Fertile, Minn. (December 11, 2012) – It was a race weekend of ups and downs on the hills of Blackjack Ski Resort where the Christian Brothers Racing team competed in Rounds 3 and 4 of the ISOC National snocross series this past December 7-8. While Rounds 1-2 at at the Duluth National Snocross took place on a tiny, 22-second track, the highly-technical track at Blackjack boasted two uphill runs, a brutal downhill run and a challenging dogleg which made for lap times in the 1-minute range. It was a track where rider fitness and machine setup played a big role and played right into CBR’s strengths. But the ups and downs of the hills also brought ups and downs in the team’s results.
Pro Open riders Garth Kaufman and Logan Christian posted top results in Friday’s qualifying and both cruised to a front row spot in the final. After a great start Logan was running in 5th spot but came off in the downhill section and pain in his ribs kept him from getting back on his sled. Kaufman put in a solid run and finished in the 8th spot.
A lot of ice, a night of rest and Christian was back at 100-percent for Saturday’s racing. He went 1-2 in heats, good enough to put him in the third qualifying spot for the final where he put in a good run and just cracked the Top 10, taking the 10th spot. Kaufman had a tough round of heats and ended up in the LCQ where he got dealt a bad hand.
“I got hit by another rider on the uphill run and it spun me around,” Kaufman said. “There just weren’t enough laps to make up the time. It was a brutal track and you really had to pick your lines. Now I’m just looking ahead to the next race in Shakopee, Minn. – all the pieces are there for a podium I just need to put them together!”
“My heats went great and Saturday I qualified Top 3,” said Christian. “Then I had an off in the final on Friday and banged my ribs real hard, and Saturday I just got stuck in the pack. I thought I had what it took to get a podium but sometimes you need a little luck too and we didn’t have that in the finals.”
In the Sport class CBR rider Tyler Adams sliced his way through a highly-competitive field of riders, earned a spot in the final on Saturday and finished 9th. Adams sits in 8th place in Sport points among 117 riders.
Evan Christian was perfect in the Transition 8-12 class, winning both his heats and taking the top spot in the final. CBR rider Trent Wittwer was perfect in the Junior Novice 10-13 class where he won both his heats and took the win in the final. Christian went 2-2 in that class but ran into trouble in the final where he placed 13th.
“The team improved since the first race at Duluth and we’re moving forward,” said team co-owner Dwight Christian. “Evan and Trent rode great and Tyler did good in Sport. We just need to get Logan and Garth on the podium and I think that will come as long as we keep working hard.”
Next up for Christian Brothers Racing is the USXC Gerald Dyrdahl Memorial Pine Lake 200 race this coming December 15-16 in Gonvick, Minn. For more information on Christian Brothers Racing visit www.christianbrosracing.com.