By: Thayne Hallyburton
The race weekend started off with the X Games final Saturday afternoon and it was one for the ages.
The holeshot went to Mike Island on the Bourque Auto/Royal Distributing Polaris. Island Mike went down at the end of the first lap after tripling a very tricky section of the course which handed the lead off to Joey Sagan who’d remain out front for the next seven laps.
Mike VanDolder and Peter Raymer were right on him coming back down the hill and on lap 8 Joey found himself in 3rd place. In the last corner Raymer tried to block VanDolder’s pass attempt and found himself on his lid, letting VanDolder take the checkers in first.
The final order of finish:
1 – #999 MICHAEL VANDOLDER ANNAN ON SKI-DOO
2 – #098 MIKE ISLAND BARRIE ON POLARIS
3 – #202 JOEY SAGAN ELMVALE ON SKI-DOO
4 – #036 PETER RAYMER KESWICK ON ARCTIC
5 – #712 TANNER ROSKO KIRKLAND LAKE ON SKI-DOO
In Pro Stock VanDolder would take it home. Peter Raymer was right there in second and the unflappable Mike Island would round out the podium. Lee Butler came in fourth, but was racing awesome all weekend. After an off in a heat on Saturday that saw him fly over a berm, he had a great Sunday. One of the Michigan racers, Josh Zelinski rounded out the top 5 with a good race.
The final order of finish:
1 – #999 MICHAEL VANDOLDER ANNAN ON SKI-DOO
2 – #036 PETER RAYMER KESWICK ON ARCTIC
3 – #098 MIKE ISLAND BARRIE ON POLARIS
4 – #073 LEE BUTLER STOUFFVILLE ON SKI-DOO
5 – #079 JOSHUA ZELINSKI EAST LANSING MI SKI-DOO
In the last race of the day Joey Sagan again got the holeshot but Mike Island had something to prove and was right on him at the top of the hill with Raymer and VanDolder not far behind. Island overtook Sagan on the first lap and began to check out but the real battle heated up for second with Raymer, Sagan and VanDolder again all batting one another.
Raymer would overtake Sagan on the third last lap and that’s how they’d finish. VanDolder grabbed fourth and 43 year old Ric Wilson rounded out the top 5.
The final order of finish:
1 – #098 MIKE ISLAND BARRIE ON POLARIS
2 – #036 PETER RAYMER KESWICK ON ARCTIC
3 – #202 JOEY SAGAN ELMVALE ON SKIDOO
4 – #999 MICHAEL VANDOLDER ANNAN ON SKIDOO
5 – #004 C RIC WILSON HILLSBURGH ON SKIDOO
Semi-Pro racing saw lots of action all weekend with some impressive heats and finals. The semi-pro finals though were dominated with Michigan racers who will not be joining the CSRA regularly all year. The final results in stock and mod are posted below.
Congrats to Jeremy VanDolder, winning the open modified race on his Parnell Motorsports Ski-Doo in his inaugural semi-pro weekend.
440 Stock results:
1 – #101 KIP RUTLEDGE ALANSON MI ARCTIC
2 – #524 ANDY ZARKOVICH DEWITT MI SKIDOO
3 – #023 JONATHON SLOOT GUELPH ON SKIDOO
4 – #128 JAMES HICKS CEDARVILLE MI ARCTIC
5 – #075 RICK TIEDE KAWKAWLIN BC POLARIS
600 Open Mod results:
1 – #333 JEREMY VAN DOLDER ANNAN ON SKIDOO
2 – #355 JEAN-PAUL PRICE SAULT STE MARIE ON SKIDOO
3 – #128 JAMES HICKS CEDARVILLE MI ARCTIC
4 – #045 COLT PICKLES NOBEL ON SKIDOO
5 – #889 TREVOR BURROUGHS GAYLORD MI SKIDOO
There was tons of snow and Sault St. Marie’s Searchmont Resort made a stellar track. There were many riders from the Michigan area that came up and tried their hand at beating the CSRA regulars.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend. See you guys in Owen Sound and remember, keep the rubber side down!
