Tucker Hibbert captured his seventh national snocross title with an impressive performance in the Pro Open class at the final round of the ISOC tour in Lake Geneva, Wisc.
After a rough season last year, Hibbert and team Monster Energy/Arctic Cat came back with a vengeance winning 11 of the 16 final events and never finishing outside the top-five.
Although Hibbert clinched the championship in qualifying Friday, he put together back-to-back fierce rides in the final events that will not be soon forgotten.
Grand Geneva Resort featured the longest and most challenging snocross track in ISOC history. The wide, windy course scaled the Grand Geneva ski hill a record three times and boasted a lap time well over one minute.
Friday night, Hibbert swept his qualifying rounds and led nine of ten laps in the final to win his 80th professional national main event by 17 seconds. His competitive drive pushed on Saturday night in what unfolded as one of the most riveting comeback rides in history.
With a seventh place start in Saturday’s 15-rider, ten-lap final, it looked like a runaway race for holeshot winner Ross Martin. Hibbert rode with patience and precision to pick off one rider at a time and by lap five, he moved into third place.
With Martin in sight, he charged forward, passing second place Tim Tremblay and crushing Martin’s once nine-second lead. With two to go and the roaring crowd on its feet, Hibbert moved into striking distance of Martin. Hibbert continued to ride with intensity and control, looking for a clean pass but Martin held his line to the final corner to win by only 0.23 of a second.
Hibbert has one event left on his 2012/2013 snocross schedule. Later this week, he will travel to Falun, Sweden for northern Europe’s top action sports event, Clash of Nations. It will mark his second time competing in the snowmobile crazed country with the first being the 2010 FIM Snowcross World Championship.
Tucker Hibbert had this to say, “This has been an incredible year. Every member of the Monster Energy/Arctic Cat crew gave their all to win this championship. I’m grateful to work with people who are as passionate as I am. Racing under the lights at Lake Geneva was a cool experience. It felt great to wrap up the championship Friday night but I wanted to win bad on Saturday. I charged hard. Taking second gives me more drive to work harder this summer to come out swinging at Duluth. I’m really excited about going back to Sweden. I didn’t get to race Clash of Nations last year because of my injury at Lake Geneva. They know how to put on first-class events and build big, challenging tracks in Sweden. It’ll be a great way to finish the season!”
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