The DL Racing team qualified 4th and 11th on Tuesday.

Wednesday morning the kids showed up to learn a little bit about racing sleds. That's Joey Fjerstad on the left and Shane Felegy on the right. Nice hoodie Joey! Is there a future Soo rider in this bunch?

Time to try on some gear. One of the kids gets to snap on Shane's neck brace.

Tryin' on the goggles. Cute kid!

Protective gear is important when racing sleds!

All geared up! It looks like Joey's having more fun than the kids. I can tell you both Joey and Shane are great with kids, my two rugrats love both of them. And Rick Tiede? Well he's pretty much a kid himself. These kids probably had a ball in the DL Racing trailer.

Ya, he's not gonna share that.

The team took the kids outside to show them how things are done on the sled. Nice turn form Shane!

Lotsa questions. Hey Shane, is it fast?

Now for some seat time!

Makin' snowmobile sounds.

You're gonna need that shield when you're chasing down the No. 3 sled kid.

Some happy kids here! Joey said they cried when it was time to leave. Rick Tiede is in the middle, right in between the trailer doors. Like Joey, he looks like he had more fun than the kids! They all got DL Racing beanies to take home.

Back to business. Warm weather means rocks in the pits. Not good for keeping carbides sharp.

And back on the sled. Shane and two-time Soo winner Jeff Luenberger talk things over before heading out onto the track. Wednesday was Rookie day, so Joey got his first taste of the Soo oval.

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.

The riders meeting is always interesting.

After the main riders meeting USCC Race Director Jesse Strege asked the Pro riders to stick around. He threw out the idea of starting the Pro 600 final heads-up. Reception was lukewarm.

The only place you might actually need your headlight is at an early season USCC parade lap.

Rick Strobel was busy all week helping people with shocks so they could lower their sleds.

Hangin' out in the Christian Brothers Racing rig. Joe Lesmeister, Corey Berberich and Brian Rust talk with Roger Skime, Arctic Cat VP of engineering. Joe said he and Brian got in about one day of testing before Pine Lake.

The pits. 230 entries for the race, not bad. When is the last time Pine Lake saw that?

Yamaha is back racing and one of their Semi-Pro riders is Jake Jorgenson. He was telling us about the broken nose he suffered when he traveled out West a few weeks ago.

That's Jolene Bute and Mike Carver of Carver Performance. Jolene rules the USCC Women's class.

Pro and Semi-Pro riders in staging. Seeing as how it was the first race of the season (and a lake race at that) the mood was surprisingly laid back.

D.J. Ekre warms up while his sled warms up on the stand. Ekre's been to Pine Lake before, but the last time he raced here he was probably on a ZR.

Gabe Bunke gets ready to ride. Bunke has a lot of experience on the ice and he was one of the favorites going into the weekend.

Ryan Simons stretches out while Corey Berberich warms up his sled. Simons no longer races snocross, he's strictly cross-country. He's also reigning USCC Pro 600 points champ.

Lined up in Semi-Pro is Chase Nordstrom. Chase has risen through the USCC ranks and has a lot of talent. He flies planes too. The guy on the far left is Tom Kallock.

This warm up stand has been to Pine Lake before for sure. Heck, it's probably older than some of the kids who were there racing.

Some guys busted out the old sit-down iron hoping to have an advantage. I thought for sure there would be some ZRs or XCRs there, but nope.

A 10-mile lap goes by surprisingly fast and the Pros were already into the lower classes on their second lap. This is why you always need to be looking over your shoulder.

With almost no snow, the lake became a maze of course markers. It was difficult for the riders to figure out where to go until a groove got established.

Dillan Dohrn's track came apart on one of the two 1-mile straighaways. Corey Davidson's sled spit out a track too making for a wild ride for the No. 3 sled. Corey wasn't hurt but the sled was junk.

Bobby Menne and Ryan Greening talk about how it was easier for them to win last year in Semi-Pro. Both of them bumped up to the Pro class this year.

Aaron Christensen talks with some of the other Pro riders after they have a second riders meeting.

So much goodness here. The beauty of the USCC is you can race a sled like the Sno Pro 500 and have fun all day. The beauty of the Sno Pro 500 is you don't need a new one to go racing as demonstrated here by Tom Clement who is riding a 2010.

Ice racing is fun until...

Roger Skime again, this time with Paul Dick (L), Brian's dad and partner for the Iron Dog this season. Paul has raced Cain's Quest the past couple years and he's raced and finished more I-500s than probably any other rider so don't think he's the weak half of the pair.

Nathan Titus with Eric Josephsen, Yamaha's Race Manager. Titus just got a job with Western Power Sports. Josephsen holds an AMA Pro license. They're lined up waiting for the Pro qualifying lap.

Davidson was able to get a buggy together to run the Pro qualifying lap, but it was pretty much a stock sled so he was at a disadvantage since it wasn't lowered.

That's Cale Anseeuw. His uncle Jamie used to race for Team Arctic and was manager for Blair Morgan Racing Team. Cale finished 4th in Semi-Pro 600.

The Semi-Pro 600 race got pretty crazy a couple times. Here Spencer Kadlec leads two other riders into a corner. With this many sleds you run out of room quick!

That's Arctic Cat Snowmobile Product Manager Joey Hallstrom showing off his '79 Cross-Country Cat he used to win the USCC Vintage I-500 last year. The guy sitting on the sled is Tom Lawrence, Ski-Doo Race Coordinator.

The lady in the Ski-Doo jacket is Sharon Dyrdahl-O'Brien. Ya, she's Bryan, Chad and Brady's mom.

Brian Dick sez: "Well, let's run it!" You can see the start chute into the first corner behind him. Hey Brian, didn't Team Arctic get you any 2012 race gear?

Hey, it's Dan Ebert. Dan messed up his elbow during the snocross race at Canterbury and will be out for a few weeks. The guy behind him is Mike Kloety, Team Arctic Race Manager.

Your Top 3 qualifiers - Brian Dick, Ryan Faust and Ross Erdman. Erdman was fastest.

Erdman was blazing fast all day and looked like a good bet to win the Pro 600 final. The guy in the black and blue FXR jacket next to him is his long-time mechanic, Terry O'Brien.

Front row, ready to go. At this point it was getting a little tense.

Rumored to give you 2-3mph on the straights and/or a ski length on the start, Justin Tate wasn't taking any chances on not running a sledracer.com sticker on his buggy. Oh, by the way, this is a sure way to get a picture of your sled posted in a story.

Sure enough, Tate got the holeshot in the final. You're welcome.

Next time around Dick had gotten by Tate and was out front ahead of D.J. Ekre.

Tate, Faust and Erdman were on the gas trying to catch Dick.

Simons, Bunke and Chad Lian were also looking to get to the front.

Faust made up a ton of ground and within a lap was on Ekre's bumper.

It took a couple laps but Faust would eventually get by Ekre. Ekre was definitely feeling the heat here.

Aaron Christensen, who has ice racing experience and missed winning the Pro 600 points championship last year by just 12 points, was a ways back.

Faust and Ekre switched roles and Ekre chased Faust trying to get back second place for about the last half of the race.

Tate settled into 5th place but moved up to 4th just before the final lap when Erdman went out with a cracked oil tank.

With two laps left Brian Dick comes into view with no other riders near him.

Soon Faust and Ekre come into view, Ekre still chasing. Ekre took the second place spot back on the last lap. I don't know what happened, but I think Faust must have spun out in a turn or something.

Erdman comes around for the last time before going out of the race. He said his sled was losing power for some reason even before the oil tank cracked. Once the system lost oil the sled shut itself down to save the engine. These are the things you learn when you go racing.

Dave Dirkman's an old school ice racer and he's also not afraid to wear his duck hunting camo when he goes racing. He said getting his sled ready to go lake racing was "a lot of work."

We haven't seen Re Wadena in the Pro class on the USCC circuit since 2006. He finished second in the Red Lake I-500 one year.

Wadena pins it down one of the straights on Pine Lake. A lot of riders were complaining about how sketchy their sleds felt going down these straights. Fastest speed I heard of on the radar gun was Ryan Simons at 97mph.

Brian Dick heads into the final turn before the finish line. Safe to say he put on a clinic on how to go lake racing at Pine Lake.

You'd think testing would be just a lot of fun and riding with your buddies. Really, it's just a lot of work. Here the guys take orders from Gabe as he figures out how to get the race trailer level.

To quote the great Formula 1 racer Michael Schumacher, "To find the limit you must go over it." Gabe wrecked a sled the day before after he found the limit.

Ice testing means lots of extra work. Keeping studs and carbides sharp is a pain in the butt and ski-boots are a must.

Bobby Menne is multi-talented. Here he applies graphics to Gabe's backup sled. He put the graphics on all the sleds.

The team rolls the rest of the sleds out of the shop. It looked like a great start, but later on they'd all have to come back apart.

Gabe is a professional. Do not try this at home.

Here's Bobby showing off more of his sled prep talent.

Not sure if that buggy would pass tech at a USCC race.

Gabe had to transfer all the settings from his wrecked sled to his new sled so he could start where he left off the day before. It would prove a challenging day for him and at one point he said, "I don't know what to do." He figured it out though and was fastest in the group by day's end.

Gabe pitches it into a chicane while Bobby chases him. With no ice racing experience Bobby and Spencer Kadlec followed Gabe all day.

Right-hand turns are not as fun (or easy) as left-hand turns.

At one point Gabe and Bobby parked their sleds and just looked at them, checking ride height and how they sat. More discussion ensued.

And more adjustments. The team tested with and without swaybars. The Walker Evans shocks have a trick cupped piston that preloads the shims making the shock stiff as the piston starts to move and then getting softer as the shock starts to stroke. The setup ultimately proved better than a swaybar.

Spencer Kadlec is jumping way in the deep end with lake racing. He had never even ridden a sled before he started racing cross-country last season. He made a ton of changes and kept up with the team no problem. He's a crazy fast dirtbike rider so he knows how to race.

Even with these new snocross-style sleds some cross-country setup stuff never changes. Pass the caulk, please.

The 35-degree day was nice for wrenching. This is what snowmobile racing is all about.

Gabe even busted out his Soo sled and burned a couple laps. With the race only a month away he wanted to check some stuff with the engine.

Kadlec comes in hot. His confidence went from almost zero to almost 10 in one day. That's what a successful test session can do.

Spencer and Gabe talk setup. Starting to see a pattern here? Gabe, Spencer and Bobby all admitted they were nervous about the coming lake race. I'm betting they're not the only ones as there's an entire generation of cross-country racers who have never had to go lake racing before.

That'll be worth money someday.

If you've never heard a 600cc race engine going across a lake at full smoke you're really missing out. Sounds like a jet engine. Two of them sound even better. Those Polaris engines are thirsty buggers though.

The sun was getting low when the team decided to bring the sleds back to the trailer and start prepping for the next day. They had a long list of stuff to do ahead of them.