Eighty-nine side-by-side enthusiasts met on the mountainous terrain of the Seven Springs Ski Resort for an epic day of side-by-side (SXS) endurance racing at the Red Bull Mountain Scramble. Recreational and professional racers alike joined phenom Mia Chapman and Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team members Mitch Guthrie Jr. and Seth Quintero for two different races through the backcountry woods.
The race featured two classes: the SXS Pro for the more experience racers and the SXS Sportsman for amateur off-road enthusiasts. With a time of 1:12:23, Devin Smith from Terre Haute, Indiana won the SXS Pro race taking home a brand-new Polaris RZR XP Turbo. Cortland, Ohio’s Jason Nicholas won the SXS Sportsman race with a time of 1:22:23, earning him a new set of BFGoodrich tires and $500.
“I could retire right now and be happy,” Smith said at the podium. “I knew as long as long as I got out front, clean air was going to be a big thing. When I got to the top of the hill and nobody else was around, I knew I had to put it down and go.”
Drivers were expecting a technical racecourse at Red Bull Mountain Scramble, and it delivered in spades. After two consecutive days of wet conditions, racers were challenged with navigating the muddied tracks of the mountain-side slopes while ascending and descending various elevations and cautiously squeezing their vehicles through narrow passages. Each lap spanned eight miles with drivers completing up to four laps per race. Out of the 89 drivers, representing 15 different states, only a quarter finished four laps, as the others battled crashes, steep hill climbs and flat tires.
“Red Bull Mountain Scramble was definitely a unique event from what we’re used to,” said Guthrie Jr. “Overall, I’m stoked on how the race went, dicing it up through the rocks, the stumps and the mud. It was an awesome start to the Red Bull Scramble events, and I’m excited for Red Bull Stone Scramble next.”
SXS PRO CLASS
1. Devin Smith (Terre Haute, Indiana) – 1:12:23
2. Dwight Pollard (Clarkesville, Georgia) – 1:14:27
3. Levi Metzinger (Shamokin, Pennsylvania) – 1:15:19
SXS SPORTSMAN CLASS
1. Jason Nicholas (Cortland, Ohio) – 1:22:23
2. Patrick McGuire (Toms River, New Jersey) – 1:22:42
3. Lucas Wehmiller (Indiana) – 1:02:27 (three laps)
Red Bull Mountain Scramble is the first of a multi-stop original collection of SXS races in the Red Bull Scramble Series for amateur and professional racers alike. No single race is the same as each boasts unique elements, exhilarating racecourses and thrilling competition spanning every corner of the continental U.S.
