Justin Tate Clinches First Win of the Season in Cor Powersports

By Emily Wicklund

Cor Powersports brought racers to Park Rapids, Minnesota for the annual Heartland 200 after a four week hiatus from racing. Historically this race is ran as a terrain event with a mix of ditch, wooded trails, and river, but with the lack of snow this year, the event was moved to fish hook lake. So far this season, all three rounds of racing have been ice courses. This weekend’s course in Park Rapids was set up as a 12.7 mile loop. It was a very technical course filled with corners; similar to the round one course in Cable, Wisconsin.

The first race of the day was the two lap Pro Open and the Semi-Pro Improved Qualifier. This determined the starting order for both heads up finals later in the day. In the Pro Open class, Zach Herfindahl was the top qualifier with round one winner Dylan Stevens second fastest and round two winner Wes Selby third, all on Arctic Cat. In the Semi Pro Improved class, Paul Brown was the fast qualifier with Abe Olson in second, both on Arctic Cat, and Vince VanSlyke in third on his Polaris.

After the amateur classes competed in their day one racing action, it was time for the Semi-Pro Improved and the Pro Open finals.

First to take the line was the Semi-Pro Improved class for their heads-up five lap final.

Abe Olson took the early race lead with Paul Brown and Marshall Busse on his heals. A few laps in, Brown made the pass on Olson but second and third didn’t let Brown run away with the lead.

After five laps, Paul Brown was the first to take the checkered flag with Olson in second and Busse in third. However, Brown was given a one minute time penalty for missed course markers. This made Abe Olson the winner of the Semi Pro Improved class with Marshall Bussse in second and Dustin Schwandt in third on his Arctic Cat. Paul Brown was placed in the seventh place spot after his penalty.

The last race of the day was the eight lap heads-up Pro Open final. Racers also had to make a mandetory fuel stop before the white flag lap taking a minimum of 2 gallons of fuel. The front row consisted of Herfindahl, Feil, Selby, and Lian; all on Arctic Cat. Top qualifier Zach Herfindahl got the hole shot and lead the pack early in the final. After one lap Herfindahl was out front with Selby and Feil running in the top three. The order remained fairly the same for most of the race with a few positions further back changing back and fourth due to fueling. The top two, Herfindahl and Selby, decided to wait to pit until lap five giving themselves a big enough lead to keep it after fueling.

Herfindahl was strong all day on his open sled and led the pack to the checkered flag claiming his first Pro Open win of the season.

Wes Selby came through behind Herfindahl for second with Matt Feil coming across the line third. However, Feil was given a small penalty and was bumped down to fourth place. This put Ben Langaas in the final podium spot making it an Arcitc Cat sweep.

After Arctic Cat swept the top six finishing spots in the Pro Open final, Roger and Bernice Skime and Arctic Cat race director Mike Kloety pose for a picture with the top five finishers.

Sunday brought sunshine but the temperature was colder and there was a slight wind so it was a little more brisk than Saturday. The day began with the two lap Pro Factory 600 and the Semi Pro Factory 600 two lap qualifier.

After a quick two laps Polaris rider Dan Revering was the fastest qualifier in the Pro Factory 600 class with Ross Erdman, Justin Tate, and Ben Langaas joining Revering in the front row. In the Semi Pro Factory 600 class, Paul Brown was fastest with Abe Olson, Evan Peppel, and Craig Ritzinger making up the front row.

The amateur classes competed in their second day of racing to finish up their weekend. In these classes, the results are based on an overall time over the two days of racing.

Race six was the first of two heads up finals to finish off the day. The Semi-Pro Factory 600 class was the first to take the line with Brown, Olson, Peppel, and Ritzinger on the front row. Semi-Pro rookie, Evan Peppel pulled the hole shot on his Polaris and didn’t look back. He lead the race from start to finish and handled the pressure from multiple riders with ease.

Evan Peppel made his first appearance on the Semi Pro podium a big one taking home his first win in the Semi Pro Factory 600 class in Park Rapids.

Marshall Busse kept the Polaris name at the top of the standings coming home with a second place with Abe Olson rounding out the podium.

Semi-Pro Factory 600 podium; Abe Olson (3rd), Marshall Busse (2nd) and Evan Peppel (1st).

Semi-Pro Factory 600 top qualifier, Paul Brown, crashed early in the final cutting his weekend short.

The final race of the weekend was the Pro Factory 600 final. This race, like the Pro Open final yesterday, requires racers to take a mandatory fuel stop with a minimum of two gallons of fuel. Lining up on the front row of the heads up final was D. Revering, Erdman, Tate, and Langaas. Number two qualifier Ross Erdman got the early race lead on his Arctic Cat with the Polaris sled of Dan Revering in second. A few laps in, race leader Ross Erdman had problems and was marked as a DNF. Throughout the race a few more top riders had problems and were forced to pull off including, Wes Selby, Chad Lian, Zach Herfindahl, Dillian Dohrn, and David Brown.

Dan Revering continued to lead the race with Justin Tate on his heals the entire race. D. Revering and Tate both pulled into the fuel stop nose-to-tail on lap number five. After fueling they beat third place running Taylor Bunke out of the fuel lane. On lap six, Bunke fueled which put him back to the fifth spot. Fourth place running Charlie Revering got around Dylan Stevens on lap number seven, setting himself up for a podium spot.