Top Snowmobile Snocross Racers Among Invitees To X Games Aspen 2013

UPDATE: Now Includes Speed & Style Competitors

With the start of the national snowmobile snocross season just a week away, ESPN has announced the first round of invitees to its X Games Aspen 2013 for this coming January, and in the snowmobile racing and freestyle circles it includes many of the names that any sled racing fan would expect.

The X Games is bringing Snocross back as an event after a one-year hiatus. Also back after a break is Speed & Style, which combines aspects of snowmobile freestyle as well as snocross, plus Freestyle, Best Trick and Adaptive Snocross.

The event, formerly referred to as the Winter X Games but now being tagged merely as X Games Aspen 2013 to differentiate it from varying X Games events in varying seasons in various locations across the globe, will be January 24-27. The snocross final is expected to occur on the Jan. 27; no word on the timing of the other events.A dozen drivers were named for Snocross, headed by six-time Gold winner Tucker Hibbert, freestyle and snocross X Games darling Levi LaVallee and defending national points champion Tim Tremblay. Here are the names:

• Justin Broberg (Polaris)
• Logan Christian (Arctic Cat)
• Tucker Hibbert (Arctic Cat)
• Kody Kamm (Polaris)
• Levi LaVallee (Polaris)
• Robbie Malinoski (Ski-Doo)
• Ross Martin (Polaris)
• Darrin Mees (Ski-Doo)
• Emil Ohman (Ski-Doo)
• Kyle Pallin (Polaris)
• Cody Thomsen (Arctic Cat)
• Tim Tremblay (Ski-Doo)

Looking at the math briefly, the crowd includes three Arctic Cat racers, five on Polaris and four on Ski-Doos, but just seven of the Top 10 in ISOC ACS points from last season. There is a reason for some of that, however. Eighth place Cory Davis and ninth place Brett Bender are both stepping back from the national snocross scene this year. The other top 10 racer missing is Mathieu Morin – he is no longer with the Boss Racing team with which he finished seventh last year.

In Adaptive Snocross, super champ Mike Schultz will be joined by former freestyle racer Paul Thacker, former motocross star and part-time snocrosser Doug Henry

and injured racer-turned-prosthetic-technician Paul Wazny.

In the Best Trick competition, defending gold medalist Heath Frisby is the only name on the list so far – that crowd will definitely build. So will the Freestyle competition, which at this point includes the star-studded field of Daniel Bodine, Justin Hoyer, Levi LaVallee, Joe Parsons and brothers Caleb and Colten Moore (the defending champ in Freestyle). All six have made big splashes at X Games in recent years with their aerial stunts.

UPDATE: We have now received the first four names for the Speed & Style competition. They are:

• Cory Davis
• Heath Frisby
• Levi LaVallee
• Joe Parsons