Heading out to any off-road racing event is nothing less than a good time, but it is even better when you are the star of the show. Jump Champs‘ time trial event took place this past weekend at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California and even with the rare Southern California rain leading up to the event there was no lack of excitement.

In an event as unique as Jump Champs, off-road enthusiasts are the start of the show. All types of vehicles can be seen at the event from UTVs, fully built race trucks, and even some mildly built vehicles.

The morning started out with a drivers meeting followed by a prerun on both courses. This event had two separate courses: a mild track that was focused near the short course track and a wild course that was on the other side of the raceway running on the Ultra4/motocross course.

“The event overall was a huge success,” Sean Kepler, Jump Champs founder, explained. “We had a lot of new features that we wanted to try. We released that we were hosting an event with only two months to get ready! Each new venture went off without a hitch: Race Suit Rentals, Hero Highlight Program, Jump Champs crowd step and repeat with the Monster Girls, two tracks, text to win campaign, and the ride-along programs. There was a lot that needed to come together in a short period of time and our team was able to utilize each concept and all of them performed awesome.”

With the rain in the days before the course was full of water and mud, but it did not stop the drivers fun having a good time. With the roar of horsepower ringing through the park, you could see some drivers getting used to the track and the veterans itching to get going.

“Leading up to the event the weather forecast was daunting but not discouraging,” Kepler continued.” We woke up Friday to tons of water coming down on us. The place filled up, the washes became rivers and just like that, the roads leading into the facility were ruined. We worked hard all day Friday from sun up to sun down to prepare everything we could.”

“Practice was delayed, but still went on,” Kepler said. “We ran it later than scheduled to let people get as much track time as they could. I spent most of my time working on the wild track with the equipment operators to do as much damage control as we could. That night, though, it rained so bad it began to hail and we knew Saturday was going to be a soupy mess!”

We can attest to the course and grounds being wet first hand, but we have to remember that this is an off-road event and are supposed to get dirty. Drivers still had a blast driving around the courses and getting to be the star of the show.

The lines may have been long, but the fun on the other side of the green flag was worth it.

“All in all with the rain, the mud, the road closures, and some other issues the pace was certainly slowed, but did not take away from the fun that our competitors had,” Kepler said. “Many of the vehicles that ran on the tracks had done over 10 laps for the day even with the delays that we had from the course or vehicles breaking.”

“The Wild track though was busy all day,” Kepler added. “For the future, we have a better idea on how we want to run the courses and will keep the competitors on their respective tracks. This will allow us to have an even number of vehicles on each course, giving competitors plenty of track time.”

One of the best parts about attending an event like this is having the ability to dial in your vehicle as you make laps around the course, but also for fans building their vehicle to come out and get ideas on an area they need to finish. With the pit area open spectators could check out all the vehicles up close.

Jump Champs teamed up with Yamaha to give people a chance to see what the YXZ1000R. “The Yamaha YXZ1000R ride demos were a huge success,” Kepler said. “Our spectators were able to suit up in official Jump Champs race suits and take the most innovate side-by-side on the market. The demo took riders out on the race courses and through the hills of Glen Helen with a professional support team.”

Southern California to most can be considered the mecca of off-road and it showed at the event. “The folks at Yamaha tour the country with this ride along and said that the Jump Champs event, the spectators, and enthusiasts that signed up were the most well informed and engaged riders they have ever had,” Kepler explained. “They are constantly dealing with bad drivers, rollovers, and other incidents, but there were none at the Jump Champs.”

You can expect to see a lot more out of the Jump Champs events. “In one year we have held two successful events, built from the ground up,” Kepler said. “The Jump Champs team is working hard on expanding what we offer and all fans, participants, and sponsors will be thrilled to see what we have in store for 2017. More events, possibly more venues, more professional athletes, and more fun to be had by all.”

For the most up-to-date information from Jump Champs be sure to check out its website as they will be back in action in May of 2017. What are you looking forward to most from Jump Champs in 2017? Tell us in the comments below!