Lake Geneva, Wis. - The dead heat in the Pro Super Stock points race between Garth Kaufman (Arctic Cat) and Levi LaVallee (Polaris) ended on Saturday March 21 at Grand Geneva Resort with LaVallee's first podium of the season, according to ISOC press release.
"Even the best Hollywood writer could not have scripted a better scenario for the final Pro Super Stock race of the season than what unfolded on the slopes of the Mountaintop Ski-Resort during the final weekend of the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series," said ISOC representative in a press release.
Levi LaValle checks the track before his first qualifier.
Coming out of qualifiers early Saturday morning, the duo remained tied for the championship title, with each scoring a win in their respective heat race.
The pair lined-up side-by-side at the start, positioned near the far outside of the massive up-hill starting zone, where a top of the hill kicker sorted the wheat from the chaff.
At the green, LaVallee gained traction and catapulted to the front of the pack. Kaufman crested the hill a sled length behind LaVallee and emerged from the top-of-the-hill turn in seventh place.
Close in tow behind LaVallee was his teammate TJ Gulla (Polaris) followed by Matt Piche (Arctic Cat) and Mathieu Morin (Ski-doo).
In the early going, Kaufman picked his way through the pack, moving up to fifth and eventually fourth, giving himself a glimpse at the lead pack of LaVallee, Gulla and Simons.
"But it wasn't to be, as the long and grueling track took its toll on even the most fit of riders," said ISOC representative.
LaVallee's teammate Gulla held fast to his snowflap just 1.5 seconds behind the entire 14 lap final, and even flashed a ski-tip from time to time.
"I'm so happy right now, I don't know what to say," said LaVallee from the top box. "I can't begin to thank everyone involved with our team. For the past three years it seems all I did was get hurt or fall on my head. I just want to thank everyone for sticking with me."
LaVallee's teammate Gulla shared in the celebration finishing second and being equally excited for his teammate.
"I'm super pumped for Levi, he deserves this win and this championship. He was super squirrelly during the first couple laps and I wanted to tell him to chill out," laughed Gulla.
Crowd gathers during Saturday's events.
After a ninth place finish in the Semi-Pro Open, Tim Tremblay (Ski-Doo) came out of the battle for the year-end championship as victor.
Tremblay led by 11 points over Bobby LePage (Polaris) and 15 points in front of Dan Ebert (Arctic Cat). In order to win the championship, Tremblay had to finish sixth or better if LePage took the win or tenth or better if Ebert took the win.
During the final race Ebert quickly pulled out to a comfortable margin in the opening laps. LePage meanwhile was running fourth until a bobble on lap five shuffled him back to seventh place and out of contention for the year-end crown.
As the 12-lap final wore on, Ebert continued to dominate at the front and kept a 3-second gap between himself and Paul Bauerly (Arctic Cat).
Bauerly preparing for his first qualifier of the Semi-Pro Open.
Tremblay hung back and would eventually slide up to the ninth place. But, it was Sweden's Christian Salemark (Arctic Cat) that sliced his way through the field, digging out of a seventh place start and eventually working his way all the way to second, putting Bauerly back onto the final podium position.
At the line it was Ebert, Salemark and Bauerly claiming the hardware respectively.
Tremblay hung tight to his ninth position which gave him a narrow 2-point margin to claim the overall points title for the season.
While elated with the win, it was one that was bittersweet for Ebert. "If I could sum up this season in one word it would be injuries," said Ebert during the post race interview. "Missing the race in Duluth at the start of the season really hurt my chances. And a week ago I could barely walk. I really didn't think I was going to be able to race this weekend."
Sport StockIn Sport Super Stock #2, Andrew Lieders (Polaris) entered the final race of the season with the year-end title virtually locked-up, holding a 21-point margin over Cody Thomsen (Arctic Cat). But by winning the final race of the season, Lieders put an exclamation point on the championship. Following him onto the podium was Stephen Edwards (Polaris) and Ryan Huston (Arctic Cat)
AmSnow's staff witnessed this year's final battle in Lake Geneva, however, full results are not yet available from ISOC. So check back in on the website tomorrow as we should have full coverage and results of all Sunday's action up on the web.