Recap & Photos: Emily WIcklund
Stop seven for the Cor Powersports 2022 season was Whitecap Mountain in Upson Wisconsin. This was the first of two ski hill style races on the schedule for this season. The area got rain and sleet the week leading up to race weekend and snow came in Thursday through Friday. The hill got about two inches of fresh snow on top of the frozen snow by Saturday. The parade lap went out at 8:30 am Saturday morning with snow still coming down and the wind blowing. This was only a one-day event with all races being timed finals. The racecourse was a 4.5 mile track with it weaving up and down the various mountains and golf course of the resort.
The first race of the event was the Semi Pro Improved six lap final. Sleds got the green flag one at a time five seconds apart. Arctic Cat’s Jon Arenson took the early on-track lead with Polaris’ Boe Bunke on his heels. After lap one, Arenson and Bunke came through one and two and started to themselves. On lap two, Bunke took over the on-track lead over Arenson in second. After lap three, Bunke was starting to gap himself from the pack on his Polaris. On lap four, Bunke continued to lead on-track with Arenson hanging onto second and Krumm sitting in third on-track. Peppel was able to make his way up the pack and by lap five, was sitting in third with Arenson in second and Bunke still out front. Another rider that was making passes further back was Jesse Hallstrom on his Arctic Cat. After six laps, Bunke crossed the line first with Arenson crossing second and Peppel across third. Since it was a timed race, the order crossing the line is not the official finishing order.
Finishing out the top five in the Semi Pro Improved class was Lucas Manning timing in fourth (39:32.2) and Carter Hulke in fifth (39:33.7). The fastest overall lap of the race was Caleb Nymann, who finished seventh, clocking in at 6:17.7. Race winner, Boe Bunke set his fast lap of the race on the final lap (6:24.7).
With seven out of eight rounds completed in the 2022 season, Brandon Wolter is leading the Semi Pro Improved points standing by 12 points over Luke Van Lyssel and Boe Bunke who are tied for second.
Race two of the day was the eight lap Pro Open final. Racers drew starting pills at registration to determine their starting position. Sleds started one at a time five seconds apart with no fuel stop. Dillan Dohrn was first sled off the line with David Brown starting second and Taylor Bunke in third. Points leader, Zach Herfindahl started fifth and another top racer this season, Dan Revering, started last (10th). After one lap of racing, second place starter, David Brown, found his way into the on-track lead putting Dillan Dohrn into second on the track. Herfindahl also made his way from fifth to third in one lap. On lap two, Herfindahl found his way around Dohrn for second and set his eyes on his teammate, D. Brown, who was out front. Paul Brown also got around Dohrn putting him in the third-place spot on-track. The next few laps staying the same with D. Brown out front and Herfindahl on his heels in second. P. Brown sat in third, Dohrn fourth, and Busse in fifth. On lap five, the pass for the lead happened mid-course when Herfindahl got around Brown on a small uphill section. This put Herfindahl out front with D. Brown second, P. Brown third, Dohrn fourth, and Justin Tate from ninth into the top five. Somewhere on lap six, third place running P. Brown had an off and broke his windshield putting him back into sixth on track position. On lap seven, the top three remained the same with D. Revering now breaking into the top four from tenth. Sleds held their spots up front for the last three laps and Zach Herfindahl was the first to cross the line with D. Brown crossing in second and Tate in third. This is only on track position, not timed finishing order.
Finishing off the top five in the Pro Open division was Justin Tate in fourth (49:59.5) and Marshall Busse in fifth (51:15.2). The fastest overall lap of this race was set by Zach Herfindahl with a time of 6 minutes 3.4 seconds on lap four. D. Brown set his fast lap of the race on lap four (6:07.8) and D. Revering set his on the final lap (6:06.9).
With one more round to go on the 2022 season, Zach Herfindahl is leading the Pro Open points standings by seven points over teammate David Brown. Dan Revering is sitting in third 28 points out of first.
Races three through seven consisted of all the other classes running their finals for the weekend with the Pro Factory Women’s class being one of those. Savannah Landrus took the win in that class on her Polaris with Lydia Sobeck in second and McKenna Cloose in third.
Race eight on the day was the Semi Pro Factory Stock six lap final. Sleds lined up single file and got the green flag five seconds apart. Derick Krug took the early on-track race lead with Austin Kodey in second and Evan Peppel in third. After lap one, Krug held the on-track lead with Kodey in second, Peppel in third, Wolters in fourth, and Bunke in fifth. After lap two, Bunke got around Wolters for fourth and the remaining top five held their positions. On lap three, Bunke continued to make passing, breaking into the top three behind Peppel and Krug. Peppel and Bunke continued to chase down Krug for the on track lead and clean air but couldn’t get around him before the checkered flag. Krug was the first to finish on-track position with Peppel in second and Bunke third.
Finishing off in fourth was Jesse Hallstrom (-27.6 seconds out of lead) with the times of fifth through eight all within four seconds of each other. Caleb Nymann took fifth (-54.3 out of lead), Austin Kodey sixth (-56.5 out of lead), Parker Krumm seventh (-57.4 out of lead), Keith Gainforth eighth (-58.8 out of lead).
The overall fastest lap of this race was set by Evan Peppel on the last lap (6:25.4). Boe Bunke set his fastest lap on number five (6:26.1) ad Krug set his on lap one (6:30.8).
With one round to go, Evan Peppel is leading the season points standings by 33 points over Boe Bunke. Jesse Hallstrom is sitting in third 39 points out of first.
The last race of the weekend was the premier Pro Factory Stock 10 final. Racers drew their starting positions at registration to make the starting order random. Sleds started one at a time five seconds apart with no fuel stop. Dustin Dohrn was the first sled off the line with Andy Wenzlaff behind him. Most of the top names this season had to start deep in the field. David Brown started seventh, Dan Revering ninth, Zach Herfindahl tenth, and Justin Tate dead last (eleventh).
After one lap, Ken Murphy held the on-track race lead with Andy Wenzlaff sitting in second. D. Revering and Herfindahl had made their way up to seventh and eighth. From lap one, Herfindahl was laying down the fastest lap times with Revering and Tate running second and third in timing. After lap two, Dillan Dohrn found himself at the front of the pack as they run on-track with Murphy now in second. Marshall Busse sits in third, D. Brown in fourth, Zach Herfindahl in fifth, and D. Revering in sixth on-track position. On lap three, Dillian Dohrn was still leading the pack on-track with Herfindahl now in second, Busse third, D. Brown fourth, and D. Revering moving into the top five. On lap four, Herfindahl took over the on-track lead and began to pull away. D. Brown was now in second on-track, Busse third, Dohrn fourth, and Revering fifth. Tate had made his way from dead last to sixth. This was a pivotal moment of the race because once Herfindnahl found clean air, he laid down the two fastest laps of the race; lap four he ran 6:11.862 and lap five he ran 6:11.812. To put things into perspective, at this point in the race, second fastest Revering was running 6:23 laps and third fastest Tate was running 6:21 lap times. Herfindahl had 10 seconds per lap on his competitors mid race. On-track positions held their own the second half of the race with Herfindahl leading the way, Brown running second on-track, Revering third, Busse fourth, and Tate in fifth on-track. On the final lap, third place running, Dan Revering threw down a heater of a lap clocking in at 6:15.4 and was able to make the pass on D. Brown. Herfindahl crossed the line first, Revering in second, Brown in third, Busse fourth, and Tate fifth. Timing was calculated to determine the overall results of the race.
In fourth place was David Brown only 17.7 seconds out of third with a total time of 1:03.50 seconds. Rounding out the top five was Marshall Busse only 1.8 seconds out of fourth with a time of 1:03.52 seconds.
Stated prior, the fastest lap of this race was set by Zach Herfindahl on lap five with a fast time of 6:11.8. Revering set his fastest lap on the final lap (6:15.4) and Tate set his on lap six (6:19.5).
After seven round complete and one round to go on the 2022 season, Zach Herfindahl has an eight point lead over Dan Revering in the Pro Factory Stock class. Running third in series points is Taylor Bunke who is 28 points out of first. The championship will come down to the last race next weekend at Spirit Mountain in Duluth Minnesota.
