Snocross staging on Saturday morning. It was a pretty strong field and all the top National riders (excpet Tucker Hibbert) were there.
The last time I traveled to Eagle River for the World Championship Snowmobile Derby was 2002. I kind of wanted to go back because I had seen some great racing there, but my schedule was always full that weekend with other races or events. I saw P.J. Wanderscheid’s first WC win that weekend in 2002 and wrote the story about it in Snow Week. It was a hell of a race. The year before I’d seen Phil Moulton cry tears of joy after making the field for Sunday’s World Championship final. It’s truly a storied racing venue, probably the most historic in all of snowmobile racing. Anyway, this year I found myself with nothing on my schedule for the Derby weekend, so I called Todd Achterberg, scored some media credentials and made plans to be there. Here’s some of the stuff I saw.
With Levi LaVallee out with injury Bobby LePage is carrying the flag for Team LaVallee.
Christian Brothers Racing was there but without Logan Christian. He was on his way to Sweden to race Stadium Cross.
Shortly after I got there Champs were lining up to run the qualifier heats for Sunday's WC race. That's Andy Fjerstad sitting on the Tommy Lipar Racing Ski-Doo. He's one of Joey Fjerstad's crew.
That's Mike Houle sharing a laugh with someone. Mike's a former World Champion and is now crew chief for Malcolm Chartier.
Joey Fjerstad scored a ride on the Tommy Lipar Racing Ski-Doo just days before Eagle River. The team's regular rider, Joel Diamond, couldn't make the Derby due to personal reasons. The team's crew chief is George Sherrard.
That's Tommy Lipar, the guy behind the TLR Cup. He's doing good things for ice racing.
Champ riders come off the track after the first round of practice. To my eye the Derby Track seemed a bit wider, a little lolnger and somewhat less bowl-shaped than it did the last time I was there.
No ATVs were allowed in staging, probably because there wasn't much space there, so each crew had the pull their sled to and from the pits by hand. Here, Nick VanStrydonk's crew begins to pull his sled back to the pits.
Dustin Wahl heads back to the pits with his sled. The Wahl team had three sleds at the Derby - Jordan Wahl, Dustin Wahl and Brandon Johnson. All three made it into the WC.
Ryan Kniskern showed up to Eagle River with a used Champ. He surprised everyone when he took fourth in the World Championship final.
Gary Moyle gets ready to run his practice heat. He's a former World Champion (2005, 2007) and was one of the favorites to win. He runs a pretty trick Champ that features a cantilever rear shock setup.
Jordan Wahl is the newest member to the Wahl race team. Like all Wahls he's pretty fast. I was at Dustin's first race on a Champ at Beausejour in December 2001 so he still seems like the "new" Wahl to me. Am I old?
Gary Moyle's crew pulls his sled back to the pits as he watches. Last time I was here Gary was on Polaris and he burned down in the LCQ. He's come a long way since then.
Dustin Wahl demonstrates the correct way to ride a Wahl chassis into a turn.
Had to take a picture of this guy because he looked so freakin' cool.
Matt Schulz won the WC in 2010 on a Polaris. He led the entire race this year but lost the race in the final turn. That's gotta sting like crazy.
Anyone with a mohawk has got to be badass. Think about it.
Kody Kamm cleaned up in the Pro Lite class at the Derby. He's the next big thing!
I don't know what class this was, but this guy was racing a Yamaha triple. Some other guy was on a ZRT. Both sounded mint. One thing I noticed at the Derby is, other than Champ 440, there really wasn't much in the way of ice racing. Of course, last time I was there people were still racing stock sleds.
Justin Broberg waits for Pro Open racing to begin. He finished third in the snocross Pro Open World Championship race on Sunday. Like ice ovals, snocross numbers weren't near what they were ten years ago.
Ross Martin is always fast, but he seemed a little off at Eagle River. He was Top Qualifier for Sunday's WC final though so something was going right for him.
Robbie Malinoski was really fast all day Saturday and looked like a sure pick to win Sunday's WC final, but he got taken out in the first corner. The Scheuring Speed Sports sleds might be the best sleds on the track. They sure seem to work.
Malcolm Chartier won the Factory 600 Champ World Championship final. The class uses a stock single pipe 600cc race engine in a champ chassis. The sleds were pretty much as fast as a Champ 440, just as loud and the racing was exciting. This is where I see Champ racing going in the near future and I give credit to Ski-Doo for supporting the class.
Joey Fjerstad waits in staging for the first round of Champ qualifying to begin.
Spencer Graff waits in staging as the sun gets low behind him in Turn 1.
Dustin Wahl leads Joey Fjerstad and Dusty Gehrke out of Turn 2 during Champ 440 heat racing.
We went along for the burn. Everyone had 19B stickers supporting Curtis Boivin. Boivin was injured in a crash at Beausejour back in December.
Jordan Wahl leads P.J. Wanderscheid out of Turn 2 in another heat. P.J. was looking to win his fifth WC. He ended up fifth.
Travis MacDonald leads Malcolm Chartier and Cardell Potter out of Turn 2. Potter and Chartier made the WC. Chartier finished 7th, Potter DNF'ed. MacDonald crashed hard in the WC on Sunday.
The Wahl buggies looked pretty cool. Jimmy Johns is a big sponsor of the WC race.
Fjerstad crashed in the second round of heats when his track derailed. He got hit by another rider and knocked off his sled. His left arm is hanging down because his shoulder got dislocated in the crash. He popped it back in and raced the LCQ the next day.
Moyle's buggy in staging. The Arctic Insider sticker is good for 3-4mph on the straights.
If you go ice racing you're going to end up in the bales at some point. Jordan Wahl went into the bales while leading a heat during the second round.
Wahl popped right up and once the field had slowed he went to work getting his sled out of the bales.
No doubt with a ton of adrenaline flowing, he muscled the 350-pound Champ out in just a few seconds.
The sled looked good to go. Rules say if your sled is safe to ride you can re-start at the back, which is what he did. He made the WC.
Steve Scheuring used to race twin trackers here. Now he fields a snocross team.
That's Paula Warnert, Mark Warnert's wife. As part of the Warnert Racing team she's seen more snowmobile racing than most guys out there.
One of the Wahl mechanics warms up Jordan Wahl's sled, listening to the engine. Those ear muffs probably just knock the edge off the angry sound of that Champ engine.
Malcolm Chartier stands next to his sled. His team built a replica of the Derby Track to test on. It's such a unique track that's really the only way to do it. Mercury also did this back in the 1970s. I've ridden on the old Mercury track and it might be the right dimension but it's not the right shape.
Matt Schulz brought some smoke to the Derby, but his mistake in leaving the bottom open in the last turn cost him the WC.
Watching P.J. Wanderscheid in staging you would think he was racing any old ice race and not the World Championship. He seemed relaxed and more than confident. And why not? Who else has four World Championships?
Brian Bewcyk won the World Championship in 2008 and backed it up in 2009.
In my mind Nick VanStrydonk was the rider to beat. He set a blistering fast qualifying time on Thursday and during heat racing he rode away from the pack in both races. Plus, his crew had really cool retro Polaris gear which scores huge points if you ask me.
Terry Wahl has a World Championship to his name.
The tweaking on a Champ never stops. Here, one of Matt Richie's crew members makes some adjustments before he goes out for the second round of heats.
Even the Slednecks showed up to Eagle River.
Tim Tremblay won the Pro Open snocross World Championship.
Nick VanStrydonk became the 49th World Champion when he took advantage of a mistake by Matt Schulz on the last lap of the race. Coming out of Turn 4 Schulz went high, opening the door for VanStrydonk to get underneath him and steal the win.
