The USCC East has cancelled the race tentatively scheduled for February 2, 2013. According to the series organizers, the original promoter has decided to back out of the race for this season. Given the short notice, organizers were unable to find a location that was willing and able to fill the spot.

“New York has proven to be a tough place in which to get an event secured,” says Erik Frigon, the head of the USCC East. “From what we have seen, the economy seems to be the greatest hurdle in securing a race there.

“We are disappointed that we aren’t able to get a solid site for a race in New York. We have a lot of good racers there and we would like to give them a ‘home race.’ We know New York has a lot of great places to hold a race, we just need to find one that is willing to pull it off and that will happen, it’s just going to take more work on our part.”

The USCC East season kicks off with a race in Parlin Pond, ME on January 26. Keep an eye on the website and on Facebook for updates on that race and the others on the schedule for this year.

Former racing champion Brian Nelson has announced the formation of USXC, a new snowmobile cross-country racing circuit that will provide a series of terrain races in the Midwest during the 2012-2013 season. The USXC (United States X-Country) series will consist of six to eight events including a premier three-day, 500-mile cross-country race held in Northwestern Minnesota.

The goal of USXC is to continue the tradition racer-friendly events at many of the classic cross-country venues, giving drivers, crews and fans the best possible experience.

“There have been many great cross-country racing organizations over the years, most recently with the USCC,” says Nelson. “USCC was an excellent circuit that rescued and grew the sport. When they communicated that they would cease operations after last season, I wanted to keep cross-country racing strong and growing. I pursued the idea of purchasing USCC, but for many reasons that proved unworkable. The best solution was to form USXC.”

Nelson is currently assembling a team of experienced people to help run USXC, as well as creating a schedule with existing, race-friendly communities. Events will include traditional ditch, river and woods courses as well as lake courses, all of which will emphasize driver skill and endurance. Nelson intends for USXC to be an ISR affiliate, so racers can expect common rules and safety procedures.

Nelson has a long and storied history in the snowmobile industry. He was a legendary cross-country racer who won the Winnipeg-to-St. Paul I-500 in 1976 aboard Enduro Team Deere, and again in 1978 for Team Arctic. He has owned a multi-brand snowmobile dealership, hosted and promoted ISOC cross-country races and NSSR speed run events in the 1990s. Nelson has operated a snowmobile and motorcycle tour business since 1980 and was inducted into the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in 2000. His most recent foray into snowmobile racing was in 2011, when he competed in the vintage class at the USCC Red Lake I-500.

“Cross-country snowmobile racing has been my life for more than 40 years,” says Nelson, “I owe a debt of gratitude to the people and circuits that provided races during those years.

“Starting USXC is my way to give back to the sport I love. With the support of a great team of people, the industry and racers, we will preserve and even grow cross-country snowmobile racing in the years ahead.”

Racers and fans who are interested in learning more about USXC should email their name and address to: info@usxcracing.com.

The latest episode of the Yamaha Racing Show is up and running and it focuses on the final stop of the USCC Cross Country Snowmobile Racing series in Warroad, Minn.

Team rider Ross Erdman picked up a win in the season finale, which helped him to a second-place finish in the Pro championship. However, the coolest part of the video was the onboard footage of Semi-Pro rider Ben Lindbom’s crash. That looked absolutely devastating, but he still managed to get back on board his FX Nytro RTX and finish the race. We’re stunned he wasn’t badly hurt.

We also enjoyed some tech talk with Rick Strobel, Fox Racing manager. Strobel talks us through the air technology in the Fox Float X Evol shocks, which features external adjustments on the dual air chambers. Very cool!

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The season-ending cross-country races were held at Minnesota’s enormous Lake of the Woods, with the 10.8-mile course a brutal test of sleds and riders. Both Erdman and Lindbom excelled in Saturday’s event, leading the first lap in their respective classes before the rough course began favoring a longer-travel setup than the team had selected. Dissatisfied with their top-five finishes for the day, they revised the suspension settings for Sunday’s contest, where Erdman simply excelled, rocketing his FX Nytro to the win. Lindbom was equally impressive in his rookie cross-country finale before crashing out, fortunately without injury.

“This was a naturally rough course, like a motocross track frozen solid,” explained crew chief Brian Strawsell. “It all came down to Ross picking better lines.”

“I am so proud of this team – Brian did a great job getting the sleds ready, and Ross and Ben went out there and rode like champions,” says Yamaha’s Eric Josephsen.”

Meanwhile, 1,200 miles to the southwest in Wyoming, Cable Wilford raced to an impressive top-10 finish in the RMSHA Afton Hillclimb on Sunday. It was the best hillclimb of the year for Wilford and the four-stroke FX Nytro MTX in this extraordinarily difficult competition.

The 15-gate RMSHA hillclimb was about a half mile long – but virtually straight up. In fact, Wilford described the course as “a half mile of pure vertical spookiness, chockfull of rocks and stumps.” Just missing the qualifying cutoff for Sunday’s finals were Kody Malmborg in the Pro class, and cousin Kolton Malmborg in Semi Pro Stock 600, leaving Wilford as the only four-stroke pilot in his event. With each rider getting just one try, Wilford threw himself at the mountain, throttling the FX Nytro up to the seventh gate, an impressive run up a nearly impossible mountain.

“The suspension gave me confidence and the engine gave me the torque I needed to crack the top 10,” says Wilford.

“In just our second RMSHA event, we’ve already evolved the FX Nytro into a viable hillclimb machine, and I can’t wait for the World Championships in Jackson in two weeks,” added Josephsen.

Team Arctic put together an absolutely epic weekend of snowmobile racing, claiming 29 class victories in two days of USCC cross-country, a huge win in Pro Open at the ISOC snocross national in Elk River, Minn., and six victories at the RMSHA hillclimb in Afton, Wyo.

The cross-country performance unfolded in Warroad, Minn., during the final weekend of USCC competition during the 2012 season. With two separate events during the weekend, Team Arctic had double the opportunity to dominate.

The Arctic Cat/Christian Bros. Racing juggernaut continued its claim in Pro class competition, with Brian Dick and D.J. Ekre claiming Pro 600 and Pro Open on Saturday, followed by Ekre winning Pro 600 on Sunday. Ryan Simons was on the podium in all four events during the weekend to claim his second consecutive USCC Pro 600 Championship, while Ekre took the Open Class Championship.

In all, eight Team Arctic racers scored multiple class wins, while there were 19 different winners. And of the 29 total class victories during the weekend, 14 were full podium sweeps by Team Arctic.

“We’ve been highly-successful in USCC cross-country racing for many years, but the team’s performance in Warroad reached a new level,” says Mike Kloety, Team Arctic race manager. “I believe the word ‘dominate’ gets used a little too loosely sometimes, but it’s the only way to describe winning 30 out of 39 total races. Arctic Cat is immensely proud of all our racers, crew and the USCC staff for a truly outstanding season of competition.”

While the cross-country team was conquering Warroad, Team Arctic’s Tucker Hibbert returned to the top of the ISOC Pro snocross podium with a win in Elk River, Minn. Hibbert led the strongest performance of the season at Elk River, with Team Arctic Pro’s taking five of the top-8 positions. Other Team Arctic winners in Elk River included Tyler Adams, Trent Wittwer, Ryley Bester, Ethan Aune and Evan Christian.

Team Arctic’s hillclimb contingent captured six class victories at the RMSHA event in Afton, Wyo. Proving the ability of the M8 HCR in the ProClimb chassis with wins in the big-inch classes were Kyle Tapio (with two wins), Nels Tapio and Trace Tupper. They were joined on the top step of the podium by Sid Archibald and David McClure.

Christian Brothers Racing cross-country riders Ryan Simons and D.J. Ekre split the Pro class wins the at the USCC Oslo 100 in Oslo, Minn., this past Feb. 25, 2012. The Oslo area was hit by a snowstorm the week leading up to the race and had a decent base before that so racers were on a foot of snow in most areas. The 27-mile race course sent riders down ditches, along treelines and down both the Snake and Red Rivers.

Ekre started the day off by taking the win the Pro Open class. Ekre posted a time of 23:19.365 on his Stud Boy Arctic Cat, some six seconds faster than the second place finisher. Simons finished third with a time of 24:05.512. Ekre was the favorite headed into the 108-mile Pro 600 race and was posting fast times on the charts for the first half of the race, but took a tumble on the third lap around the course allowing Simons to pass him. The pair had been leading the field on the course as well as on the time charts and once out front Simons set a fast pace, fast enough that he was able to put 18-second between his sled and the eventual second place finisher. While Ekre was able to get back on course after his tumble a mechanical failure on his machine put him out with just miles to go in his race.

The win marked the first of the season for Simons, who is the reigning USCC Pro 600 points champion.

“I had a great race,” says Simons. “The course was great and I got into a really good rhythm. The rough ditches and twisty rivers were perfect for the Arctic Cat sleds. It was one of those days where everything just fell into place and when that happens you usually win.”

Simons sits in second place in USCC Pro 600 points, just five points out of first. Ekre is in fourth in Pro 600 and leading the Pro Open points where Simons sits in third place.

While the CBR cross-country team was battling over the northern Minnesota terrain, Logan Christian, Garth Kaufman and Cory Davis were racing the ISOC Eastern National snocross in Farmington, N.Y. Christian, who suffered an injury while practicing during the week leading up to the race, got the doctor’s OK to race but having suffered one partially-collapsed lung and another one bruised riding proved too painful and he had to drop out of actual racing and just took starts for points. The team’s best showing at the two-day event came on Saturday when Kaufman went 3-3 in heats and finished seventh on his DRIFT Racing/Troy Lee Designs Arctic Cat in the final, bettering his 12th place finish from the previous day. Kaufman was also battling injuries sustained during the ISOC race at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich., February 10 where he bruised his spleen and both heels. Davis finished 10th on Friday and 15th on Saturday.

With just three events and six races left on the ISOC National schedule Kaufman sits in seventh place in Pro Open points. Davis is in 10th place and Christian, who missed some events due to injury, is back in 20th.

Next up for Christian Brothers Racing is the ISOC Fargo National scheduled to be held at Buffalo River Race Park March 2-4, 2012. For more information on Christian Brothers Racing visit www.christianbrosracing.com.

Four-stroke Yamaha FX Nytro racers took a pair of wins and three additional podium finishes in cross-country and hill-climb competition in three states over the Feb. 18-19 and Feb. 25-26 weekends.

On Saturday, Feb. 25, the Oslo 100 national proved the best terrain race of the year so far, thanks to a snowy 25.8-mile course featuring plenty of road ditches packed deep with welcoming snow. But the weather – a brutal 10 degrees below zero – gave even the hardiest snowmobile racers painfully cold hands and cheeks. Pro racers started first at 15-second intervals, followed by Semi-Pro riders. Ross Erdman drew the sixth grid position for his Pro race, and had a single lap to demolish the competition. He nearly did it too, posting a sizzling 23 min. 25.8 sec. lap time – just 6.4 sec. behind the eventual winner – good for second place.

Next up, Ben Lindbom destroyed the Semi-Pro field with a winning time of 23 min. 42.3 sec. – a pro-caliber performance. Both FX Nytro RTX drivers are now second in the standings. “We are definitely in this series for the championships,” says Yamaha’s Eric Josephsen. “The guys are hungry, and we’ll play it right down to the end.”

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One week earlier, Eric Frigon won the Semi-Pro class in the Madawaska 100 cross-country race in Madawaska, Maine. With one win already under his belt this year, Frigon went into the second leg of the three-round eastern-region cross-country event focused on making it two in a row. The 5.1-mile course featured mostly fields, with a small section of woods and even a sliver of frozen pond for good measure. Starting far downfield in the time-trial event format, Frigon adopted a simple strategy – ride like the wind, and make sure he continually caught and passed competitors. “This sled sure has got some power,” says Frigon of his Yamaha FX Nytro RTX. “Other racers came up to me afterwards and said, ‘I had no chance of keeping up!’ I also have an onboard camera, and when you see how fast the FX Nytro leaves the other riders in the dust, it’s impressive.” Frigon now leads in points with just one round remaining.

The same day as Frigon’s heroics in Madawaska, Kody Malmborg took second in the New Rider Open Mod class at the RMSHA Bear Lake Hillclimb in Montpelier, Idaho. He also took finished second in the Team Race with cousin Kolton. While the hill only stretched a quarter mile or so, it was like a double black-diamond ski run – so vertical that losing control would guarantee a long, frightening tumble. And making it even harder, snowmobiles had to zigzag through a series of slalom gates on the way up. In all, the course required massive acceleration from the sleds and lightning reflexes from the drivers. Yamaha’s first official hill-climb competition in over a decade brought great results despite thin snow conditions that exposed dirt, rock and ragged stutter-bumps in some places. “We didn’t quite win this one but we were competitive,” says Josephsen. “We also learned a lot and proved that the four-stroke Nytro MTX can do anything that a two-stroke can.”

Whooped-out ditch, winding river and carnage-causing rough conditions made their first appearances of the 2012 cross-country season at the USCC Grafton 100, and Team Arctic responded by winning 13 of 17 classes, including seven podium sweeps and victory in both Pro classes.

Leading the charge in the Pro classes was Christian Bros. Racing’s D.J. Ekre, who started the day by winning the Pro Open class ahead of teammates Ryan Simons and Cory Davis. After the 20-mile course was transformed into a rough, half-dirt minefield by the many classes of competition throughout the day, Ekre lined up for the five-lap, 100-mile Pro 600 final as the favorite to win. Combining his blazing speed with the excellent handling of his Sno Pro 600 in the ProCross chassis, Ekre fulfilled the expectations with a winning time of 1:48:36, nearly two minutes faster than second place.

“Grafton was a great weekend for the team,” says Ekre. “Our Stud Buy Arctic Cat’s were working so good – we had the speed and handling on everyone else and they do everything so well. I’m looking forward to the next race.”

“This was one of the roughest courses I’ve seen in years, with more than half the field unable to finish,” says Mike Kloety, Team Arctic race manager. “D.J. put himself into the lead early and then ran the perfect pace to preserve his win. Unfortunately Ryan Simons hit a rock halfway through the final lap, otherwise he’d have taken second in both Pro classes.”

Highlighting Team Arctic’s depth and the strength of the 2012 Sno Pro race sleds, 11 different racers claimed class wins at Grafton.

While the cross-country corps was tearing up the terrain in North Dakota, Team Arctic snocrossers delivered a solid performance at the ISOC National at the Pontiac Silverdome. Logan Christian notched his first podium of the season with a second in Pro Open, while Tucker Hibbert had to settle for third following a rare tip-over while passing for the lead.

“I got a good start and just rode as hard as I could,” says Christian. “There were so many riders it was hard to tell what position I was in, but I knew I was doing good so I just kept pushing. My crew put together a great setup for me and we worked real hard for this one.”

Other top performances by Team Arctic in the abbreviated Pontiac event included Tyler Adam’s second in Sport, Samantha Tarnowski’s third in Pro Women and the one-two finish of Reid Runkel and Nicholas Horstman in Transition Limited.

The Yamaha Snowmobile Cross Country earned a victory at the Lake Parlin 100 in Maine and a podium finish at the Beach Bar 200 in Minnesota!

Aboard his 2012 FX Nytro, Yamaha’s Erik Frigon put in a commanding performance to win the Semi Pro class at the Lake Parlin 100 cross-country snowmobile race in western Maine on Sun., Jan. 29. So dominant was Frigon aboard the four-stroke Yamaha that he finished only three seconds behind the Pro class in the grueling three-lap, 18-mile race. The victory was the talented Yamaha racer’s first of the year while Scott Brownell, another FX Nytro driver, finished seventh.

“We are proud of Erik’s first win of the season and look forward to more wins on his way to a Semi Pro championship,” says Wade West, Yamaha’s snowmobile marketing manager.

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The racecourse’s six long miles encompassed a wide variety of frozen terrain – including Lake Parlin surface ice roughened by wind drifts, its nearby shoreline, and the surrounding woods. Frigon, a Maine policeman and perennial Yamaha demo ride contractor, had just a single day to test his FX Nytro race sled and set the suspension, clutching and gearing to his liking prior to the event. Riders were flagged away at 20-second intervals, and when Frigon quickly caught the first rider ahead, he knew that his FX Nytro had a power advantage. In all, he eventually passed nearly a half dozen sleds by the finish. Posting seven-minute lap times, he also averaged over 51.

A time-trial event structure made it impossible for drivers to know their overall place or class position while competing – especially since Pro, Semi Pro and Masters sleds were on-course simultaneously. This meant the only approach was to go out hard and keep right on doing it for the entire race. And that’s precisely what Frigon did.

“I was impressed with the power,” says Frigon. “Without a lot of test time I didn’t know how much power it was going to have, but I could easily tell that I was gaining on riders in front of me.”

Lindbom Earns Another Podium at Detroit Lakes

Yamaha Semi-Pro racer Ben Lindbom backed up the second place podium finish at his first ever cross-country snowmobile race two weeks ago with another podium at the J&K Marine Beach Bar 200 in Detroit Lakes, Minn., this past Jan. 28-29. Pro rider Ross Erdman, who won the Pro final at the opening race on Pine Lake near Gonvick, Minn., grabbed a hard-fought fourth-place finish in the Pro final at Detroit Lakes. The two-day event used combined times from each day of racing to place the riders in the final standings. The race was held on Big Detroit Lake and featured a 7.2-mile track with 44-turns.

The event was the largest in the recent history of cross-country snowmobile racing with upwards of 300 total race entries. The Semi-Pro class is one of the biggest and hardest-fought classes on the circuit and Lindbom faced a field of 22 other riders on his way to taking third in the class, posting a time just over 30 econds out of first place after two days and 36 miles of racing.

“This is only my second cross-country race and my second race on ice,” says Lindbom. “The team has worked really hard to get me to the front and my Yamaha Nytro RTX is the best, most reliable machine out there. I’ve got a second and a third, next time out I’ll be looking for a win for sure.”

Erdman, fresh off his Pro win at Pine Lake, had an equally good showing in the highly-competitive Pro class at Detroit Lakes. After two days of racing Erdman placed fourth, missing a podium finish by just three seconds on the time charts.

“This is the second ice race in a row and backing up our results from Pine Lake shows we’re right at the front,” says Yamaha’s Eric Josephsen. “These guys are great riders and our crew is top notch – I see more wins coming this season for sure.”

Yamaha racers are sponsored by: DynoJet, Fly Racing, Camoplast, Woody’s, SpeedCell, Fox Racing Shox, Trail Tank, FXR, Yamalube, Ulmer Racing, Evolved Nutrition, and EVS.

Following the first race of the United States Cross-Country 2012 race season in which Team Arctic scored 13 of 17 class wins, expectations were riding high at round two in Detroit Lakes, Minn. Aboard the newest Sno Pro 600 in the ProCross chassis and the Sno Pro 500, Team Arctic racers once again captured wins in 13 classes for another dominant performance on ice.

This week Team Arctic/Christian Bros. Racing pro D.J. Ekre was on top of the Pro Open class, outrunning his teammate (and first race winner) Brian Dick who finished second. Christian Bros. Racing proved its powerhouse reputation as defending USCC Pro Champion Ryan Simons slotted into second overall in the Pro 600 final following two days of competition.

Jordan Torgerson resumed his winning ways by capturing the Semi Pro Improved final, with Wes Selby taking a close second in his first-ever lake cross-country race. Also, Boris Mahlich scored a pair of wins in the Sport classes while Jolene Bute locked in another victory in the Women’s class.

Arctic Cat continued its stranglehold on the 85-hp classes. Bryce Buchanan remains undefeated in both Expert 85 classes this season, while Taylor McLean, Zach Herfindahl and Kelsey Pladson won their respective classes.

“Detroit Lakes was another outstanding showing by the team,” says Mike Kloety, Team Arctic race manager. “We’re still learning some things about the Sno Pro 600, and I’m proud of the riders and crews who put in extra time and effort to stay on top of the game this past weekend.”

The next race in the USCC season is the Grafton 100 in Grafton, ND, on Feb. 12.