Photo Courtesy of Stadium Super Trucks
After a thrilling race last year on a course that consisted of both asphalt and dirt, the SPEED Energy Off-Road Presented by Traxxas trucks return to the X-Games this weekend, set to put on a thrilling show on Sunday, June 7. The 18 truck line-up for this weekend features a mix of talent with drivers that have past experience and rookies.
1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Champion Rusty Wallace is set to make his Stadium Super Truck debut this weekend, driving the No. 2 Jimmy Johns entry. Wallace has spent numerous days at Robby Gordon’s test track in Charlotte, North Carolina, getting used to the truck. It’ll be interesting to see how he adapts to the truck this weekend.
Another pair of big name stars that will make their debuts this weekend include Boris Said and Travis Pastrana. Said’s racing experience of the past relies solely on asphalt racing, running sports car and NASCAR. Now giving him the challenge of dirt, that’ll present a new challenge. Meanwhile, Pastrana knows all about dirt. He has raced NASCAR, monster trucks and is mostly known for his crazy stunts as part of the Nitro Circus. Will that translate to immediate success? Quite possibly.
The rest of drivers making their debuts this weekend include two-time AMSOIL Pro 2 Champion Cj Greaves and freestyle motorcross rider Jeremy ‘Twitch’ Stenberg.
Charles Dorrance is hoping to make the final event this year after finishing ninth last year in his heat and failing to qualify. Dorrance has ran eight of the nine events this season thus far, scoring a best finish of seventh on a couple different occasions.
Apdaly Lopez enters this weekend as the defending event winner after scoring his first career victory in last year’s X-Games Austin event. Lopez has yet to make a series start thus far this year, though, so it’ll be interesting to see how quickly he gets back in his groove this weekend.
Series creator Robby Gordon is hoping to find himself on a podium yet again, but up higher in the finishing order after finishing third last year behind Lopez and Sheldon Creed. Gordon has had a solid season thus far, currently tied for second in the series standings with a single victory on the season thus far.
Arie Luyendyk Jr. will make his fourth start of the season this weekend, hoping to top his 10th place finish at X-Games from a year ago. Luyendyk finished eighth in both events this past weekend in Detroit.
Keegan Kincaid enters this weekend sitting fourth in the standings, with a win and four podium finishes thus far this season. Kincaid competed in X-Games last year, finishing sixth.
Burt Jenner will make his seventh start of this season this weekend, coming off the heels of winning the third Detroit race and scoring the Overall victory. Jenner has really burst on to the season this year as a star, as his victory at St. Petersburg at the end of March marked his first career SST victory. He’ll hope to top his 13th place finish from last year this weekend.
Scotty Steele will make his seventh start of the season as he continues to search for his first career victory, despite being a steady face in the series over the past three years. It hasn’t been for lack of effort, though, as Steele runs up front in each event, as highlighted by his two podium finishes thus far this season. He also had success last year at X-Games, finishing fifth.
Jerett Brooks will make his first start of the season after running six of the events last year. In those six events last year, he impressed with three podium finishes. He also had success last year at X-Games, finishing fourth.
Bill Hynes continues to improve with each SST start, still searching for his first career podium finish. His best career finish to date was the sixth place finish that he posted earlier this year at St. Petersburg.
Gavin Harlien made his 2015 SST debut earlier this year, posting a solid sixth place finish in Long Beach. He has experience in the trucks, though, as evident by his six starts over the course of the 2014 season. He finished ninth last year at X-Games.
Sheldon Creed enters this weekend looking for his third victory of the season as he currently sits second in points, two points behind EJ Viso. Creed just needs to do one spot better this year to find himself with the Gold medal, as he finished runner-up at X-Games 2014.
Kyle LeDuc will make his third SST start this weekend, looking for his podium finish after finishing 10th earlier this year at Long Beach.
The driver that everybody will have their eye on, though, is EJ Viso as he enters this weekend with the points lead. Viso has posted three wins and four podium finishes thus far this season to top the standings. He just hopes to have better luck this year at X-Games than last year as he finished 15th in the inaugural event.
With high-flying, fender-banging action that will fans at the edge of the seat, this is a for sure watch for anybody. Be sure to tune into ABC on Sunday, June 7 to watch the race LIVE.
