World Championship Day: Here’s The Field, And The Odds!

This is the year of parity in the ultra-exciting Champ 440 class. The World Champion will likely come from a group of seven racers who have all run incredibly well here on the famed Derby track – after time trials, heats, a Friday Night Thunder final, then more heats and semi finals on Saturday, it was still next to impossible on Saturday night to truly nail down a top one or two drivers.

.     In fact, in all the years that Snow Goer has been making fictional odds on this World Championship race, we have never had such a difficult of a time placing the racers in order – we debated long into the night, and still aren’t satisfied with the result.

Dustin Wahl was undefeated in qualifying. Photo by Snow Goer.

.     You’ve got three past champions in the race, including four-timer and defending champion PJ Wanderscheid, two-timer Gary Moyle and 2010 champion Matt Schulz – how can one bet against any of them? Yet the fastest laps turned on the track this week have been run by Nick Van Strydonk of nearby Tomahawk. Then, there’s the Wahl Bros team – Brandon Johnson won Friday night and is the poll sitter going into the final; Dustin Wahl was undefeated in qualifying on Saturday and looked fast and smooth; Champ 440 rookie Jordyn Wahl was also a winner – and a survivor. He won his heat race, crashed while leading his semi-final, then pulled his sled out of the haybales and charged hard after the restart to earn a spot in the final.

.     So the dilemma, allow us to give you an example: How do you put the fastest qualifier (Van Strydonk) behind the Wanderscheid, given the laps he’s been running this weekend; but how do you put Van Strydonk ahead of the defending champ? How do you place Moyle? In past years, he’s proven crafty enough to now show his hand on Saturday, yet he hasn’t looked dominant. How do you pick against Johnson, the polesitter, or Dustin Wahl, the undefeated driver? But what about Schulz and Chartier? Whoever you choose, we’re predicting another classic final at the sport’s most fabled event.

.     In the fictional odd that we’re printing in the Snow Goer tip sheet at the track, here are the odds as we see them – but we’re honestly more unsure of these odds than we’ve ever been. It should be a great final. Two more drivers will qualify for the final today in a last chance qualifying race. Here are the finalists so far:

Nick Van Strydonk was running the fastest laps and definitely would win his first.

• Brandon Johnson, #22, from Greenbush, MN on a Polaris – The polesitter has been fast, smooth and strong; he has the equipment, but also a bum ankle. ODDS: 4-1
• Matt Schulz, #38, from Wausau, WI on a Ski-Doo — Switched to backup sled on Saturday after breaking a track bar in the Friday night program, but that backup sled is still super stout. Has the engine, and has won here before ODDS: 4:1
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Tremblay Claims Entertaining ISOC Canterbury Snocross

In one of the most entertaining final races in years, Quebec’s Tim Tremblay overcame a dogfight with three other top competitors to win Friday night’s Pro Open final at the Traxxis-sponsored Canterbury National in Shakopee, Minnesota.

.       Before that, however, Tremblay’s main fight this week was with customs agents that almost prevented his appearance at the race – more on that later.

.       On an unseasonably warm and windy night, 15 top pros worked their way into the final after two rounds of heat, followed by a last chance qualifier for some competitors.

.      The top qualifier was Wisconsin-based Polaris racer Ross Martin, and the season points leader showed his strength right away after the green flag waved, jumping out to an early lead while many sleds traded paint behind him.

.       After an initial shuffle, Amsoil Schuering Speed Sports teammates Robbie Malinoski and Darren Mees slotted in at second and third, with Cat racers Dan Ebert and Tucker Hibbert fourth and fifth. Then came Mathieu Morin, Tremblay, Garth Kaufman, recent jump record setter Levi LaVallee and Mike Bauer.

.       Four laps into the race, Malinoski started pressuring Martin. The two traded paint a couple of times, with Malinoski running into the back of Martin on one lap, then Martin forcing Malinoski over the burm in the same turn four a lap later. The two ran probably 8 laps never more than 8 sled-lengths apart.

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The Evolving State of Powersports Design

For me, suspension performance, acceleration, engine character (sound, vibration, harshness) and driver comfort are the most important qualities in a new off-road vehicle, but I’ve got to admit: I’m a sucker for good design. Sometimes it’s the little things like the type of headlight bulb used, a textured material in just the right place or a pleasing selection of color choices that accentuates a machine’s lines.

[Read more]

Want Snowmobile Racing To Be Fun? Pay Attention

 We’re just days away from the opening of the snowmobile racing season, with the ISOC Duluth Snocross kicking off next Friday, November 26, in Duluth, Minnesota. The following weekend, the oval racing season kicks off at one of the coolest venues in the sport – the Canadian Power Toboggan Championships track in Beausejour, Manitoba. The weekend after that, things get going out east with the East Coast Snocross opener in Burke, Vermont.

These guys switched brands for the coming season: Knowing that makes how they do in Duluth this year very interesting.

          Good times await for family members and true fans at the various venues. And, as a fan of any sort of motorsport myself, I can’t wait. But I realized a couple weekends ago, while at a NASCAR race in Texas, the difference between truly enjoying a motorized soap opera and merely watching fast machines making laps. It is all about the bye-in of the individual fan.

            I was at the NASCAR race as a part of a REALLY cool Arctic Cat junket involved the company’s ATV division. That weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Arctic Cat had its name emblazoned on the No. 1 Chevy driven by the popular Jamie McMurray. It was fabulous.

            But while sitting in the crowd immerse in the events happening on each lap, I looked around me at several fellow motor journalists and some Arctic Cat officials and saw completely different levels of interest. A few of us were literally hanging on the edge of our seat, leaning forward toward the action, completely saturated. Many others in our group, however, including many fellow snowmobilers and a few snowmobile racing fans, were leaning back and staring off into the distance.

            The difference, of course, was how big of fans of this type of racing we were, but tied to that was how much members of the two different groups were absorbing based on their background.

Having a Cat-sponsored car to cheer for in Texas.

            To me and a couple of others, we immediately saw Kurt Busch dropping toward the back and wondered what that said about the Penske Dodges on this day. We saw five different cars come in during the first 20 laps to have tape removed from the front end of the cars, and knew that overheating was the problem. We saw eventual winner Denny Hamlin drift backwards early in the race and knew the potential implications in the standings. We saw perennial good-guy Jeff Burton completely take out Jeff Gordon, and wondered how that could be. We hooted and hollered when bad boy Kyle Busch was penalized two laps for flipping off a NASCAR official.

            The others in our group? They heard loud engines, saw flashes of colors and general enjoyed themselves, but they didn’t know all of the stories and subplots, they weren’t engaged in the implications and meanings.

            I see the same thing at some snowmobile races. I’ve brought some friends, and a couple of times my son, to sled races and they merely saw sleds clicking off laps. It’s fun, but they weren’t intrigued enough to go back. But if they only knew that the guy who won the race in front of them was a semi-pro last year but he just beat Tucker Hibbert in a heat, they’d appreciate it more. If they knew that Polaris hadn’t won an Eagle River World Championship since 1978, they would have been more intrigued as Matt Schulz was putting together a stellar weekend at the Derby last year. Some people merely saw sleds driving across the water last summer at Grantsburg; others saw a second generation victory by the son of a legend.

Each driver who touches the cup at Eagle River has a story to tell.

    Some of that background information is gained through experience, but it’s amazing how much can be gained by paying attention to the announcers and doing just a tiny bit of homework before you go to an event. When I go to a car race at a local Saturday night racetrack, I pay attention and find out who the points leader is in each class, and when an underdog wins a class, I’m pretty darned happy for him. Before I go to the World Of Outlaw sprint car races in Wisconsin every July, I go to the World Of Outlaw web site and find out who’s leading the points, who’s been doing well and who’s making a comeback – it truly enhances the experience for me.

            Bottom line: I hope to see some of you at Duluth next weekend; I’m not going to make it to Beausejour, but I’ll be watching the web to see who does well. If you go, do yourself a favor and either do a little digging before you go, or pay attention to the P.A. announcer – maybe even walk through the pits, if you’re allowed to. You’ll have a much better time, and you’ll go home with much better memories.

The Missing Link: Small, Affordable Snowmobiles

The best selling metric motorcycle in the U.S. from May 2009 to June 2010 wasn’t a high-output GSX-R or a big V-twin cruiser: It was a Kawasaki Ninja 250R – which carries a list price of $3,999.

            Meanwhile, over in the ATV market, one of the best selling sport quads on the market in 2010 was the Raptor 250 – which far outsells most quads with twice its displacement, thanks in large part to its diminutive size, and an MSRP of $4,499.

            So what about you, dear snowmobile market?

Kawi sells a ton of Ninja 250s -- what's the equivilent in the snowmobile market?

          Various manufacturers have taken cracks at creating a true entry-level machine in the recent past, and there has been talk about the need for a “tweener” sled for kids coming off a 120 but too small for a full-sized sled for years. But as calendar year 2011 approaches, it still seems like we’ve got a big gap – there is, at this point, no Ninja 250R or Raptor 250 in our market.

          A couple of years ago, Ski-Doo made a run at that entry-level market with the Freestyle – powered (at first) by a 269cc twin. Listed at $3,999, it features a full-sized but stripped down chassis. It didn’t last long, and soon it went the way of the Indy 340, Z 370 and like models. Personally, I wish the Freestyle chassis would have been a two-thirds scale of a full-size chassis, but my understanding of it is that the BRP legal department wouldn’t approve a sled purposely built as a ‘tweener for 10 to 14 year olds.  

          More recently, Polaris has launched its 550 IQ Shift, which at $5,999 was 2010’s least expensive, non-120-class snowmobile. It’s a very nice machine, but it’s still $6,000 and it’s also a full-size chassis – not exactly a match for the $3,999 Ninja.

          Why hasn’t one of the major manufacturers filled this niche in the snowmobile market, you ask? Money, of course. Designing, engineering, testing and then tooling up to manufacturer a machine on a completely different chassis costs millions of dollars. In the bike market, Kawasaki can get that money back by selling hundreds of thousands of little Ninjas here, and across the globe – small displacement bikes are huge in Europe and Asia, for instance. However, if a sled manufacturer had to incur those startup prices, and then only really had a geographic subset of North America plus a little bit of northern Europe to sell to, it would get upside down in a hurry, financially. It sucks, but it’s reality.

The Raptor 250 is popular because it's small and affordable. You pretty much have to buy used to get that in snowmobiles today.

86 Degrees And Dreaming Of Sleds

It’s 86 degrees in the Twin Cities as I write this – Indian Summer (or, should I say, Native American Summer Soltice?) has officially taken hold. Half of our office (or more) is looking for an excuse to leave early. Motorcycles are everywhere on the local streets, folks are making plans for an unexpected last weekend of boating – and all I can think about is sleds!

            It’s crunch time in our office, as we work hard to get another issue of Snow Goer (in this case, our January cover date issue) to our printer. Andy’s off on one project, Tom’s off on another, so the only person here to give the pages a final read-through is little old me, and it’s killing me. In this case, “It” is not the workload; what’s killing me is reading all of these stories about riding.

            Managing Editor Andy Swanson has got a really good story about a club ride he took in northern Minnesota last year in this issue; longtime contributor Tim Erickson has an outstanding review of the 2011 Sno Pro 500 based on our ride at West Yellowstone, Montana, last spring; I’ve got a writeup on our Power Cruiser Shootout, featuring all of the big four strokes. Each story has a certain “put-you-there” charm that has me yearning for winter. I want to be on that trail that Andy talks about; I want to fling a Sno Pro 500 down a rugged ditchline, which Tim writes about….

This feature and many others have me dreaming of snow!!

            Instead, it’s 86 degrees and sunny.  Oh well.

            Whatever you have planned for this weekend, make it a good one. And remember, in as soon as eight weeks if snow permits, the snowmobile trails will start opening in some parts of the country!

Big East Show: Kilts, Piercings And Suspensions

 A man in a kilt, various piercings and plenty of tramp stamps. This, and a whole lot more, is what we’ve spotted from our booth this morning and early afternoon here at the Big East Snowmobile Show in Syracuse, New York.

Facing the camera in the black shirt is Hall-O-Famer Gerard Karpik, answering questions about his Assault air shocks.

           The show is abuzz with activity again today, with a sizable crowd checking out the latest and greatest in new sleds and aftermarket products. It’s been so busy, in fact, that we haven’t had a chance to talk to many of the other vendors to see what’s truly new here at the show – everybody is too busy cutting deals.

            That said, we have spied a few interesting things for those looking for improved ride quality. To wit:

• If you want to meet a hall of fame snowmobile racer and engineer – and check out a new suspension setup – that can be accomplished by visiting Gerard “King” Karpik on the lower level of the show. Karpik’s Team FAST company is showing off its complete RAV-Tek suspension system, featuring four of the company’s Assault air shocks. He’s also been asked to sign a couple of autographs by fans who are digging seeing the one-time cross-country hero, and developer of the game-changing M-10 rear suspension.
  

  Utah-based ZBros is in Syracuse, showcasing their EXIT shock setups.

• Utah-based ZBroz Racing is showcasing its ARS FX suspension setups and EXIT shocks for sleds, as well as ATVs and UTVs. Depending on the setup you choose, the EXITs can feature triple-rate spring setups, piggyback reservoirs and external compression adjustments.
• Hygear Suspension is showcasing its various shocks and shocks services, including repping Custom Axis shocks here at the show.

As noted yesterday, there are a whole lot of ski options here as well, and those looking for traction products have a ton of options, and some top factory people here to help with some advice. Woody’s, Fast-Trac, Stud Boy, Roetin and Snowmobile Studs all have booths here staffed with people that can direct you to the right size, number and pattern for your application.

The shows are a great place to get traction advice. This crowd is gathered around Fast-Trac owner Terry Weiland and his team.

            Check back later, and we’ll have a rundown of some of the other highlights from the show, or click here to see the story from last night.

Big East Blog: A Friday Night Madhouse!

A sure sign of brisk sales… we were 90 minutes into the 17^th annual Big East Snowmobile Show here in Syracuse, New York, when we ran out of one-dollar bills. We thought starting out with a cool 50 would be a good, but our special rate here at the show is an odd number, and everybody is paying with larger bills!

The lineup to enter the show

            The show has begun, and the pace is brisk. Some folks have stopped by the booth with compliments – others with complaints, but that all goes with the territory.

            So who’s here this year as far as vendors? Well, you’ve got the big four manufacturers, obviously. If you want to see all of the 2011 sleds in one place, this is it. The ski industry is very well represented here this year – including the pioneer (USI), a strong local challenger (Curve Industries), a longtime player whose primary focus is other performance parts (Starting Line Products) and a complete newcomer (Split Rail).

            There are a lot of performance guys here as well. Rich Daly from Dyno Port and Bender Racing stopped by our booth with some stories of his recent racing exploits, while one of the principals of the aforementioned Starting Line Products had a bit of trouble getting here – including an unscheduled night in a rough neighborhood in New York City. He’s here now – along with a couple of really hot sleds in their booth. Bikeman Performance came all the way from Wisconsin with some hot items as well – and we’re not just talking about Dani Medin – the model in Snow Goer’s SpeedGear department this year!  

Klim debutted a brand new, high-end booth at Syracuse today.

            The early talk among the vendors is all about Klim. The premium outerwear giant has a monstrous, high-end booth designed by a company out of Las Vegas. The booth was put together for the first time ever for this show, and it looks better than the Polaris booth here.

            Check back often this weekend – we’ll have updates frequently, including information on new products we spy here at the show. And, if you’re in the area, c’mon over to the OnCenter – it’s a really good time!

Snowmobile Show Season Starts Now!

It’s Show-Time!!

        That’s right, the fall snowmobile show season kicks off this coming weekend with the Big East Snowmobile Show in Syracuse, New York (click on show title to get details).

Soon the crowd will gather for the Big East Snowmobile Show

     Right now, the OnCenter in Syracuse is pretty much an empty shell. But, within the next 48 hours it will be turned into a carnival of all things snowmobiling – new machines from all four major manufacturers, hot aftermarket and OEM clothing at discount prices, interesting touring destinations, hard parts, performance shops displays, dealer displays, oil companies, trailering products, a place to buy the best darned magazine in the snowmobile market… the list goes on and on.

       Add in available beer and food at the concession stands and the chance to hang out with other snowmobilers, and you’ve got yourself a fine way to spend part of your weekend. The show is Friday, Oct. 1 – Sunday, October 3. I’ll be there – will you?

       Syracuse is only the start, however. Our company is also associated with the Rocky Mountain Snowmobile Show in Denver, Colorado (Oct. 9-10), and on that same weekend is the Michigan Snowmobile Association’s Outdoor Recreation Show in Hastings, Michigan.

       Leisure Features’ excellent Snowmobile USA Shows are right around the corner, with dates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Oct. 15-17), Novi, Michigan (Nov. 5-7) and Green Bay, Wisconsin (Nov. 12-13).

       The New England Powersports Expo is coming on October 16-17 in West Springfield, Massachusetts, and that happens to be the same weekend at the Washington Snowmobile Expo and Swap Meet on the other side of the county – in Payallup, Washington, and the Toronto International Snowmobile Show up in Ontario. Pennsylvanians wanting to spend their Halloween weekend looking at sleds rather than visiting Spookyworld have their chance at Powersports Show Oct. 29-31 in Lebanon, Pensylvania.  The Intermountain Snowmobile Show is in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Oct. 22-23, while the related Idaho Snowmobile Show rolls into Boise on Nov. 19-20.

Quick -- go spend some money! There are new sleds and gear to buy, and that money is just weighing you down!

       And, of course, whenever you make a list, there are others that you leave out. If your local snowmobile show isn’t listed, respond to this post below and add it yourself!  

       For vendors like us, this time of year is a mixed bag – lots of travel, lots of long days in exhibit halls, lots of late nights and bad food. Then again, we get to hang out with many fellow snowmobilers rather than just stare at each other all week, so the shows are also a lot of fun.

       Make them more fun by stopping by and introducing yourself at a show sometime!

10 Best Things About Haydays — Sept. 11-12

The 44^th annual Haydays grass drag, swap meet and snowmobiling party is a less than a week away, and with its new location it’s bound to be interesting. Here is my unofficial, quickly thrown together and hardly thought about Top 10 Things About Haydays.

1. The Swap Meet – This is where you can find the windshield you’ve been seeking for your primary sled, the seat for your older sled and the clutch for your vintage sled. Plus, you can sort through the mess of clapped out dirt bikes, occasional kitchen appliances, old neon beer signs, off-brand used power tools, tires & rims, artificial Christmas trees and weed whips, among other things. Remember to bring your best haggling skills.
2. The Grass Drags – Call me old fashioned, but Haydays started as a grass drag, and I still truly enjoy seeing the boys (and occasional girls) settle the score for who can build and race the fastest equipment on dirt. It’s called a grass drag, but it sounds like the entire course this year will be on a clay surface. Either way, expect 500 feet of racing, lightning fast equipment, the smell of race gas and turbo-charged egos.
3. 

   Buy something...please....

   Vendor Displays – Whether you want to check out the new sleds, talk to the guys who make traction products, leer at the pretty girls tossing out Ski-Doo T-shirts, shop for a new jacket or helmet, dream about the hot aftermarket performance setup for your sled or subscribe to the best damned snowmobile magazine in the sport (and I’m not talking about Snowmobile, Race Gas, Snow Action, City Sledder, Snow Week, Sno-X, SX illustrated, Snow Trader, Hot Sled, SnoTrack, Invitation to Snowmobiling, or Race & Rally – they’re all dead!), there’s a lot to see at Haydays.

4. The Weather – Yeah, we all love winter, but it is kind of cool going to a snowmobiling event in shorts and a t-shirt, and better yet, seeing all of the gals at the event in shorts and T-shirts or bikini tops — helllllloooo ladies!  
5. The Motorsports Freestyle Shows – The high-flying freestyle show featuring sleds, bikes, quads and the occasional off-road truck has become a staple at Haydays over the last 10 years. See young men with more guts than sense fly launch off of ramps and do oddly-named and dangerous aerial maneuvers while obnoxious music blares through staticy speakers.
6. Seeing Vintage Sleds – Haydays has a formal vintage sled area called Memory Lane where you can restored beauties, and the swap meet with packed with unrestored relics. Either way, Haydays is a great place to celebrate this sport’s great history.  
7. [Read more]

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