HERFINDAHL CLENCHES THIRD I-500 TITLE IN 4 YEARS

Story & Photos: Emily Wicklund

The I-500 is on of the most coveted snowmobile races in the cross country world and defending USXC points champion, Zach Herfindahl, earns his third title over the past four years. Last season USXC and Goodridge Grygla I-500 crews decided to change the 500 mile race from a three day event to now a two day event. This adds an extra challenge having competitors race for 250 miles per day.

Pro riders were the first sleds to leave the line with racers starting in groups of two, 10 seconds apart. Racers that entered multiple classes started with thier highest level entered class. Ben Langaas on his Arctic Cat and Justin Tate on his Polaris were the first two sleds off the line. Current points leader Aaron Christensen left the line eighth on his Polaris and defending I-500 champ, Zach Herfindahl, started ninth on his Arctic Cat.

By the first fuel stop, Herfindahl made his way from ninth to the lead. This fuel stop is around the 60 mile mark so it didnt take him long to show his speed. Tate, Bunke, Christensen, Langaas, and Selby were the next five sleds to fuel.

Wes Selby came over six minutes behind Zach in second. Tate ran third, Christensen fourth, and Bunke fifth. Cale Anseeuw was leading the Semi Pro class after day one with the time of 3:49:00. Paul Brown was sitting second and Marshall Busse in third. After completing day one, riders were given the option to bring thier sled into the work area and all crews had one hour to tune on thier sled. After the hour was up, riders had to stage their machines and weren’t allowed to touch them until they were fired up on Sunday morning.

At the start of day two, the first five finishers from day one were able to start day two with the same time gap that they finish with on day one. Herfindahl was given the green flag right at 10:00 am with 6 minutes and 21 seconds before Selby was given the green. After Selby was let free, Tate had to wait an additional 2 minutes and 7 seconds. Christensen was then sent off 1 minute and 59 seconds after Tate. Bunke was sent of along with Brown who was currently sitting sixth 43 seconds after Christensen. Riders then started to be sent off two at a time 10 seconds apart.

Herfindahl was the first sled to the fuel stop and he again started to extend his lead over Selby. By the time Selby fueled, Herfindahl stretched his lead to 6 minutes and 21 seconds. Tate came through third, Christensen fourth, and Bunke fifth.

Racers then made their way back to the starting line to fuel again. Herfindahl was looking even fast than Saturday stretching his lead yet again. Zach finished his first lap in 1 hour 37 minutes and 46 seconds. Justin Tate got around Selby and came through the line second. During the first lap, Wes Selby started having sled issues and told crews he would need to head to the repair area. After finishing lap one, Selby pulled his sled to the side and changed his clutch. In the meantime, Christensen was in and out of the fuel stop and now was ahead of Selby. Brown and Bunke came through fifth and sixth and Brown had some flames coming out of his sled at the fuel stop. They shut off the manifold got the fire under control and they were both off. Bunke was able to get a time credit for this because we was unable to fuel while the manifold was off from Browns fire. Semi Pro leader, Cale Anseeuw fueled seventh and continued to lead the pack of Semi Pro drivers.

At the thrid and final fuel stop, Herfindahl had grew his lead to almost eight and a half minutes over Tate. As sleds continued to file through the fuel manifold, Herfindahl made the final 60 mile stretch back to the finish line. Soon enough, Zach Herfindahl crossed the line first and made him a back-to-back USXC I-500 champion. Justin Tate came across second and Aaron Christensen claiming third.

For full results from the GG-500 race, please Click Here.
For a printable pdf of the GG-500 results, please Click Here.
For MyLaps Full Weekend Race Results, Click Here.
For Season Points for each class on MyLaps, Click Here.