Hibbert Wins Thrilling Race In Front Of Huge Crowd

Twenty-four hours after a fabulous Pro Open final on a rough track at Shakopee, Minnesota’s Canterbury Park, the best snocross racers on the planet did it again – putting on a spectacular final in front of a huge crowd at the ISOC National sponsored by Traxxis and Jimmy John’s.

.       Weather that has been mega-depressing for snowmobilers in southern and central Minnesota proved to be excellent for snowmobile racing. Under a full moon on a perfectly clear night, the crowd exceeded promoters expectations both nights. Virtually every seat inside and outside of the horse racing track was filled, and hundreds if not thousands of additional fans crowded the standing area near the track.

.       After two rounds of qualifying heats and a last chance qualifying race, Saskatchewan-native Robbie Malinoski and Vermont-based TJ Gulla were the top qualifiers on their Scheuring Speed Sports Ski-Doo and Hentges Racing Polaris, respectively. The 15 who made the final (out of 25 entries) included six Ski-Doos, five Polaris sleds and four Arctic Cats.

.       On green for the 22-lap final, the black Amsoil-backed sleds of Malinoski and teammate Darrin Mees lurched into the lead, with Tucker Hibbert’s Cat and Tim Tremblay’s Ski-Doo hot on their heels, and points leader Ross Martin right behind them.

.       The first couple of laps, Malinoski pulled out to a 2.5 second lead, but there was a war behind him. Mees struggled to hold off Tremblay, while Hibbert was running fast and loose in fourth on his Monster Energy Arctic Cat. Then came the three Polaris of Martin, Gulla and Mike Bauer, with Logan Christian, Mathieu Morin and Bobby LePage rounding out the top 10.

.       By lap 4, Hibbert was on the move, literally flying past Tremblay at the starting line tabletop jump, then chasing down Mees and knifing past him with a block pass on lap 8. The winningest racer in modern snocross history spent the next five laps searching for lines while reeling in Malinowski. The two flew past flagman Bruce Mosher virtually tied on lap 15, but then Hibbert held the gas deep into turn one, doubling over a big hole that had gotten worn in by other riders and sailing into the lead.

[Read more]

Tremblay Claims Entertaining ISOC Canterbury Snocross

In one of the most entertaining final races in years, Quebec’s Tim Tremblay overcame a dogfight with three other top competitors to win Friday night’s Pro Open final at the Traxxis-sponsored Canterbury National in Shakopee, Minnesota.

.       Before that, however, Tremblay’s main fight this week was with customs agents that almost prevented his appearance at the race – more on that later.

.       On an unseasonably warm and windy night, 15 top pros worked their way into the final after two rounds of heat, followed by a last chance qualifier for some competitors.

.      The top qualifier was Wisconsin-based Polaris racer Ross Martin, and the season points leader showed his strength right away after the green flag waved, jumping out to an early lead while many sleds traded paint behind him.

.       After an initial shuffle, Amsoil Schuering Speed Sports teammates Robbie Malinoski and Darren Mees slotted in at second and third, with Cat racers Dan Ebert and Tucker Hibbert fourth and fifth. Then came Mathieu Morin, Tremblay, Garth Kaufman, recent jump record setter Levi LaVallee and Mike Bauer.

.       Four laps into the race, Malinoski started pressuring Martin. The two traded paint a couple of times, with Malinoski running into the back of Martin on one lap, then Martin forcing Malinoski over the burm in the same turn four a lap later. The two ran probably 8 laps never more than 8 sled-lengths apart.

[Read more]

Martin Wins Duluth National Final Sunday

Ross Martin proved that his Friday night victory was no fluke, while three-time defending Pro Class sweeper at Duluth Tucker Hibbert proved he and Arctic Cat have some work to be done as the Amsoil Duluth National wrapped up in northeastern Minnesota Sunday afternoon. It was the first round in what should prove to be a very interesting and competitive ISOC Amsoil Championship Snocross Series this winter.

.         After rugged qualifying rounds and a star-studded LCQ race (which saw Saturday night’s Pro winner Robbie Malinoski fall one spot short of qualifying for Sunday’s final) is was race time. Martin grabbed the Stud Boy holeshot award but ended up chasing Tim Tremblay’s Foremost Insurance-sponsored Ski-Doo down the hill for the first time and, in fact, for the first lap and a half. Behind them, carnage reigned, as first-year Pro Justin Broberg – the surprise No. 1 qualifier based on his excellent heat race results – tumbled in front of the pack while crowd favorite Levi LaVallee and LCQ winner Brett Bender also got caught up in the mess. Other sleds dove everywhere to stay out of the mess. LaVallee and Bender would rejoin the race in the back, but Broberg’s day was done.

.         Up front, Tremblay quickly built a nice lead, with Martin in tow and then a gap back to TJ Gulla (Polaris), Johan Lidman (Cat), Justin Tate (Polaris), Darrin Mees (Ski-Doo) and Dan Ebert (Cat), with cousins Tucker Hibbert (Cat) and Garth Kauffman (Cat) eighth and ninth.

.         It only took a couple of laps for things to change dramatically, and it started up front. Tremblay coasted off the track with an ill-running sled – an engine problem would end his day early and slot him into 14^th spot overall. Moments later, Justin Tate got separated from his sled just short of the start/finish line. Bender pulled off shortly thereafter – he reported having vision problems after his first lap crash.

.         Tremblay’s troubles left Martin all alone up front on his DuPont/Jack Links Polaris, and he didn’t spoil the opportunity. He put down one good lap after another with precision and pulled far ahead.

Ross Martin, right, pictured here with Colorado Rob Powers at Eagle River last year, earned two big victories at Duluth over the weekend. Look for photos from Duluth on this site later this week.

.         Deep in the pack, snocross dominator Hibbert was making a charge. He got a horrible holeshot and had to fight through traffic, similar to Saturday night’s final, but he was making it work. He worked his way past Mees on about lap 9, then sliced past Lidman into third on lap 11. He would spend the next 9 laps in pursuit of Gulla.

.         Gulla was making time on a track that almost ended his career two years earlier. On December 12, 2009, Gulla got separate from his sled in a qualifying race, scrambled to his feet and was running toward his machine when another sled landed on him. He ended up with a fractured skull that kept him off a sled until last November. A couple of weeks after that, he finished fourth here at Duluth last year. [Read more]

Winter Kicks Off With Duluth Snocross, And Fantasy Sports For Sledheads

The winter snowmobile racing season is here – at last!!

            I work with words for a living, but I can’t find any to describe how excited I am for the coming snowmobiling season. Right now, Andy is coming back from a dealership with two brand new Ski-Doo demo units; at the same time Randy is in the office next to me working on promotional materials for the new Snow Goer Snowmobile Racing Challenge that launched yesterday; at the same time as that, I’ve been exchanging emails with ISOC officials in preparation for this weekend’s Amsoil Duluth National, which will kick off the racing season.

          Busy? Yes. Excited? Beyond words!

         Let’s get into the racing stuff, in reverse order of how I mentioned them above. The Duluth National is an event I simply refuse to miss. I attended my first one in 1993 and fell in love – what an awesome way to kick off the new winter every year.

         Officials from the host Spirit Mountain ski hill and the host race circuit, the International Series of Champions, have been building a wonderful track, race teams have been busy practicing at their own facilities, and it’s almost go-time.

         You want updates from the races this weekend? You can come right back here to the blog site for them! I’ll be there Saturday and Sunday, and I’ll post news each evening from the event.

          Beyond that, me and Art Director Randy Kepner will see exactly how smart our smart phone is, with updates from the infield posted to our Facebook page (friend SnowGoer Magazine, if you haven’t already).

          Now, to the other big news: the kickoff of fantasy sports for sledheads – the Snow Goer Snowmobile Racing Challenge. You can read our press release material by clicking here, I’ll give you the cliff notes: Players pick from a menu of drivers, and get points based upon how their drivers finish. Top players can earn prizes, but everybody battles for bragging rights. The Challenge covers all of the ISOC national snocross races, plus the Eagle River World Championship, the Soo I-500, the USCC Red Lake I-500 cross country event and the Winter X Games snocross final. For year-end points, only your best eight weeks will count, so people can join late, or blow off a couple of events if they want to.

          It’s really cool, and it’s generating a lot of excitement right out of the box. It went live about 4 p.m. yesterday, and we’ve already got 48 players as I write this at 11:30 a.m. the next day. Fabulous!! Sign up now – it’s free, fun and easy!

Ah, winter. I’m so glad to see you!

Want Snowmobile Racing To Be Fun? Pay Attention

 We’re just days away from the opening of the snowmobile racing season, with the ISOC Duluth Snocross kicking off next Friday, November 26, in Duluth, Minnesota. The following weekend, the oval racing season kicks off at one of the coolest venues in the sport – the Canadian Power Toboggan Championships track in Beausejour, Manitoba. The weekend after that, things get going out east with the East Coast Snocross opener in Burke, Vermont.

These guys switched brands for the coming season: Knowing that makes how they do in Duluth this year very interesting.

          Good times await for family members and true fans at the various venues. And, as a fan of any sort of motorsport myself, I can’t wait. But I realized a couple weekends ago, while at a NASCAR race in Texas, the difference between truly enjoying a motorized soap opera and merely watching fast machines making laps. It is all about the bye-in of the individual fan.

            I was at the NASCAR race as a part of a REALLY cool Arctic Cat junket involved the company’s ATV division. That weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Arctic Cat had its name emblazoned on the No. 1 Chevy driven by the popular Jamie McMurray. It was fabulous.

            But while sitting in the crowd immerse in the events happening on each lap, I looked around me at several fellow motor journalists and some Arctic Cat officials and saw completely different levels of interest. A few of us were literally hanging on the edge of our seat, leaning forward toward the action, completely saturated. Many others in our group, however, including many fellow snowmobilers and a few snowmobile racing fans, were leaning back and staring off into the distance.

            The difference, of course, was how big of fans of this type of racing we were, but tied to that was how much members of the two different groups were absorbing based on their background.

Having a Cat-sponsored car to cheer for in Texas.

            To me and a couple of others, we immediately saw Kurt Busch dropping toward the back and wondered what that said about the Penske Dodges on this day. We saw five different cars come in during the first 20 laps to have tape removed from the front end of the cars, and knew that overheating was the problem. We saw eventual winner Denny Hamlin drift backwards early in the race and knew the potential implications in the standings. We saw perennial good-guy Jeff Burton completely take out Jeff Gordon, and wondered how that could be. We hooted and hollered when bad boy Kyle Busch was penalized two laps for flipping off a NASCAR official.

            The others in our group? They heard loud engines, saw flashes of colors and general enjoyed themselves, but they didn’t know all of the stories and subplots, they weren’t engaged in the implications and meanings.

            I see the same thing at some snowmobile races. I’ve brought some friends, and a couple of times my son, to sled races and they merely saw sleds clicking off laps. It’s fun, but they weren’t intrigued enough to go back. But if they only knew that the guy who won the race in front of them was a semi-pro last year but he just beat Tucker Hibbert in a heat, they’d appreciate it more. If they knew that Polaris hadn’t won an Eagle River World Championship since 1978, they would have been more intrigued as Matt Schulz was putting together a stellar weekend at the Derby last year. Some people merely saw sleds driving across the water last summer at Grantsburg; others saw a second generation victory by the son of a legend.

Each driver who touches the cup at Eagle River has a story to tell.

    Some of that background information is gained through experience, but it’s amazing how much can be gained by paying attention to the announcers and doing just a tiny bit of homework before you go to an event. When I go to a car race at a local Saturday night racetrack, I pay attention and find out who the points leader is in each class, and when an underdog wins a class, I’m pretty darned happy for him. Before I go to the World Of Outlaw sprint car races in Wisconsin every July, I go to the World Of Outlaw web site and find out who’s leading the points, who’s been doing well and who’s making a comeback – it truly enhances the experience for me.

            Bottom line: I hope to see some of you at Duluth next weekend; I’m not going to make it to Beausejour, but I’ll be watching the web to see who does well. If you go, do yourself a favor and either do a little digging before you go, or pay attention to the P.A. announcer – maybe even walk through the pits, if you’re allowed to. You’ll have a much better time, and you’ll go home with much better memories.

10 Best Things About Haydays — Sept. 11-12

The 44^th annual Haydays grass drag, swap meet and snowmobiling party is a less than a week away, and with its new location it’s bound to be interesting. Here is my unofficial, quickly thrown together and hardly thought about Top 10 Things About Haydays.

1. The Swap Meet – This is where you can find the windshield you’ve been seeking for your primary sled, the seat for your older sled and the clutch for your vintage sled. Plus, you can sort through the mess of clapped out dirt bikes, occasional kitchen appliances, old neon beer signs, off-brand used power tools, tires & rims, artificial Christmas trees and weed whips, among other things. Remember to bring your best haggling skills.
2. The Grass Drags – Call me old fashioned, but Haydays started as a grass drag, and I still truly enjoy seeing the boys (and occasional girls) settle the score for who can build and race the fastest equipment on dirt. It’s called a grass drag, but it sounds like the entire course this year will be on a clay surface. Either way, expect 500 feet of racing, lightning fast equipment, the smell of race gas and turbo-charged egos.
3. 

   Buy something...please....

   Vendor Displays – Whether you want to check out the new sleds, talk to the guys who make traction products, leer at the pretty girls tossing out Ski-Doo T-shirts, shop for a new jacket or helmet, dream about the hot aftermarket performance setup for your sled or subscribe to the best damned snowmobile magazine in the sport (and I’m not talking about Snowmobile, Race Gas, Snow Action, City Sledder, Snow Week, Sno-X, SX illustrated, Snow Trader, Hot Sled, SnoTrack, Invitation to Snowmobiling, or Race & Rally – they’re all dead!), there’s a lot to see at Haydays.

4. The Weather – Yeah, we all love winter, but it is kind of cool going to a snowmobiling event in shorts and a t-shirt, and better yet, seeing all of the gals at the event in shorts and T-shirts or bikini tops — helllllloooo ladies!  
5. The Motorsports Freestyle Shows – The high-flying freestyle show featuring sleds, bikes, quads and the occasional off-road truck has become a staple at Haydays over the last 10 years. See young men with more guts than sense fly launch off of ramps and do oddly-named and dangerous aerial maneuvers while obnoxious music blares through staticy speakers.
6. Seeing Vintage Sleds – Haydays has a formal vintage sled area called Memory Lane where you can restored beauties, and the swap meet with packed with unrestored relics. Either way, Haydays is a great place to celebrate this sport’s great history.  
7. [Read more]

Will New Swedish Sensation Remind Of The Flying Finn?

Quick: Name your favorite Scandinavian snocross star!

            When most North American snowmobile race fans think of racers from Scandinavia, the first name that pops into their head is Toni Haikonen. The “Flying Finn” came stateside in the mid 1990s and changed our sport with his high-flying, dynamic style that made him a joy to watch on the track.

            What’s even more amazing, looking back at the pictures now, is that Toni made his big impact racing on an F-chassis Ski-Doo. They seemed mildly OK back then (though certainly not as nimble as the Polaris and Arctic Cat race sleds at the time), but go back and look at a photo of one of those behemoths now – would you want to air one of those beasts out?

            Following Toni, we had several snowmobile racers come from across the pond and win a national snocross race here or there. Per Berggren proved he could come up big on occasion, and Tomi Ahmasalo was consistent and stronger than an entire team of oxen. Contributor Lynn Keillor reminded me this morning of Chris Hugo Vangen, a Norwegian racer who came over here for a race, made a splash but then was booted out of the country because his paperwork wasn’t complete to allow him to stay here and make money.

            The last couple of years, we’ve seen a new wave of imports. In fact, last year Christian Salemark and Emil Ohman became the first Swedes to compete at the Winter X Games in snocross since Berggren and Jonas Perrson ran in 1999.

            Well now you’ve got another name to learn: Johan Lidman.

            Earlier this week, Team Sportech Racing announced that the 19-year-old Swede will be racing in the Pro classes this year aboard an Arctic Cat and racing out of their trailer. The full press release is below.

    [Read more]

Xtreme Mountain Racing Visits the Wyman Winter Festival

Selby!

Craig, Colorado – XMR put on a great Show at the Wyman Winter Festival in Craig, Colorado this past weekend. With over 3,400 spectators in attendance the festivities were fun for everyone. From snocross, to drags, the vintage show, the snodeo, fireworks and finals under the lights there was no shortage of winter snowmobiling fun. XMR hauled snow for almost two weeks and built a great track full of bumps that changed a lot throughout the race day with lots of sled traffic. XMR packed two days of racing into one full day and it wasn’t until he sun went down and the lights lit up that the finals took place.

Sport Stock Start

In the Pro/Semi Pro finals Wes Selby took the stock and mod honors over Willie Elam who had been winning the qualifiers most of the day. They put on a great show in the main, and rightfully so, with a $3,000 purse on the lines. It was the same in the sport class where Tyler Dyess had been winning the qualifiers, with Jason Fox Close behind, but Fox was hungry for the win in the main and took both the Sport I and Sport II wins for the day. [Read more]

Xtreme Mountain Racing Lights Up Afton, WY

Afton, Wyoming – XMR traveled farther north that it ever has to put on race three of the eight race season. This new location, just south of Jackson invited MWR riders to come mix it up with XMR, and with Coeur d’Alene canceled, many turned out for the fun – from local Pro/semi-pro Willie Elam to 120 rider Brody Hasenack. The horseshoe shaped track at the Afton fairgrounds proved challenging for all and went from fast and smooth on Saturday morning to a total bump-fest on Sunday.

Elam took the holeshot and the honors in both the Semi-Pro/Pro Stock and Open classes followed by Logan Halford and Zach Acord. Taylor Dyess was looking good in the Sport Class as was Jason Fox. Wesley Chapman kept up a strong presence in the junior classes again and is looking good in season points. In the women’s class Erica Potter came out and tried her hand, but didn’t have much luck, and after Michelle Stoffle came off her sled Darla Murphy took the win in the main. AJ Stoffle kept up his winning streak in Junior 10-13, and it was Cody Docheff in the 7-10 class. In the 120’s Jake Gill took the stock win and Peyton Hogan took the Champ win. In the super Sunday Korttney Potter got the win she had been looking for this early season.

Remember it is still early season, and XMR still has 5 more race events planned – the snow is looking good, and it will be back to back for the next five weekends! XMR will be back to Colorado February 13-14^th for the Wyman Winter Carnival in Craig, CO with Snocross, Drag races, Vintage Snodeo and more! More information on XMR and full race results and point standings can be found on the XMR website at www.xmrracing.com. Big thanks to the town of Afton who helped make this race happen both hosting and hauling snow – see everyone next week!

Preston Pride Hillclimb

The Preston Pride Hillclimb was held on Friday and Saturday, January 22nd and 23rd, just outside Preston, Idaho.   This was the 18^thyear of this hillclimb and this year was especially challenging. Organizers Shawn Atkinson and Bret Rasmussen did an outstanding job. The only thing that did not go off like clockwork was the weather. Most of the hillclimb took place in almost white out conditions. The blowing snow tripped the finish line lights so many times that Matt, at the top of the mountain, built a snow shield around them and solved the problem.

The entire RMSHA staff is to be commended on a job very well done.

But the harsh weather did not cool the hot racing action. Over 150 racers took on the mountain.

Past world champion, Amy Zollinger won all three women’s classes and took home a triple crown for Arctic Cat and the Zollinger Race Team. This is the second triple crown she has won and the only lady to ever accomplish this.

Vinnie Clark won the 1000 stock class and the Stock King title. He rides for Ski-Doo. Vinnie is a past world champion and comes from Valemount, BC, Canada.

Last years Stock King from the World Championship from Jackson went on to continue his winning streak. Tom Roby won Improved Stock King here at Preston. He also rides for Ski-Doo and hails from the Jackson, Wyoming area.

Mod King this year was a racer out of the Boise, Idaho area, Erin Beukelman. Erin rides for Polaris and was the 2007 Jackson World Championship Improved Stock King.

The Preston Pride Hillclimb was filmed by BAM Film Productions for the TV show “Sledding The West”. It will be featured in their upcoming episode on sledding in Southeast Idaho. For airdates visit: www.sleddingthewest.com.

The next race on the RMSHA circuit is Bear Lake on February 5^th and 6^th. For a complete race schedule and more information on the Rocky Mountain Snowmobile Hillclimb Association, please visit: www.rmsha.com.

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