After the sun went down on Saturday January 29th, the 2022 Baja Jerky Class 11 Showdown presented by EMPi lit up the 2022 King of the Hammers short course start/finish area. The full-bodied Class 11 Volkswagen Bug is one of genesis vehicles of off-road racing and has remained a popular and iconic racing class for many decades. This year’s Class 11 Showdown began with a 25-car field circling the course behind a pace truck for a rolling start. When the green flag dropped, the Class 11 race was on!
Watching the 2022 Baja Jerky Class 11 Showdown presented by EMPi was like seeing a merry-go-round made up of circling angry bees. There was lots of noise and plenty of action. Among the 25 competitors in the very competitive field were well-known drivers from diverse off-road racing disciplines such as multi-year King of the Hammers champion Shannon Campbell and Baja-racing ace Larry Roeseler. Many of the competitors were from Mexico and this was their first race in the U.S.
The 10-lap Baja Jerky Class 11 Showdown presented by EMPi was filled with paint-swapping side-by-side battles through the turns and plenty of bumper-to-bumper racing. While Roberto Robles (#1100) and Cisco Bio (#1118) traded second and third position a few times during the race, last year’s event winner Blake Wilkey (#1157) led the pack from green to checkered and took home the $11,940 purse. Wilkey said, “That last corner was my favorite because you could hold it down all the way through. My trick is to never lift.”
Story by Ultra4 Racing. Photos by Jason Stilgebouer, Paolo Baraldi & Larry Chen.
Check out the live stream from King of the Hammers all week here.
Click here for race results from King of the Hammers races.
Click here to see Race-dezert’s story and photos from the Class 11 Showdown.
