A Stephenson Champ/F-III Sweep At Historic Ironwood Oval

Four-time oval snowmobile World Champion Blaine Stephenson threw down the proverbial gauntlet Saturday, January 4, in Ironwood, Michigan, winning the finals in each of sport’s two highest-profile classes in a couple of star-studded fields.

Stephenson’s victory in Pro Champ 440 came after some surprising qualifying results, as the strong field in this division continues to impress. There’s some very significant depth to this field, which should make racing fantastic all season long!

Meanwhile, his victory in the World Championship Formula III class puts him among the favorites in what’s sure to be a rockus W.C. event in two weeks in Eagle River, Wisconsin.

Our oval racing superfan and star reporter Brett Richter filed the report below, with photos courtesy of Judith Olson. Thanks to them both.

Saturday Ironwood Report

The property that holds oval snowmobile racing in Ironwood, Michigan, has been the same property for more than 50 years. In fact, the actual oval that was raced on today hosted horse races more than 100 years ago. To say that the track has a rich history would almost certainly be considered an understatement.

   The USSA ProStar Series returned to the big half-mile ice oval after a two-year hiatus. As opposed to the last couple of years, Mother Nature had been mostly kind to the Ironwood volunteer group, led by local promoter Greg Basom, to allow for some cold, ice-making evenings. But without any artificial lighting, the racers were challenged to get in more than 45 heats and finals during the daylight hours.

Pro Champ At Ironwood

With round two points up for grabs in the high-profile ProStar Cup Tour series, the 440 Pro Champ field brought a total of 16 sleds to the party. Cold temps and very light winds encouraged race organizers to run three rounds of heats, with three heats in each round.

If you placed your bets on past history, one would have expected the heat winners to include Blaine Stephenson, Gunnar Sterne and Matt Goede, among others, and each had their moments. But just like the first round on the ProStar Cup Tour in Beausejour, Manitoba, in Decemeber, racing in Ironwood was anything but expected.

Winning all three of his heat races was the Quebec racer on the blue No. 3  sled, Danick “Hollywood” Lambert. That made him the No. 1 qualifier for the 15-lap final. Included in the top five qualifiers for the final was the No. 11 of Wisconsin racer Fred Manke along with the traditional favorites Stephenson, Goede and Sterne.

With the 4 p.m. start time fast approaching, the 12-sled final lined up on the freshly cleared ice of the historic half mile. The green flag was pulled and the entire field dove into turn one. After the expected juggling in the first lap or two, the No. 102 Wahl Bros. Polaris of Blaine Stephenson established a strong grip on the first position, followed by Sterne, Goede and Lambert.

After 10 green flap laps, Stephenson had stretched his lead to more than a half straightaway over the field. Goede had gotten around Sterne and Lambert had a strong grip on fourth.

On lap 11, a very uncharacteristic off in turn one by the No. 220 Sterne brought out a red flag. Sterne was not injured in the crash. After a quick tech review, the Red Bull Ski-Doo driver opted to rejoin the field at the tail of the lead lap sleds.

The restart proved beneficial to Lambert, as he was able to pass Goede in the closing laps for his first podium in recent memory.

The finished order for the 15-lap round two final on the ProStar Cup Tour was Stephenson, then Lambert and Goede rounding out the podium. Fourth went to Tom Olson, followed by Fred Manke, Calvin Peterson and Sterne. Justin Peterson finished eighth, with Quinn Wojcik ninth. Gavin Peterson, Tanner Foss and Will Garceau all failed to finish due to mechanical issues.

Round three of the ProStar Cup Tour will be held during the Friday Night Thunder program at the Eagle River World Championship Snowmobile Derby on January 17.

Formula III At Ironwood

Speaking of the upcoming World Championship weekend, 12 drivers registered in the Formula III class that is now the World Championship class at Eagle River.

The heat races proved treacherous to the No. 12 Yamaha of Jesse Wergin, the No. 85x Ski-Doo of Tavish Perry and the No. 326 of Dustin Schwandt. All three found the hay bales at some point and were unable to answer the bell for the final.

Race 33 on the day was the F-III final with Matt Goede, Blaine Stephenson, Tom Olson, Zach Dewald and Troy Dewald as the top five qualifiers. Gunnar Sterne, Gavin Peterson, Reed Klinger and Haven Bouverettte rounded out the nine-sled field for the final.

With only a five-lap final in the day’s schedule, the start was crucial. Stephenson and Goede were the class of the field, with Stephenson leading from green to checkered in the final. Goede was right there the whole time but Stephenson never faltered and drove his Wahl Brother Polaris to victory lane.

With the 62^nd World Championship on the horizon, if this was a preview of the final, it will be a dandy of a race. The remainder of the field included Zach Dewald in third, then Olson, Sterne rounding out the top five. Sixth went to Gavin Peterson, followed by Klinger, Troy Dewald and Bouverette. Joey Burch, who finished a close second on Saturday in this class at Beausejour and then won it on Sunday, didn’t race at Ironwood but shouldn’t be forgotten when thinking forward to W.C. weekend.

Before then, though, there’s still another full day of racing on tap at Ironwood. The trailer lights were burning bright this evening in several trailers with Sunday morning’s start time coming quick!

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