Question Marks Prevail As Season Begins
With the green flag set to drop on the 2023 AMSOIL Championship Snocross season, a top list or power ranking seems all but impossible to construct with any amount of accuracy. The class, while light on total entries, is as competitive from one thru 10 as it has ever been.
Under normal circumstances there would be no denying that four-time and defending Champion Elias Ishoel should be slotted in a the top spot. However, Ishoel suffered a serious knee injury early in the summer while riding motocross and has been very quiet about how his rehab went leading up to the season. We spoke with Ishoel the day after he arrived in the U.S. to begin testing just a couple weeks ago and he was very up front about the fact that he had not been on a sled and that his expectations were to work his way through the first three rounds and hopefully be at full speed when the series goes east to New York in February.
It is understandable that the still relatively young Norwegian would take a cautious approach but we also all know that he, like many top racers, flips a switch when the light goes green and logic sometimes goes out the window. Add in that Ishoel has the opportunity to become the only Pro racer, including Tucker Hibbert, to every win five consecutive titles and the pressure builds. Ishoel was well aware of this fact but still seemed to think it was possible to manage a championship with prolonged breaks between the first four rounds, followed by an intense home stretch of four races in five weekends that will offer little margin for error and may be a bigger factor in the season outcome.
Hunter Patenaude finished second in 2022 with a sophomore season that saw him win his first Pro final but also suffer a number of injuries and mechanicals that left a lot of points on the table. The fact that Patenaude managed to hang on to second place showed his true grit and erases any thought of him being injury prone or soft.
Holeshots, the key to everything in snocross, have never been a problem for Patenaude and the Scheuring team has spent a lot of time refining their shock and suspension package which was sometimes looked at as an elusive piece of the program for Hunter. If the new package hits the mark, the opening few rounds should tell the story of how another title run could play out.
Francis Pelletier finished just four points back in third, winning multiple finals in the process. Frank did sustain a hip injury in Fargo last season which derailed him for a few rounds but he was back to form for the remainder of the year. If we had to make one pick as the biggest potential threat to Ishoel it might just be Pelletier.
Emil Harr was very impressive with the Judnick squad last season. One of the few riders who often worked his forward during a pro final, Harr also got better as the season went on. An injury at the final round in Michigan kept Harr from scoring an even higher mark in the championship but all of the pieces seem to be there for the Swedish rider known as Moose. Neither Polaris or Ski-Doo made significant changes to their race sleds for 2023, but Harr’s red sled will need every advantage available to it to overcome the strength and numbers of the guys on yellow.
Fifth place back is where things really get interesting. Any one of these guys have the capability to win on any night. In fact, it is somewhat ironic that Kody Kamm, a multi-time winner and past Champion, did not win a race in 2022 but had a quietly successful season based on heat race wins and consistency. Kamm and teammate Oskar Norum, another multi-time winner have virtually an entirely new team around them this year at Hentges Racing, so it will be interesting to see how they gel coming out of the gate.
Daniel Benham picked up a big hometown win for his new team in Fargo last season and had flashes of brilliance along the way but was also mired by inconsistency. With a full season under their belts, the All Finish team could become a bigger player in 2023. Interestingly, with their practice facility located in Fargo, no one has really been able to gauge where Benham or teammate Jacob Yurk are at. Unlike most of the other riders who have been on the snow at the same time at the Klim Compound in Aurora, Minnesota.
Adam Peterson finished his rookie season in seventh place but passed the eye test of a racer who could be on the move in 2023. Peterson found the podium and showed plenty of speed at times and will now be the primary focus of Team LaVallee with Kyle Pallin announcing his retirement over the summer.
Logan Christian may be the hardest guy in this category to figure out. As fans of the sport, we have spent years pullin’ for Loge to get that first win, including last season when he put in several heat race performances that showed he does still have the speed. A second year on the AMSOIL Ski-Doo in now familiar surroundings won’t hurt his cause.
Cole Cottew comes into the season more determined than ever. After a promising rookie campaign in 2021, Cottew slipped a bit last year when he was plagued by nagging bits of bad luck that just never let him get on a role and regain confidence. Teammate Travis Kern should be much improved this year after battling through a more typical rookie season and the steep learning curve that comes with it.
As with every rider previously mentioned, both Cottew Motorsports riders are capable of a podium if everything goes their way.
Returning to the series on a full-time basis this year is the much liked Finnish rider Aki Pihlaja. Now a senior member of the Pro class, Aki showed glimpses of his raw speed and natural ability at times last year in a limited role with Belair racing. Pihlaja will be riding for the Green Mountain Racing team this season as that crew expands their involvement with the series.
And finally, there is the wildcard Petter Narsa. Narsa returns to ISOC after a couple year absence, joining his former mechanic at Hentges Racing, Levi Ensrud, who is now heading up the new Skogquist Race Team. Narsa has maintained a successful career racing in Europe and is said to be enjoying every minute of his second chance back in the U.S.
We had a chance to watch Petter ride a bit in pre-season where he looked well on pace and reports from others who were in Aurora for an extended time also report that Narsa could be one to keep an eye on this season.
