As the last checkered flag dropped on the 2012-2013 snowmobile racing season, Team Arctic racers upheld the tradition of claiming the most high-point championship titles in the sport’s most prestigious circuits. The championship success underscores the talent and dedication of the racers and crews, as well as the high-performance pedigree of the Sno Pro and M Series snowmobiles.

“When you win most of the battles, you’re likely going to win the war,” said Team Arctic Race Manager, Mike Kloety. “In USXC cross-country especially, yet also in ISOC snocross and RMSHA hillclimbs, we won more than our share of the battles and, as a result, took home most of the championship high point titles.”

The most stunning display of championship supremacy unfolded in the USXC cross-country circuit, where Team Arctic racers claimed High-Point titles in 13 of 20 classes. Headlining the cross-country domination were Christian Brothers Racing Pros Ryan Simons and Zach Herfindahl, who finished 1-2 in both Pro 600 and Pro Open championship tallies. Other stand-out title performances in USXC belong to Benjamin Langaas, who won both Expert 85 and Improved 85 titles; And Jolene Bute, who won all 10 Womens finals (and the Championship title) during the season.

In ISOC National snocross competition, Team Arctic/Monster Energy superstar Tucker Hibbert reclaimed the Pro Open Championship title following a season of ironclad domination during which he won 11 of 16 finals, plus his sixth Winter X Games gold medal in a row. Joining him atop the ISOC Championship box was Team Arctic’s Josh Zelinski, who captured the Pro-Am Plus 30 high-point title.

In the MIRA enduro circuit, Cadarette Racing added to their long series of outstanding accomplishments by taking the overall Pro Enduro Championship with racers Troy DeWald and Ryan Spencer.

Out west in the RMSHA hillclimb series, Team Arctic’s Rob Kincaid, Chance Buckallew and Kaycee Balls added Championship titles to their win tallies, reinforcing the team’s strength that was also highlighted by Kyle Tapio’s King of Kings title (and five total victories) at the Jackson Hole World Championships.

“As much as we value and appreciate individual race wins, I believe that high-point titles tell the most complete story about Team Arctic,” said Kloety. “These championship titles reflect speed, consistency, mechanical aptitude and, of course, dedication. So on behalf of everyone at Arctic Cat, we want to thank all the racers, crews and teams who made 2013 a season of championship success.

“Likewise, I want to express our gratitude to all Team Arctic racers who took part in the 2013 race season. We’re already moving forward with improvements to our race sleds and program for the coming season, and we’ll be back in the action this summer with grass drag competition.”

Photo ©AndersClaesson

It’s been a season of snocross domination for Team Arctic’s Tucker Hibbert.  After winning his sixth-consecutive X Games gold medal and then clinching the 2013 ISOC Pro Open National Championship, Tucker Hibbert solidified the season with a victory at Sweden’s Clash of Nations Super Snowcross event.

With 16 riders in the main event, including Logan Christian from Christian Bros. Racing, Hibbert ripped a monstrous holeshot and ran away with the win, while Logan Christian charged hard through the entire race finishing with a strong 3^rd place podium.

Hibbert said, “It was awesome to come back to Sweden, take a win and finish the season healthy. It’s a great feeling flying across the world and having fans cheer for you. I’m always surprised by the amount of support and excitement from fans in Scandinavia.”

In the Pro Stock class, 16 year old Martin Moland from Norway had an outstanding win. Moland’s Clash of Nations win came shortly after he was crowned the 2013 bronze-medalist in the Norwegian snocross championship. Luva Racing’s Alexander Berglund of Sweden rounded out the podium for Arctic Cat with a solid 3^rd place finish.

Team Arctic Race Manager, Mike Kloety said, “Team Arctic has had a very successful 2013 snocross season and these wins and podium finishes at Clash of Nations make it an even better one! It’s truly fantastic to see the highest level of enthusiasm these snowmobile race fans have for Team Arctic.”

When the big guns arrive for the biggest battle of the year sporting the highest-powered artillery, you just know that domination will ensue. That was the case at the 2013 Jackson Hole World Championship Hillclimb, where a talented corp of Team Arctic racers aboard M Series machines battled to seven wins including the ultimate “King of Kings” title.

The star of the weekend was perennial champion Kyle Tapio. Riding an Arctic Cat M800 HCR with the ProClimb chassis, Tapio waged a personal war against the gnarly course at Snow King Mountain, winning both the 800 Improved and 800 Mod finals. But that was just a warm-up. When all of the class winners competed in the final King competition, Tapio proved who the true World Champion is by taking the Improved, Mod and King of Kings titles in convincing fashion.

“There’s a reason that Kyle is regarded as the King of Jackson,” said Al Shimpa, Team Arctic Hillclimb Coordinator. “For the second year in a row, he won two class finals, two King-of-class titles and the ultimate King of King championship as best of the entire event. He is truly an outstanding hillclimb racer.”

Joining Tapio on top of the Snow King podium were two additional Team Arctic teammates. David McClure won the 600 Improved class in addition to finishing second in 700 Improved and third in 800 Stock aboard his Arctic Cat M800 HCR. Likewise, Jeremy Archibald led a Team Arctic podium sweep of the 700 Improved class. Team Arctic racers scored 19 podium finishes at the World Championships.

“I’m so impressed with all of the Team Arctic racers and crews,” said Shimpa. “Everyone came to  Jackson with their best effort, proving Arctic Cat dominated  the toughest mountain race of the year. With three races remaining on the RMSHA circuit, I expect we’ll see a lot more wins before the 2013 hillclimb season concludes.”

Photo by Joe Wiegele

Team Arctic’s ISOC national snocross effort delivered its top performance of the season at the year-end event in Lake Geneva, Wis., with five victories across a range of classes and winning the coveted Pro Open Championship.

Tucker Hibbert continued his one-man stranglehold of the Pro Open class with another powerful victory in the Friday night program, locking up the points championship despite one more night of racing the following evening. A seventh-place start in the second final set up a dramatic come-from-behind charge that saw Hibbert narrowly miss his second victory of the weekend by just two-one-hundredths of a second.

Team Arctic Race Manager Mike Kloety summarized Hibbert’s performance at Lake Geneva and the entire ISOC season: “Once again we’re in awe of Tucker Hibbert. He dominated the Friday night program like he has done at nearly every race this season, winning by a huge margin. His seventh-to-almost-winning run in Saturday’s program was a huge win for snocross fans who were treated to another amazing display of speed and cunning to pass other riders on a one-line track that produced single-file racing most of the weekend. The drama of that final was exhilarating! And the success of his championship-winning was nothing less than incredible.”

Other winning Team Arctic racers at Lake Geneva included Jay Lura who scored two victories in the Junior classes; Carson Alread in Jr. Novice 10-13; and Evan Christian in Jr. Novice 8-12. And Josh Zelinski captured the ISOC Pro Am Plus 30 high point title with his second place finish, capping a season of top finishes for the tough competitor.

“We take great pride in the efforts of our racers, teams and crews at Lake Geneva,” said Kloety. “Our improved success there, especially in the Sport and Junior classes, illustrates the depth of our team and the future of our program. This will be a great springboard into next season.”

Leading the charge in Park Rapids was Christian Bros. Racing rookie Pro phenom Zach Herfindahl, who captured three of the four Pro class victories during the weekend aboard his Sno Pro 600 in the ProCross chassis. Herfindahl was joined by teammate Ryan Simons as well as Wes Selby on the podium in three of the four events.

“Zach continues to amaze us with his speed and poise,” said Team Arctic Race Manager Mike Kloety. “Had he not suffered a burn down in the one final, I’m certain he would have swept all four finals at Park Rapids. But racing is full of what-if scenarios, which is what happened to his teammate Ryan Simons, who broke a bone in his shoulder on the first day and had to nurse a slow pace the remainder of the weekend.”

While Team Arctic’s contingent of Pro riders kept their nearly complete lock on the top classes, the contingent of support riders continued their reign. Benjamin Langaas delivered a season-best performance to win all four of the Expert 85-hp classes aboard his Sno Pro 500. Ryan Trout came within a whisker of doing the same, scoring three victories and a second place in the Junior and Sport 85 classes. Jolene Bute was a double-winner over the weekend in the Women’s class, while John Koch scored his double in the Masters 40 classes.

“Our success is the result of the tireless efforts of our racers and crews,” said Kloety. “Whether it’s the handful of racers who are winning or the many more that are here to do their best and enjoy the sport, Team Arctic is in a class by themselves.”

Photo by ArcticInsider.com

Ryan Simons Captures I-500 Victory; Tucker Hibbert Sweeps Michigan ISOC Snocross; Six Wins in RMSHA Hillclimb

Team Arctic racers and crews continued the magnificent history and tradition of the I-500 cross-country snowmobile race, capturing 13 wins in 16 classes including victory by Ryan Simons in the prestigious Pro 600 event. The three-day, 500-mile cross-country event in Thief River Falls proved both challenging and reflective of history, with rugged ditch and winding rivers testing the fortitude and speed of racers and machines.

Racing for the Christian Brothers Racing team, Ryan Simons delivered a blistering pace, setting the fastest time each of the three days en route to his first win in the I-500. Team Arctic’s Cody Kallock notched his first I-500 podium finish in the Pro 600 class, taking third, with Wes Selby, Cole Nymann, Nathan Moritz and Jordan Torgerson rounding out the top-10.

Numerous stand-out performances highlighted this year’s I-500, including Cole Nymann winning the Semi Pro 600 class with seven Team Arctic teammates in the top-10; and Mason Kallock leading a Team Arctic top-10 sweep of the first-ever Junior 12-17 class to conquer the famous event.

Race Manager Mike Kloety reflected on the success of the team while acknowledging the disappointment that always affects racers who weren’t able to finish: “Winning 13 of 16 classes in the I-500 highlights Arctic Cat’s commitment to build the best snowmobiles in the world as well as the dedication of our great team of riders and crews. Yet it’s also true that there’s room for improvement. What we learn with the ProCross Sno Pro race sleds is used to improve both our race and consumer snowmobiles.”

While Team Green racers cleaned up at the I-500, Team Arctic/Monster Energy sensation Tucker Hibbert swept the Pro Open finals at the ISOC National Snocross race in Traverse City, Mich., claiming his sixth and seventh wins (out of 10 finals) already this season. Hibbert went undefeated in his heats and finals to continue his class domination aboard the ProCross Sno Pro 600. Josh Zelinski, Carson Alread and Cora Hauger also notched class wins for Team Arctic in Traverse City.

And at the first Rocky Mountain Hillclimb event of the season in Montpelier, Idaho, Team Arctic’s Mountain Team scored six wins. Congratulations to all Team Arctic racers on another successful weekend of racing.

Photo by John Hanson

It was a gold-medal weekend for Team Arctic Racing, with emphatic wins by Tucker Hibbert at the ESPN X Games and another dominating performance by the team in USXC cross-country.

Hibbert’s historic seventh gold was also his sixth in a row, the first X Games athlete to achieve this feat. When the then-15-year-old catapult himself into the world spotlight by winning his first X Games gold in the year 2000, it was clear that Hibbert was destined for further snocross greatness. Including his seven gold medals, Hibbert has won 11 medals in his X Games career.

Team Arctic racers Derek Ellis and Logan Christian earned eighth and 14th finishes in the Snocross final; Cory Davis took a silver medal in Speed & Style, a fourth in Best Trick and fifth in Freestyle; and Chris Heppding scored seventh in Snocross Adaptive.

Photo by ArcticInsider

For the first time this season in the USXC cross-country circuit, racers moved off of the lakes and onto ditch and river at the Oslo Merchants 100 in Oslo, Minn. The racers and their Arctic Cat Sno Pro 600 and Sno Pro 500 machines proved equally dominant in the rough conditions, scoring wins in 17 of 20 classes including eight podium sweeps.

For the second time this season, Team Arctic Cat/Christian Brothers Racing champion Ryan Simons swept the Pro 600 and Pro Open classes at a single event, with his teammates Zach Herfindahl and Brian Dick taking second and third in the stock final. With help from pro teammates Wes Selby and Cody Kallock, Team Arctic took five of the top-10 places in both Pro events.

“It was another great weekend for Team Arctic,” commented Race Manager Mike Kloety. “Tucker’s dominant performance at the X Games highlights the effort he and his team put into that event. And our success at the Oslo cross-country proves that our ProCross sleds are every bit as dominant in the rough stuff as they are on the lakes.”

The next national events for Team Arctic are the ISOC snocross race      in Deadwood, S.D., Feb. 1-2, and the USXC I-500 in Thief River Falls   Feb. 7-9.

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.

Photos by Arcticinsider.com

At the first cross-country race of the 2012-2013 USXC season, aboard the all-new Sno Pro 600 ProCross and Sno Pro 500 race machines, Team Arctic racers delivered an overwhelmingly-dominant performance that rewrote the record books. When it was over, Team Green captured 16 of 20 classes via 14 individual winners at the Gerald Dyrdahl Memorial Pine Lake 200.

Leading the history-making assault was two-time cross-country Pro champion Ryan Simons of the Christian Bros. Racing (CBR) team, who won both the 100-mile Pro Stock and 100-mile Pro Open finals convincingly. Joining Simons on the podium of both finals were his Team Arctic/CBR teammates Brian Dick and newcomer Zach Herfindahl. Including the Pro classes, there were 13 podium sweeps by Team Arctic, making this one of the most successful racing weekends in modern history.

“We’ve enjoyed outstanding success in cross-country over the years but this reset the high mark for winning,” said Mike Kloety, Team Arctic Race Manager. “It shows what’s possible when you combine the outstanding efforts of our racers and crews with the speed and handling of our Sno Pro race sleds.”

Joining Simons as a two-time class winner at Pine Lake was Bryce Buchanan, who returned to his familiar place atop the Expert 85 classes aboard his Arctic Cat Sno Pro 500. Nearly nailing the big double, Erik Nymann went 1-2 in the two Sport 600 finals, while Jon Arneson raced a record number of laps en route to his first in Semi Pro Stock, third in Masters 40-plus and fourth in Expert 85.

“The improvements to the 2013 Sno Pro 600 in the ProCross chassis gave us an even greater handling and speed advantage on the fast lake course,” said Kloety. “Of the 14 individual class winners aboard Arctic Cat sleds, six of them were on the new Sno Pro 600.”

The next race on the USXC cross-country circuit is Jan. 5, 2013, in Detroit Lakes, Minn.

“That was the kind of Pro class domination that only Tucker is capable of,” said Mike Kloety, Team Arctic Race Manager. “He won the first final with a  35-second margin of victory, and the second final with an 11-second margin. He firmly reestablished himself and the new 2013 Arctic Cat ProCross Sno Pro 600 as the ones to beat.”

Bolstering Team Arctic’s performance in the top classes in Bessemer were Joshua Zelinski and Matt Pichner. Zelinski scored a first and a third in the two Pro Am Plus 30 finals, while Matt Pichner took a bittersweet fourth in Pro Lite after having led for several laps. Also landing a strong performance in Bessemer was Travis Kern, who scored a third in Sport at the national event and a third in Pro Lite during the regional competition.

In other classes, both Trent Wittwer and Evan Christian scored two wins apiece, while Ryan Trout and Ian Eboy Buchman nearly notched doubles of their own. And of the nine class finals won by Team Arctic racers, four were full podium sweeps.

“We had a great weekend in Michigan and our new Sno Pro 600 with the ProCross chassis is working excellent,” said Kloety. “What we need now is for some of our racers to log some seat time before the next race, since many of them hadn’t ridden since the opener in Duluth.

The next ISOC National Snocross is Jan. 4-5, 2013, at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn.