Polaris cross-country snowmobile racer Aaron Christensen put together three strong days of racing to finish second in the Pro 600 and Pro Open classes at the United States X-Country Snowmobile Racing (USXC) Seven Clans I-500.
The race was run near Thief River Falls, Minnesota, on Feb. 8-10. Polaris racer Eric Gausen earned top-five finishes in both Pro classes, and Spencer Kadlec and Bobby Menne finished in the top eight.
Kadlec came back with the third day’s fastest time to finish third in the Semi-Pro 600 class. Jill Tangen finished second in the Women’s class, Richard Hanson took second in Masters 50+, and Robert Nichols won the Trophy 600 class.
Consistency Pays in Pro Classes
Aaron Christensen, who is from Metiskow, Alberta, Canada, posted three strong Pro 600 finishes as he came home fourth on the first day and second on both of the next two days. Gausen finished consistently higher through the weekend, finishing 11th on Friday, then sixth and finally fifth on the final day. Kadlec got off to a slow start, coming in 17th on the first day. But he backed it up with a 13th on day two and a third place finish on the final day to rise to eighth overall.
Other Polaris racers in the Pro 600 class were: Bobby Menne in 11th, Eric Christiansen in 13th, Joshua Bloomquist in 15th, Gabe Bunke in 16th, Corey Davidson in 20th, Ryan Faust in 21st and Tommy Mulligan in 23rd.
In Pro Open, Christensen had daily finishes of fifth, third and second, which earned him second place overall. Gausen finished fifth in Pro Open, followed by Menne in eighth and Mulligan in 13th.
Spencer Kadlec Rebounds in Semi-Pro 600
In the Semi-Pro 600 class, Polaris racer Spencer Kadlec finished 14th on the first day but improved to fifth on day two and was the fastest in the class on the final day, which boosted him to third place overall in the final standings. Travis Faust was seventh in Semi-Pro 600, Dylan Stevens was 12th, Mark Chesterman finished 16th, Alex Hetteen was 21st, and Scott Chesterman was 23rd.
Travis Faust finished fourth in the Semi-Pro Improved class, Eric Christensen was fourth in Masters 40.
In the Women’s class, Jill Tangen finished second all three days and wound up second in the final standings. Anne Pladson was third, Callie Slominski was fourth, and Jennifer Fuller was sixth. Robert Nichols won the Trophy 600 class while Taylor Bunke was third, Jason Woods was sixth, Nels Wicklund finished seventh, and Jared Christensen was eighth.
About Polaris – Polaris is a recognized leader in the powersports industry with annual 2012 sales of $3.2 billion. Polaris designs, engineers, manufactures and markets innovative, high quality off-road vehicles, including all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and the Polaris RANGER and RZR side-by-side vehicles, snowmobiles, motorcycles and on-road electric/hybrid powered vehicles. Polaris is among the global sales leaders for both snowmobiles and off-road vehicles and has established a presence in the heavyweight cruiser and touring motorcycle market with the Victory and Indian motorcycle brands. Additionally, Polaris continues to invest in the global on-road small electric/hybrid powered vehicle industry with Global Electric Motorcars (GEM), Goupil Industrie SA, and internally developed vehicles. Polaris enhances the riding experience with a complete line of Polaris and KLIM branded apparel and Polaris accessories and parts. Polaris Industries Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PII, and the Company is included in the S&P Mid-Cap 400 stock price index.
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