-Nadia Samer

Spectator gates will open at 10 a.m. each day, with early qualifying rounds already in progress. Admission is $15 per day for adults or $25 for a weekend pass, $10 for children age 8-12, age 7 and under are admitted free with a paying adult. Pit passes valid through the weekend will be available for an extra $10.

Leading the charge into Boonville are top-ranked riders C&A Pro Sponsored Riders Danny Poirier (Pro) and Lucas Brunelle (Pro Lite). Both riders are from Quebec and both currently lead their respective classes in points after stellar runs during Rounds 1 and 2. Poirier is a two-time Pro champion (2004, 2009), while Brunelle seeks his first regional points title in the ultra-competitive Pro Lite division.

The weekend itinerary includes qualifying rounds, Last Chance Qualifiers (LCQs) and Finals for several classes, including the not-to-be-missed Pro Stock and Pro Lite classes. Sunday’s card will feature more exciting qualifying and Final round action, as the Pro riders will compete on their wild, high-powered Open sleds. Points are awarded in qualifying, so riders give 100% all day long to garner as many points as possible.

Petter Narsa, reigning champ in the National Pro Open class wich you might have had a glance at during the first two ISOC-races were he took the points lead in the Pro Lite class before he headed back to Sweden to defend his title.

Jeff Oijer, placed 2nd in the National Pro Stock class last year and is really putting in a big effort this year to top the nationals.

Marcus Johansson is a very young and hardcharging rider who has a great future ahead. He took the National title in only his second year since moving up from the junior class.

Marcus Evensson now an older and wiser rider, finishes in the top five in the National Pro Open class almost every competition. He is still looking for that 1st place.

Dennis Jonsson is a young rider signed by Polaris on his way to the top in the pro Stock class.

John Stenberg took two National Pro Stock over-all wins in a row last year and is now riding in the states for Bauerly Racing in the Pro Lite class. He is also taking part in races over in Sweden when he has time off from the ISOC series.

Jonas Stenberg, John’s brother aims very high in the totals of the National Pro Stock series.

Johan Lidman rode his first year in the ISOC Pro Open last year for Sportech Racing and is now in his second season stateside. He will return to Sweden for the World champs and some other races.

Johan Dahlgren, a young factory BRP-rider is very fast but has had some bad luck the past two seasons. He is now hoping to break loose this season so he can remain in the top three where he belongs.

Peter Ericsson, is a rider to really look out for this year. He was retired, but has now returned to racing and is focused on aiming at the top spot. He has several National Titles and World Champ titles in his career so there is no doubt he will be great competition for the  young guns.

LaVallee broke his left tibia and Bodin suffered fractured vertebra but did not sustain any spinal cord damage and has full movement. Both athletes anticipate a full recovery. But due to their injuries, both will unfortunately miss this year’s Winter X Games.

“I’m super bummed about Daniel and I getting hurt,” said LaVallee. “I was riding on a high after my record distance jump on New Year’s Eve and was pumped for Winter X. And Daniel was working hard to defend his gold medals from last year. I love our sport but it can be cruel sometimes. We will both be back as soon as possible and want to thank our sponsors for their support during this time.”

Praying for a speedy recovery for both Levi and Daniel!

I’ll start with the powder test. The Pilot’s 5.7 were of course terrible in the powder, you turned the skis but the sled still went straight ahead. The Pilot 6.9 were pretty much the same but at least turned after a while. The SLP skis worked quite well in the powder and turned quite good but didn’t feel very stable when i was turning. The C&A’s turned without any difficulties at all and did not go straight ahead, nice and stable.

The flotation was also very interesting. both the pilot skis were like submarines and wanted to be under the snow.. even the SLP skis didn’t really want to ¨float¨. The C&A’s float on the snow all the time, at low speed, high speed. I could even stop with them without going under the snow surface!

The pilot skis were horrible to even try boondocking with.. they both were very unstable and sometimes difficult to control. The SLP skis are actually very good and easy to boondock with, they have some tendencies to want to toss me of sometimes tho! The C&A’s cut down nice and easy in the snow and were very stable when you finally had your sled on the side. They could sometimes have too good of flotation to get the sled on the side lol!

Now to the trail part, the one i was most exciting to find out about. The Pilot’s 5.7 are horrible even on the trail.. there’s no bite in them at all. The Pilot 6.9′s had at least a bit more bite than the 5.7′s and had a lot better steering effort at higher speeds than at lower speeds. The SLPs are almost even worse than the 5.7′s at the trail.. the SLP skis goes back and forth across the whole trail and can’t decide wich track they want to go in, at least at lower speeds. They handle a bit better at high speeds, but sometimes they become alive and choose to go somewhere else.

The C&A’s really surprise me on the trail! They were amazing! They were completly self depending and went straight all the time without being affected by the other ski tracks. Easy to steer with and went were you wanted without causing any trouble. They worked just as great in low speeds and in high speeds. At high speed they became a little heavier to steer with but that’s regular and exactly the way they should be.

Conclusion: The C&A MTX ski is a great all around ski! The very best i’d say. If i would buy a new pair of skis i wouldn’t even hesitate to buy another pair! They were great on every task and didn’t disappoint me for a second, they were alot better than i even expected them to be. I’ve never had this fun on the trails before.

Gustav Malmberg from Sweden.

The 2012 ECS Challenge is made possible by great sponsors like AMSOIL (product), Woody’s (product)  and C&A Pro Skis (1 pair new skis to the winner). In addition, sled makers Arctic Cat, Polaris and Ski-doo have each put up $1,000 to the winner riding their brand. In recent weeks, several race teams from within the ECS pit area jumped in to raise the bar, including the good folks at daSilva Racing, Ingles Performance, Team Southside, Lemieux Racing, Damexco Racing, Ruggiero/Toxic Racing, and Camara Racing. ECS officials are honored to have such tremendous support from within its own ranks.

Pro Open

Leading the Pro Open class at Canterbury on Friday was C&A Pro Sponsored racer Tim Tremblay, who qualified 14th and charged through the entire field of the world’s top snocross racers to win in front of a giant crowd at Canterbury. “Hat’s off to Tim … he was on a mission,” said 2nd place Pro Open finisher Robbie Malinoski (Ski-Doo).

Through seven laps Martin continued to lead, though a new racer appeared on the radar – Tremblay – who came all the way from the back of the pack, cracking off a main event-best lap time of 30.839, and challenging Mees for 3rd. Obviously the fastest racer in the field on Friday in Canterbury, Tremblay took quick advantage of a Martin/Malinoski get together in a turn and shot out to the lead – a lead he’d never relinquish.

“It was a really tough day. I won the first race, then crashed in the second one and had to go to the LCQ,” said Tremblay. “Tried to stay strong the whole race and ended up winning. Thanks to everyone on my team.”

Rounding out the Pro Open podium on Friday at Canterbury was Malinoski in 2nd and Martin in 3rd.

Pro Light

In the 14-lap Sledhead 24/7 Pro Light final Kamm came from behind and put pressure on early race leader Derek Ellis (Ski-Doo), then took advantage of an Ellis crash and led the race from lap 11 on for the win. “I got out in 5th or 6th at the holeshot, then ended up getting passed again,” said Kamm. “But I was able to pull things together and finish the race strong for the win. Thanks to Polaris and Hentges Racing.” Racer David Joanis blasted his way through the field – all the way up to 2nd place. Rounding out the Pro Light podium was another Ski-Doo racer, Joey Sagan, who raced to a 3rd place finish.

Saturday – 1.7.2012

The largest crowd to ever assemble for a snowmobile race at Canterbury Park Raceway was treated to a thrilling Pro Open main event that had Arctic Cat racer and defending AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series champion Tucker Hibbert top rival Robbie Malinoski (Ski-Doo) in round six of 2011-’12 ACSS.

And in the Pro Light class Polaris’ Kody Kamm made it a clean sweep at Canterbury, adding Saturday night’s top spot on the podium to his win on Friday.

Pro Open

Pulling the Stud Boy Holeshot in the Pro Open was Malinoski, with Ski-Doo racers Darrin Mees (2^nd) and Tim Tremblay (3^rd) in close behind. By lap nine the three had separated themselves from the rest of the pack – with one addition: Hibbert. Within one lap Hibbert dispatched of both Tremblay and Mees and set his sights on race leader Malinoski.

Three laps later Hibbert had all but erased Malinoski’s four-second lead and put his C&A Pro Skis on his Arctic Cat into Malinoski’s view on a couple corners before finally berzerking his sled into the first turn on lap 16 to take the lead. But rather than checking out, Malinoski hung tough and brought the nearly 12,000 fans in attendance to their feet for the final five laps.

“That was a gnarly race, man,” said Hibbert, who DNF’d on Friday at Canterbury with a mechanical failure. “Once I got by Robbie I thought I’d be able to pull away, but he (Malinoski) stayed right there with me. Great race.”

Added Malinoski: “I just about had Tucker Hibbert … and not a lot of people can say that. Tucker raced me clean and got to 1^st place.”

Rounding out the Pro Open podium at Canterbury on Saturday was Ski-Doo racer Tim Tremblay.

Pro Light

In Pro Light action #193 Arctic Cat rider Matt Pichner shot out of a cannon and pulled the Stud Boy Holeshot, followed by Ski-Doo racer David Joanis who got out front early. Followed closely by Kamm and Ski-Doo’s Derek Ellis, the pack separated before Kamm took charge by lap seven, moving five seconds ahead of the next-closest racer.

Moving into the second half of the 14-lap Pro Light main event, chasing Kamm’s Polaris – from 2^ndplace through 8^th place were seven Ski-Doos in succession. But in the end none of them would have anything for Kamm who walked away with the win by a comfortable margin. Second place would go to Joanis, with the class’ final podium spot going to Travis Mueller.

With six snow making machines blazing ‘round the clock when it’s 32-degrees or colder, ACSS Director of Operations/Race Director Carl Schubitzke assured snocross fans planning on attending the Canterbury event that next weekend’s race will go on as scheduled – with or without help from Mother Nature!

“Snow making has been a difficult task with this warm weather, but we’ve been on top of it – and will continue to be – so that AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series fans will see the world’s best racers competing in Shakopee,” said Schubitzke. “We encourage anybody from Minnesota that is missing snow and snowmobiling to come check out the action this weekend, January 6th and 7th, at Canterbury Park.”

Not only does ACSS racing at Canterbury Park showcase the best pro racers, fans will also get to see the top amateur kids and women racers – many of whom are from Minnesota. Watch two full days of great racing in front of Canterbury’s comfortable indoor stadium seating setting, featuring all of the amenities associated with a professional racing circuit – right in the middle of the Minnesota winter.

The snowomobile skis used to set the world record jump can be purchased here: Levi LaVallee Signature Series

LaVallee, a 29-year-old native of Longville, Minn., who was slated to jump in the same event last year before a testing accident derailed his New Year’s plans, redeemed himself in a big way – by breaking his existing certified world record of 361 feet with a leap of 412 feet 6 inches.

Maddison, a 30-year-old Aussie now living in Temecula, Calif., also achieved history by breaking his existing certified world record of 351 feet 3 inches by more than 30 feet, landing 378 feet 9 inches from his take-off ramp.

Soon after the fog blanketing the event site cleared, the two athletes blasted toward the take-off ramps on the North park at Embarcadero Marina Park in the downtown area of San Diego Bay, and launched across the 300-foot water gap, touching down on the massive landing ramp on the South park. A capacity crowd of thousands packed the park and got an early jump on their New Year’s Eve celebrations.

“I’m as excited as I think a person can be,” said LaVallee. “I just landed an over 400-foot jump. I’m not sure how the sled’s doing, but I’m OK, so it was good. It’s an amazing feeling. You have no idea how pumped I am.”

“It’s a cool feeling to do what I do and have the backing I do,” said Maddison. “I was confident we were going to go a long way tonight and we’re going to come back and go even further.”