The racing action was hot in Fargo, North Dakota this weekend despite the cold blast Mother Nature delivered with wind chills reaching -20ºF both days.
The BRP/Ski-Doo X-Team racers showed up ready for the challenge with Tim Tremblay leading the charge in Pro classes and getting some support along the way from Robbie Malinoski and Justin Broberg.
The race was held on an outdoor baseball stadium featuring tight quarters in the turns and some big air in a couple spots – much like a Supercross track for motorcycles.
In the Friday night Pro Open class the X-Team had a strong showing with Robbie Malinoski qualifying in the number one position with Broberg and Tremblay close behind. When the green flag dropped on the final Tremblay fought through the first turn to come out in second position.
The tight track proved challenging as Tremblay actually came off a little over half way through the race, but managed to stay close enough to his sled allowing him to remount quickly and continue. Malinoski and Broberg worked through the bumps and snow dust to bring home fourth and fifth place finishes respectively while Tremblay claimed the third spot on the podium.
Unfortunately injuries claimed two racers as Boss Racing’s Brett Turcotte dislocated his thumb and Paul Bauerly suffered a broken arm – ending their weekends and in Bauerly’s case his season.
Saturday dawned with clear skies and unrelenting winds as temperatures felt like -25 F during the qualifying rounds.
Defending Pro Stock champion Tremblay, Malinoski and Broberg all moved quickly through their Pro Stock heats and into the final race of the weekend.
When the green flag flew Malinoski hammered through the first lap and settled into second position as his fellow X-teamers had to come from the back of the pack. Broberg was charging hard again until he stuck his knee into the throttle flipper and shattered it – ending his race.
Tremblay continued to push forward and while making a move on the tight course clipped Malinoski and ending his day also. Tremblay managed to hang on through the incident and brought home a third place trophy for his efforts.
Racing in the Semi-Pro ranks Derek Ellis and Darrin Mees continued to show strong results as Ellis collected a fourth place finish on Friday and second on Saturday while Mees collected a third place trophy on Saturday. Both are in good position for the season championship points races and hungry for their first wins in 2011.
North Dakota brought the X-Team its first Sport class podium as Spencer Cowing took home a second place finish, backing up his brother Preston’s win in Junior 16-17 earlier in the day.
And congrats to Trent Wittwer for winning junior 10-13 on a Ski-Doo MXZ 550 – we understand that sometimes scoring shows the wrong brand, but you lead a sweep for Ski-Doo snowmobiles.
