Ross “The Boss” Martin wraps up the AMSOIL Championship Snocross season with a win @ Lake Geneva
Martin tops Tucker Hibbert in a thriller by 23/100ths to win Saturday’s Pro Open main event; Andrew Lieders wins the Pro Lites
For more information contact:
Pat Schutte, PR Director, ISOC Racing
Pat@ISOCRacing.com
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. (March 16, 2013) – Local snocross hero Ross Martin (DuPont/Jack Links/Polaris) brought home top honors in the final AMSOIL Championship Snocross contest of the season, the Nielsen Enterprises Grand Finale at Lake Geneva Resort, presented by Traxxas, topping newly-crowned Pro Open class champion Tucker Hibbert by 23/100ths in a thrilling dash to the finish.
And topping the Pro Lite field for his first victory of the season and completing the Wisconsin sweep of the top Pro classes was Colby’s Andrew Lieders (Leighton Motorsports/Polaris).
Action continues on Sunday, March 17th at Lake Geneva with the running of the Ram World Championships – a USA vs. The World battle for snocross supremacy.
Pro Open
Burlington’s (Wis.) Ross Martin overcame a fierce come-from-behind effort from Friday night Pro Open winner at Lake Geneva, Tucker Hibbert (Monster Energy/Arctic Cat), to capture 1st place in the Nielsen Enterprises Grand Finale at Lake Geneva Resort – Martin’s hometown track.
Pulling the Stud Boy Holeshot and running up front for the entire race, Martin’s victorious effort gave him 2nd place in the overall Pro Open final standings, having entered tonight’s race trailing Tim Tremblay (Scheuring Speed Sports/AMSOIL/Ski-Doo) by two points.
“Man, I wish every race was like this,” said Martin to the approval of some 12,000 fans packing the grandstands, lodge and hillsides at Lake Geneva’s Mountain Top ski hill. “We had a rough day yesterday, so to come back and win here tonight – at the last race of the season – was excellent.”
With Martin, Kody Kamm (Monster Energy/Hentges Racing/Polaris) and Tremblay up front, Hibbert – in rare moment short of perfection this season – flinched just a bit off the line and lost the drag race up the initial hillclimb, coming out of the first turn in an un-Hibbert-like 7th place. Tremblay would quickly dispose of Kamm and give chase to Martin, letting everything hang out of this the last race of the 2012-’13 ACS season. But the defending champ would check up on a number of occasions, which allowed Martin to get away and Hibbert to get by for 2nd place.
“I’m not really happy to be up here in 3rd place,” said Tremblay from the podium. “It’s good to be on the podium, but I just made too many mistakes when I was trying to catch Ross. But this was the best track we raced all year and the fans were crazy.”
Hibbert was possessed in his pursuit of Martin. With four laps to go in the ten-lap contest he passed three of the world’s fastest snocross racers, including Tremblay with a powerful move on a steep uphill section to set his site on Martin. In his pursuit of the leaders Hibbert cracked off a blistering 1:07.402, the weekend’s fastest lap time, and was making up nearly three seconds a lap on Martin. But “Ross the Boss” stood strong and rode a wide sled and held off Hibbert by 23/100th of a second in quite possibly the most thrilling finish of the season on the AMSOIL Championship Snocross tour.
“I’m kinda glad it’s over, that was pretty gnarly out there,” said Hibbert, who wrapped up the overall ACS Pro Open title on Friday. “Good racing with Ross and Tim. Thanks to my team, I’m excited to be up here.”
Rounding out the top five were Kamm in 4th and Kyle Pallin (Mystic Lubricants/Loctite/Polaris) in 5th.
Saturday Lake Geneva Pro Open Results
1 Ross Martin Judnick Motorsports 837 Polaris Burlington, WI
2 Tucker Hibbert Monster Energy/Arctic Cat 68 Arctic Cat Pelican Rapids, MN
3 Tim Tremblay Amsoil/Air Force/Makita 11 Ski-Doo Ste Jeanne D’Arc, Quebec
4 Kody Kamm Hentges Racing 53 Polaris Kenosha, WI
5 Kyle Pallin Team LaVallee 324 Polaris Ironwood, MI
6 Johan Lidman Carlson Motorsports 52 Polaris Pitea, Sweden
7 Justin Broberg Hentges Racing 168 Polaris Waukesha, WI
8 Robbie Malinoski Amsoil/Air Force/Makita 4 Ski-Doo Stacy, MN
9 Emil Ohman Warnert Racing 27 Ski-Doo Pitea, Norrbotten
10 Jake Scott Team LaVallee 42 Polaris Port Jefferson Station, NY
11 Mike Bauer Judnick Motorsports 717 Polaris Owen, WI
12 Paul Bauerly Team Bauerly Racing 24 Ski-Doo Milaca, MN
13 Zach Pattyn Stud Boy Racing 99 Ski-Doo Ravenna, MI
14 Derek Ellis Jess Racing 106 Arctic Cat Fargo, ND
15 Logan Christian Christian Brothers Racing 43 Arctic Cat Fertile, MN
FINAL AMSOIL Championship Snocross Pro Open Overall Points
1 Tucker Hibbert 14 663 663 Monster Energy/Arctic Cat 68 Arctic Cat Pelican Rapids, MN*
2 Ross Martin 14 575 575 Judnick Motorsports 837 Polaris Burlington, WI
3 Tim Tremblay 14 572 572 Amsoil/Air Force/Makita 11 Ski-Doo Ste Jeanne D’Arc, Quebec
4 Kody Kamm 14 494 494 Hentges Racing 53 Polaris Kenosha, WI
5 Emil Ohman 14 453 453 Warnert Racing 27 Ski-Doo Pitea, Norrbotten
6 Robbie Malinoski 13 442 442 Amsoil/Air Force/Makita 4 Ski-Doo Stacy, MN
7 Kyle Pallin 14 437 437 Team LaVallee 324 Polaris Ironwood, MI
8 Logan Christian 14 436 436 Christian Brothers Racing 43 Arctic Cat Fertile, MN
9 Justin Broberg 14 419 419 Hentges Racing 168 Polaris Waukesha, WI
10 Johan Lidman 14 353 353 Carlson Motorsports 52 Polaris Pitea, Sweden
*Clinched the 2012-’13 AMSOIL Championship Snocross Pro Open title
Pro Lite
With the Pro Lite championship already in the bag for Jake Scott (Mystic Lubricants/Loctite/Polaris), Saturday at Lake Geneva was all Andrew Lieders as he locked down his first Pro Lite victory of the 2012-’13 AMSOIL Championship Snocross season, using a slick inside/outside pass on Andrew Carlson (Carlson Motorsports/Polaris) midway through the final ACS Pro Lite main event of the year to take the victory ahead of 2nd place Carlson.
“I’m so glad to be up here tonight,” said the Wisconsin native Lieders from the top of the Lake Geneva podium. “I’ve got so many friends and family here … glad to be able to pull this off at the last race of the season. Feels awesome!”
Out of the gate first, or so it appeared, was Leighton Motorsports/Polaris’ Trevor Leighton. But ISOC officials deemed that Leighton jumped the start and the black flag was drawn/pointed at Leighton, sending him to the back of the pack. Unaffected by the false start was Carlson who ripped up from quickly, leading Lieders and Royal Distributing/Ski-Doo’s David Joanis.
While Carlson, Friday’s 3rd place finisher at Lake Geneva, rode strong in the clean air up front, Lieders and Joanis battled like crazy – elevating Lieders’ lap times and allowing him to catch up to Carlson. Lieders’ 1:14.545 was the only sub-1:15 lap run all night, with Carlson clocking the second-fastest lap time of 1:15.07.
With two laps to go Lieders and Carlson had separated from Joanis, who himself had separated from the rest the pack. The six-lap Pro Lite main event was spread out well enough on Lake Geneva’s ski area that lapped traffic wasn’t a problem for the leaders. So when the checkers flew it was Lieders up front in 1st, followed by Carlson in 2nd and Joanis in 3rd. Rounding out the top five were Travis Muller (NSK/Foremost Insurance/Ski-Doo) in 4th and Max Taillefer (Laval West/Ski-Doo) in 5th.
Saturday Lake Geneva Snocross Pro Lite Results
1 Andrew Lieders Leighton Motorsports 857 Polaris Colby, WI
2 Andrew Carlson Carlson Motorsports 151 Polaris Elk River, MN
3 David Joanis Royal Distributing 115 Ski-Doo Cochrane,
4 Travis Muller Warnert Racing 436 Ski-Doo Windom, MN
5 Maxime Taillefer Taillefer Motorsports 144 Ski-Doo Laval West, Quebec
6 Kevin Wallenstein Ingles Performance 122 Ski-Doo Cadillac, MI
7 Dylan Hall Royal Distributing 421 Ski-Doo Ayr,
8 Casey Boylan Bauerly Race Team 630 Ski-Doo Anchorage, AK
9 Chase Rosemeyer Team Bauerly Racing 675 Ski-Doo Chippewa Falls, WI
10 Brett Nastala Goodwin Performance 248 Ski-Doo Milton, WI
11 Matt Pichner MP Racing 193 Arctic Cat Owatonna, MN
12 Corey Watkinson Team Jimmy John’s/Ski-doo/BossRacing 173 Ski-Doo Port, Ontario
13 Joshua Zelinski JZ Racing 79 Arctic Cat Traverse City, MI
14 Trevor Leighton Leighton Motorsports 931 Polaris Eagle, ID
15 Daniel Dolecki Dee’s Marine 15 Ski-Doo Clinton Twp.,MI
FINAL AMSOIL Championship Snocross Pro Lite Overall Points
1 Jake Scott 14 572 572 Team LaVallee 42 Polaris Port Jefferson Station, NY
2 Andrew Lieders 14 550 550 Lieders Racing/Leighton Motorsports 857 Polaris Colby, WI
3 David Joanis 14 542 542 Royal Distributing 115 Ski-Doo Cochrane,
4 Travis Muller 14 526 526 Warnert Racing 436 Ski-Doo Windom, MN
5 Andrew Carlson 14 446 446 Carlson Motorsports 151 Polaris Elk River, MN
6 Renaud Alexandre 14 442 442 Team Jimmy John’s/Ski-doo/ 793 Ski-Doo, Quebec
7 Dylan Hall 14 434 434 Royal Distributing 421 Ski-Doo Ayr,
8 Chase Rosemeyer 14 362 362 Team Bauerly Racing 675 Ski-Doo Chippewa Falls, WI
9 Matt Pichner 12 347 347 MP Racing 193 Arctic Cat Owatonna, MN
10 Trevor Leighton 14 344 344 Leighton Motorsports 931 Polaris Eagle, ID
Up next: The inaugural Ram World Championships, Sun., March 17 at Lake Geneva.
Who: 150 of the world’s top snowmobile racers
What: The Ram World Championships (Sunday)
When: March 15-17
Where: Grand Geneva Resort & Spa, Lake Geneva, Wis.
Times: Opening ceremonies are at 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Noon on Sunday.
Host hotel: Grand Geneva Resort & Spa
Tickets: General admission tickets are $25 per day or $40 for the entire three-day weekend! Children 5 and under are free. Tickets are available at the gate and online at snocross.lab.b2tech.us
More information: www.grandgeneva.com
Photos courtesy of Lissa Marsolek/Wayne Davis Photography
Beginning with AMSOIL Championship Snocross’ season-opening round in Duluth, Minn. (Nov. 23-25) and running through the season finale in Lake Geneva, Wis. (March 15-17), CBS Sports Network will broadcast 16 half-hour race shows – all in HD – on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. EST. The AMSOIL Championship Snocross – as an added bonus – will also air in an evening repeat of each show during the week.
About CBS Sports Network
CBS Sports Network (CBSSN) is the 24-hour cable destination of CBS Sports. The Network covers more than 340 live games annually, showcasing 30 men’s and women’s sports, in addition to a variety of studio shows, documentaries and original programs. CBSSN’s live programming is highlighted by college sports and also features professional lacrosse, Professional Bull Riding (PBR), the sports news and commentary show ROME and the Tim Brando Show. CBS Sports Network is available across the country through local cable, video and telco providers and via satellite on DirecTV Channel 613 and Dish Network Channel 158. For more information, and to access the CBS Sports Network channel finder, go to www.cbssportsnetwork.com.
About ISOC Racing
The International Series of Champions (ISOC) is the premier snowmobile race sanctioning organization in North America and sanctions national AMSOIL Championship Snocross, in addition to affiliating with nine regional circuits. Visit snocross.lab.b2tech.us for more information, fan and racer memberships, schedule details and more.