Polaris snowmobile freestylers and snocross racers used Polaris Terrain Dominating performance to fly and race to five medals at the 15th annual ESPN Winter X Games, held January 27-30 at Aspen, Colorado.
High-flying Swede Daniel Bodin (Team LaVallee) won gold medals in Snowmobile Freestyle and Snowmobile Best Trick, snapping his four-year string of qualifying for X Games finals and finishing just off the podium.
Ross Martin (Judnick Motorsports) earned his second-straight silver medal with a second-place finish in Snowmobile Snocross. The defending ISOC Pro Open champion has won silver medals at the past two X Games after suffering a season-ending injury in an X Games practice session in 2009.
Caleb Moore, a Texan who races Polaris ATVs, won bronze medals in Snowmobile Freestyle and Snowmobile Best Trick and also competed in Snowmobile Speed & Style. His brother Colten, also a Polaris ATV racer, finished just outside the medals in the two freestyle events and teamed with his brother for one of the most memorable freestyle tricks in X Games history.
Daniel Bodin Soars Up to Grab Two Golds
Just weeks prior to the X Games, Daniel Bodin was invited by Polaris snocross racer and freestyle star Levi LaVallee to train with and compete for Team LaVallee. LaVallee, who has won X Games medals in a wider range of events than any other snowmobiler, was injured practicing for a planned New Year’s Eve distance jump, so he worked closely with Bodin prior to the 2011 X Games at the team’s Minnesota training center.
Bodin had qualified for the Snowmobile Freestyle finals in each of the previous four years, but finished fourth each time. In the 2011 finals on Thursday, January 27, he delivered his greatest performance ever and won the gold medal handily. Caleb Moore used his fearless, high-flying style to clinch the bronze medal for the second-straight year.
Three nights later, Bodin and Caleb Moore each earned the same medals, respectively, in Snowmobile Best Trick, an event in which each competitor performs one big trick in each of two rounds.
In the first round, Bodin launched his Polaris snowmobile off the tall jump and flipped the sled while sailing 100 feet to the landing ramp.
Caleb Moore’s first-round trick was the first Carolla ever done in snowmobile freestyle competition. As he and the sled sailed from ramp to ramp, Caleb rolled his body over sideways while his body was extended off the back of the sled.
Bodin held the lead after the first round, Caleb Moore was second, and Colten Moore was fourth.
In the final round, Bodin once again flipped his IQ Race Sled off the 100-foot ramp, and this time dismounted the sled and held the seat strap with both hands in a Double Seat Grab.
Caleb Moore performed another Carolla in the final round, this time with a no-hands landing. Colten Moore started his final trick by parking his sled in front of the crowd, dismounting and encouraging the crowd to cheer.
His brother Caleb drove up, Colten got on the back of his brother’s sled, and they backflipped the sled off a ramp, with Colten hanging onto his brother’s body as they flew. The crowd was ecstatic about the two-man flip, but the judges gave Colten no score since Snowmobile Freestyle is an individual event. Caleb earned a bronze medal while Colten took fifth.
Ross Martin Continues His Strong Run
Snocross racer Ross Martin continued his strong season by earning the silver medal at the X Games. Martin is currently in second place in ISOC Pro Open and Pro Super Stock points, and he will be gunning for the lead in both classes when ISOC National Tour racing resumes February 4-5 with the Eastern Nationals in Farmington, New York.
While Martin earned his second-consecutive X Games snocross silver medal, fellow Polaris racer Iain Hayden (Team Rockstar Energy Polaris) finished eighth, Colby Crapo (Leighton Motorsports) was 14th and Bobby LePage (Team LaVallee) was 15th.
Polaris Snowmobiles Busy On the Slopes
Along with starring in the snowmobile competition, Polaris snowmobiles were integral to the smooth flow of the busy Winter X Games event schedule. Polaris snowmobiles were used by ESPN staffers at multiple competition sites, and long-tracked Polaris sleds provided snowboard competitors with rides from the base of the mountains up to the starting lines during several events.
