Lake Geneva, Wis. - Polaris rider Brett Bender made it back-to-back wins in the Pro Open division by winning the season finale of the AMSOIL Championship Snocross Series.
Last year Bender's teammate, TJ Gulla, came up one point shy of beating him at the annual finale in Wisconsin. But this year Gulla walked into this event with a 15-point lead over Bender.
Saturday, Gulla's teammate Levi LaVallee, had won his first championship in the Pro Super Stock in a close race with Arctic Cat's Garth Kaufman.
"Garth was the emotional favorite of many race fans," said Team Arctic Race Manager, Mike Kloety. "After Tucker Hibbert ended his season early with a large point lead, Garth made a huge effort to take command of the overall title. He was close, and we're extremely proud of him."
Polaris was nearly guaranteed to win the title Sunday because LaVallee (Polaris) joined Gulla and Bender on the starting line of the 14-lap final.
Bender emerged in the lead from a turn-one tangle involving three sleds atop the course's first hill. Yamaha's Ian Hayden and Steve Taylor were close behind Bender running second and third. Following behind that duo was Arctic Cat's Brett Turcotte, Gulla (Polaris), and Kaufman (Arctic Cat).
"In the early going, Turcotte was all over Taylor like a blanket as he tried to take over third," said ISOC's spokesman.
That changed on the third lap when Turcotte T-boned Taylor over a berm and off the track. By the time Taylor recouped he was only able to muster a 13th place finish.
Turcotte was black flagged and his exit gave Kaufman the opportunity to move from sixth to third. He used this to his advantage to pass Hayden (Yamaha), take over second place, and get close to Bender.
"[Due to a shoulder injury,] physically I was unable to use the sled's power toward the end of the race," Hayden said in a Yamaha press release. He ultimately finished fifth.
Gulla was able to push further up in the order by passing Hayden and grabbing the third podium spot, and the point's championship.
"I knew exactly where I had to finish," said Gulla as he celebrated his year-end title. "The year started out a little shaky, but we stuck with it and got stronger near the end of the season. After losing the championship last year by one point I really didn't care if I won it this year by one point or 20."
At the finish line it was Bender, Kaufman, and Gulla.
Semi-ProOn Sunday the Arctic Cat duo of Cory Davis and Christian Salemark left the Semi-Pro Super Stock with the championship title and the final win, respectively.
The day before Tim Tremblay (Ski-Doo) won the Semi-Pro Open championship title, while Arctic Cat's Dan Ebert took home the final win of the season.
"Dan won the battles but lost the war," said Kloety. "Had he not missed the first race of the season due to injury, I'm certain he would have taken the championship. But that's racing: We won one championship with Cory, but just missed the other with Dan."
Tremblay chose, on Sunday, the opposite side of the grid of Davis and Ebert for the start up the first long hill.
As the race started the Arctic Cat duo crested the hill first. Tremblay got trapped in a parking lot atop the hill though, bouncing him from sixth to ninth.
At the front of the pack was a swarm of Cat's including Matt Pichner, Ebert, Davis and Christian Salemark in respective order.
"But just two laps into the 12-lap final, Ebert left his sled while negotiating one of the treacherous downhill portions of the course," said an ISOC spokesman.
Davis and Salemark got shuffled up behind Pichner, and this left an opening for Davis to slip by Pichner. Salemark followed Davis one lap later.
Much deeper in the pack, Tremblay was putting on a clinic of passing prowess, working his way up from ninth to fourth by lap seven.
Davis was content to ride smart, and this allowed Salemark to pass him for the top spot. Tremblay, also, had one more pass in him, and he was able to take third place from Logan Christian (Arctic Cat).
At the line it was Salemark with the win; Davis in second for the year-end title; and Tremblay in third.
"Coming into the final I knew where I was at in the point chase," said Davis after the race. "I was thinking about the championship the entire time I was out there. I was so nervous and Christian (Salemark) was so fast, I just wanted to stay clean."
Pro Women's Carly Davis (Arctic Cat) took home another win at the finale. In addition, Justin Tate (Ski-doo) won his first year-end championship and notched another victory in the Plus 30 class with a win Sunday.
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