Christian Brothers Racing Team Competes at Clash Of Nations

The Christian Brothers Racing team traveled to Falun, Sweden, this past Mar. 23-24 to compete in the Clash of Nations, an event that featured snocross, snowmobile freestyle, big air ski and big air snowboard competitions.

In its second year, the Clash of Nations is an X Games-caliber event that is held at the Lugnet Ski Jumping Arena, a dedicated ski jumping facility that is converted into a multi-sport venue for Clash of Nations. Rock formations create a natural arena around the place making for a beautiful and somewhat surreal setting for a snocross/freestyle event. Over 13,000 fans attended the two-day event with most of them on hand to see Saturday’s racing and freestyle program. They were greeted with temperatures in the 50-degree Fahrenheit range and warm sun making for two nearly perfect days of competition.

The CBR team rode Troy Lee Designs/DRIFT Racing Arctic Cats they had shipped over to Sweden at the beginning of the season. They raced out of Bengan Westerlund’s shop, a used Arctic Cat parts dealership in the area, and CBR crew members Corey Berberich and Betsey Haldorson made the trip to tune the sleds. The snocross track at Clash of Nations was wide, fast and featured big doubles and a long, challenging whoop section.

“The track is amazing,” says Logan Christian. “This is X Games-caliber stuff.”

There were 32-riders in each class and the field was whittled down to 16 for the final. Logan Christian went 2-1 in Pro Stock heat racing on Friday. He also competed in a Head-2-Head competition where riders were pitted against each other in a knockout-style competition. Christian ended up in a tie for eighth place with another rider and a coin toss was used to determine who would move on. He lost the coin toss, putting him out of the competition.

On Saturday Christian raced the Pro Stock final and was making a pass for the lead when he came off his sled.

“Pro Stock went really well for me,” says Christian. “I was feeling good and I was running in second. I thought I could make the pass but unfortunately couldn’t get around the guy and I came off the sled.”

On Saturday Christian and Cory Davis competed in Pro Open, riding their stock sleds. Davis had a good run and narrowly missed a podium finish, placing fourth in the final. Christian came in seventh in the world-class field of riders. Davis also competed in the snowmobile freestyle competition on Saturday and took a third place podium finish using his signature whip trick to secure the spot.

“I’m stoked to take third place in freestyle,” says Davis. “I was hoping to get on the racing podium too and it’s kind of frustrating to miss it by one spot. But fourth place in this talented bunch of riders is pretty good, so overall I’m happy for me and for the team.”

“There are so many logistics that go into racing overseas,” says team co-owner Dwight Christian. “We don’t have our shop or our trailer here, but Bengan has been a huge help. There are also different foods, different time zones, travel fatigue – all that figures in. But, having said that, our team worked super hard to get the results we did. Clash of Nations was a great event and a perfect end to our season.”