Valcourt, Quebec – Can-Am announced its 2019 Can-Am racing team as well as its ATV and SSV Rider Contingency Program. Nearly 30 total professional racers and teams will compete under the 2019 Can-Am racing umbrella, receiving various forms of factory support.
The national amateur and professional contingency program covers numerous racing series and includes dedicated racing payouts for eligible drivers who compete with the Maverick X3 side-by-side vehicle, Can-Am Outlander and Renegade 4x4 ATVs and other approved vehicles.
Side-By-Side Vehicle Racing
The 2019 Can-Am racers will compete at various race courses across North America and beyond, in various series, from short-course to desert to woods racing. The team returns as the reigning UTV champion in the Best In The Desert (BITD), Grand National Cross Country (GNCC), Lucas Oil Off Road Regional Series (LOORRS) and the Heartland Challenge.
Can-Am has already started the 2019 racing campaign by winning its second-straight Dakar UTV race, podiums in the World Off Road Championship Series (WORCS) and earning three top 10 finishes in the Can-Am UTV King of the Hammers (KOH) race earlier this month. Along with these series, team racers will also enter the Southern Rock Racing series (SRSS), Pro Rock Racing (PRR) UTV series, GNCC ATV series, Side-By-Side (SxS) racing series, LA Cross-Country racing series, American Cross Country Championship XC Racing Series (AXCC) and assorted other events.
Can-Am will field several desert-racing teams in the Can-Am Maverick X3 Turbo R side-by-side vehicle. The impressive list includes reigning two-time BITD UTV Pro Turbo Champion Phil Blurton (with co-pilot Beau Judge), who runs the No Limit Can-Am XPS team. Derek and Jason Murray (Can-Am ITP Murray Brothers), who finished second at 2018 Baja 1000, are recognized as a serious podium threat at every race. The Murrays, who won the 2016 SCORE International Pro UTV FI title, will compete in BITD and SCORE. The energetic Dustin “Battle Axe” Jones (Monster Energy S3 Racing Can-Am) won the 2019 Parker 250 in January and will be gunning for more victories this season in the BITD series.
Already with a solid fourth-place finish and Rookie of Dakar award, as well as a top 10 finish at the 2019 KOH race under his belt this year, Monster Energy Can-Am racer Casey Currie will take his lifelong desert racing skills with him to the UTVWC, among other racing appearances.
Can-Am has a host of former GNCC UTV racing champions competing for them in various series in the form of Hunter Miller (2018), Cody Miller (2016-17) and Kyle Chaney (2014-15). The Millers (Miller Brothers Racing Can-Am) will head west to compete in the WORCS series and also compete in the UTV World Championship race in April. Chaney (XPS Can-Am Chaney Racing), who also won the 2018 Heartland Challenge event, will join them in Laughlin, NV. Corry Weller (Weller Racing DFR Can-Am) won the 2018 LOORRS Production Turbo Champion in her Maverick X3 Turbo R side-by-side vehicle and will look to repeat against a growing field of competitors.
Can-Am SxS Racers
- Phil Blurton (BITD, Baja 1000)
- Kyle Chaney (KOH, UTVWC, LOORRS East)
- Casey Currie (KOH, DAKAR, UTVWC)
- Dustin Jones (BITD, KOH)
- Hunter Miller (WORCS, UTVWC)
- Cody Miller (WORCS, UTVWC)
- Derek and Jason Murray (BITD, SCORE)
- Logan Gastel (BITD)
- Cory Sappington (BITD, SCORE)
- Dan Fisher (BITD)
- Corry Weller (LOORRS West)
- Matt Burroughs (BITD, Baja 1000)
- Steve Scheuring, Elliott Burns (LOORRS East)
- Michael Isom (BITD)
- Casey Scherer (ULTRA4)
- Justin Elenburg (SCORE)
- Eric Gordon (LOORRS East)
- Jamie McCoy (PRR, SRRS)
- Glenn Grayson (LOORRS Midwest, Heartland Challenge, KOH)
- Jason Watt (AXCC, SxS Sports)
- Pete Libby (BITD)
- Scott Lawrence (LOORRS Midwest, SxS Sports, AXCC)
- Shane Dowden (LACC, UTVWC, Heartland Challenge)
ATV Racing
Can-Am continued its impressive reign in the Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) series with yet another championship in 2018. While defending 4x4 Pro class champion Kevin Cunningham has retired from the sport, the class runner-up Landon Wolfe, amongst veteran racers Rob Smith, Jordan Phillips and Dwight Pollard (third place in 2018), will certainly be battling to earn the 2019 GNCC crown. Wolfe won three rounds on his Can-Am Renegade 4x4 a year ago and scored a total of 10 podiums, so he’s definitely a threat to continue the brand’s championship run. Can-Am has won the 4x4 Pro ATV class every year since the class was introduced in 2015. In fact, in both the 4x4 Pro and 4x4 A classes, Can-Am racers won every round of the GNCC series in 2018.
Veteran racer and Driven Powersports chief Don Higbee will race the SCORE International series and select other events. Higbee’s team took second overall at the 2018 Baja 1000 aboard a Can-Am Outlander 1000R ATV. He also tallied a third place class finish in the 2018 BITD series against sport quads and set the fastest recorded time by a utility ATV ever at last year’s Vegas to Reno race.
Can-Am ATV Racers
- Don Higbee (SCORE ATV)
- Landon Wolfe (GNCC 4x4 Pro)
- Dwight Pollard (GNCC 4x4 Pro)
- Jordan Phillips (GNCC 4x4 Pro)
- Rob Smith (GNCC 4x4 Pro)
2019 Can-Am ATV, Side-By-Side Vehicle Contingency Program
Can-Am will once again support Can-Am off-road vehicle owners with its Can-Am Racing Contingency and Amateur Support Program for 2019. Racers who compete on approved vehicles in an appropriate series in North America can be eligible for cash payouts during the 2019 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 Best In The Desert (BITD), SCORE International desert series, ULTRA4 King of the Hammers (KOH), World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS), Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) ATV series, the Heartland Challenge endurance race, Lucas Oil Off Road Regional Series (LOORRS), SxS Sports series, the American Cross Country Championship XC Racing Series (AXCC) and other regional racing series.
For the 2019 season, select events have contingency money reserved per race, provided the minimum amounts of entries compete at each event (see details).
Eligible Can-Am racers can earn $5,000 USD for a first-place finish in the BITD and SCORE International UTV Pro Production Turbo classes of each series at each event. A podium finish in either of these desert racing series events breaks down as $5,000 (first), $2,000 (second) and $1,000 (third). ATV racers can secure up to $1,000 USD per racing victory in the GNCC series (4x4 Pro), Heartland Challenge, and the Quad Pro ranks in both the BITD and SCORE International series.
The Qualified Can-Am Amateur Racer Support program requires participants to purchase a new or unused ATV or side-by-side vehicle and also register it with an authorized Can-Am dealer. The list of ATVs includes 2015 and newer Renegade and Outlander 4x4 models at varying displacement levels. Approved side-by-side vehicles include 2015 and newer Can-Am Maverick and all 2017-19 Maverick X3 Turbo R side-by-side vehicles. The period runs Jan. 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2019.
A minimum of seven (7) riders in a class (in any event) must start the race for contingency to be paid.
For more information on Can-Am racing, the full 2019 schedule and the contingency program, e-mail: atvracing.can-am@brp.com. For more information about Can-Am off-road products, visit CanAmOffRoad.com
