Popular NRX NEXT racer George Megennis got the second part of his season off to a fantastic start at Glen Helen, dominating on Saturday to take his first win since Utah last year.
He then came achingly close to doubling up on Sunday only for 2021 champ Casper Jansson to best him through a forced joker strategy, but despite missing a second, seemingly locked-in win, Megennis came away from California with his trademark smile as wide as ever.
“Overall I had a great weekend at Glen Helen,” he recalls. “I had a lot of fun, and the racing was amazing and the results were definitely good.
“Saturday was the perfect day and on Sunday everything seemed to be going the way of day one, getting pole winning my heat and semifinal.
“The final started well for about the first ten feet. And then Casper went around the outside of me in the first corner,” he explains. “I had to let him have the inside for turn one and I gave it my best effort to send it around the outside going into turn two but I remembered he tried to do that to me and I hip checked him so I was sure he’d do the same to me.”
A last minute call, from Megennis, to joker was made in the hope that the clean air early in the race would pay dividends come race end, alas it was not quite to be.
“I was forced to basically go joker or lose a lot of time and spots,” he says. “Casper ran a better race than me overall and I can’t even be mad at that.”
Megennis’ California weekend was something of a breakthrough, with him returning to the top of the podium after a string of four second places from 10 last year, and two at the previous round in Minnesota.
“I still had a fantastic weekend overall and the team did a great job,” he says. “We were all performing at 100 percent and it was incredibly satisfying to get the win on Saturday after finishing in second for so long.”
The results weren't the only thing Megennis was pleased with in Glen Helen. With Nitro Rallycross always striving to produce the best racing possible, a few tweaks were made to the already-popular course in Southern California to enhance things even more.
“The track was amazing,” he beamed. “In 2021 the track was good but I knew there were many changes that I would like to have made. And low and behold when i showed up on thursday many of those changes had been made!
“All the jumps were taller and it definitely made it much more fun to drive. The corners changed slightly as well with the banked corners being slightly taller and steeper allowing us to carry more speed.
“The changes Nitro has made to the tracks for this year have all been amazing and I can’t wait to see what they do to Phoenix.”