Photos and captions by Aaron Kennedy
For the second race of the season, USXC visited Manvel, North Dakota for the Turtle River Rough Rider 100. The event was the first ditch race of the season and promised to be the first warmup for the I500. Due to recent snow in the area, USXC has just declared that the I500 is a GO this season, and will travel from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Bemidji, Minnesota.
Blair Potucek (Jr. 10-13 rider) rides off into a crisp sunrise during the parade lap. Just like Pine Lake, temperatures were nippy… around -20F at the start. This led to some riders suffering from goggle issues due to fogging.
Racers tackled 24 mile laps along ditch and tree lines in the area. The marginal, wind-drifted snow led to choppy lines that favored those who had their suspension dialed in. Cole Manning (#927) had a good weekend, notching wins in the Sport 600 Stock and Improved classes.
Besides the chop in the ditches, racers like pro-rider Ben Langaas (#231) had to contend with snow dust thanks to wind that was lined up perfectly with the longest N/S sections of the course.
The chop led to a number of tumbles for riders. One of the more harrowing tales came from Ski-Doo rider Thomas Junglen (#35). After an early roll took out his kill-switch, the throttle became stuck and he was forced to bail at 60mph. The tether didn’t disengage and his machine proceeded to take-off at full-throttle. After another roll, redirection, and more full-throttle action, the sled (thankfully) crashed into trees resulting in the damage seen here. Despite the high-speed off, Thomas is OK!
In one of the tightest contests in XC history, Cale Anseeuw (#931) took the win over Tyler Oettinger (#227) in the I500 Factory 600 Class by a mere tenth of a second!
Lydia Sobeck (#444) continued her winning ways in the ditch from last year, taking the victory in the Women’s class.
One of the great things to see at Manvel was a stacked Jr. 10-13 class. Out of over a dozen entries, Jesse Hallstrom (#136) took the checkered flag.
In the Semi Pro Stock/Improved classes, Dustin Dohrn (#29) had a great weekend, grabbing 2nd place in both races, finishing less than a minute behind the stock winner Charles Revering (#187) and Improved winner Joe Wood (#157). With Joe now riding Polaris, he helped contribute to good brand diversity on top of the podium.
In the Pro class, the big question is whether someone can challenge Zach Herfindahl (#312). It quickly became apparent that Zach hadn’t lost any of his ditch handling skills over the off-season, notching wins in both Pro classes.
Although Polaris rider Justin Tate (#28) rode close to Zach’s pace, a tumble late in the 4-lap Pro Stock final led to a 3rd place finish. Capping off the weekend for Tate was an additional 2nd place finish in the Pro Open.
Perhaps the most intriguing story of the weekend, however, was former SX rider Andrew Carlson’s dramatic entrance into the XC ditch scene. After just missing the podium in the Pro Open race, Carlson found his pace during the Pro final. Despite starting at the last position in the field, he quickly moved up the grid, consistently passing riders during each lap. The consistent performance led to a 2nd place finish for Carlson who appears at home in the rough stuff.
