1. Elias Ishoel
Ishoel is the undisputed front-runner coming into the 2019-20 season. The reigning champ showed a level of patience and maturity last season that is finally on par with the incredible speed and confidence he has had since starting his career on the North American tour in 2014.
Ishoel’s Jimmy John’s/BOSS Racing/Ski-Doo team returns intact for the new season and team owner Garry Querel has been hinting that they have some new tricks up their sleeves to make their already lightning fast buggies even quicker.
2. Kody Kamm
Although Kamm did not collect as many wins as expected in 2019 he was quietly the second best rider on the track for most of the season, taking the title fight into the final weekend of the year.
Kamm’s Hentges Racing team have all the ingredients to mount another championship run but the jury is out on whether minor off-season changes to the dated Polaris 600 R will be enough to keep up with the firepower of Ski-Doo and their lineup of racers.
3. Adam Renheim
Renheim came out of the gate swinging in Duluth last November winning the $10,000 Dominator race, setting himself up for his best season ever on the ISOC tour, including his first pro class win.
Renheim was nearly out of a ride after the Makita/Ski-Doo team signed standout sophomore racer Daniel Benham, but the powers that be found a way to make the budget work and Renheim is back with a familiar crew in the Warnert Racing transporter.
4. Aki Pihlaja
Pihlaja scored a huge win in his rookie season as a Pro but, ironically, was the Jimmy John’s team rider most likely to wad it up in a main event. Some of his crashes can be attributed to his struggle to find a suspension setup he was happy with, but in any case the Finn definitely showed the speed to win on any given night.
5. Lincoln Lemieux
After winning in Duluth and trading punches with Ishoel to start the first half of the 2019 season, Lemieux could just as easily been listed at the top of the rankings. However, the Vermont rider has a track record of being his own worst enemy and crashing while trying to turn top fives into wins.
Nobody has worked harder than Lemieux in the off-season and there is no doubt the AMSOIL/Klim/Ski-Doo team will be on top of their game on opening day. Only time will tell if a healthy Lemieux can show up for all 17 rounds.
6. Daniel Benham
Benham is another racer who could easily be listed a spot or two higher but the change to a new team and more importantly, a new brand, leave a small question mark. Granted, the Ski-Doo showed last year that it was more than capable and the Warnert team put two racers in the top four season standings, but the opening rounds could be a challenge none-the-less.
7. Logan Christian
All signs pointed to 2019 being Christian’s year to finally break through for that first Pro win. Unfortunately for the likeable Cat rider, that’s not how it went down.
Christian has shown the ability to get on the podium year after year, but 2020 will bring even more questions with the Christian Brothers Racing team forced to ride year-old sleds as Arctic Cat ponders their future in the sport.
8. Kyle Pallin
Veteran Polaris racer Pallin showed signs of progress in the later stages of 2019 as he rebounded from a season-ending injury in 2018. Like Kamm, much of Pallin’s success this year will depend on how the Polaris machines stack up after the first couple rounds of competition.
9. Nick Pattyn
Pattyn is the posterboy for the revised Pro rules that returned the class to stock configuration at the start of the 2018 season. Running out of a family-backed trailer he has made the majority of the 15-man main events during this time. And, while he never so much as danced with a podium spot in 2019, he was one of the most consistent riders in the pack, always hovering around the 9-12 positions.
10. Travis Muller
Much like Pattyn, Muller has made the most of the production-based rules in the Pro class and been a regular starter in the main events, including a season-best sixth place finish in Deadwood.
