Speedwerx / TraLo Motorsports / Arctic Cat Team Wins With Todd LeDuc, Gets Three Podiums At Crandon

The Speedwerx/TraLo Motorsports/Arctic Cat short course team had another strong showing with another win and three more podiums in the Championship Off-Road season finale at the world famous Crandon International Off Road Raceway for the 27th Annual Brush Run this past Saturday and Sunday September 26-27.

Challenges posed by rain and mud were one of the biggest storylines of the weekend. The rain started after the team arrived to setup on Thursday, and by Friday morning they had received more than two inches. The scheduled practice sessions on Friday were cancelled to preserve the track for racing on Saturday. The team would be facing another challenge on Saturday morning- the LeTourneau family had to leave the event for a family emergency. They would be very much missed in the lineup for the weekend and left some big shoes to fill as Jack LeTourneau 97 was 5th in Pro Stock points and Mike LeTourneau 99 was 4th in Sportsman points and both have been contenders for wins and podiums all season long. Literally minutes after discussing the situation with the family, former Pro 2 world champion and current Monster Jam star Todd LeDuc walked by Jeremy Houle as he was eating breakfast in downtown Crandon. A quick conversation with Todd landed him in the seat of the 97 car for the weekend, competing alongside Jeremy’s 54 ride in the Pro Stock class. Team mechanic Dave Heckman would take the wheel of the 99 car, joining Jonny Hentges 15 and Jake Jorgenson 11 in the Sportsman division.

The rain and muddy track conditions would still be the biggest challenge for everyone on Saturday, but Todd and Dave would be going straight to their main events with no practice laps ahead of time. All three of the team’s Sportsman drivers would start the 10 lap, 29 car main on the front row of the land rush start. Jake was leading the team and running in the top 5 early in the race with Jonny in the top 10 as well, but everyone was fighting the extremely muddy and slippery track conditions. Jonny would pull off on lap 4 and Jake on lap 7 with overheating issues due to mud in the radiator, and Dave was able to salvage a 19th place finish. The Pro classes would run under the lights for the first time ever at Crandon with the 12 lap, 25 car Pro Stock main kicking off the evening program. Todd would get the jump off the start to lead early and contact with another competitor forced him out of the grove and back to third, but a rollover before the lap was completed led to a complete restart. He would not let that happen again and put a gap on the field and led the pack to the competition caution with Jeremy running in 7th when the yellow flew. The track conditions changed dramatically once again as the rain returned under the caution and another yellow after the restart gave the series champion two shots at him, but Todd was not to be denied as he officially led every lap for the first SXS win of his already stellar off road racing career. Jeremy struggled with visibility issues after running out of tear-offs, but was able to pick up a spot on the last restart to finish 6th.

A much drier track would be a welcome sight for everyone on Sunday morning. The Sportsman SXS race would be run in the early afternoon after several other races so the track was much closer to what you would usually expect. At the drop of the green Jake jumped out to the lead with Jonny close behind. The two raced hard early with Jonny taking the lead from Jake as they came to the flagstand on lap one, while Dave was running hard in 7th. They maintained those positions when the competition caution came a lap early, shortening the race to 9 laps. After the restart, Jake would fall to 3rd but Dave would make some nice passes to move into 4th on lap 7. Dave suffered some damage after getting hit by another driver and would drop out two laps early, and Jonny would slip to 2nd on the last lap with Jake crossing the line right behind him in 3rd. Late in the afternoon, the 12 lap, 25 car Pro Stock SXS main was up with Todd starting 4th and Jeremy 8th for the land rush start. The drivers quickly found a good pace and made moves early with Todd in 3rd and Jeremy 5th when the competition caution came out at the completion of lap 6. After the restart Todd made move to the outside for 2nd but couldn’t make it stick, meanwhile Jeremy had moved up to 4th and started putting pressure on Todd. They battled hard to the end, on the last turn Jeremy dove to the inside and Todd hit a bump, got up on 2 wheels and had to lift, Jeremy slipped by to finish 3rd and Todd came home 5th.

The livestream replay of the Crandon races can be seen on demand at https://champoffroad.com/on-demand/.

Thanks to all of the team sponsors and everyone that makes this possible!

Speedwerx
TraLo Motorsports
Arctic Cat Off Road
FOX
Octane Ink
Hoosier Racing Tire
ACX Lubricants
LeTourneau Electric
Raceline Wheels
Rugged Radios
Wildcat Riders LLC