUCK: Cory Holtger notched his second Stock Truck win of the season on Saturday. He took the lead on lap three and drove to his fourth straight podium. Eric Senkowski held pace in second, while TJ Ewert battled through the field, working his way up from tenth to round out the podium.

AMSOIL Championship Off-Road continues its two-day event in Lena, Wis. and the Dirt City Motorplex on Sunday, August 1, 2021. Each Championship Off-Road event will be live-streamed at Champoffroad.com or on Flo Sports.