It was an exciting weekend of racing at Dirt City Motorplex in Lena, WI! Not only was this the first time for Championship Off-Road to be here, but it was also the first time Dirt City Motorplex hosted the PRO classes! Mother nature offered some challenges on Sunday, but these hard-core race fanatics charged through and we successfully wrapped up rounds 3 & 4 of this series!
The weekend events started off Friday with “Thunder on Main” in downtown Lena. The racers put on a parade through town and were able to have a fun night with fans! Qualifying for the PRO classes started on Saturday morning. John hit the track determined to get a solid spot. Out of 24 drivers in the Pro Stock SXS class, John qualified 2nd. The Pro Lite class had 7 drivers, and John qualified 3rd: starting 4th with the inversion.
The Pro Stock SXS race was off to a great start on Saturday! John had a good battle going, and in an effort to make a move to the take the lead there was some rubbing with the leader, which caused John to make a quick move and he stalled out. This caused him to fall to the back. After racing hard, John was able to make his way back up to the middle of the pack and he finished 13th.
Starting 4th in the Pro Lite race, John was ready to redeem himself from ERX! As quoted from Championship Off-Road, “Directly ahead of him was the 44 of John Holtger, who wasted zero time getting out front. Holtger made some great adjustments after qualifying, finding more than a second per lap in the final. He held point for three laps, before Greaves got through the mess. Holtger came in a bit too hot to one of the tight turns and biked on two tires. Greaves took advantage and opened up a solid lead through the finish for this third straight win. Holtger was able to regroup and ran consistently fast laps for the final six laps to finish second”!
Sunday morning started off with some unwelcomed weather by mother nature! After some torrential down pours no one thought the races would be able to go on! After some hard work by the Dirt City Motorplex track crew, and some patience with all of the racers the skies cleared, and round 4 was able to get underway! Running a revised schedule, John was up first with the Pro Stock SXS race! There was no qualifying, so John started 15th. By lap 4 he had moved into 9th! Unfortunately, there was no mandatory competition caution for this race, so John did what he could make his way to the front, finishing 7th for the day.
Starting on the pole for the Pro Lite race John was ready to battle it out to get that win! “Holtger and Greaves had a great race going early on, with each grabbing the lead by making aggressive, and clean, passes on the other. The fight continued for several laps before Holtger hit a rut coming out of turn five. That gave Greaves some breathing room and allowed him to pick up his fourth straight win to start the season. Holtger did everything in his power to track Greaves back down but had to do it with heavy pressure from two proven class veterans, both of whom returned to action in Lena over the weekend. Kleiman led the charge on Holtger, which also included Zach Szymik and Chad Rayford. In the end, Holtger had more speed on Sunday”, quoted from Championship Off-Road. John ended up with another strong 2nd place finish!
Overall, this was a great weekend for John and his team! John is currently 2nd place in points in the Pro Lite class and is ready to keep the battle going for that win! Rounds 5 & 6 will be back at ERX Motorpark in Elk River, MN on Aug 15th and 16th!
