Press Release –
In his first two seasons as a full Pro-class rider, Ryan Simons showed flashes of brilliance but sometimes struggled to put whole races together. It’s safe to say those troubles are long gone.
Simons – already enjoying a breakout season on the World PowerSports Association (WPSA) National series – had the best weekend of his short career at the Eagle River, WI, double National February 23-25.
Simons scored his first-ever National victory in Saturday’s Pro Open race and he came back to take third in Sunday’s Open contest. The 24-year-old now has five podiums on the season in addition to his Winter X silver medal and sits in second in Pro Open points. “I was pretty pumped up to get that win done,” Simons said. “I just tried to stay calm and treat it like a heat race.”
The win certainly didn’t surprise Arctic Cat Race Manager Russ Ebert. “Ryan’s been riding great all year and this was just a matter of time,” Ebert said. “And I attribute at least part of that success to the chemistry on his HJ Racing team. Ryan is very hands on, understands his machine, knows what he wants from his suspension and provides excellent feedback. It helps that Hector [Olson] and Corey [Berberich] are two of the best; they’ve helped several riders get their first win.”
“The whole team is great,” Simons said. “Corey and Hector are good at what they do and our maintenance program is fantastic. Everything is so fresh each weekend and they do whatever it takes for us.”
Simons wasn’t the only member of Team Green to perform well at Eagle River. Despite being plagued with a draining flu, Carl Schubitzke – fresh off his first National podium of the season the week prior at Valcourt, Quebec – notched three top seven finishes and made all four of the weekend’s finals.
Arctic Cat drivers dominated several of the support classes, just as they’ve done all year. Cat’s stable of young future stars combined to collect half the podiums in both the Semi-Pro and Sport divisions.
Besides procuring a pair of podiums, Dan Ebert now leads both Semi-Pro points chases. Dusty Miller had two Sport-class top-threes, and Kyle Pallin chipped in with both a Sport Stock podium and a Junior 16-17 victory. Cody Thomsen added a win in Junior 14-15.
“Cody is a neighbor of ours from Nisswa and an excellent motocross racer,” Ebert said. “We’ve got a great crop of talented Junior drivers and he’s one of them. It’s exciting for me because they’re the future of racing, and they’re all fun to watch.”
Just like the rest of Team Green.
