Bakkerud snaps winless streak with dominant display at Utah Motorsports Campus
The 2024-25 Nitrocross season continued at the place where it all began, with Utah Motorsports Campus hosting the second stop of the season for Rounds 3 and 4.
Encompassing 1.732 miles of mixed pavement and dirt, along with huge, banked turns and the series’ signature 100-foot gap jump, the course at UMC is arguably the most challenging track of the entire season.
Group E
Andreas Bakkerud (NOR) won for the first time since the 2022-23 season in a near-perfect day for Dreyer & Reinbold JC.
Bakkerud and his teammate Robin Larsson (SWE) won their respective heats and semifinals to give them a front-row lockout for the final, where they made a perfect getaway to lead from start to finish.
Vermont SportsCar’s Conner Martell (USA) was the pair’s closest challenger, surviving contact with Fraser McConnell (JAM) on the opening lap to shadow the two Monster Energy cars home. However, he was stripped of his podium finish after failing to take the Joker lap, elevating points leader Oliver Eriksson (SWE) to third.
Fourth to McConell, with Kevin Eriksson (SWE) fifth and top qualifier Tanner Foust (USA) sixth. Martell was eventually classified seventh and was the final finisher after technical issues prevented Viktor Vranckx (BEL) from taking the start.
Andreas Bakkerud
“It is about time. It’s been tough times, and this year was all about getting back and having fun again. In Richmond, I felt I was on average the fastest both days and the whole weekend, but I didn’t score any points because I was having some bad luck in the finals. Coming into Salt Lake, again I tried to restart.
“I caught strep throat on Thursday and a 104-degree Fahrenheit fever. I was shaking, my hands, fingers, toes, and butt off, getting Penicillin and all that stuff. I tried to do as little running as possible on Friday and today in the final, starting pole I was like ‘what’s going to go wrong this time?’ because every time I’ve been here I’ve been doing good, but I’ve always chosen the wrong lane; all of a sudden the Joker is quicker or the normal line is quicker.
“We had the holeshot into turn one and it felt good from there, but then the sun was so low – impossible to see anything in the last few corners. If it wasn’t for Robin today, I wouldn’t have won. Someone would have punted me off because I couldn’t see the turns. But he could see me, so he understood where in the ballpark he could be and placed his car to catch up. Every lap I gapped a little bit and into that twisty section I lost a lot [of time].”
Robin Larsson
“The start was pre-planned. I didn’t want to go Joker and end up in big traffic problems, so this worked out exactly like we wanted. But overall, it was such a tough final to drive – with the position of the sun, it was terrible, but I just followed Bakkerud and he really enjoyed that win.
“It was a one-two for the team, but I’m just chasing that consistency like I did in the last two years. A P2 is… You always want to win, but for the championship a P2 is really nice. Good points, I think I’m second now, so a solid day for the team and for me.”
Oliver Eriksson
“Honestly, today was terrible, for what I expect from myself and results. It was terrible to begin with. Qualifying was alright, I salvaged a P5 there. I had only one thing in mind going into the final and that was ‘get as high as I can’.
“With some luck and cars doing other stuff – and some help from my brother Kevin, I appreciate him – we managed to get on the podium. It was great to have the Busch Light machine there.”
NEXT EVO
Tommi Hallman (FIN) became the outright leader in NEXT Evo after dominating Saturday’s final while his championship rivals Mitchell De Jong (USA) and Casper Jansson (SWE) squabbled over the remaining podium positions.
As Jansson lost time in an earlier duel with Patrick Gruszka (USA), it looked as if second was nailed on for De Jong, but a late push and a late Joker brought him back into the equation. The pair swapped positions multiple times on the final lap, with De Jong eventually prevailing.
Tommi Hallman
“It was tight in the start, Mitchell had a better start, so it was tight in the first corner, but I think they battled a bit behind me, so I got a few car lanes margin and then could use my own lines and just go like that. I didn’t really know what was going on [behind me], I just tried to keep it flat. “
“I think this is the most competitive season or series I’ve ever raced in. It’s really tight, especially between Mitchel, myself, and Casper. It’s nice to have three drivers minimum who are always fighting for each race. It’s really cool.”
Side-by-Sides
Travis Pastrana (USA) overcame a poor start in the Side-by-Sides final to win ahead of Cash LeCroy (USA). Pastrana was challenged by Kainan Baker (USA) early in the race, but a messy run through the Joker for Baker on the opening lap – and a clean run through for Pastrana on the next tour – sealed the deal for Pastrana.
Jacob Geisendorff (USA) rounded out the SxS podium, with Baker fading late on after sustaining suspension damage.
Travis Pastrana
“It felt really good on the track, we had a lot of passing opportunities. I took the Joker early and there was a lot of great competition, but on the merge, we went three wide – was very lucky to make it through and unfortunately a couple of the other guys did not.
“It felt like the track that had the most passing opportunities, but instead of being two-wide, we tended to be three- and four-wide. You can only put so many vehicles into a corner at one time. We had a fun time the whole way.”
Baja Bugs
There isn’t long to wait for the next round of the Nitrocross season, with Round 4 taking place at UMC on Sunday, October 6th. All events can be streamed live and free on Rumble at www.rumble.com/nitrocross.