LIVING A DREAM

"LIVING A DREAM"
Cover Story for Lake Country Journal Magazine
Story by Vivian Clark | Photography by John Linn

Levi has made is mark and stamped the cover of Lake Country Journal Magazine, which is published and based out of Brainerd, Minnesota. The issue is currently available at participating stores in the Brainerd Lakes Area, and you can always check out LCJMagazine online and download the magazine for FREE and read Levi's Featured Article.

Monster Mike Schultz

At the Ironwood, Michigan National Levi's good friend and fellow Pro Snocross Racer "Monster" Mike Schultz crashed during the first Pro Stock Heat and suffered life-changing injuries because of it. Levi lives not to far away from Mike and would often ride motocross together in the summer and would also practice from time-to-time for SnoCross in the winter. This accident has affected many people in the SnoCross Industry and has really hit close to home for Levi. Our thoughts and prayers will always continue for Mike, his wife Sara and their family during this hard time. To follow Mike's story and his road to recovery click here.

Ironwood, MI National: ReCap

Ironwood, Michigan - The 2nd stop of the ISOC Pro National Race Circuit, was held on December 13th, 2008. Levi entered the weekend with hopes of making on the podium and he did just that, in both of the Pro classes. The Bad Rive Lodge and Casino National featured a long half-mile track with multiple elevation changes, with 2 up and down hill runs (a track that Levi has been noted to love). It was a one-day-event for the Pro's which meant a lot of racing and a lot of laps pushed into a short amount of time, it was a good test to see which Pro's could hold up the best with that amount of pressure and strength.

Levi ended up finishing strong in his qualifying heats in both classes, which automatically allowed him into both final with no LCQ's. In the Pro Stock Final Levi started mid-pack and needed to work his way up and he did just that - with having very consistent lap times, he picked off riders one-at-a-time. In the Pro Open Final, Levi had a decent start, held strong throughout the race and ended up with a 3rd place. Levi has been on the podium 3 out of the 4 Pro National Races this season, he hopes the success will continue and that top spot on the Podium is what he is aiming for at the next National Race at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, MN.

Levi's Race Results:
Pro Stock Round One: First (Automatically into the Final)
Pro Open Round One: Second (Automatically into the Final)

Pro Stock Final: 2nd
Pro Open Final: 3rd

POLARIS: WE OWN THE RIDE

Polaris has updated it's snowmobile site and Levi was asked to say a few words about it. Click and check out: We Own The Ride, Ride and Handling, Compare a Sled, Weather to Ride, Online Race Game, and Enter To Win great prizes!

Check it out today! And remember to have your volume on!
Click Here to View.

Duluth

Hey Everyone!! It’s been a while since I last wrote but let me assure you that not much has changed- I’m still popping wheelies and jumping everything in sight on my sled and loving every second of it!

This years ISOC Duluth National was my 13th year racing snocross there! The thing that is crazy is I have the same nervous, excited, and curious feelings now just like I did the first time there. You spend so much time training and preparing to be competitive then you go to Duluth and see where you stand. This year the team and I came in well prepared and things went awesome! I won both of my heat races and finished second in the Pro Stock Final. I was top qualifier for the Stock Final and I came around the first lap in 4th place and worked my way up to second behind Tucker. Tucker was hauling the mail out there but I was able to keep him in sight the whole race finishing 5 seconds behind him with 3rd coming in 25 seconds behind me in the 30 laps final. I was pumped about the way I rode in the long final, I felt strong at the end of the race. After the stock final I was all revved up for the open final but unfortunately it didn’t go to plan as I was used as a berm on the first lap by another rider while in top 5 putting me in last. After that I couldn’t see at all so I started riding really hesitant and I started dragging my brakes eventually welding the brake pads to the rotor stopping me dead in a corner. Not exactly what I was shooting for but hopefully that will be the only bad race this season.

Overall the weekend went great, won my heat races, got second in the stock, and my new LaVallee Booth with my new clothes went over really well. Seeing people with my clothes on at the races and seeing the different banners people make to show their support for me is so awesome. Thank you! Next up for me is the ISOC Iron Wood Michigan Race and I can’t wait to get out there and have some fun. Hope to see ya there.

There is Mud in Longville

Story by Tim Mutrie, expn.com

Adam Buck of Buck House Productions traveled up to Levi LaVallee's home/compound in Longville, Minn., last week. But with conditions too muddy for snowmobiling or dirtbiking of any kind, boredom began setting in.

"We'd rented this truck from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport," says Buck, of a loaner Hummer H3. "Sh-t, it's a rental truck, we were all bored, so why not? Eventually Levi jumped behind the wheel and showed us all how it's supposed to be done." LaVallee's Polaris-riding snocross teammates T.J. Gulla and Chris Kafka (in the backseat, fyi) were also on hand.

The smoke emanating from the vehicle at the end of the clip wasn't a big deal, according to Buck. "That's just mud and water on the exhaust. Actually, believe it or not, we jumped that truck and then drove it four-and-a-half hours. So it wasn't a problem. It held up really well to the abuse," he says.

The truck was returned on-time to a dutiful rental agent back at the MSP Airport. "We ran it through the carwash once before we took it back," says Buck. "They didn't say a thing."
Article courtesy of www.expn.com


Rental Truck Jump from Buck on Vimeo.

2008 Summer Recap

This summer as been by far the busiest summer for Levi. His sponsors have kept him busy attending event all around the U.S. He has attended Sweden X Games (as a guest judge), RedBull X Fighters in Texas, Summer X Games in LA, and the RedBull Moto GP in Indianapolis; just to name a few. When Levi is not traveling; he out on the lake with his Mastercraft X2 and practicing his wake-boarding skills or flipping his minibike into his brand new 40x40 foot foam pit.

Summer was for sure not long enough for Levi. But now the leaves are falling and the days are getting shorter, so that only means one thing. Winter is Coming. Time to get the sleds ready to go for this season.

Levi takes on Jackson Hole's Snowmobile Hill Climb: Jackson, WY

Just because the 2007/2008 SnoCross season is over with, doesn't mean Levi is done riding a snowmobile. This coming weekend, in Jackson, WY, Levi is going to be competing in the annual World Championship Snowmobile Hill Climb at Snow King Mountain. It was an opportunity Levi couldn't pass up. He is joining up with Polaris Hill Climb legend Rick Ward, where Levi is using two of his sleds, and hoping to get a few tips along the way. The goal for this coming weekend? Levi says; "The altimate goal is to make it to the top, but my main goal is to keep Rick's sled from cart-wheeling down the hill." It is noted that, (*Snow King rises 1,500 vertical feet above the town of Jackson. The hill climb course follows a route that, near the summit, steepens to nearly a 45-degree angle. Hill climbers who lose it on the upper reaches of the course often tumble hundreds of feet back downhill.) Keep checking out back for more updates on Jackson Hole, and what Levi has next on his schedule. * http://www.snowdevils.org/snowmobilehillclimb.htm

Two Out of Three Works for Me! Aspen, CO

Our adventure began in the truck as we drove from Yellowstone Montana to Carbondale (Neighboring town of Aspen) to meet Todd Welch from Colorado Sledstyle . We drove all afternoon and into the night arriving at our hotel at 1:00 a.m. and crashed out in a hurry for two reasons – one is obvious driving all day, the second we had to be up and at 8 am to meet up with Todd to go to his facility with kicker ramps and snow hits to practice some freestyle before X Games. We meet up and he takes us to his set up which was killer and jumped all afternoon. Things were coming around pretty good so I felt I was ready as I could be going into the three events I was going to be competing in at X Games. Wednesday we had Speed and Style practice which is a new event that is a combination of freestyle and racing, pretty sweet combo if you ask me! Being it was new it took a lot of course changes etc. to get it right for TV and so that the racing was closer. Thursday was game time, speed and style kicked the X games off so I was all pumped up about that. I won my first round against Cory Davis then moved on to my teammate Joe Parsons. Joe was running really well so I was a bit nervous facing him. I was able to put a gap on him through the racing portion of the course and that was enough to edge him out. That put me in the final against Sam Rogers who was running strong all day. Being he is a freestyler I was able to get a pretty decent lead on him in the racing portion and my tricks were good enough to beat him for the gold!! I was freaking out after I saw I won. It was the coolest feeling. No celebrating for me though I had to get some food and head back to the hotel because I had a big day of snocross coming up on Friday.

After winning my qualifier for snocross, on Friday I was feeling pretty good about the Final. Green flag flies and I don’t get the best of starts. I came out mid pack but I knew I had time to work my way up with the Final being 25 laps long, then shortly after thinking that, things went down hill. I made contact with another rider coming out of the whoops and ended up on my side during the second lap. A pile of guys got by so I had my work cut out for me. I was able to get back to sixth, which was actually pretty fun being Ross Martin, Robbie Malinoski, and myself battle for like 10 laps for it.

Sunday was gonna be my fun day, I had the freestyle comp going on and I knew I didn’t have the big tricks that Frisby, Hoyer , Bodine, and some of the other riders had so I decided I was gonna use my racing back ground and sprint the course and just have as much fun as I could out there. I honestly didn’t expect to make it in the top four so when I made it to the head to head competition with the top four riders I felt like I had exceeded my expectations. Then Bodine bobbled and I made it past him and into the final against once again my teammate Joe. Joe brought his A game to X games and it was amazing to watch him. I went first and put down what I thought was my best run all day and was able to race the course and get 2 extra jumps in which helped a ton. Joe came out swinging throwing down some insane tricks. We both sat after his run waiting to see what his score was. I think it was 86.33 and I had a 86.67 or something, I can’t remember all I know is it was super close. I had won and all my friends and family rushed over to me and it was unreal. I couldn’t believe I had won, it was so unexpected. After the medal presentation I went back to the trailer and while I was changing I got a call from the X Games general Manager Chris and he had some crazy news for me. He told me that they voted me male athlete of the X Games and for that I win a new Jeep!!! YEAH BUDDY!!!! I won a new car!!

I still can’t believe how things worked out but I know I never could have won one medal let alone 2 Golds with out the crew of people that work so hard behind the scenes. I have to give thanks to all the people from Red Bull, Polaris, Hentges Racing, Etnies, Ogio, Dragon, Parts Unlimited, 32 boots, Fah Q, Digital Ink, Nitro Circus, Fox Shox, my friends and family, and everyone else I forgot thank you so much for all that you do to make this possible. I appreciate it.

Winter X Games Twelve: Aspen, CO

Levi came into this years Winter X Games knowing he had a lot on his plate. Not only was he coming back for Snocross, but he also had two other disciplines to worry about; Speed and Style and Freestyle. Thursday night was the opening night for Winter X Games 12, where Speed and Style was making its first debut. Levi had the skill and speed for the freestyle course and was confident enough in his freestyle tricks to land himself a GOLD medal. Friday and Saturday were consumed by Snocross. 32 athletes, all competing to make it into a 12 guy final. Qualifying for Levi was Friday night where he fought his way to the top and ended up winning his heat round and securing a spot for the final. Saturday’s final was here, Levi started out mid-pack having a rough start and getting tossed off his sled by another rider. He stayed tough through all 25 laps and ended up in a notable 6th place. Sunday was Freestyle day. Levi was going up against the best of the best in the Freestyle world and new he had his work cut out for him. Levi ended up making the top 4 out of 10 guys and went on to the Finals. He was blown away that he even made it into the finals and what’s crazier is that Levi took home another Gold in the Freestyle event. His run was clean and because of his snocross background he was able to squeeze out another trick or two more than any other freestyle athlete. It was an unbelievable X Games – where Levi was able to show off his many talents in all three snowmobile events. Congratulations Levi on TWO Winter X Games Gold Medals and being named Winter X Games Jeep Athlete 2008, where he got to take home a brand new Jeep Liberty.

Canterbury National: Shakopee, MN

Canterbury National was a double header, which means twice the races, twice the fun, and twice the finals. Levi has always enjoyed racing at Canterbury. The facility itself is cool, but Levi likes it because of the track and the fans that come and show their support. Levi had a great run at last year's Canterbury National where he picked up his first National win of the season. Too bad things couldn't go as well this year, as it did last year. It seemed as though Levi hit a streak of bad luck by getting run over; not once but two times over the weekend. Levi takes everything in strides and regardless of how good or bad he does, he believes there is always room for improvements. Levi now is off to West Yellowstone for the next national race this coming weekend. Then from there be sure to check out WINTER X GAMES TWELVE live from Aspen, CO - January 24-28th, where Levi will compete in all three snowmobile events; Snocross, Speed & Style and Freestyley.