The race that refused to go quietly into this fickle winter persevered after a three-week postponement, and fittingly so too did Johan Lidman and Andrew Carlson, as they battled through insane storm gusts and battle scars during the Eastern Nationals in Farmington, NY.

Returning to the outdoors after the tight confines of the under-the-roof Silverdome track two weeks previous, New York marked the final race before the home stretch for the Carlson Motorsports team. Coming into the weekend, four stops remained on the ISOC tour, three of which located in and around its base camp of Elk River, Minn. including two rounds on its home track at ERX Motor Park. Getting through the New York weekend with positive momentum and more importantly with no injuries and no major mechanicals was a primary goal.

The speed of Lidman, which had eluded him for parts of the season, was on full display at New York, finding blistering lines along the back rhythm section, and perhaps even more impressive, wicked fast corners, Lidman rode to a top-five finish on Friday night, despite gale force winds. Saturday’s effort started out with equal optimism, but an errant competitor landed on Lidman during the first lap of the final, cutting short his chances for another strong showing. Fortunately, he escaped with only minor bumps and bruises and will be ready for the next round.

Robbie Malinoski made a giant leap in his pursuit of the 2012 AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series Pro Open title, winning Friday night and finishing second on Saturday night in Farmington, NY.

Malinoski’s win on Friday, his second of the season, went wire-to-wire as he grabbed the lead from an inside starting position and never looked back. On Saturday, Malinoski jumped to a second place start and battled to the front of the pack early in the contest. As the race leaders caught lapped traffic, the top three traded positions with Malinoski ultimately finishing in the runner-up spot.

The weekend’s results have propelled Malinoski into the third position in the championship, just eight points out of the lead.

“Our goal coming into the weekend was to whittle away three points at each of the remaining rounds and put ourselves within reach at the last event,” says team owner Steve Scheuring. “With his performance this weekend, Robbie just moved that timetable up by about three weeks.”

If you were wondering why Tucker Hibbert wasn’t competing at this weekend’s ISOC Eastern Nationals in New York, it’s because he was in Semigorje, Russia racing in the FIM Snocross World Championships.

A three-final format pitted Hibbert against an international field of 33 racers from six different countries in front of 12,000 fans. A first-turn mishap in the first final prevented Hibbert from taking the win, however, he backed up that second-place finish with two convincing wins in the remaining finals to secure his second World Championship title in three years.

Team Arctic hillclimb racers started the 2012 season with a bang, winning nine of 18 classes and two King titles at the Bear Lake Hillclimb in Montpelier, Idaho.

It was the potent combination of the new ProClimb HCR and an experienced crew of racers that dominated the big-engine classes. Kyle Tapio delivered a career-performance by winning 800 Improved, 800 Mod and Open Mod, then topped it off with the Improved King title. Hot on his heels, brother Nels won the 700 Mod final and had enough mojo to overtake Kyle to win the Mod King title.

Arctic Cat racer and M-sled engineer Todd Tupper showed he’s still the man to beat in the Masters classes, winning both Stock and Improved finals aboard his 2012 M800 HCR in the ProClimb chassis.

Polaris snocross racer Ross Martin (Judnick Motorsports) won the Pro Open final on Saturday, Feb. 25, in ISOC racing at Farmington, NY. In Pro Lite racing at the weekend’s ISOC Eastern Nationals, Polaris racer Kody Kamm (Hentges Racing) won both weekend finals to maintain his season-long points lead.

Jennifer Page (Leighton Motorsports) won the weekend’s Pro-Am Women’s final, Edward Bandel (Team Southside Polaris) won the Sport 1 race, and Trevor Leighton (Leighton Motorsports) won in Sport 2.

Pro Open: Strong Rebound for Martin

Martin arrived in New York as the Pro Open points leader, but he had an off night on Friday and finished 15th in the weekend’s first final, which cost him the points lead. On Saturday, he won both of his qualifiers, then ran smoothly in the final before making a pass for the lead on lap 13 and running away with the victory.