With Northern Minnesota temperatures plummeting in late October, Spirit Mountain in Duluth was able to produce a great amount of snow for the opening rounds of AMSOIL Championship Snocross Powered by RAM. Seemingly a record crowd had showed up to see who would be the victor of Round 1 for the AMSOIL Snocross National Presented by Kwik Trip. The all new race track at Spirit Mountain was designed and built for not only the excitement of our racers, but for the fans as well. The course this year features a Talladega like corner, built for speed, near the top of the hill, leaving ample room for spectators to view the entire track. Fans and racers alike, were left wondering who would dominate Round 1. Would it be reigning Pro Champion Kody Kamm, or would an up and comer come in and steal the spotlight?

PRO LITE

Four full heats of intense racing is what the Pro Lite riders were facing for Round 1 of the 2017-2018 Season. A few shifts for some of the racers in this class this season have come into play. One of the biggest being Pro Lite Championship Runner Up Jake Angove, who made the step up to the Pro ranks as Aki Pihlaja chose to defend his Pro Lite Title and run the Pro Lite class for the 2017-2018 season.

Round 1

Heat 1 – The first race of the Pro Lite season saw Jake Yurk grab a huge holeshot on his Doc X Arctic Cat, and run flag to flag for his first Pro Lite win of the season. Behind him, Zak Mason and Korbyn Anderson battled hard for the entire 8 lap heat race before Zak passed Korbyn and made a late race charge on the Yurk, but came up one sled length short of the victory. 

Heat 2 – With a great start off the line, Max Taillefer took the lead in the first corner with Nisse Kjellstrom and Travis Kern trailing behind. Taillefer rode his Makita Tools Ski-Doo hard, and pulled away from the field as Kern and Kjellstrom swapped positions in almost every corner. Kern nearly crashed on the white flag lap, but was able to hold on to a strong second place finish.

 Heat 3 – The third of four heat races featured a great battle endured the entire 8 lap feature. Andrew Lindholm was the first down the hill and held the point for the first 3 laps before reigning Pro Lite Champion Aki Pihlaja and Daniel Benham got by him. Daniel and Aki were battling for the lead in the Air Force Flyway before Aki got the best of the Arctic Cat rider. 

Heat 4 – Final heat race of the first round featured a first time heat winner by the name of Viktor Herte. Viktor was battling with fellow Scandinavian rider Marcus Ogemar for nearly the entire heat race. Marcus’ Ski-Doo was tough to beat in round one on the holeshot but Viktors Polaris was to much to handle. Pro Lite rookie Hunter Patenaude also had a solid showing in his first ever Pro Lite race and finished in a respectable third.

Round 2

Heat 1 – The first heat of the second round reminded the fans why they came out to the AMSOIL Snocross National Presented by Kwik Trip. There was a 3 way battle for the lead, once again, between Aki Pihlaja, Travis Muller and Travis Kern. Kern was able to pull the holeshot and lead all 8 laps, but had no room for mistakes with Travis Muller and Aki Pihlaja battling bar-to-bar right on his bumper. Muller defeated the reigning Champion for a solid second place finish.

Heat 2 – With early bumping and banging, Korbyn Anderson muscled his Ski-Doo around the first corner to earn himself his second top 2 start. Korbyn had a mechanical issue with his snowmobile causing him to DNF, opening the door for Reigning Sport Champion Hunter Patenaude to earn his first ever Pro Lite Win. Patenaude came from fourth to first, showing much composure, for such a young rider. 

Heat 3 – There was no shortage of carnage in heat number three of the second round. Martin Moland used the riders to his outside to help him get around the first corner with the lead. Martin was able to run away with the win with ease, as Andy Leiders and Oskar Norum battled for the second place position. The Polaris rider Leiders, held off the Norwegian to score his best finish of the season.

Heat 4 – The final heat race of Pro Lite for Round 1 showed the fans why they toughed out the frigid temps to watch the Greatest Snocross Racers In The World. Marcus Ogemar once again nailed a great hole shot as he took his Ski-Doo flag to flag and earning the victory. While running second and fourth Zak Mason and Max Taillefer had separate accidents with only 2 laps remaining which gave Viktor Herte and Nisse Kjellstrom both top 3 finishes.

Final – The nerves were strong and the anticipation was high for the first Pro Lite final of the season. Travis Kern aboard his #201 Arctic Cat pulled the Studboy Holeshot and led the first lap with Swedish rider and Arctic Cat teammate Martin Moland in close pursuit. Marcus Ogemar also nailed yet another great start running a close third behind the Arctic Cat teammates. Jacob Yurk and Aki Pihlaja contested a strong fourth and fifth at the beginning of the race. The opening laps featured the top 5 all within striking distance of each other until second place rider Martin Moland had a hard off at the base of the AMSOIL Finish Line. Moland was able to recover and finish the first race of the season off with a top 10 finish. The incident involving Moland gave Travis Kern the opportunity to extend his lead. The #201 Arctic Cat of Kern now seperated himself by 5 seconds over Marcus Ogemar. Ogemar would close the gap to 3 seconds but would fall short of claiming his first Pro Lite Victory. The battle was for third at the 3 laps to go point of the race. Aki Pihlaja ran down and passed Jacob Yurk to solidify the final spot on the podium. Jake Yurk and Viktor Herte rounded out the top 5.

Full Pro Lite Results:

1. #201 Travis Kern
2. #58 Marcus Ogemar
3. #128 Aki Pihlaja
4. #727 Jacob Yurk
5. #302 Viktor Herte
6. #436Travis Muller
7. #413 Evan Daudt
8. #208 Hunter Patenaude
9. #75 Martin Moland
10. #27 Nisse Kjelstrom
11. #122 Kevin Wallenstein
12. #221 Daniel Benham
13. #57 Andy Lieders
14. #46 Andrew Lindholm
15. #40 Oskar Norum

Pro

Round 1

Heat 1 – The moment all the fans have been waiting for, to see the Pro riders hit the track. The first heat saw Ryan Springer get the holeshot on his Freaky Fast Ski-Doo but didn’t last long because 2017 AMSOIL Dominator runner up Corin Todd rode the best heat race of his career scoring himself the fastest lap time of the day. Corin took the win with Dylan Hall finishing second after Ryan Springer had an off with one to go.

Heat 2 – With a hard charge from the inside gate position Petter Narsa pulled a holeshot that pushed him right to the heat win. Leo Patenaude Pro rookie, finished a very strong second with fellow rookie Jake Angove pushing hard behind him. Angove finished 3rd in his first Pro heat race aboard his Judnick Motorsports Polaris.

Heat 3 – A stout field of drivers arrived at the line for the last heat of Round 1. Logan Christian was the first to hit the gas at the start of the race, while Tucker Hibbert was doing his best to keep up. In the first corner Tucker made a bold move to pass the #43 Arctic Cat but Christian blocked him and took the momentum into leading the first 2 laps. Hibbert successfully attempted another strong move to pass Logan as the Arctic Cat duo went 1-2 in the final heat of Round 1. Nick Pattyn is another Pro Rookie and he rounded out the top three giving Arctic Cat 1-2-3 in heat 3.

Round 2

Heat 1 – After a holeshot in Round 1, Logan Christian pulled yet another as he had his hands full behind him with #1 Kody Kamm and #68 Tucker Hibbert. Kamm and Hibbert’s rivalry has been building for years and it is showing each and every time they enter the race track together. Corin Todd entered the battle and ended up forcing Hibbert to make a mistake and dropping back to fourth where he would end up finishing. Kamm got the better of the Arctic Cat rider Logan Christian, to take the lead and run away with the win. Christian would finish second with a slight win over third place Corin Todd.

Heat 2 – Dylan Hall had a huge jump off the line and went into the first corner with a considerable margin over the second place rider of Petter Narsa. Narsa rode yet another perfect heat race as he capitalized on Hall’s early mistakes. Narsa goes 1-1 in the rounds and solidified the number one qualifying spot for the main event.

Heat 3 – The final heat race of the day for the premier class showed the Canadian Pro Lite champion RJ Roy take his first ever heat win. The big strong Canadian Tim Tremblay, rode a strong second the entire race but was not enough to catch up with RJ’s Polaris. Adam Renheim rounded out the top 3.

Final – It was now time for the penultimate race of the evening. Number 9 qualifier Lincoln Lemieux received the Studboy Holeshot Award one year ago and he did again tonight. The #13 AMSOIL Ski-Doo rider was in close pursuit from Logan Christian and the Fertile,MN native was able to get past the defending champion of this event Lincoln Lemieux. Christian led early while Kamm and Hibbert battled their way through the field into the top 5. An incident involving Lemieux and Christian allowed third place rider Dylan Hall to take over the race lead. This was Dylans first time leading a lap here at the AMSOIL Snocross National Presented by Kwik Trip. The pressure was to much to handle for the Canadian rider as Hibbert moved from third to first in the matter of seconds. Kamm would also get past Hall and move into second place. The AMSOIL Ski-Doo duo of Lincoln Lemieux and Tim Tremblay were battling for fifth and sixth before Dylan Hall made a mistake, moving the pairing into the top 5. Hibbert extended his lead to over 5 seconds with just over 5 laps to go. Once again, the best battle looked to be for the last place on the podium. Lemieux and Christian found themselves battles bar-to-bar once again but this time the advantage went to Lemieux where he would end up finishing. Tucker Hibbert once again proved age is just a number while Kody Kamm also proved last year was no fluke. The opening round of the Pro class gave lots of excitement to the fans at Spirit Mountain for the AMSOIL Snocross National Presented by Kwik Trip. Be sure to tune in tomorrow on snocross.com/livestream to watch Round 2 and to see the Worlds Greatest Snocross Athletes battle on the iconic hills of Spirit Mountain.

Full Pro Results:

1. #68 Tucker Hibbert
2. #1 Kody Kamm
3. #13 Lincoln Lemieux
4. #43 Logan Christian
5. #11 Tim Tremblay
6. #311 Adam Renheim
7. #14x RJ Roy
8. #54 Petter Narsa
9. #324 Kyle Pallin
10. #177 Jake Angove
11. #36 Corin Todd
12. #355 Taylor McCoy
13. #421 Dylan Hall
14. #27 Leo Patenaude
15. #98 Nick Pattyn

Rounding out the Pro classes, the Pro AM Plus 30 class featured some of the best racing of the evening. #24 Paul Bauerly took the win with a close second going to #57 Andy Leiders. Rounding out the top three was #15 Wesley Selby.

2017/2018 ISOC National Snocross Tour Schedule 

Duluth, MN // November 24-27, 2017

Jackson Hole, WY // December 8-9, 2017

Shakopee, MN // January 5-6, 2018

Deadwood, SD // January 19-20, 2018

Salamanca, NY // February 16-17, 2018

Mt. Pleasant, MI // February 23-24, 2018

Dubuque, IA // March 9-10, 2018

Lake Geneva, WI // March 16-17, 2018

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