2020 Ultra4 Crandon World Championship Off-Road Race Results
Ultra4 racing once again took part in another race weekend at the oldest and most renowned racetrack in off-road racing over Labor Day weekend. The 51st Annual Crandon World Championship Off-Road Races took place at Crandon International Speedway in Wisconsin this past weekend. The excitement of Ultra4 racing would once again be on the weekend schedule. The racers would take part in two different races throughout the weekend. Saturday night would line the cars up in the famous land rush start to have them head out onto the short course and then make their way through the wooded trails and boulder hills to show the crowds what these cars are really made of.
Through the night sky, the lights of Nitto Tire driver Paul Horschel running Nitto Ridge Grappler tires would take the holeshot coming into the famous Turn 1. Paul would lead the field around the first few turns, until fellow Nitto driver Loren Healy, on Nitto Trail Grappler tires would sneak in below Paul through a turn to take the early lead and head out into the woods for the first time.
Having to run fifteen laps in the dark, these drivers would have to push hard and still be able to keep the car together to finish the race. Jeff McKinlay would be the first one to make a mistake, getting sideways coming down a sandhill, he would end up rolling over onto his side.
The following lap, Bailey Cole would come around the same area, and while attempting to go around McKinlay and the recovery crew, he got caught in the dust, wound up off track and ended up putting his car into a pond. Luckily, while staying calm and having trained for emergencies, he was able to exit his submerged vehicle unharmed.
As the race continued, leader Loren Healy was being chased by Paul Horschel as they made their way through lapped traffic. Loren was able to hold onto it for all fifteen laps to take the top spot for the night, followed by Paul Horschel in 2nd and Levi Shirley in 3rd.
After the race, teams would work through the night to repair cars and get ready for the racing on Sunday afternoon. After being submerged for over thirty minutes, Bailey Coles team all went to work to see if they could get the car back together to possibly take the green flag. Knowing the damage that could have happened, it wasn’t a good chance that it would make it. By 1am, it was all smiles when the motor fired back up and that there was a chance that they could make Sunday's race.
Sundays World Cup race would consist of just short course racing action. Once again with a land rush start, Paul Horschel would lead the pack into turn one, with Loren Healy right next to him. Loren would once again take the lead from Paul in the first lap followed closely by Jeff McKinlay, Levi Shirley, and Bailey Cole.
Half way through the race, Levi Shirley and Bailey Cole would be battling it out for the fourth place position, when Baileys motor decided it had enough, it had suffered internal damage from being submerged the night before, and he had to pull off the track.
Loren Healy would go on to win his second event of the weekend followed again by Paul Horschel in 2nd place and Jeff McKinlay in the 3rd spot.
The celebrations wouldn’t be able to last long, because the drivers would have another quick turn around and will be heading out to Moab, Utah next week for the Lasernut Area BFE Beatdown on September 18th and 19th.
