Adventure Trail

La Ronge Off-Road Enthusiasts Compete at Prestigious Mountain Havoc Racing Event

Ossie Khan

20th June 2024 2 min read

Two men from La Ronge have returned after attending Mountain Havoc, a premier off-road racing event in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Jeff Ede and Derek Wrightson brought a 2013 Jimmy Smith tube chassis with a six-liter V8 engine, automatic transmission, one-ton 14-bolt rear axles, and 47-inch tires to the three-day competition, known as the Superbowl of havoc-style racing. Ede drove the vehicle while Wrightson provided support. Both are members of the La Ronge Off-Road group. “It’s a qualifier race, so you have to place well in another race to qualify for this race,” Ede explained of the event held June 14-16.

“This was a four-race series throughout the weekend. We tackled four different courses: one race on Friday, two on Saturday, and one on Sunday. It was a point system, so based on your performance in each race, you earned points. The highest point earners placed first, second, or third.”

To qualify for Mountain Havoc, Ede performed well at Mountain Top Madness over the May long weekend in Kelowna, B.C. At Mountain Havoc, Ede placed 12th out of 21 teams with 284 points, while the top driver scored 487 points.

“It’s pretty nerve-racking, showing up and racing against the best drivers from Canada and the United States,” Ede noted. “There were really well-put-together rigs, the best drivers, and the tracks were absolutely insane and very difficult race courses.”

The race courses featured a mix of natural and manmade obstacles through mountains, sand, and forest terrain. Ede had to navigate big fan jumps, rock piles, mudholes, and pits.

Ede purchased the buggy in the fall of 2023, and he and Wrightson worked on it over the winter, as it was in rough shape when Ede bought it. The races in Kelowna and Bonners Ferry were the first where they used the buggy, marking their first competition south of the border.

Ede has been off-roading since he got his license at 16, making this experience in the United States particularly exhilarating. “We have a few trails local to us in La Ronge,” he added. “I’ve had a lot of practice trail riding, but racing these kinds of tracks against these kinds of competitors is a totally different story.”

Source:

https://northeastnow.com/2024/06/19/absolutely-insane-la-ronge-men-compete-in-international-off-roading-race/

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