Friday night racing at the Nielsen Enterprises Grand Finale event on the Amsoil Championship Snocross series brought a somewhat shocking result in the Pro Open final, yet the race also resulted in an extremely predictable season champion.
Just five says short of his 24 birthday, Swedish star Petter Narsa earned his first victory in a North American national race, grabbing the holeshot and later holding off a hard charge from Lincoln Lemieux en route to the waving checkered flag. For Narsa, it was the completion of a season comeback — he was strong early in the season but suffered a back injury, missed a race and had been competing with his injury.
With the victory, he becomes the fourth racer not named Tucker Hibbert to win a final this year in 15 rounds of racing, joining Tim Tremblay, Ross Martin and Hentges Racing teammate Kody Kamm. But Hibbet has won the other 11 final and with it easily secured his 10th season championship last night, with two rounds of racing remaining this weekend at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Remember, you can watch all of this weekend’s racing live here on snowgoer.com by clicking here. And, picks are due early tomorrow morning for this weekend’s fantasy Snowmobile Racing Challenge game — click here to try it out, it’s easy, free and fun.
Below is the ISOC press release based on Friday night’s race.
NIELSEN’S SNOCROSS GRAND FINALE – LAKE GENEVA, WI. (March 18, 2016) – A few shorts months ago, the rocket fast Pro Open riders lined up for the first race of the 2015-2016 season which seems like it was only last weekend. One word can describe this year’s AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series: EPIC!
Coming into the weekend, Tucker Hibbert (68) is on-point to ink his 10th Championship which is nothing less than an epic achievement that will likely never be challenged and be marked in record books for many years to come. In the Pro Lite division, the hot shoe Elias Ishoel (200) continues to amaze and dazzle the crowd from the drop of the green flag while Montana Jess (765) has continued to maintain the points lead without top podium finish. It has been a season nothing short spectacular, and what better place to bring it to a close than in the hills of Wisconsin at the beautiful Grand Geneva Resort & Spa.
PRO OPEN
With the points championship nearly wrapped up for Tucker Hibbert, he will only need to finish in front of Tim Tremblay (11) in the final to get the championship. Hibbert was the top qualifier for Round 15, but it was Petter Narsa (54) who captured the Stud Boy Holeshot. Stacked bar-to-bar in a battle for second is Ross Martin (837) and Lincoln Lemieux (13) followed by Hibbert and Adam Renheim (311) in fifth. To add a little twist to the competition, the ISOC Officials added the Pirtek Fastline which is an optional section of the track that riders can use only once shaving of several seconds of the overall lap time.
After a 2.5 second lead on the field, Narsa is suddenly challenged by Lemieux at the mid-point in the race, knocking on the door lap-after-lap, Lemieux tries to grab the top podium spot on the inside, on the outside, any line he can find, but Narsa is on fire and takes it all the way to the checkers for the win from start to finish. Lemieux brings home the second place podium finish followed by Hibbert landing in third giving a podium finish, but also clinches his 10th Championship.
- Petter Narsa (54) Hentges Racing
- Lincoln Lemieux (13) Amsoil/Air Force/Rockstar
- Tucker Hibbert (68) Monster Energy / Arctic Cat / Ram Trucks
- Adam Renheim (311) Boss Racing
- Ross Martin (837) Judnick Motorsports
- Corey Watkinson (173) Watkinson Motorsports, Arctic Cat
- Tim Tremblay (11) Amsoil/Air Force/Ford
- Andrew Lieders (857) Lieders Racing
- Jake Scott (42) DOC /Arctic Wear / Arctic Cat
- Kyle Pallin (324) Mystik, Loctite, Polaris, Red Bull
- Corin Todd (36) Leighton Motorsports
- Zach Pattyn (99) Stud Boy Racing
- Tyler Adams (705) Christian Brothers Racing
- Matt Piche (51) ROYAL DISTRIBUTING/Arctic Cat/Arctic Wear
- Michael George (307) Woodies Racing
UP NEXT
Round 16 is up next for the AMSOIL Championship Snocross 2015-2016 season for the Nielsen’s Snocross Grand Finale Presented by Dayco.
