Joe Parsons topped all snowmobile competitors at Winter X 2013, collecting medals in each of the three events he entered, including silver in Freestyle and Best Trick.

Parsons stepped up his game to carry the torch when his teammate and defending Best Trick winner Heath Frisby suffered two hard practice crashes on Thursday.

Frisby was forced to withdraw from the Freestyle competition and limped through the Speed and Style event, in which Parsons earned the bronze medal. Frisby did take part in Best Trick on Sunday night and appeared to have a winning run when he threw out his signature Underflip, but judges saw it differently.

In his second run, Frisby tried to raise the bar even higher with a variation, but was unable to land the trick. Parsons then unleashed his Gator Wrestler backflip and added a new twist by landing it backward to the roar of the crowd, earning the silver.

In Snocross, Tim Tremblay raced to the first medal of his career finishing third and collecting the bronze. Tremblay was third off of the start and held his position throughout the race with a sizable margin over fourth. That position belonged to Warnert Racing’s Emil Ohman who battled back and fourth for the position before closing it out for his best career finish at Winter X.

Sweden’s Petter Narsa was competing in his first X Games and made an impressive debut in fifth, giving Ski-Doo three of the top five spots.

Mike Schultz put himself among rare X Games company, winning his fourth gold medal and third straight in Adaptive Snocross. Although Schultz is a perennial favorite in the event, the feat was not accomplished without drama.

In the morning practice session Schultz crashed, badly damaging his sled. Virtually everyone in the snocross pit area came to his aid, as mechanics from Warnert Racing and Scheuring Speed Sports stepped in to get Monster Mike to the starting line on time. Then, as the Adaptive final launched, Schultz tangled with another competitor and tipped over in the first turn restarting last. As the laps wound down, Schultz picked off competitors, making the pass for the win with one lap to go.

Garret Goodwin rounded out the podium in third, competing in his first X Games. For more information on Ski-Doo snowmobiles visit us on Face Book, our On Trail and Elevation blog sites and at www.ski-doo.com

Congratulations to Tucker Hibbert and the whole Arctic Cat/Monster Energy team on winning their record-setting sixth consecutive gold medal at Winter X Games 2013 in Aspen, Colorado.

Having spent two weeks prior in Colorado getting his sled dialed in and a convincing first place finish in his qualifier race, Tucker was looking and feeling confident.

That didn’t stop him from watching the other two qualifier races and walking the track prior to the final confirming his lines.

Based on what he saw, he elected to change his place on the start and move right by one position. A decision that helped him get out ahead of the pack in second place by turn one.

From there, Tucker propelled his Sno Pro 600 past Ross Martin in the first lap and had 15 laps to build his lead and finish 11 seconds ahead of second place.

This gold medal gives Tucker 11 Winter X Games medals, seven of which are gold. We look forward to Tucker going for the seven-peat next year.

Yamaha racing legend Doug Henry returns to the ESPN Winter X-Games Adaptive SnoCross track with high hopes of adding a fifth X-Games medal to his extensive motorsports trophy case.

During the 2005 ESPN Summer X-Games, and aboard his signature #19 Yamaha, Doug earned a gold medal in the highly competitive Supermoto event. He followed that up with a bronze medal in the same event at the 2004 Summer X-Games.

Four years later, and after recovering from injuries that left him a paraplegic, Doug heroically returned to the X-Games, this time during the winter where he raced his #19 Yamaha snowmobile in Adaptive SnoCross.

He earned a bronze medal in 2010, and then he struck gold in 2011 when he won in the paraplegic class.

“It feels great to compete on a world-class track against a field of talented riders like Paul Thacker, Mike Schultz and Jim Wazny, who did not let their circumstance keep them down,” said Doug, himself a shining example of determination and spirit in the face of tremendous adversity.

As the name implies, Adaptive SnoCross rules allow riders to modify their sleds to adapt to their particular physical abilities, with separate classes for amputees and paraplegics (racers with a spinal injury resulting in lower body paralysis).

Doug turned to longtime friend Steve Serafini at Fab-U-This to develop a pivoting swingarm seat for his Monster Energy/Yamaha FX Nytro race sled. The setup allows him to lean into the corners as well as hit the big doubles with confidence.

“Everything at the X-Games is bigger than you’d find on a normal track,” Doug explained. “Steve and I have been refining the suspension design of the seat to soak up the impacts and big landings. We have that dialed.”

Aside from the special seat, Doug’s Yamaha FX Nytro has some additional bracing and chassis reinforcements to make it suitable for top-level SnoCross competition.

“Yamaha has always been good to me,” Doug said. “The snowmobile guys have been great to work with and have really helped me get my sled ready to race.”
“As a lifelong race fan, I love seeing Doug line up for the green flag on any Yamaha product,” said Yamaha Snowmobile Racing’s Eric Josephsen. “But, to have him competing on our four-stroke FX Nytro carries a special meaning to us. He’s the racer who single-handedly proved to the world that four-stroke engines can compete and win at the highest levels of motorsports competition.”

The Adaptive SnoCross final will air live on ESPN at 1:15 PM Mountain on Sunday, January 27.

The Monster Energy/Yamaha SnoCross Racing Team would like to thank its Racing Partners for their valued support and commitment to the X-Games SnoCross program: Monster Energy, Planet Fitness, Fab-U-This, GYTR, Dynojet, Fly Racing, Woody’s, Speedcell Batteries, Yamalube, Hindle Exhaust; HEAL Clothing, and Brownell’s Yamaha.

BRP racer Malcolm Chartier jumped to a commanding lead at the start of the 50th annual running of the Eagle River World Championship Derby and survived a number of red flag restarts plus a photo finish to earn his first Champ 440 world title.

Chartier was fast throughout Derby week, setting second quick time in Thursday time trials, winning the Sweet 16 final on Friday, pole position for the main event and then wrapping up the championship on Sunday.

Chartier’s win at the storied Eagle River Derby track while they were celebrating the 50th anniversary was especially sweet and one he worked hard for. The race was red flagged for an accident in the second corner of the first lap, placing Chartier on the point of a staggered restart. On this and the three ensuing restarts, His Mike Houle prepared Ski-Doo sled would rocket to a commanding lead.

With two laps to go, Chartier was challenged and briefly passed by Jordan Wahl. “I don’t want to take anything away from Jordan because he is a great racer.” said Chartier. “We got together coming out of the corner and I lost my line, but I was confident I could get back past him.” Chartier did just that, regaining his line and crossing the finish stripe less than one sled length ahead of Wahl.

The 23 year old racer from Marine City, Michigan is a rising star on the oval racing scene and solidified his place in the sport and snowmobile racing history with the big win in Eagle River.

Another Ski-Doo X-team racer and former winner, Matt Schulz of Wausau, Wisconsin rounded out the podium in third place, just .001 seconds behind the number two finisher.

In the snocross World Championship final Tim Tremblay just missed winning his second consecutive Derby title. Tremblay won his qualifying round early in the day on Sunday and raced to within a couple sled lengths of first place at the finish of the snocross feature.

Robbie Malinoski, Tremblay’s teammate on the Scheuring Speed Sport/Ski-Doo team grabbed the holeshot in the main event put was knocked off the track in the first turn by another racer, ending his day. BOSS Racing rookie Pro Open competitor Petter Narsa had a good showing in his first trip to the Derby, finishing fourth.

One of the feel good stories of Derby weekend was Quebec’s Sabrina Blanchet collecting 2 World Championship titles. Sabrina and family learned of the passing of her grandmother just as the weekend was getting under way but still was able to focus her energy on winning the Junior 1 Sprint and Semi-Pro Champ finals, as well as the Junior 1 Sprint portion of the Friday Night Thunder program.

Congratulations to the Derby staff and the town of Eagle River for 50 years of great racing. For more information on Ski-Doo snowmobiles visit us on Face Book, our On Trail and Elevation blog sites and at www.ski-doo.com

Christian Brothers Racing/DRIFT Racing/Troy Lee Designs/Arctic Cat riders Logan Christian, Garth Kaufman and Cory Davis are set to compete for Winter X Games gold medals at the upcoming ESPN Winter X Games this weekend, January 24-27.

Kaufman is a Winter X Games veteran having first competed at Winter X in 2002 when he raced the Hillcross competition. He has been a regular on the WXG snocross roster since 2006 and has made a total of seven appearances.

This will be Christian’s second appearance in the snocross competition – he was an alternate in 2010 and competed in 2011. Davis has a somewhat diverse comp history at Winter X. He has raced Speed & Style three times and has won a bronze medal twice.

He has raced snocross twice and has been chosen as an alternate in that comp three times. In all, he has competed at Winter X five times and this year he will compete in both Snocross and Speed & Style.

So far this season, Christian and Kaufman have been competing in the first six rounds of the ISOC National snocross circuit where Christian currently sits in 6th place in Pro Open points and Kaufman is in 14th. Davis has been training on his own perfecting his Speed & Style routine. All four will be prepared to compete on the slopes of Aspen’s Buttermilk Mountain, the scene of Winter X.

The Winter X Games kick off Thursday, January 24 and run through Sunday, January 27. Fans can watch Speed & Style live Saturday on ABC and ESPN 3D from 3-5PM CST. Fans can watch the snocross event live Sunday on ESPN, ESPN3D and WatchESPN.com from 3-5PM CST. For more information on Winter X Games visit xgames.espn.go.com.

The Christian Brothers Racing/Stud Boy/Arctic Cat cross-country riders will head to Oslo, Minn., to compete in the USXC Oslo 100 this Saturday, January 26. The Oslo 100 will be the team’s first race on traditional cross-country terrain including road ditches, fields, treelines and river. The first three cross-country events have all been ice races and CBR riders have claimed 15 of 18 Pro podium spots so far including all six Pro class wins. After three of eight races Brian Dick, Ryan Simons and Zach Herfindahl sit 1-2-3 in Pro 600 points and in Pro Open the order is Simons, Dick and Herfindahl. The team is looking to continue its string of wins and extend their points leads this weekend.

Team Arctic honored the tradition and history of the 50th Anniversary Eagle River World Championship Snowmobile Derby with excellent finishes by its cadre of oval racers as well as the company’s appreciation of its past champions.

Armed with the formidable duo of four-time World Champion P.J. Wanderscheid and two-time World Champion Gary Moyle in the Champ 440 class, Team Arctic was in good position to notch its 11th Championship crown. And when Moyle logged the fastest qualifying time, the possibility of another win looked even better.

But the history of the World Championship is full of twists, turns and upsets. The 50th edition was no different, with Moyle and Wanderscheid delivering excellent performances (despite Wanderscheid competing with a broken ankle, heavily bruised shoulder and ribs, plus pneumonia), taking fifth and ninth respectively.

Commenting on his ninth place finish, Wanderscheid acknowledged both his injuries and the tough visibility of the final: “I always knew that injuries would affect me. My plan in the final was to go for it if I was out front, but play it safe if I was in the pack simply because [with the injuries] I knew I couldn’t recover sled if it got away from me. After the first restart I was always behind a few sleds and, with the snow dust sticking to my face shield, I played it safe in traffic.”

Moyle had his own challenges in the Champ final: “Starting on the back row of the final, I moved up to seventh before the maintenance break that separates the first 10 laps from the final 20 laps,” said Moyle. “At that point a suspension adjustment we’d planned to make wasn’t possible due to a frozen component, leaving us with less suspension travel than we needed for the big bumps that formed. So to finish fifth overall was the best that we could have hoped for given the circumstances.”

In addition to the spectacular racing, special ceremonies during Derby weekend commemorated past World Champions, including Team Arctic racers: Roger Janssen (1969), Bob Elsner (1979), Jim Dimmerman (1984), Wanderscheid (2002, 2003, 2006, 2011); Larry Day (2004); and Moyle (2005, 2007). Arctic Cat congratulates these great champions and all the racers who have competed at Eagle River over the past five decades.

Several of Team Arctic’s cross-country contingent competed at the CORPowersports event in Hayward, Wis., notching eight wins, three class sweeps and victory in both Pro classes. Wes Selby recorded his first-ever victory in Pro class cross-country competition, winning Pro Distance and Pro Sprint ahead of Zach Herfindahl.

Team Arctic’s national-level cross-country and snocross programs resume January 26 – 27, 2013, at the USXC event in Oslo, Minn., and the ESPN Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo.

About Arctic Cat – Arctic Cat Inc., based in Thief River Falls, Minn., designs, engineers, manufactures and markets all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and snowmobiles under the Arctic Cat brand name, as well as related parts, garments and accessories. Its common stock is traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the ticker symbol ACAT.

More information about Arctic Cat and its products is available on the Internet at www.arcticcat.com.

The USCC East regrets to inform its racers and fans that the race tentatively scheduled for February 2, 2013 has been cancelled.

The original promoter had decided to back out of the race for this season, leaving a short period of time to find a place to step up and take it over. We were not able to find a location that was willing and able to fill the spot.

“New York has proven to be a tough place in which to get an event secured,” said Erik Frigon, the head of the USCC East. “From what we have seen, the economy seems to be the greatest hurdle in securing a race there.”

“We are disappointed that we aren’t able to get a solid site for a race in New York,” Frigon continued. “We have a lot of good racers there and we would like to give them a ‘home race. We know New York has a lot of great places to hold a race, we just need to find one that is willing to pull it off and that will happen, it’s just going to take more work on our part.”

The USCC East is in its fourth year of competition in the Northeast and in its first year under new ownership. The USCC East has continued to grow each year and is looking to continue growth in the future. The season kicks off with a race in Parlin Pond, ME on January 26.

Please keep an eye on the website (www.uscceast.com) and on Facebook for updates on that race and the others on the schedule for this year.

To ensure fans attending the Grand Prix Ski-Doo of Valcourt presented by FOX the weekend of February 15-17 anticipate the most competitive daily and final events, organizers of the 31st edition of the Great Quebec Winter Classic are already announcing the participation of some of the superstars that will take part in this year’s competition.

Included in the list are the winners of the last seven of eight Sunday ice oval Grand Finales and the champions of the last two Grand Prix Pro Snocross competitions. Jacques Villeneuve, one of the icons of snowmobile ice racing, will take part in his 29th Grand Prix of Valcourt. A three-time Eagle River World Champion, Villeneuve has also scored three victories on the famed Yvon Duhamel oval track, his last win coming in 2006. Villeneuve is vying for his fourth career Valcourt title, but opposition will be stiff.

Over the years the competition has always been fierce in Valcourt, and this year will be no exception with three-time Valcourt grand winner and defending event champion Dustin Wahl, from Greenbush, Minnesota and 2011 Valcourt champion Nicholas Van Strydonk of Tomahawk, Wisconsin already committed to the 2013 event. The 27-year old Wahl has three ice oval Eagle River World titles on his resume, his last big win coming in 2009, while Van Strydonk won his only Eagle River World Title in 2012 at the age of 21.

Both drivers are in their prime compared to the 59-year old Villeneuve. On the home front, Sabrina Blanchet of Quebec City continues to impress. The 15-year old athlete picked up where she left off last year at Eagle River after winning the 380 Champ class when she captured the Semi Pro Champ title and two Junior World victories. She will compete in five classes in Valcourt.

In snocross action, the Quebec-based SCMX Series riders, as well of those from the Ontario CSRA Series and the American East Coast Snocross Series (ECS), will once again face tough opposition in Valcourt from some of the superstars of the American National ISOC Championship Series. Quebec rider Tim Tremblay and his Scheuring Speedsports teammate Robbie Malinoski will spearhead the ISOC attack.

Tremblay, the 2012 ISOC defending Pro Class Champion and the 2011 Snocross Grand Finale Valcourt winner, will try to regain his Valcourt title from Minnesotan Malinoski who beat him at the finish in last year’s event. Malinoski is looking for his third Valcourt title. His first win came in 2005 when he interrupted Canadian Blair Morgan’s six-win Valcourt streak.

“Valcourt is one of the must-attend event of the season for all ice oval racers. Each year, most of the top riders head to the snowmobile Capital of the World in order to try to add their names to the prestigious list of winners. There is no doubt that more riders will add their names to this year’s event,” said Marie-Pier Lemay, General Manager of the Grand Prix. “Since the introduction of snocross competition on the Grand Prix program in 1999, the organizing committee has always been looking to invite the best athletes in this category. Each year, we get a positive response from the best of the best. To add to the prestige of the Grand Prix is the fact that in the last few years, management from the SCMX, CSRA and ECS Series have included Valcourt as part of their regular schedule in the Pro Open and Pro Lite classes, enabling us to welcome the best riders from each series. New this year, as the highlight of Friday race action, Valcourt will host the final leg of the SCMX/ECS Pro Open and Pro Lite Triple Crown Championship Series, where the top riders from the Plattsburgh, NY and Louiseville, QC events take each other on.”

For three days, Valcourt showcases the world’s best ice oval track snowmobile racers, as well as the top professional snocross riders in North America. Also on the program for the Grand Prix weekend are the exciting motorcycle, ATV and UTV Side-by-Side ice racing competitions and new this year, the Revstar STR stock-car Saturday competition. Fans are invited to attend free of charge on Friday after 3:00 p.m. and watch the Snowmobile Drag Racing Under the Lights competition. Also on the bill is the Saturday afternoon Freestyle Snocross competition. There is also plenty of fun and games for the whole family, including live rock bands, slides and snowmobile rides for kids.

Tickets for the February 15-17, 2013 Grand Prix of Valcourt presented by FOX are currently on sale at the ticket offices at 1-866-532-7543 Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or at www.grandprixvalcourt.com/en/. Until February 13, 2013 inclusively, fans can save $10 by purchasing a three-day heated trackside G Suite pass for just $90, taxes included. Fans of the great outdoors can also benefit from this special offer with a savings of 20% off the regular price for three-day general admission tickets at $45 instead of $55. Accompanied by an adult, children under 12 are admitted free on the Grand Prix site. However, all guests, including children, must hold a valid ticket to enter the trackside suites.

To learn more on the weekend’s activities, go to grandprixvalcourt.com