High Altitude, High Octane

Legacy Takes Racers on a New Course Meant to Punish

Words: Matthew McNulty

Photos: Logan Gallagher

This past weekend saw the Legacy Racing Series bring some action to Cedar City Utah for the Dirt Rebelution race. Racers battled each other and the high-altitude Utah terrain on a 70-mile loop, with just two pit stop opportunities.

A change of scenery from racers’ usual Nevada landscape, Cedar City’s course provided a challenging mix of technical trails and more fast, open sections where racers in the Stock UTV and Turbo class could test their mettle against each other in competition. With a field of 26 UTVs vying for the win, the race provided some close finishing action.

It was the 929 Can-Am driven by Bill Baker and Fields Motorsports which took home first place in the stock class, with co-driver Rob Longfellow from the Veteran’s Racing Alliance. Carey McCandless, in the 934 Polaris followed up in second with the 924 Can-Am of Barry Schafer close behind.

Baker credited the course as “tight and technical within the trees the majority of the race, it helped to work in close communication with co-driver Rob Longfellow in order to set up the turns with maximum speed since we are limited on power. Overall, the course was top-notch, marked, and a lot of fun.”

Further down the order in the Stock class, Tyler Stewart (U938) had a front driveline failure at mile 45 which resulted in a DNF after one lap, however, his wife, Sarah Stewart (U905), took home a 5th-place finish in what they described as one of their favorite events of the year. “There are some rocky patches, and there are miles of fast, meandering trails that had no rocks at all, just clean, smooth trails.” Said Stewart.

However, with a series championship race in the class separated by merely ten points between the husband and wife going into the race, the contest is sure to move forward to the finale of the series.

In the NA class, Carson Wernimont drove his #1927 Kawasaki to a commanding victory, further extending his championship lead over Joe Bolton, who unfortunately recorded a DNF at the race. Behind Wernimont in second for the class was Aaron Clark in the #1803 Polaris, followed by the #1956 Polaris of Austin Bolton. Going into the last race of the series it is clearly Wernimont’s title to lose.

As for the Unlimited class, the #2969 Polaris of Mike Lesle beat out the #2901 Can-Am driven by Nolan Williams for the win, earning an additional five points in the series standings to hold onto his lead over Williams. With 17 points separating the two going into the finale of the series, Williams’ chances to win outright seem to be fading away.

In the UTV Turbo class, Nate Hale (T961) in the Swirl woodcraft Polaris took the flag. Despite starting in last place of the turbo class, Hale led a heroic charge to be physically in 2nd place at the last lap and eventually took the win on adjusted time. And close behind in second place after time corrections was the Lonestar Can-Am (T916) of Jeremiah Scott with his Co-Driver Joey Olsin.

Olsin was also quick to give credit to Hale for “doing a good job charging us from the back and getting us on corrected time.”

Scott and Olsin may have finished second today but extended series points lead ahead of the last race of the 2022 Legacy Racing Series, the VT Construction Battleground in Jean, NV later this year. After this event, eyes are certainly on the final race on December 1-4th, and who will finish as the 2022 Legacy Racing Association champion.

TOP FINISHERS

All results posted are unofficial. To see the full current results, visit: https://legacyracing.net/race-schedule/dirt-rebelution/

UTV STOCK 1:

1. [U929] Bill Baker – 03:09:27.459
2. [U934] Carey Candless – 03:17:22.889
3. [S924] Barry Schafer – 03:17:46.693
4. [U903] Derek Morse – 03:28:43.299
5. [U947] Blaine Davis – 03:46:40.403

UTV TURBO:

1. [T961] Nate Hale – 04:37:13.671
2. [T916] Jeremiah Scott – 04:41:05.975
3. [T824] Cody Schafer – 04:49:09.930
4. [T959] Jimmy Perry – 04:51:38.865
5. [T938] Kolton Hustead – 05:12:04.811

UTV NA:

1. [1927] Carson Wernimont – 05:00:59.280
2. [1803] Aaron Clark – 05:39:55.370
3. [1956] Austin Bolton – 06:11:01.899

UTV UNLIMITED:

1. [2969] Mike Lesle – 04:52:20.027
2. [2901] Nolan Williams – 05:34:50.611