Amsoil Duluth National: Duluth, MN

Sunday was the day I was looking forward to – MOD Sled time! After qualifying I was the third seed behind Tucker and Blair. I came off the line good but I was a little hesitant in the first turn so I came down the hill in 4th or 5th and it was crazy in the bottom turn- sleds all over the place. I lost a few spots but after a few laps I got them back. Then I found a sweet line going up the back straight and started picking guys off. DJ Eckstrom in 3rd, Ross Martin in 2nd and then I started gaining on Tucker in the lead. My buddy Muttin, who runs my pit board and our crew chief Tim Bender were freaking out pointing at Tucker screaming “Get him!” I was pretty reved up to put a charge on and try to battle with Tucker but it went down hill from there. My goggle strap fell below my helmet so my goggles got way loose and started bouncing all over the place. I tried grabbing the strap in the air and getting it back on my helmet but it wasn’t happening so I decided to pull my goggle completely off. BAD DECISION!! I got behind a lapper and I was getting peppered. I couldn’t do a thing. Tucker stretched it back out and I stayed in second.

It was a bummer my strap fell down but at the same time I am stoked to finish second. I felt like I was riding good and our equipment was awesome so hopefully we can carry that momentum into our next race.


Sunday was the day I was looking forward to – MOD Sled time! After qualifying I was the third seed behind Tucker and Blair. I came off the line good but I was a little hesitant in the first turn so I came down the hill in 4th or 5th and it was crazy in the bottom turn- sleds all over the place. I lost a few spots but after a few laps I got them back. Then I found a sweet line going up the back straight and started picking guys off. DJ Eckstrom in 3rd, Ross Martin in 2nd and then I started gaining on Tucker in the lead. My buddy Muttin, who runs my pit board and our crew chief Tim Bender were freaking out pointing at Tucker screaming “Get him!” I was pretty reved up to put a charge on and try to battle with Tucker but it went down hill from there. My goggle strap fell below my helmet so my goggles got way loose and started bouncing all over the place. I tried grabbing the strap in the air and getting it back on my helmet but it wasn’t happening so I decided to pull my goggle completely off. BAD DECISION!! I got behind a lapper and I was getting peppered. I couldn’t do a thing. Tucker stretched it back out and I stayed in second. It was a bummer my strap fell down but at the same time I am stoked to finish second. I felt like I was riding good and our equipment was awesome so hopefully we can carry that momentum into our next race.

Speed & Style

We’ve all seen Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael, Blair Morgan and countless other riders throw a trick off the finish line jump when they see the checkered flag flying, but have you ever seen any one throw a trick in the middle of the race? I remember freaking out when Travis Pastrana threw a nac nac a few years back in the middle of a heat race while he was battling with Kevin Windham but other then that I can’t think of to many other times seeing something like that. Well, throwing a trick in the middle of the race pretty much sums up Speed and Style. It is a combination of snocross racing and freestyle snowmobiling. SWEET right?? Absolutely!! Two riders, head to head, one rider hitting ramps while the other rider weaves between the ramps then the two riders meet up and race through a snocross portion of the track back to the beginning and then the riders switch lines and do the opposite they did the first lap. Riders will be judged on their tricks in the freestyle portion and judged on their race time. So basically you race head to head through a snocross course with some kicker ramps in it, throwing tricks off of them to better your score. X Games has invited me to compete in this new event pending me showing them a video of me throwing some tricks. Well I had some tricks, ok very few tricks so I needed to practice and learn some new stuff in a hurry. First, I needed to build a landing and get a ramp. I called Red Bull and like always they came through HUGE getting me a new freestyle ramp from SCS. Now I need a landing, so I hauled any and every pile of dirt that wasn’t already a jump or landing from my land and pushed it up. Being there isn’t any snow I needed to score some wood chips to cover the landing with. my neighbor Jeff Jebson (owner of Beaver Tree Service) is the guy that saves you from getting a unexpected sky light in your house from that Nasty tree that is leaning over your roof.

So after he cuts the nasty tree down and saves it from tipping over on your house he chips it up and hauls it away. I talked to Jeff about getting some chips and he was super cool and started having his guys dump their chips over at my place. Almost got everything dialed except the plastic glides for on the ramp so I called Mike from Caliber Products and he hooked me up with everything I needed to get my ramp up and running.

After finally getting my dialed and being able to jump at my house and visiting Justin Hoyer a couple times (Gnarly Freestyle Snowmobiler) and having him help me with some stuff I was able to get some tricks under my belt and send a video to the Xgames people. I was a bit nervous but they got back to me and said I was good to go!!! So I am officially in the new snowmobile event at X Games Speed and Style. I just want to thank Dane from Red Bull for the Ramp, Jeff from Beaver Tree Service for the chips, Mike from Caliber for the plastic and Justin Hoyer for letting me stay at his place and helping me out a ton with freestyle. Thanks Guys.

Foxtastic!!

Want to know how rad FOX SHOX is? This is how rad FOX SHOX is- they bring a sick Honda Crf 150 equipped with Fox’s new Forks and rear shock to my house and say thrash on it. Um… ME FIRST! ME FIRST! They had the suspension all set up for an adult so it was perfect for Chris (Kafka), Bobby LePage, Ben Hayes (FOX SHOX Mad Man) , and myself. Ben gave me the heads up when he was going to come up with the bike a few days in advance so I was getting pretty amped up to ride it. As usual something always goes wrong- 2 days of rain. My tracks were hammered from all the rain. Big water holes every where, greasy slime on the faces of the jumps, not exactly the ideal riding conditions but we didn’t care, we were stoked to get the chance to beat on the little bike. Right away I felt comfortable on the 150, maybe the fact that I’m about as big as the 12 -15 year old kids that the bike is made for had something to do with that. lol. I starting doing some doubles and built up doing a triple by the end of the day. I landed it perfect the first try so then I was all revved up so I get every one to watch me on the next attempt. I tried clicking it up a gear this time cause I was ringing it out the first time I did it so I roll it on and the bike said “I don’t think so”. It bogged and sent me into the lawn dart position, I was sweating bullets cause I thought for sure I was going over the bars but the New Fox Forks soaked it up and I kept on truckin like nothing happened. It was awesome- one avoided face thanks to the Fox Forks. Lol. We all had a pile of fun ripping on the little bike and I just want to thanks Fox Shox and Ben Hayes for making it possible.