The 2015-16 national snocross season kicks off later this month in Duluth, Minnesota, bringing back the high-flying, body-panel-clacking, rough-and-tumble racing action of the ISOC Amsoil Championship Series for another year.
The series will include stops at eight locations across the Snowbelt again this winter, roaming as far west as Deadwood, South Dakota, and as far east as Salamanca, New York. Sandwiched between them are three event weekends in Minnesota plus one each in Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. Most events will run two rounds of racing – typically Friday and Saturday – with notable exceptions and the beginning and ending of the series.
To get a look at the racers who will compete for the Pro Open championship this year, click here. The new rules and schedule details are below.
New Rules
Every year it seems there are some tweaks to the racing rules going into a new season, and this year is no different. And, also like most years, the majority of the changes are minor but there is one that stands out.
This year’s “stand out” is what most people in racing circles are calling the Tucker Hibbert Rule when it comes to selecting starting lanes in the final. In the past, the person who finished with the most points in their heat races would get to select what they considered to be the best place to start the Pro Open final in the 10-wide front row. Now, it will be flipped – with the No. 10 qualifier selecting where to start first, followed by No. 9, then 8, etc.
It’s a trick that’s been tried in other forms of racing over the years, from local-yocal race Saturday night car racing tracks to World Of Outlaw Sprint Car racing – basically, taking the fastest competitors and trying to make them work through traffic instead of letting them start up and immediately pull away from the pack. To prevent racers from purposely losing positions at the end of heat races, ISOC increased the number of points that can be gained in those heat races.
Other changes include renaming some of the undercard classes and allowing Sport class racers to win free registration at future regional races based on their finish at national ISOC races.
The Schedule
The season is scheduled to kick off, as per usual, at the Spirit Mountain ski facility at Duluth, Minnesota, on the weekend after Thanksgiving – which this year is November 27-29. That’s a bit later than normal, but the late Thanksgiving could be a blessing in disguise, as November has started out warm in most of the Upper Midwest. ISOC officials are hoping it cools off soon so the folks at Spirit Mountain can get busy making snow and building a quality race course.
Here’s the full ISOC Amsoil Championship Series schedule:
- November 27-29 – Amsoil Snocross National at Duluth, Minnesota.
- December 11-12 – The Fargo Snocross National at Glyndon, Minnesota
- January 8-9 – Pirtek Snocross National at Shakopee, Minnesota
- January 22-23 – U.S. Air Force Deadwood Snocross at Deadwood, South Dakota
- February 5-6 – U.S. Air Force Snocross National at Salamanca, New York
- February 26-27 – Ram Trucks Snocross National at Mount Pleasant, Michigan
- March 4-5 – Hollywood Casino Snocross National at Chicago, Illinois
- March 18-20 – Nielsen’s Snocross Grand Finale at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
