Monster Energy/Arctic Cat’s Tucker Hibbert wrapped-up a record-breaking snowmobile season Saturday in Finland with a third place finish at the FIM Snowcross World Championship.

Hibbert consistently turned the fastest lap times of the day on the rough course in Tuuri but a drive belt failure in the second of three races took him out of contention for the overall win.

Hibbert went 1-16-1 in the three-race format to finish third behind Sweden’s Emil Ohman and Petter Narsa. The first 20-rider, 15-minute race, Hibbert had a dead-last start and put on an impressive charge to take the lead with only minutes to go.

He lined up for the second race confident and pulled a top-three start. Five minutes in, he moved into first but immediately knew something was wrong. Pieces of his drive belt began to break and fly off under the hood.

Within moments, the belt completely shredded and he was forced to walk away from his snowmobile. He was not allowed to change the belt during the race because he was unable to get the snowmobile to the designated work area.

Hibbert entered the third and final race knowing the Championship was out of reach but was determined to win. He got a mid-pack start and quickly moved to the front. By the end of the race, he pulled a 27-second gap on second place Ohman, giving him enough points for third overall.

Once Hibbert returns to the U.S., he will shift his focus to preparing for select 450 AMA Pro Motocross Championship events.

FIM Snowcross World Championship Results – Tucker Hibbert
Race 1: 1st
Race 2: 16th
Race 3: 1st
Overall: 55 points – 3rd

Tucker Hibbert – #1 Monster Energy/Arctic Cat

“I’m really excited about my performance at the World Championship. I don’t think I have ever felt so in control and confident in a race. Blowing a belt in the second race was disappointing but stuff like that happens – it’s racing. I can’t remember the last time I was taken out of a race because of a mechanical problem and that’s a testament to how solid my Monster Energy/Arctic Cat is and the talent of the crew working on the machine.

It’s hard not winning the overall but honestly, I couldn’t be prouder of what we (the team) accomplished. We worked hard to get to this event and have no regrets.

Just like last year in Sweden, I was overwhelmed by the kindness and support of everyone in Finland. The European racing community is fired up about snowmobile racing. It’s cool to see so many countries come together to compete. The growth of the sport and level of the competition just keeps rising. The future of snowmobile racing is looking good.

This has been a long year for the Monster Energy/Arctic Cat crew and myself. Racing the full national series plus Winter X Games and the World Championship was a new experience for this team.

Although I didn’t win the World Championship, I’m walking away from this season healthy and happy. I’m looking forward to a little rest then diving into preparing to race a few AMA Motocross events in the 450 class.

4,000 PEOPLE FROM MORE THAN 100 COUNTRIES TO VISIT MONTRÉAL AND THE EASTERN TOWNSHIPS

From July 10 to 17, 2011, BRP will host the largest event of its history in Montréal, Québec. Over 4,000 dealers and distributors from more than 100 countries will visit Montréal and the Eastern Townships. All regions of the world will be represented: Latin America including Brazil and the Caribbean, all parts of Europe including Russia, the Middle-East and Africa, Asia-Pacific as well as the NAFTA countries, Canada, the United States and Mexico.

“Although we have been present in many markets outside North America for several years, we started to really focus on international markets in 2005,” said José Boisjoli, president and CEO. “Six years later, we can be proud of our leading position in North America and of our international expansion; it is time to celebrate and invite our dealers, distributors, employees, suppliers, representatives of the media as well as the general public to show them our origins and what fuels our passion.”

The Palais des congrès de Montréal (convention centre) will become a large showroom where all the latest models of BRP product brands (Ski-Doo, Lynx, Sea-Doo, Evinrude, Rotax, and Can-Am) will be on display. Another section will showcase concept vehicles, prototypes and technological innovations never before seen by the public. BRP will also provide participants with the opportunity to test-ride or take a closer look at all the products in an “Ultimate Playground” setting.

BRP will also extend an invitation, for the first time in its history, to members of the general public for July 16 and 17 so they can discover in person what BRP is all about.

Five Class Victories at Lake Geneva to Conclude Championship-Winning Season

A season of victories in ISOC National snocross competition came to a close this past weekend in Lake Geneva, Wis., where Team Arctic racers threw down one final display of domination that notched five class wins and four class championships.

Fulfilling the promise made by his decision to race the entire snocross season, Team Arctic/Monster Energy’s Tucker Hibbert claimed both the Pro Stock and Pro Open championships with conservative rides in pouring rain conditions at Geneva.

The cautious approach netted Hibbert both championships, leaving him healthy and primed to finish the season at the FIM World Snocross Championships in Finland.

Rising to the occasion in Lake Geneva with his best finish of the season, Team Arctic’s Dan Ebert took second in Pro Stock, followed closely by Garth Kaufman. Ebert ended the season fifth overall in both classes, with Kaufman finishing fourth in Stock and sixth in Open.

Even more impressive, between Hibbert, Ebert, Kaufman, Johan Lidman and Logan Christian, Team Arctic accounted for five of the top-10 in both Pro classes.

Cody Thomsen used Lake Geneva to put an exclamation mark on his season in Semi Pro, emphatically winning both finals during the weekend en route to the class championship. His factory Team Arctic teammate, Kyle Pallin, suffered tough luck at the final round and finished the season third in points.

With another win at Lake Geneva, Carly Davis successfully regained the Pro Women championship title that she first won in 2009, but narrowly lost last season. Joshua Zelinski took his first win of the season in the Pro Plus 30 class, where he finished second overall in points.

In addition to the high point championships, Logan Christian was named the ISOC Pro Rookie of the Year; Johan Lidman is the Pro Privateer of the Year; Christian Bros. Racing is Team of the Year; and Team Arctic won the Team Spirit award.

“Winning five individual classes, four of six ISOC National Championships and those additional awards emphasizes the talent of our racers, the capability of our Sno Pro race sleds and strength of the entire Team Arctic program,” exclaimed Mike Kloety, Team Arctic Race Manager. “Every week I comment about the pride I and the Arctic Cat family of employees, dealers and riders have for these racers because it’s true, and because they deserve it.”

Hibbert, Kaufman, Christian, Lidman and Thomsen will conclude their 2011 snocross campaign at the FIM Snocross World Championships in Finland on March 26-27.

BRP X-Team racers wrapped up the ISOC National snocross series season finale in grand style this weekend at Lake Geneva, WI taking home multiple podium finishes over three days of intense racing.

As the whole crowd cheered for him Tim Tremblay led the Ski-Doo charge and took home the Pro Stock win on Saturday with a stellar ride.

Tremblay rode with even more than his usual drive and determination, moving from a fourth place start to the front by mid race.

The track at Lake Geneva lets you take nothing for granted, as several of Tremblay’s competitors found out while struggling to try and keep pace with the tough Canadian. But Tremblay was on his game, didn’t make any mistakes and won by 20 seconds going away.

Sunday brought a whole new aspect to the race as the normally sunny and warm event had thunderstorms move in, adding some challenges for the racers. But Tremblay and fellow X-Team racer Robbie Malinoski are both known for being tough guy competitors so they weren’t going to let the weather affect them. And of course, right about the time for the green flag to drop on the Pro Open final, the rain started coming down even harder.

Both got off to solid starts in the top six racers, but with the race shortened up to 10 laps, they had to work their way quickly towards the front.

When the checkered flag dropped Tremblay was able to claim second and Malinoski grabbed a well deserved third place finish to wrap up their seasons.

Other noteable finishes were Darrin Mees grabbing a second in Semi-Pro Stock, Garret Goodwin earning two second place finishes in Sport Stock and a first in the Showdown at Sundown Semi-pro class, and Jacob Geesman taking the Junior 16-17 class.

For complete race results from Lake Geneva visit the Ski-Doo X-Team home page at www.ski-doo.com

Nick Musters covered an amazing 3,069 kilometers (1,907 miles) aboard one of BRP’s Ski-Doo MX Z snowmobile powered by a Rotax E-TEC 800R engine to establish the world record for the greatest distance traveled on a snowmobile in twenty-four hours. Musters’ feat breaks the official world record (2,372 km) by 697 km and an as-of-yet unrecognized 2010 run by 163 km.

The record run, which was moved back a month because of weather conditions, started March 8 at 9:20 a.m. at Norway Point on Lake of Bays in Baysville, Ontario with the closed course running around Bigwin Island and covering ten kilometers per lap.

The course was professionally surveyed and the complete run was monitored by scorekeepers recording times and distances traveled each lap, along with video cameras documenting the course and official time clock.

The distance Musters covered over one day equates to a blistering average speed of 127 km/h (79.5 mph), including stops for fuel and food along the way. “Going that fast, for that long, is a true testament to the Rotax E-TEC engine’s durability and performance,” Muster stated. “This lightweight two-stroke engine was a real benefit as the sled didn’t wear me out muscling it around the course.”

Musters efforts were in support of the Kelly Shires Breast Cancer Foundation as he raised in excess of $12,000. “This was an amazing team effort and I want to thank all the people that supported and stuck by me as we waited for the weather to cooperate.”