What a week it has been for the Ski-Doo X-Team racers, winning the grueling Iron Dog cross country race, winning and sweeping the pro podium at the Sioux Falls ISOC snocross race and winning on the RMSHA Hillclimb circuit in Afton!
Iron Dog Endurance
The Iron Dog race takes a combination of speed, skill and durability for 2600+ miles in some of Alaska’s toughest terrain and weather. This year the team of Robby Schachle and Brad George (Team CC) proved they had the winning combination on their Ski-Doo Renegade X 600R sleds with their first win. Perseverance best defined the effort Robby and Brad put into this year’s race. Throughout the week they raced up front with the lead group and on the last stage and the last few miles they would take the lead to the excitement of those on-site welcoming all the racers to the finish line.
Hill Climb Season Starts
Blaine Mathews and Jay Mentaberry have led the Ski-Doo RMSHA Hill Climb team out west picking up wins in the first 3 rounds. On his Summit 850 Turbo Mathews has two Pro Open Mod wins with Mentaberry picking up a win in Pro 1000 Improved on his Summit 850. Team riders Trent Handsaker, Brad Sharp, Harper Handsaker, Sammi McKeachnie, Jackson Rogers and Faron Gilbert have all started their seasons strong by picking up wins also.
Sioux Falls Sweep
At this weekend’s ISOC snocross event Ski-Doo racers swept the Pro podium on Saturday night and took 5 of 6 podiums on the weekend. Points leader and two-time defending champion Elias Ishoel (BOSS Racing) led the charge with a win and a third-place finish while young guns Francis Pelletier from Warnert Racing (2nd Friday and 3rd Saturday) and Scheuring Speed Sports’ Hunter Patenaude (2nd Saturday) made sure their presence was felt.
Pro-Lite Rookie Jordan Lebel (BOSS Racing) won his second Pro-Lite final on Friday showing maturity as he made a late race charge to take over the lead. Saturday a first turn incident would see Lebel pushed back to 11th. He would then mount an incredible comeback and just missed out on the podium by 0.3 seconds.
Women’s Pro class has become a duel between the reigning champ Megan Brodeur (Anderson Racing) and Norway’s Malene Andersen. In some of the most competitive racing they have each traded multiple heat and finals wins with Andersen winning both rounds in Sioux Falls. Brodeur still holds the overall lead by 6 points over Andersen.
In Sport class action Emeric Legendre (Thene Motorsports) felt at home on the supercross style course and would win Friday relatively unchallenged. Adam Ashline has been finding consistency as of late and would round out the podium with a third in Friday’s final. Both riders would have a challenge on Saturday, but Ashline sits on top of the point standings with Legendre working his way up to 4th as the last half of the season got underway.
Podium updates:
Kurt Bauerly – Pro Am +30, 3rd
Kellen Chapuran – Sport Lite Round 9, 1st / Sport Lite Round 10, 1st
Brady Freeland – Transition 9-13, 1st / Jr 10-13, 2nd
Domenic Hegmen – Jr 16-17, 1st / Jr 14-15, 1st
Jimmy Stanisich – Transition 8-10, 1st
Kenny Goike – Transition 9-13, 2nd / Jr 10-13, 3rd
Hayden Meyer – Sport Lite Round 9, 2nd / Sport Lite Round 10, 3rd
Lainie King – Jr Girls 9-13, 3rd
Steven Max – Jr 14-15, 3rd / Jr 16-17, 3rd
On Deck
ISOC: Rounds 11-12 Elk River, MN March 5th-6th, 2021. For the full schedule visit snocross.com
RMSHA: Round 4 – Location TBD March 13th, 2021. For the full schedule visit RMSHA.net
