Photos: Katherine Images
Vermont veteran Leo Patenaude and New York native Dylan Roes swept their respective class finals over the weekend, as East Coast Snocross (ECS) completed Rounds 8 and 9 on the 13-round 2018 schedule at Mount Southington ski area.
Patenaude (Ingles Performance/Ski-doo), of Hartland, powered his way to victory over teammate Chris Ingles and Mike Pilotte (Team Southside/Polaris) in Saturday’s nine-lap final. On Sunday, Pilotte fought back for a runner-up finish behind Patenaude, while Marco Travaglini (Ingles Performance/Ski-doo) filled out the podium with a solid third-place finish.
“It was a good weekend overall, but a single-groove track made it tough,” Patenaude said. “I was able to get the holeshot on Saturday and lead the whole race. In the first half of Sunday’s final, Mike (Pilotte) and I were doing a lot of banging into each other. I finally got a good run on him going up the hill to make the pass. It was great to complete the sweep.”
Roes (D&D Racing/Arctic Cat), of Lowville, outgunned Bradley Tatro (SBT Racing/Arctic Cat) and Tucker Kierstead (Kislowski Racing/Arctic Cat) for top honors in Saturday’s Pro Lite final. On Sunday, Roes completed the clean sweep with Tatro once again in second, while Jared Gessner (Team Southside/Polaris) nailed down a podium finish.
“I owe most of the credit to my father at D&D Racing for the hole-shots,” Roes said. “He had the sled working fantastic off the starts, which almost made it easy. Being able to get out front early and avoid the roost allowed me to gain a comfortable lead, relax and just hit my marks. I was super excited after the win on Sunday, and pretty shocked.”
Point leader Alissah Ashline took another step towards her first career Pro Women’s class crown with a clean sweep of the Finals. Ashline (Ingles Performance/Ski-doo) held off a hard-charging Janell Smith for top honors on Saturday, while Theresa Max (SBT Racing/Ski-doo) came home in third.
On Sunday, Smith settled for second once again while Max capped a strong weekend in third. The Pro Women’s division has showcased a great deal of new talent throughout each stop on the tour.
In Sport division action at Mount Southington, Jesse Kirchmeyer rose above the competition. The young racer from Java, New York, outgunned Nathan Bourassa for top honors in Saturday’s Sport Super Stock final, while Travis Emery settled for third. Kirchmeyer also won the Sport Weekend final.
Gavin Fleury followed Kirchmeyer across the line in Sunday’s final, while Trevor Parent landed on the podium in third. The Sport class has been developing some incredible rising talent in 2018.
Adam Ashline continued his stellar season in the Junior classes at Mount Southington. The Ingles/Ski-doo hot-shoe claimed the Jr. 16-17 Stock 600cc Finals on Saturday and Sunday, and added the Jr. 14-15 Final round victory on Saturday to make it a hat trick.
Dylan Powles (SBT Racing/Ski-doo) finished second in both 16-17 finals yet bounced back to win Sunday’s Jr. 14-15 Final. Ashline added to his bountiful weekend tally by winning the Jr. Sport 12-15 finals each day.
Owen Gagne continued his recent hot streak with a pair of second-place finishes in the Jr. 14-15 finals, while Kolton Gillilan brought home a solid third-place finish on Sunday. The Junior classes have also produced some highly competitive racing throughout the 2018 season.
Other final round winners over the weekend at Mount Southington include Matthew Stonesifer (Plus 25/35 Saturday); Nathan Bourassa (Plus 25/35 Sunday); Aiden Reynolds (Jr. 7-14 Improved 200 Saturday and Sunday); and Caden Dufour (Jr. Stock 10-13 Fan Saturday and Sunday).
East Coast Snocross officials would like to thank the staff at Mount Southington for hosting our second annual event at their fine facility. It is kind hosts with world class venues like yours that make putting on a race weekend so very satisfying. We hope to return again in 2019 for more great racing.
The East Coast Snocross Conx2share Series, presented by Woody’s Traction and FXR, is an ISR-affiliated sanctioning body for snowmobile racing in the northeastern United States. ECS maintains a regional circuit intended to keep grassroots snocross racing healthy in this part of the country, while also cultivating new talent for tomorrow’s factory-backed national Pro teams.
For full results from Mt. Southington or more information, go to www.eastcoastsnocross.com.
