ZACH HERFINDAHL CLAIMS THIRD STRAIGHT USXC WIN

Story & Photos: Emily Wicklund

Round six of the USXC tour brought riders all the way up north to Warroad, Minnesota; 20 miles away from Polaris’ hometown. This year’s course was different from years in the past due to lack of snow in the ditches. The course was switched from a 27-mile ditch, lake and cattail course to a 10-mile all lake and cattail course. The word lake sounds deceiving when talking about track conditions because there was nothing smooth about this course. Throughout the weekend the cattail sections changed after every race and became more rough. Racers were constantly watching races before theirs to make sure their setup was in the right ballpark.

Day one started with the Pro Open qualifier and ended with the Pro Open final. In between, other classes competed in their first day of racing which were then merged with day two times for over all results.

During day one of racing, Taylor Bunke tried to ride it out after getting sideways in a whooped out section in the cattails. The snow underneath the was too soft and sucked him in straight vertically.

Semi Pro rider, Dustin Dohrn, had a solid weekend of racing finishing day one as the fastest time in the Semi Pro class. After two days of racing, he came out in second place in the Semi Pro class over all.

Zach Herfindahl showed speed and talent in this very technical course. Herfindahl started the day as the number one qualifier in the Pro Open and finished the day on top taking the win in the Pro Open final.

Zach Herfidahl earned himself a win in the Pro Open class on his Arctic Cat. Polaris riders, Justin Tate and Ryan Springer came through in second and third.

Day two brought sunshine for most of the day unlike the first day of racing. This helped with the visibility issue that most drivers were having on the previous day. Day two started out with the Pro Stock qualifier and ended with the Pro Stock final. Heats two through four were made up of other classes competing in their second day of racing which merged with day one times for the final class winners.

During the first lap of the Pro Stock qualifier, Polaris rider Alex Hetteen, went for a ride going into a cattail section on the course. Hetteen and his machine were fine after the crash and he continued on.

Pro Stock rookie, Dan Revering was on fire this weekend claiming the number two qualifying spot after Herfindahl in preparation for the Pro Stock final later in the day.

Thirteen-year-old, Jesse Hallstrom showed his speed this weekend as well winning two class overall after two days of racing. He took the win in both the Expert 600 Limited class and the Junior 14-17 class.

After trailing Landrus by one second after day one of racing, Ski-doo rider Lydia Sobeck gave it her all and went home with the overall win over Landrus by 30 seconds.

Polaris riders showed speed in the Sport 600 class ending with a Polaris sweep in the class. Boe Bunke went home with the win and is currently at top of the points in the Sport 600 class.

Rising star, Paul Brown, brought his Arctic Cat sled to the top of the podium this weekend in the Semi Pro class after having an almost flawless run in Warroad.

Paul Brown took the win in the Semi Pro class with Dustin Dohrn coming in second and Cale Anseeuw in third. Dohrn took the points lead from Busse after his second place run this weekend.

The last race of the weekend was the seven lap, Pro Stock Final. Number one qualifier, Zach Herfindahl was the first sled to get the green flag with rookie Dan Revering following behind. After taking a week off due to a back injury sustained in the I-500, Aaron Christensen was the number three qualifier for the final. The fourth sled to take off was the 28 machine of Justin Tate and David Brown rounded out the top five starters. By lap two, Christensen got around Revering for the number two running spot. Throughout the next three laps, the running order remained the same at the front of the pack. By lap five, Christensen caught Herfindahl and was breathing down his neck. This didn’t phase defending points champ and by the next lap, Zach once again stretched out his lead. On lap five, Ryan Springer had a mechanical problem which caused him to take DNF for the weekend. By lap 6, Taylor Bunke made his way from the back of the pack after having mechanical issues in the qualifier up to the fifth place running spot. On the final lap just before the finish line, Herfindahl’s sled stalled and all eyes were on him to see if he could get it going again. Once his sled started up again he made it across the line.