The very challenging spring weather saw cancellations everywhere for all off-road sports. Holding back no longer, the Polaris British SXS Championship finally got underway with Round 1 of the British Short Circuit Championship on the 29th April. SXS racing runs over three race formats, Short Circuit Racing, Endurance Racing and Youth. The event, held for the first time at Kirton Off Road Centre (KORC) in Lincolnshire, was organised by British SXS Championship Racing.
“The track build went well,” says Race Director, Colin Martin, and the kind of weather helped create a surface that was about as good as it could be, all things considered. We used KORC’s new MX track which had never hosted an SXS event before. Entry numbers were strong and everything clicked into place and we were GO for racing.”
Racing Polaris RZR Side by Sides has become the fastest-growing sport and leisure racing in the UK and the RZR is described by Polaris as being ‘fuelled by relentless innovation’. It certainly defies reason with its combination of power, suspension and agility. The Polaris British SXS Championship has now become the premier racing championship for all makes and types of SXS, and the season kicked off with Open Class Qualifying allowing everyone to get on the track and give the Rookies a crack at the Experts. Paul Severne took Pole in qualifying in the Open Class in a RZR turbo against strong competition from Can AM and Yamaha.
So the grid was set for Races one to three of the Open Class, followed by the 1000 Experts and on to the 1000 Rookies qualifying and races. One to watch was Shaun Jenkinson in the Open Class. Hugely outgunned in his normally aspirated 1000cc Polaris RZR, in a race dominated by the high powered turbo machines, he took 2nd overall which is a massive achievement given his power deficit. Very, very exciting to watch, extremely challenging and exciting to take part, anyone interested in competing in SXS or following the championship can see all the race details and how to enter at: www.sxsracing.co.uk
