The snowmobile racing season keeps rolling this weekend on the ISOC Amsoil Championship Snocross series, with two full days of racing in Winter Park, Colorado, at the Country Cat Snocross National.
The best sky pilots in the world are expecting to race in temperatures in the teens, with plenty of fresh mountain snow to make a big course at the Colorado Adventure Park located just north of Winter Park, and about 70 miles from Denver. With the competition occurring at 9000 feet of altitude, this early-season event will be a true test of each driver’s off-season training program as well as the tuning prowess of the mechanics — some of whom will get a jump on high altitude setup testing in advance of January’s high-profile X Games Aspen event.
Racing starts on Friday afternoon and continues through Saturday night, with Pro Open finals scheduled for 9:05 p.m. local time (mountain) on both nights.
Even if you can’t make it to the track this weekend, there are plenty of reasons to pay attention, watch the webcast and make your picks (and potentially earn a prize) in the Snow Goer fantasy Snowmobile Racing Challenge game, which will be based on Saturday night’s Pro Open final.
Pro Open Preview
At the season-opening snocross race November 25-27 in Duluth, Minnesota, upsets were the norm in the Pro Open class. First, rookie Elias Ishoel won the specialty Amsoil Dominator event on opening night (see the Dominator story here), further staking his claim as an up-and-coming racer to watch. Then, in the first full round of Pro Open points racing, Corin Todd and Kody Kamm were the fastest sleds in the qualifying races, and other heat winners were David Joanis, Logan Christian and Petter Narsa. In the final, Lincoln Lemieux led from the flash of the green starting light to the waving of the checkered flag (see race story here). Sunday’s final was cancelled due to fog.
Regular snocross followers may notice some key names missing from that list of winners on Saturday, however! Where’s Tim Tremblay? Where’s Tucker Hibbert? Where’s Ross Martin? Those veteran racers and podium dominators did run strong in the final — finishing second, third and sixth, respectively — but the showing by the under-25 crowd certainly raises some questions going into Winter Park. Namely: Were the results at Duluth a mirage, or a part of a new norm? (see pre-season power ranking here)
Fantasy Pick, And A Hibbert Prize Package
The fantasy Snowmobile Racing Challenge game that is hosted here on snowgoer.com is always based on a weekend’s last Pro Open final — so in the case of the season-opening weekend, it was set for Sunday’s races in Duluth. That part of the event was cancelled due to foggy conditions, however, so no player gained any points. That means everybody is still at zero points, and this weekend’s racing in Colorado will set the early season leader.
But there’s more than pride on the line: For this round, there’s actually a prize package — call it an early Christmas gift if you want. Tucker Hibbert and his wife, Mandi, recently sent a package to the Snow Goer office that included a Tucker Hibbert Team 68 racing size large T-Train T-shirt, can coozie, lanyard, beanie/knit hat, travel mug and even a cute onesie to promote Hibbert’s line of sportwear and merchandise (available at tuckerstore.mybigcommerce.com), and now we’re sharing the love with you.
Admittedly, the shirt may not fit everybody — and neither will the onesie! — but what doesn’t fit you can give to the racing fan on your shopping list. The prize package will ship out of our office on Monday, so you can still wedge it beneath the tree.
Plus, there’s the whole play-for-pride factor, even if you’re not an Arctic Cat or Tucker Hibbert fan.
So, sign up now and make your picks. Click here to go to the Snowmobile Racing Challenge snocross game — it’s easy to play, free and fun.
