With no natural snow to be found and temperatures well above freezing throughout the weekend, Ski-Doo X-Team snocross racers battled slush, mud and fellow competitors to wrap up one of the most successful weekends in recent history for the brand at the Makita Tools National Snocross event outside of Fargo, North Dakota.
Scheuring SpeedSports’ Tim Tremblay opened the weekend by winning the coveted Pro Open final on Friday, leading fellow Ski-Doo racer, BOSS racing’s Adam Renheim across the line. Although still early in the season, Tremblay is in the thick of the championship battle; for Renheim, it was his first Pro Open podium in the three years he has come from his home in Lima, Sweden to race in the US.
Tremblay’s teammate Lincoln Lemieux made a strong charge from deep in the field to finish fifth in the Pro Open final.
On Saturday, Lemieux was the top X-Team racer in Pro Open with his third place finish; Tremblay overcame a mid-pack start to finish fifth.
One of the feel-good stories of the weekend was Team Bauerly Racing’s Shane Sewell capturing his first Pro Lite podium (2nd place) when he turned in a strong ride Friday night. Sewell, who is an accomplished national-level motocross racer from Indiana, has experienced more than his share of hard knocks trying to carve out a path in professional snocross. Sewell was injured in the first weekend of the season two weeks ago in Duluth, Minn., but bounced back strong in round three and is gaining valuable confidence after also making the final on Saturday.
The Pro Lite class was a strong point all weekend. X-Team racers captured multiple top-five finishes each day.
– Maxime Taillefer finished fifth on Friday and raced to a podium in third on Saturday, climbing back into the championship chase.
– Swedish import Marcus Ogemar Hellgren, who has been impressive in his rookie season in the U.S., was fourth on Saturday.
– Kevin Wallenstein has been very consistent in the class and with his Saturday fifth place, he’s positioned himself second in points just ahead of Taillefer.
Ski-Doo riders dominated the Pro AM +30 podium with multi-time east coast Pro champion Danny Poirier taking his second straight win in the class aboard his Ingles Performance MXZ. Poirier will now head back to Québec to prepare for the East Coast Snocross (ECS) season, no doubt a relief to defending class champion Kurt Bauerly. Bauerly finished third in Saturday’s final behind weekly rival Patrick Brodeur, who is riding for the Anderson Racing squad this season. Poirier-Bordeur-Baurerly are 1-2-3 in the points race in the class so far.
Marica Renheim successfully returned from injury, winning the Pro AM Women’s final over Megan Brodeur. Renheim sat out the season opener after crashing in a Sport Lite prelim race, but was back in full form this weekend. Brodeur, who picked up the win in Duluth, finished second on her Anderson Racing machine and maintains a three point lead over her closest challenger.
In a heart-breaker, Ingles Performance mainstay Leo Patenaude’s chance at a Sport class win slipped away in the final corner of the main event when he was bottled up behind lapped traffic. Deteriorating snow conditions created a narrow, one-line track forcing Patenaude to check up to move around the lapper, and the second place rider slipped by both of them.
It was still a great finish for the Hartland, Vt. Racer, who now sits second overall in the class as the series takes a holiday break before resuming action at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota on January 8-9.
Pro Open Round 3
1st Tim Tremblay, Ste Jeanne D’Arc, Quebec 2nd Adam Renheim, Lima, Sweden
5th Lincoln Lemieux, St. Johnsbury, Vermont
Pro Open Round 4
3rd Lincoln Lemieux, St. Johnsbury, Vermont 5th Tim Tremblay, Ste Jeanne D’Arc, Quebec
Pro AM +30
1st Danny Poirier, St Theodore d’Acton, Quebec
2nd Patrick Brodeur, Derby, Vermont 3rd Kurt Bauerly, Otsego, Minnesota
Pro AM Women
1st Marcia Renheim, Lima, Sweden
2nd Megan Brodeur, Coaticook, Quebec
Pro Lite #1
2nd Shane Sewell, Westville, Indiana
5th Maxime Taillefer, Laval West, Quebec
Pro Lite #2
3rd Maxime Taillefer, Laval West, Quebec
4th Marcus Ogemar Hellgren, Ostersund, Sweden 5th Kevin Wallenstien, Cadillac, Michigan
Sport #2
2nd Leo Patenaude, Hartland, Vermont
Sport Lite #2
4th Riley Bear Seven, Sisters Falls, Manitoba
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