Contact: Pat Schutte
PR Director, ISOC Racing
pat@highprofilepr.com

DULUTH, Minn. (Nov. 30, 2013) – With a massive crowd in excess of 17,000 lining the track and packing the lodge at Duluth, Minn.’s Spirit Mountain, the green flag flew on the opening round of AMSOIL Championship Snocross, powered by Ram on a perfect Saturday night for racing high above the shores of Lake Superior. And picking up right where he left off at the end of last season’s premier class Pro Open championship run was local Minnesotan Tucker Hibbert (Monster Energy/Arctic Cat), who pulled off the incredible – lapping the entire field of the world’s top snocross racers en-route to the round one victory.

“I haven’t done so well at Duluth the past couple years that I really needed to make a statement,” said Hibbert. “I needed to get back where I should be – and I did. You couldn’t ask for a better night. We just had an awesome race.”

And in the Pro Lite division DuPont/Jack Links/AMSOIL/Polaris’ James Johnstad won his first career race, topping fellow Minnesotan Andrew Carlson (Sportech/AMSOIL/Polaris) and Sweden’s Marcus Johansson (Polaris).

Pro Open

Railing his Arctic Cat from the No. 1 gate pick to the Stud Boy Holeshot, Hibbert more or less checked out on the opening lap. The five-figure crowd that packed the south side of the track and filled the lodge to the brim were going crazy, cheering Hibbert on as he lapped up through the pack, picking off one after another of the world’s greatest snocross racers before catching Kyle Pallin and Cody Thomsen on the white flag lap to complete the first-ever entire lapping of an AMSOIL Championship Snocross Pro Open class field.

“There were a lot of crashes in the uphill rhythm section – which was easily the most technical portion of the track,” explained Hibbert. “I had to be real careful through there, not miss any yellow flags with all the carnage (crashed sleds). But it was also in that area that I was able to make up the most time.”

The two racers most likely to challenge Hibbert, former Pro Open champs Ross Martin (DuPont/Jack Links/Polaris) and Tim Tremblay (Scheuring Speed Sports/Ski-Doo), both were non-factors. Tremblay left the race early with what looked like a mechanical issue while Martin crashed and was momentarily pinned under Pallin’s sled (though uninjured).

Pro Open results

Pos/Racer #/Sled Brand/Hometown

1 Tucker Hibbert Monster Energy/Arctic Cat 68 Arctic Cat Pelican Rapids, MN
2 Cody Thomsen Arctic Cat 62 Arctic Cat Nisswa, MN
3 Kyle Pallin Team LaVallee 324 Polaris Ironwood, MI
4 Logan Christian Christian Brothers Racing / Drift / Arctic Cat 43 Arctic Cat Fertile, MN
5 Iain Hayden Rockstar Energy Polaris 93 Polaris Chatsworth, Ontario
6 Kody Kamm Hentges Racing 53 Polaris Kenosha, WI
7 Justin Broberg Hentges Racing 168 Polaris Mukwonago, WI
8 David Joanis Christian Brothers Racing / Arctic Cat 115 Arctic Cat Cochrane, MN
9 Robbie Malinoski Amsoil/Air Force/Makita 4 Ski-Doo Stacy, MN
10 Petter Narsa Team Jimmy John’s/Ski-doo/BossRacing 271 Ski-Doo Moskosel,
11 Zach Pattyn Stud Boy Racing 99 Ski-Doo Ravenna, MI
12 Mike Bauer Jess Racing 717 Arctic Cat Westminster, MA
13 Ross Martin Judnick Motorsports 837 Polaris Burlington, WI
14 Johan Lidman Warnert Racing 52 Ski-Doo Pitea, Sweden
15 Tim Tremblay Amsoil/Air Force/Rockstar 11 Ski-Doo Ste Jeanne D’Arc, Quebec

Pro Lite

Johnstad, who was injured last season, would blast off the start of the 15-lap Pro Lite event, pulling the holeshot and leading the rest of the field up the hill and into the Air Force Fly Zone. The first-time winner on the AMSOIL Championship Snocross tour then led the field through the entire race, finding the right speed combination through masterful throttle control and corner setup aboard his Polaris sled.

“I’m coming off an injury last year and it was a long off season,” said Johnstad. “But I felt great coming into today’s heats and the main event and was happy I could ride well and get the win.”

Close behind Johnstad off the start was Andrew Carlson aboard the #151 Polaris. Both Johnstad and Carlson would avoid a massive wreck on the second lap that collected four of the sleds near the front, but the carnage would play in the favor of Lincoln Lemieux (Ski-Doo) and Corin Todd (Polaris) – who (Corin) won the opening Pro Lite heat race, but was forced to start in the back row of the main event when he broke the start light before the green light.

Johnstad would run clean through lap three and continued to put time on Carlson and the rest of the pursuers, running a clean and mistake-free Pro Lite main event at Spirit Mountain. Carlson, though not as fast on this night, would limit the mistakes as well and placed easily into the 2nd position at the checkers. The third and final position on Saturday’s Pro Lite podium would be a toss-up at the end – with Sweden’s Marcus Johansson (Polaris) rounding out the podium.

Pro Lite results

Pos/Racer #/Sled Brand/Hometown

1 James Johnstad Judnick Motorsports 154 Polaris Beltrami, MN
2 Andrew Carlson Carlson Motorsports 151 Polaris Big Lake, MN
3 Marcus Johansson Carlson Motorsports 227 Polaris Ostersund,
4 Filip Eriksson Team Yngvesson 423 Arctic Cat lycksele, Lycksele
5 Trevor Leighton Leighton Motorsports 931 Polaris Eagle, ID
6 Lincoln Lemieux Lemieux Racing 113 Ski-Doo St. Johnsbury, VT
7 Nisse Kjellstrom 342 Polaris Sodermamn, gavleborg
8 Matt Pichner HAALA Racing 193 Arctic Cat Owatonna, MN
9 Corin Todd LEIGHTON MOTORSPORTS 136 Polaris Otego, NY
10 Andrew Lieders Team LaVallee/Lieders Racing 857 Polaris Colby, WI
11 Zak Mason LEIGHTON MOTORSPORTS 863 Polaris Gaylord, MI
12 Kevin Wallenstein Ingles Performance 122 Ski-Doo Cadillac, MI
13 Corey Watkinson Watkinson Motorsports, Arctic Cat 173 Arctic Cat Port Carling, Ontario
14 Justin Parnell factory recreation/huber motorsports 186 Ski-Doo Ennismore, Ontario
15 Brett Nastala Goodwin Performance 248 Ski-Doo Milton, WI

Action continues at Spirit Mountain on Sunday with the round two of the 2013-’14 AMSOIL Championship Snocross, powered by Ram. Racing gets underway at 9 a.m. Tickets for the event are available at the gate, $27 for adults, $22 for youths and seniors and children five and under are free. For more information call 1-800-4-DULUTH or link to www.visitduluth.com

2013-’14 AMSOIL Championship Snocross, powered by Ram

Round/Date City/State

1 – Nov. 29-Dec. 1 Duluth, Minnesota
2 – Dec. 6-7 Bessemer, Michigan
3 – Jan. 3-5 Shakopee, Minnesota
4 – Jan. 31-Feb.1 Deadwood, South Dakota
5 – Feb. 7-8 Salamanca, New York
6 – Feb. 21-22 Mt. Pleasant, Mich.
7 – March 7-8 Fargo, N.D.
8 – March 14-16 Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

Beginning with AMSOIL Championship Snocross’ season-opening round in Duluth, Minn. and running through the season finale in Lake Geneva, Wis. CBS Sports Network will air 16 half-hour programs of the ACS races.

Photos courtesy of Lissa Marsolek/ISOC

About ISOC Racing

The International Series of Champions (ISOC) is the premier snowmobile race sanctioning organization in North America and sanctions national AMSOIL Championship Snocross, in addition to affiliating with nine regional circuits. Visit snocross.com for more information, fan and racer memberships, schedule details and more.