It was a weekend of firsts for FOX athletes at the United States Cross-Country (USCC) National Guard Cross-Country Snowmobile Championship at Pine Lake near Gonvick, MN.
Not only was the January 15 race the first event on the 2012 USCC race schedule, it was the first cross-country lake race to take place in over a decade.
To complete the string of firsts, FOX athletes took first place in Pro Open, Pro 600, Semi-Pro Improved and Semi-Pro 600.
The race took place on the frozen surface of Pine Lake. Located about halfway between Bemidji, MN and Thief River Falls, MN; as the crow flies, Pine Lake was traditionally the place where the cross-country snowmobile racing season would kick off.
An ice race posed many new challenges for a generation of snowmobile racers who have never had to set up for the more speed- and handling-oriented type of competition.
Arctic Cat racer, Brian Dick, put on a clinic in the Pro 600 race, improving his lead by 6 seconds a lap over his next closest competitor during the 10-lap, 100-mile race on his way to the win.
Yamaha racer, Ross Erdman, was equally as fast in winning Pro Open and was also top qualifier for the Pro 600 race. Jordan Torgerson swept the Semi-Pro classes on a FOX-equipped Arctic Cat.
“Pine Lake was a good test for us both technically and logistically,” said Rick Strobel, Snowmobile Race Manager at FOX. “Lowering the snowmobiles to work on ice requires a lot of shock work and we were inundated with requests to set up shocks all the way up until race day. This along with helping our (FOX) athletes calibrate their setups kept us real busy, but it paid off as FOX proved to have the winning setup!”
The next USCC National Guard Cross-Country Snowmobile Championship event is the J&K Marine Beach Bar 100 set to take place January 28-29 in Detroit Lakes, MN.
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