Crapo Takes Win at AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series Race in New York

 

It was anybody’s race in the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series Pro-Super Stock final on the afternoon of February 14th at the Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack facility. With the domination factor known as Tucker Hibbert out of the picture, a talented field of the world’s best snocross riders was hungry to prove their mettle on the national stage.

Under fading sun and a track worn from a day’s worth of qualifying, Polaris rider TJ Gulla set the early pace, grabbing the holeshot at the onset of the 18-lap Pro-Super Stock final. Close in tow was AMSOIL/Scheuring SpeedSports rider Shaun Crapo and New York native Brett Bender, fresh off his first pro podium from a week ago.

 

Setting a blistering pace, Gulla and Crapo edged out to a comfortable margin early and began to encounter lap traffic on lap six. While Gulla and Crapo proceeded to edge away from the rest of the pack, a battle for third played out behind them as Bender, Garth Kaufman and Levi LaVallee rode nose to tail in search of a clean pass. Past the halfway point it appeared Bender might hold on for a second straight podium, but suddenly patience paid off for Kaufman as he hammered the massive back straight triple to overtake Bender. Four laps later, LaVallee mirrored the pass and shuffled Bender back to fifth with only four laps to go.

With less than three laps to go, it appeared Gulla was a shoe-in for his first pro win of the season but suddenly his lead vanished as he got tangled up with the lapped sled of Matt Judnick. Gullas mistake opened the door for Crapo, who took home his first ACSS win of the year (Crapo also won the Pro race at the AMSOIL Eagle River World Championship race in January).

“I feel bad for TJ,” said Crapo as he stood atop the podium during post race ceremonies. “He deserves to be here. But our team has been working so hard for this, and this weekend we finally were in a position to take advantage of other riders mistakes and it paid off.”

Kaufman picked up his third straight podium with a second place finish while LeValle took home third. AMSOIL pro DJ Eckstrom was able to take starts on that day after injuring his knee and hip in Brainerd the week before. He made it into the final through the LCQ and only took the start for valuable class points.

 

"The knee is pretty sore and with the track having a lot of icy spots, one wrong turn could keep me out all year," said Eckstrom. "We'll do the same formula on Sunday for the mod class and rest it up so we are good to go in Valcourt."

The AMSOIL Pro Open class and both Semi-Pro classes will finish up  the weekend on Sunday February 15th.

Canard Fourth In San Diego Supercross

 

For the last race of the initial western swing of the AMA Supercross Championship, the series headed into San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium for round seven of the 450cc series, and round six of the Lites West Coast series on Valentine’s Day.

In the Lites class, Team AMSOIL rider Trey Canard put his GEICO Powersports/Honda up front to win his heat race before getting a start just behind his teammate Dan Reardon in the main event. He ran fourth while Reardon was third. Not too long after Canard got by Reardon, Reardon went down and was slow to get up. By the time he got going, he was nearly a lap down, and he finished 18th despite the spill.

With San Diego in the rear view mirror, the Lites West riders on the GEICO Powersports team are going to be doing some outdoor testing while the Lites East gets back up and running next weekend in Atlanta.

“The plan is to get a good outdoor setting and to get really comfortable with the outdoor bike over this break," said Canard. "With about two weeks before the last supercrosses, we’ll start working on that again and try to come out at the last three swinging,”

In the 450cc class, AMSOIL rider Kevin Windham started sixth before moving up to fifth on the fourth lap. He was pressuring Mike Alessi for fourth for a few laps before he got stuck in Alessi’s pace.

“I was a little disappointed with myself,” Windham said. “I got a little complacent, I believe, and in my position, I should’ve been more aggressive."

Still, Windham soldiered on for a seventh-place finish as the series prepares to head east to rutted, softer tracks that could favor his riding style.

From here, the GEICO Powersports Honda team heads to Atlanta for round eight of the AMA Supercross Series, and round two of the Lites Eastern Regional Supercross Championship, on February 21 inside the Georgia Dome, team Lites riders Brett Metcalfe and Blake Wharton will pick up where they left off in Houston a few weeks ago.

AMSOIL Kawartha Cup Coverage

 

The bright sun and mild temperatures brought out a full crowd of spectators for the second round of the AMSOIL Kawartha Cup held last weekend as part of the Canadian Snowcross Racing Association in Peterborough, Ontario. After a weekend off from racing, competitors were ready to hit the track with a handful of pro racers within reach of the prestigious Kawartha Cup.

In the Pro Stock class it was Lee Butler (Polaris) who took the lead from the start followed by teammate David Joanis (Polaris) with Michael VanDolder (Ski-Doo) and Joey Sagan side-by-side in third position. Sagan quickly made the pass on VanDolder taking over third and holding on for the remainder of the race putting himself on the podium along with Joanis in second and Butler taking the win.

 

The Pro Open race played out quite similar to the Stock with Butler grabbing the win ahead of
team-mate Joanis followed by Sagan, giving Team Royal Distributing full domination on the podium. Butler’s win, combined with his fourth place finish from round one gave him the points needed to narrowly edge out VanDolder for the 2009 AMSOIL Kawartha Cup.

One of best races of the day was in the Pro Women class. Current points leader Angela Vacchino (Arctic Cat), got off to a bad start coming out of corner number one at the back of the pack with her work cut out for her. Wakenda Peters (Arctic Cat) took the lead with Stacey Orr (Ski-Doo) following closely behind. Vacchino worked her way through the rest of the field in a matter of laps, taking over the lead and leaving Peters and Orr to battle for second while Danielle VanDolder (Ski-Doo) moved up quickly in fourth. After some contact in the corners, Orr came out ahead, finishing the race in second place behind Vacchino. VanDolder put herself on the podium with a last minute pass for third.

 

Semi-Pro action was heated as usual as tight battles took place in the top five in both the Stock and Open classes. Making their first appearances on the podium for 2009, Jamie Byers (Polaris) held on for second place in the Semi-Pro Stock race ahead of Sean Macaulay (Ski-Doo) who took third position. No stranger to the top, Dustin Vandrie (Arctic Cat) grabbed the win.

Semi-Pro and Pro racers are off to Valcourt, Quebec this weekend for the Grand Prix Ski-Doo de Valcourt as part of the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series. The best racers in North America will battle in the hometown of Bombardier to mark the 50th Anniversary of Ski-Doo
snowmobiles.

Regular CSRA racing will resume February 27 – March 1 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario kicking off with Friday night racing under the lights. AMSOIL is the Official Oil of the CSRA.