Can-Am off-road has launched its 2017 Can-Am factory racing team and also announced its Can-Am X-Team ATV and SxS Rider Contingency Program. The amateur and professional racing contingency program includes more than a $350,000 in total payouts and covers numerous racing series for ATVs and side-by-side vehicles across North America.
The Can-Am X-Team off-road consists of 18 teams competing with Can-Am Renegade 4x4 ATVs and Can-Am Maverick side-by-side vehicles.
Side-By-Side Vehicle Racing
The Can-Am side-by-side vehicle racing team competes on racetracks across North America, in several different series. The team returns as the reigning champion in the GNCC XC1Pro UTV, SCORE International Pro UTV FI and UTV Rally Raid Pro Unlimited classes. Team racers will also compete in other series, including the Best In The Desert (BITD) series, The Off-Road Championship (TORC) and the King of the Hammers (KOH) race.
Can-Am will field several desert racing teams inside the Can-Am Maverick X3 Turbo R side-by-side vehicle. The impressive list includes Derek and Jason Murray (Can-Am/ITP/Murray Brothers), who are known as the most consistent desert racing team in the series, having now finished 47 consecutive BITD races. The Murrays, who won the 2016 SCORE International Pro UTV FI title, will continue their double-championship pursuit in both desert racing series. Logan Gastel also competes in a Maverick X3 side-by-side vehicle for Can-Am in the BITD series, where he’s coming off of a fifth-place class finish in the Mint 400.
New for 2017, is the addition of Monster Energy/Can-Am drivers Matt Burroughs and Marc Burnett, the latter of whom is making his return to Can-Am behind the wheel of the wild Maverick X3 side-by-side vehicle. The passionate and jovial driver Dustin Jones (Can-Am/S3 Racing) also returns with his #noliftshift approach and popular “Visions of Victory” post-event racing video series. The cool, calm and collected Can-Am/Desert Toyz front man Cory Sappington will continue his Can-Am Maverick desert racing efforts in both BITD and SCORE International competition. Aftermarket juggernaut, innovator and dedicated racer Dan Fisher is also on Team Can-Am, competing in his Lonestar Racing-backed Maverick X3 MAX vehicle.
Can-Am will look to continue its success and onslaught in the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) UTV racing series, having won the last three XC1 Pro UTV championships. Returning for factory Can-Am is two-time XC1 Pro champ Kyle Chaney (Chaney Racing/Can-Am), who took the runner-up spot a year ago with three total victories and took a third-place finish at the 2017 GNCC UTV opener. Tim Farr (JB Racing/Can-Am), who has garnered 11 podium finishes in the last three seasons, will join Chaney in both GNCC action and the TORC series. Also, Texan Hunter Miller (Can-Am/Miller Brothers Racing), who found his groove late last year earning his first Can-Am GNCC victory and XC1 Pro class podium, returns this season in the professional ranks.
Can-Am also fielded an all-new group of racers to compete in the King of the Hammers (KOH) in the Ultra4 Racing, of which it is the official UTV of the series. Casey and Cody Currie (Monster Energy/Can-Am) and Chad Hughes competed at KOH in Maverick X3 Turbo R side-by-side vehicles.
Can-Am SxS racers
Marc Burnett (BITD, SCORE)
Matt Burroughs (BITD)
Kyle Chaney (GNCC, TORC)
Logan Gastel (BITD)
Tim Farr (GNCC, TORC)
Dan Fisher (BITD)
Hunter Miller (GNCC)
Murray Bros (BITD, SCORE)
Dustin Jones (BITD)
Cory Sappington (BITD)
Chad Hughes (KOH)
Casey Currie (KOH)
Cody Currie (KOH)
ATV Racing
Can-Am is the winningest 4x4 ATV brand in Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) history and the defending 4x4 Pro class champion Kevin Cunningham also races a Can-Am Renegade 4x4. Along with GNCC racing, Can-Am off-road factory racers Bryan Buckhannon and Don Higbee will also compete in the BITD ATV series.
Last season, Kevin Cunningham piloted his Can-Am Renegade X xc 1000R to his first GNCC championship. He’s already off to a great start in 2017, having won the first two 4x4 Pro class events. During his championship effort, Cunningham also ended Bryan Buckhannon’s impressive championship winning streak. From 2008 to 2015, Buckhannon had won eight titles, which included the first two 4x4 Pro class titles. In fact, he has finished no worse than runner up in any 4x4 class aboard a Can-Am since 2007, making him the most successful Can-Am 4x4 racer of all time.
Rob Smith and Jordan Phillips, who have each notched numerous podiums and also overall victories in their career, will also join Cunningham and Buckhannon in the 4x4 Pro ranks this season.
Can-Am ATV racers
Kevin Cunningham (GNCC 4x4 Pro)
Bryan Buckhannon (GNCC 4x4 pro, BITD)
Rob Smith (GNCC 4x4 Pro)
Don Higbee (BITD ATV)
Jordan Phillips (GNCC 4x4 Pro)
2017 Can-Am ATV and Side-By-Side Vehicle Contingency Program
BRP’s Can-Am Off-Road division will once again support Can-Am ATV and side-by-side vehicle owners by offering its industry-leading Can-Am Racing Contingency and Amateur Support Program for 2017. Racers who compete on approved vehicles in an appropriate series in North America can be eligible for cash payouts throughout the 2017 racing season.
Contingency cash is paid out in numerous U.S. national and regional racing series for both ATV and side-by-side racing. Those series include the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) series, Best In The Desert (BITD), SCORE International desert series, King of the Hammers (KOH), World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS) Championship Mud Racing (CMR), Mud Nationals, and many more regional series across North America. For the 2017 season, select events now have more contingency money reserved per race provided the minimum amounts of entries compete at each event (see details). And a qualified racer can potentially earn additional championship contingency money if he or she wins the class title in an authorized series in an eligible Can-Am vehicle.
Eligible Can-Am racers can earn $5,000 USD for a first-place finish in the BITD and SCORE International UTV Pro Production Turbo class of each series at each event and an additional $7,500 USD for securing the championship in the same class. ATV races can secure up to $1,500 USD per racing victory in the GNCC series (4x4 Pro only) and the BITD and SCORE International series (Quad Pro). A championship in any of these premier racing series will earn the Can-Am champion another $3,000 USD.
To qualify for the Can-Am Amateur Racer Support program, participants must purchase a qualifying new or unused ATV or side-by-side vehicle and also register it with an authorized Can-Am dealer. The list of ATVs includes 2014 and newer Renegade and Outlander 4x4 models at varying displacement levels. Approved side-by-side vehicles include 2014 and newer Can-Am Maverick and all 2017 Maverick X3 Turbo R side-by-side vehicles.
For more information on Can-Am racing, the full 2017 schedule, the contingency program, e-mail: atvracing.can-am@brp.com.
