Pebble Creek Hillclimb is a Powder Challenge
April 6, 2009
The Pebble Creek Hillclimb held at the Ski Resort just outside Pocatello, Idaho was a powder filled challenge. So much so, the owners of the ski resort extended the skiing during the hillclimb. So, two great winter sports shared the mountain and everyone had a great time. The downhill skiers seemed to enjoy watching the powerful sleds take on the hill and I noticed many of the family member of the racers enjoying a day on skis. The wonderful sunshine was another plus.
David Sharp Jr.
The racing action was hot and Team Arctic turned it up all weekend. Out of the 18 class winners, 13 were from Team Arctic. All three of the Pro Kings of Pebble Creek rode for Arctic Cat.
Semi-Pro King: David Sharp Jr. was the one exception. David is the World Champion Semi-Pro of Jackson and rides for Ski-Doo. At 16, he is dominating this class.
Hard Work Key To Success For Team Tapio
March 31, 2009
Nels, Kyle & Russ Tapio
The Tapio Brothers are the most successful team on the RMSHA circuit. The team consists of: Nels the oldest, then Kyle and the youngest brother is Russ. The Tapio’s came to Jackson for the first time as spectators in 2005. That is when they decided to race. The first year Team Tapio raced at Jackson was 2006, and what a year that was. They seemed to come from nowhere and Kyle took the King Of Kings title. Kyle has gone on to win four King titles at the World Championship in the last four years. Three of those are King Of Kings Titles.
Kyle & Glen Gillis 2006
In 2007, Kyle even won the King of Kings on an improved stock sled. Older brother Nels has had class wins in every year and in 2007 had the fastest time on the hill. Youngest brother Russ had his first class win at Jackson and has taken 2ndplace a couple of times.
Friday Is A Great Day At The World Championship.
March 27, 2009
Mark Thompson
Qualifying was done in the Stock and Improved Stock classes. The racing started with the Pro Masters Stock Class. From the start of the day Mark Thompson was racing well. He was the top qualifier in this class and 600 Stock. Other top qualifiers included: Keith Curtis, Tony Ottobre, Tyler Crockett, Kyle Tapio, Tom Roby and Dolan Phelps. We will see all of them racing in the finals on Sunday. The finals were run today for the Non-Pro Masters, Juniors, Semi-Pros, and Women’s Classes. Norris Brown was the first racer over the top of Snow King today and won the Non-Pro Masters Class. The Juniors Class winner was Jay Mentaberry, from Alpine WY. Arctic Cat Racer Christy Frisby is the Women’s World Champion. The Semi-Pro Stock class winner was Landon Archibald, from Mendon,UT. Semi-Pro Improved winner was Patrick Trujillo and Semi-Pro Mod winner was David Sharp Jr.
David Sharp Jr.
At the end of the day, all three Semi-Pro class winners raced against each other for the Semi-Pro King title. The youngest semi-Pro racer won, David Sharp Jr.who is only 16 years old. David took on Snow King Mountain and went over the top with the fastest time. Our congratulations to David Jr. and his dad, David Sharp. As I heard someone say as David took off from the starting line: “We are watching the future of our sport”. And what a bright future it has…
Racing begins At Jackson!
March 26, 2009
Murray Archibald
Murray Archibald was the first racer up the hill in the Non-Pro Masters class. David Sharp Jr. had a great run and for the youngest racer in the Semi-Pro class he had the fastest qualifying time in Semi-Pro Improved Stock and Semi-Pro Stock (heat 2.)
David Sharp Jr.
David is only 16 years old and had a time of 48.729. Landon Archibald was the top qualifier in Semi-Pro Stock (heat 1) with a time of 49.044. Amy Zollinger was the top qualifier in the Women’s class, with a time of 57.553.
Misao Kikuchi
Jackson has an international flair this year with one of the top racers in Japan competing in 4 classes. Misao Kikuchi will be taking on Snow King Mountain tomorrow. He is sponsored by Starting Line Products. We wish him the best of luck. Check back tomorrow night for more, from Jackson.
The Official Start Of Hillclimb Season
January 19, 2009
Preston Pride Hillclimb 2009
The Preston Pride Hillclimb is the first race of the Hillclimb racing season. This years event took place under beautiful sunny skies. Qualifying was Friday, January 16th, and the finals were Saturday, January 17th. Both days were action packed.
Most of the top racers were there. Of the 194 member racers of RMSHA, 167 were registered for the Preston Hillclimb. One notable exception was Canadian racer, Vinnie Clark. We were told Vinnie would be at next weeks Soda Springs hillclimb.
One of the highlights of this race was the showcase for the new stock mountain racing sleds that the manufactures have introduced. Arctic
Arctic Cat HCR Sled
Cat has the new HCR, Polaris the Assault and Ski-doo’s model the Summit Hillclimb. All three were impressive on the hill.
The Summit Hillclimb has a 154 X 16 in wide track and 2.25 inch
Erin Beukelman on his Polaris Assault
paddle height, with Kayaba shocks. It’s dry weight, according to Ski-doo, is only 433 lbs. The HCR (Hill Climb Racer) by Arctic Cat has a 153 X 15 in track and 2.25 inch paddles. Fox shocks and an adjustable 42 to 44 in ski stance. Polaris has the new Assault RMK sled. The track is 146 X 15 in wide with 2.125 inch paddles. The Assault has Walker Evans shocks and an adjustable ski stance of 41.5 to 43.5 inches. The dry weight is reported to be 487 lbs.
Another interesting sled this year is Russell Frisby’s mod Arctic Cat Sno-x Sno Pro that has been long tracked for hillclimbing.
Keith Curtis
The competition was within thousands of a second in all three classes. Keith Curtis, the reigning World Champion, took Stock King. Erin Beukelman on his Polaris won Improved Stock King over Nate Zollinger by split seconds. The closest race of the day was for Mod King. Two of the Tapio brothers were riding the same sled for the Mod King runs. Nels was second to last to race on their 800 Mod Arctic Cat and was the time to beat.
Nels Tapio
Kyle, last years Mod World Champion, put on a blistering time, but not fast enough. Nels won Mod King of Preston by a thousands of a second.
For full results go to the Rocky Mountain Snowmobile Hillclimb Association web site: http://www.rmsha.com
Video highlights will be available on Snowgoer 360 in a few weeks.
And photos will be posted on the BAM web site: http://www.bamfilmproductions.com