Story & Photos: Emily Wicklund
Rough is an understatement when describing the race course at the 2022 Nisswa 100. This past weekend, racers made their way to Nisswa, Minnesota for the first ever Nisswa 100, presented by Northland Sports Center. The race course was 30 miles that consisted of ditch and a wooded section. Before the race even started you could tell it was going to be rough terrain; indeed it was.
There were four races each day with all classes, minus pros, running a two-day merged time format. The Pro Open class ran a three-lap timed final on Saturday and Pro Stock did the same but on Sunday, both with a mandatory fuel stop.
Race one of the weekend was the Semi Pro, Pro Factory Women, Sport Women, and Masters 50+ classes. These sleds ran two laps each day. Evan Peppel was the fast time of the day after two rough laps over Derick Krug in by 46 seconds with Boe Bunke in third all on Polaris. Savannah was atop the Pro Womens class after day one on her Polaris.
Junior, Classic, Trail, and Vintage sleds raced next with Expert 600 Limited, Masters 40+, Pro Factory Vet 40+, Sport, and Semi Pro Improved following in race three. All of these classes also raced two laps each day. Evan Peppel continued his speed again in the Semi Pro Improved class being the top time 1 minute 45 second ahead of Boe Bunke and Carter Hulke.
The last race of the day was the Pro Open timed final. Racers drew their starting positions pills at registration on Friday and started one at a time 15 seconds. The race was supposed to be four laps but due to conditions, they changed it to three. There were 13 entries in the Pro Open division with Dan Revering drawing the lowest pill number and being first off the line. Other top contenders started a little further back, last rounds winner, Zach Herfindahl started fourth, round one and two winner, Taylor Bunke started ninth, round three winner David Brown in tenth, and consistent podium finisher, Justin Tate in 12th.
Sleds headed down county road 29 with multiple big road approaches and sections in between were whooped out making it a very physically and mentally demanding course. Sleds then made their way on highway one and back onto another county road before entering the long wooded section. This was about ten miles in length with no spotters or spectators in this section. This is where fourth place start, Zach Herfindahl made his early race pass for the lead. He was quickly the first sled out of the woods with Dan Revering in second. Sleds then made their way back to the finish and Zach was the first to complete lap one with Dan Revering still sitting in second. From a timed perspective, the top five after lap one was Zach Herfidnahl (34 minutes 58 seconds), Justin Tate (36:34), Marshall Busse (36:49), Dan Revering (37:06), and David Brown (37:09) rounding out the top five. Matt Feil was the only sled to take his fuel after lap one.
Sleds continued to ride the elbows up track for another 30 miles with the on-track lap leading staying the same, Zach Herfindahl. He came across the line first to get the white flag with a total time of 1 hour 11 minutes 9 second. All sleds besides Feil must stop for fuel before seeing the white flag. The rest of the top five from a time standpoint was Justin Tate in second (1:13:22), David Brown (1:14:28), Marshall Busse (1:14:32), and Dan Revering sitting fifth (1:15:11).
David Brown finished fourth 38 seconds out of a podium spot. Dan Revering came across the line second but by lap time finished in the fifth-place spot 17 seconds behind Brown. Matt Feil was the only sled to DNF in the Pro division taking a hard crash on lap two.
Sunday brought a little colder temperature and some cloud coverage but still ended up being another sunny day of racing. The race order and lap counts stayed the same except heat two which was the Junior, Classic, and Vintage classes only ran one lap for safety reasons. After the Pro sleds ran three laps on the course on Saturday, the ditches were now rougher than ever.
Race one got the green flag with the Semi Pros being the lucky ones to take on the rough course first. After two laps of elbows up racing, Arctic Cat racer, Jesse Hallstrom, finished day two with the top lap times with Evan Peppel sitting in second and Derick Krug in third.
In the Pro Womens class, Savannah Landrus took home the win 3 minutes 5 seconds over second place Lydia Sobeck. Danika Diesen rounded out the podium with the other Womens competitor, McKenna Cloose suffering an arm injury on day two ending her weekend in a DNF.
The Semi Pro sleds got a one race break and then were back on the track for race three being the Semi Pro Improved class. After two days of racing, Evan Peppel earned himself another win 3 minutes 36 seconds over second place Boe Bunke. Rounding out the podium in Semi Pro Improved was Parker Krumm 53 seconds out of second place.
The last race of the weekend was the premier Pro Stock Factory class with 15 entries. Racers again drew their starting pills prior to the race and started 15 seconds apart running three laps. Charlie Revering was the first sled off the line. Other top contenders, Dan Revering started fourth, Zach Herfindahl eighth, Justin Tate 13th, and Taylor Bunke 14th. Pro Snocross competitor, Travis Muller, decided to take a stab at cross country racing and starting at the back of the pack.
Sleds got the green flag and headed out onto the course for about 90 miles of elbows up riding. Racers made their way into the woods and the first sled out of the 10-mile section was the 101 sled of Dan Revering. In the wooded section, Dan had a close call with some wildlife and clipped the shoulder of a deer on the course. No harm no foul and he continued on his fast pace. He quickly gapped himself from the field and dominated the rough terrain making it look smooth out there.
After lap one, Dan Revering had the top time by almost a minute (36 minutes 4 seconds). From a timing standpoint, the remaining top five were Justin Tate (37:02), Zach Herfindahl (37:05), David Brown (38:45), and Marshall Busse (38:47). Yesterday’s winner, Herfindahl had two hard offs on lap one but still managed to time in third place. Taylor Bunke was the only sled to fuel on lap one. Ross Erdman, Ryan Trout, and Travis Muller all scored a DNF before completing lap one.
After lap two, all sleds minus Bunke, had to take fuel before starting their final lap. Dan Revering was still holding a commanding lead over the rest of the pack with a total two lap time of 1 hour 12 minutes 55 seconds. Zach Herfindahl was now sitting in second (1:14:43), Justin Tate third (1:15:13), David Brown fourth (1:13:39), and Marshall Busse fifth (1:19:11).
