Polaris Riders Dominate USXC Finale

As the 2014 USXC season came to a close, Polaris racers dialed it up a notch. Saturday’s Moondance Jam 100 was a rough, technical race that saw Polaris riders Aaron Christensen, Justin Tate, Ryan Faust, and Spencer Kadlec finish 1-2-3-4 in the Yamaha Pro Stock final.

The win for Christensen wasn’t quite enough to grab the point title in Pro Stock, with leader Zach Herfindahl (Arctic Cat) needing only to finish, even with a broken hand. Christensen did close out a season points win in the Speedwerx Pro Open class.

“I felt good out there and the sled worked well; I’m really happy,” says Christensen said.

For the first half of the season, it looked like green was gold as Arctic Cat had a virtual strangle hold on both the Pro and Semi-Pro classes. As in any sport, a pivotal play can make the difference and Ryan Faust’s (Polaris) pro stock win at Willmar, in week three, signaled a shakeup in the pro classes. Cale Anseeuw (Ski-Doo) and Alex Hetteen (Polaris) then started to battle in the semi pros, mixing in some color at the finish line.

The point standings in semi-pros reflected that it had been musical chairs from week to week in the top spot. Walker, Minn. was no exception, with another Polaris rider, Dylan Stevens, capturing first in the Semi-Pro class. The semi-pro iron man had to be Dillan Dohrn (Doo). Dohrn earned fourth in Semi-Pro, finished the Pro Stock race, and nabbed first in Amsoil Semi-Pro Improved to wrap up the points in that class. For those keeping score, that’s three separate races for a total of 17 laps.

The racer who did the most to fill his trophy case this season was Jon Arneson. Arneson, in his mid-forties, captured the top points in Semi-Pro, Ski-Doo Masters 40+, and the new Drift Racing Super Stock classes.

Season two of USXC Racing was kind of a good news, bad news scenario. The good news: 2014 was the second season in a row where all eight events on the schedule happened, which is almost unbelievable.

“If someone told me we would have 16 races in two seasons, I would have said they were nuts,” says USXC owner Brian Nelson. “This (Walker) is the first race all season that wasn’t below zero and there wasn’t a storm before or after the race.”

The Moondance Jam 100 saw temps in the low 20s, but with the powerful March sun, the track became a muddy mess by the final race.

2014 USXC Point Champions: Yamaha Pro Stock: Zach Herfindahl (Cat) Speedwerx Pro Open: Aaron Christensen (Pol) Semi Pro: Jon Arneson (Cat) AMSOIL Semi Pro Improved: Dillan Dohrn (Doo) Drift Racing Super Stock: Jon Arneson (Cat) Polaris Expert 85: Ryan Trout (Cat) FOX Expert 85 Improved: John Langaas (Cat) Ski-Doo Masters 40+: Jon Arneson (Cat) Action Graphics Sport 600 Improved: Austin Reinertson (Pol) Red Lake Outdoors Legends 50+: Jim Sobeck (Doo) Carver Performance Sport 85: Hunter Houle (Cat) Woody’s Sport 600 Stock: Chase Nordstrom (Cat) C&A Pro Trail: Garet Grzadzielewski (Cat) FLY Racing Vintage: Peter Behm (Cat) Arctic Cat Vintage Legends 50+: Gerry Mattison (Cat) TEAM Industries Classic IFS 18-50: Tom Clement (Cat) On Snow Magazine Women’s: Jolene Bute (Cat) Seven Clans Casinos Junior 10-13: Tyler Brown (Cat) Mattracks Junior 14-17: Hunter Houle (Cat) Applied High Performance Products Junior Girls 14-17: Kelsey Pladson (Pol).