2024 UNLTD Championship Chase: UTV Pro NA and Pro Stock
The 2024 UNLTD Off-Road Racing season concludes on October 2-6 with the return of the California 300. As we prepare for an epic finish to this year’s campaign, we’re going to take a look each week at the top racers across the dozens of classes that make up a typical UNLTD entry list.
This week, we begin our look at the Pro classes with a deeper dive into two of the top UTV divisions, Pro NA and Pro Stock:
UTV Pro NA
Armando Maldonado and Doug Maclachlan kicked off their chase for the championship in Parker with a pair of Polaris RZRs, but it was Maclachlan who drew first blood in the season opener. He posted the faster qualifying time of the duo by four seconds and was the only one to finish all three laps, taking the 13th overall spot in the Limited Race in doing so.
The grid only got bigger at the BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400, and with the expansion came more brand representation. When the dust settled, it was former Mint 400 Motorcycle Race and Dakar Rally winner Ricky Brabec on top, one of two wins on the weekend for the American off-road legend as he supported Preston Campbell’s win in this year’s Motorcycle Race. Brabec led a Honda 1-2 ahead of Michael McFayden.
Maldonado completed the podium as Maclachlan suffered a DNF to take the championship lead, 291-280. Both drivers finished a lap off Carson Wernimont’s winning pace in Barstow last year, but Maclachlan had the better run, joining Wernimont in the overall top 10 through the first two laps of the race.
UTV Pro Stock
Podiums in back-to-back races to start the season have Justin Von Metal firmly in control of the Pro Stock class. To open the season, Von Metal finished third to Riley Binnquist and Wes Miller in Parker, even stopping to help another racer in a potential emergency situation along the way.
After the final results were settled at the Mint 400, Von Metal was scored second, giving him 326 points on the season and a triple-digit advantage going into the finale. After post-race penalties, only Nicolas Evans was scored ahead of Von Metal, winning by just over seven minutes. The win came in the Tennessee native’s first attempt at the Great American Off-Road Race.
In last year’s California 300, Von Metal competed in the Rally Modified class, defeating Ethan Sullivan for the class win for the second year in a row by just over 15 minutes with a two-lap time of 4:18:45. Miller was also two-for-two in the PR-100 Production class in Barstow, posting a time of 4:52:47 last year. UNLTD simplified its UTV class structure for 2024, causing both drivers to move to Pro Stock this season.
Catch up on all of the 2024 UNLTD Championship Chase posts:
July 18: UTV Modified/UTV Stock/Youth
July 25: Limited Truck
August 1: Limited Car, Vintage, and Military
August 8: Motorcycles